Scientists from diverse backgrounds are underrepresented (UR) in academia. This lack of diversity impedes scientific discovery and innovation. UR scientists tend to conduct research on issues relevant to UR populations, including chronic disease prevention and management, and health disparities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocal barbershops, often racialized safe spaces, have long been used as sites of health interventions targeting Black American men. Here, we present findings from a barbershop intervention held in the Southeast where Black men were (1) approached using recruitment strategies informed by a community advisory board, (2) screened for type 2 diabetes, and interviewed to understand their levels of medical trust, motivation for testing in the barbershop, as well as the utility of barbershops in health promotion programming. The community advisory board consisted of five Black men from the city understudy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeprin metalloproteinases have been implicated in the pathophysiology of ischemia/reperfusion (IR)-induced kidney injury. Previous in vitro data showed that meprin β proteolytically processes interleukin-6 (IL-6) resulting in its inactivation. Recently, meprin-β was also shown to cleave the IL-6 receptor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) dependent protein kinase or protein kinase A (PKA) has served as a prototype for the large family of protein kinases that are crucially important for signal transduction in eukaryotic cells. The PKA catalytic subunits are encoded by the two major genes PRKACA and PRKACB, respectively. The PRKACA gene encodes two known splice variants, the ubiquitously expressed Cα1 and the sperm-specifically expressed Cα2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeprin metalloproteases have been implicated in the progression of kidney injury. Previous work from our group has shown that meprins proteolytically process the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A (PKA-C), resulting in decreased PKA-C kinase activity. The goal of the present study was to determine the PKA-C isoforms impacted by meprin-β and whether meprin-β expression affects downstream mediators of the PKA signaling pathway in ischemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced kidney injury.
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