Aging and Intermittent Fasting Impact on Transcriptional Regulation and Physiological Responses of Adult Drosophila Neuronal and Muscle Tissues.

The progressive decline of the nervous system, including protein aggregate formation, reflects the subtle dysregulation of multiple functional pathways. Our previous work has shown intermittent fasting (IF) enhances longevity, maintains adult behaviors and reduces aggregates, in part, by promoting autophagic function in the aging brain. To clarify the impact that IF-treatment has upon aging, we used high throughput RNA-sequencing technology to examine the changing transcriptome in adult tissues.

The mitochondrial ATP synthase is a shared drug target for aging and dementia.

Aging is a major driving force underlying dementia, such as that caused by Alzheimer's disease (AD). While the idea of targeting aging as a therapeutic strategy is not new, it remains unclear how closely aging and age-associated diseases are coupled at the molecular level. Here, we discover a novel molecular link between aging and dementia through the identification of the molecular target for the AD drug candidate J147.

Using Intervention Mapping for Program Design and Production of : An Online Decision Support System to Increase Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of Evidence-Based Sexual Health Programs.

In Texas and across the United States, unintended pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents remain serious public health issues. Sexual risk-taking behaviors, including early sexual initiation, contribute to these public health problems. Over 35 sexual health evidence-based programs (EBPs) have been shown to reduce sexual risk behaviors and/or prevent teen pregnancies or STIs.

iCHAMPSS: Usability and Psychosocial Impact for Increasing Implementation of Sexual Health Education.

Introduction: Diffusion of sexual health evidence-based programs (EBPs) in schools is a complex and challenging process. iCHAMPSS ( CHoosing And Maintaining effective Programs for Sex education in Schools) is an innovative theory- and Web-based decision support system that may help facilitate this process. The purpose of this study was to pilot-test iCHAMPSS for usability and short-term psychosocial impact.

Brain trauma and autophagy: What flies and mice can teach us about conserved responses.

Drosophila models have been successfully used to identify many genetic components that affect neurodegenerative disorders. Recently, there has been a growing interest in identifying innate and environmental factors that influence the individual outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI). This includes both severe TBI and more subtle, mild TBI (mTBI), which is common in people playing contact sports.

Assessing Basal and Acute Autophagic Responses in the Adult Drosophila Nervous System: The Impact of Gender, Genetics and Diet on Endogenous Pathway Profiles.

The autophagy pathway is critical for the long-term homeostasis of cells and adult organisms and is often activated during periods of stress. Reduced pathway efficacy plays a central role in several progressive neurological disorders that are associated with the accumulation of cytotoxic peptides and protein aggregates. Previous studies have shown that genetic and transgenic alterations to the autophagy pathway impacts longevity and neural aggregate profiles of adult Drosophila.

Using Drosophila as an integrated model to study mild repetitive traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In addition, there has been a growing appreciation that even repetitive, milder forms of TBI (mTBI) can have long-term deleterious consequences to neural tissues. Hampering our understanding of genetic and environmental factors that influence the cellular and molecular responses to injury has been the limited availability of effective genetic model systems that could be used to identify the key genes and pathways that modulate both the acute and long-term responses to TBI.

Harm reduction as a complex adaptive system: A dynamic framework for analyzing Tanzanian policies concerning heroin use.

Contrary to popular belief, policies on drug use are not always based on scientific evidence or composed in a rational manner. Rather, decisions concerning drug policies reflect the negotiation of actors' ambitions, values, and facts as they organize in different ways around the perceived problems associated with illicit drug use. Drug policy is thus best represented as a complex adaptive system (CAS) that is dynamic, self-organizing, and coevolving.

Aging and Autophagic Function Influences the Progressive Decline of Adult Drosophila Behaviors.

Multiple neurological disorders are characterized by the abnormal accumulation of protein aggregates and the progressive impairment of complex behaviors. Our Drosophila studies demonstrate that middle-aged wild-type flies (WT, ~4-weeks) exhibit a marked accumulation of neural aggregates that is commensurate with the decline of the autophagy pathway. However, enhancing autophagy via neuronal over-expression of Atg8a (Atg8a-OE) reduces the age-dependent accumulation of aggregates.

Mitophagy is required for acute cardioprotection by simvastatin.

Aims: We have shown that autophagy and mitophagy are required for preconditioning. While statin's cardioprotective effects are well known, the role of autophagy/mitophagy in statin-mediated cardioprotection is not. In this study, we used HL-1 cardiomyocytes and mice subjected to ischemia/reperfusion to elucidate the mechanism of statin-mediated cardioprotection.

An Overview of HIV Prevention Interventions for People Who Inject Drugs in Tanzania.

In the past decade, Tanzania has seen a rapid rise in the number of people who inject drugs (PWID), specifically heroin. While the overall HIV prevalence in Tanzania has declined recently to 5.6%, in 2009, the HIV prevalence among PWID remains alarmingly high at 35%.

Preconditioning involves selective mitophagy mediated by Parkin and p62/SQSTM1.

Autophagy-dependent mitochondrial turnover in response to cellular stress is necessary for maintaining cellular homeostasis. However, the mechanisms that govern the selective targeting of damaged mitochondria are poorly understood. Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, has been shown to be essential for the selective clearance of damaged mitochondria.

Diminished AMPK signaling response to fasting in thioredoxin-interacting protein knockout mice.

Thioredoxin-interacting protein (Txnip) knockout (TKO) mice exhibit impaired response to fasting. Herein, we showed that activation of adenine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and cellular AMP levels were diminished in the heart and soleus muscle but not in gastrocnemius muscle of fasting TKO mice. Similarly, glycogen content in fasted TKO mice was increased in oxidative muscles but was not different in glycolytic muscles.

A psychosocial comparison of New Orleans and Houston crack smokers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The purpose of this study was to compare psychological distress in a sample of African American crack cocaine users who relocated to Houston from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to African American drug users resident in Houston. Fifty-four African Americans from New Orleans were compared to a sample of 162 people in Houston. Data were collected between June 2002 and December 2005.

Male homosexual identities, relationships, and practices among young men who have sex with men in Vietnam: implications for HIV prevention.

Rapid socioeconomic transformation in Vietnam in last 15 years has been followed by more liberation of sexual expression and representation of sexual identity among young people. There has been an increase in the visibility of homosexual men in major cities of Vietnam who were largely an unknown population until the emergence of the HIV epidemic. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are now considered as one of the target groups in many HIV prevention programs.

Improving Condom Self-Efficacy and Use among Individuals Living with HIV: The Positive Choices Mapping Intervention.

Few interventions have been designed to improve behavioral outcomes and reduce risk of HIV transmission of individuals living with HIV, most focusing on preventative efforts directed at individuals who are HIV-negative. However, people living with HIV present individual and public health risks (infection with a different strain of HIV, health complications from contracting STD's, continued sexual activity with individuals with unknown HIV status) that have become the focus of intervention efforts. The current paper explores a promising new intervention, The Positive Choices Mapping intervention (PCM), designed to increase condom self-efficacy and use among African American crack cocaine smokers who are living with HIV.

Perceptions of risk in research participation among underserved minority drug users.

Research with underserved minority drug users is essential to quality health care and prevention. Understanding how participants perceive risk in research is necessary to inform research regulators so that research protections are neither lax, exposing participants to harm, nor overly stringent, thereby denying access to beneficial research. Data from 37 semistructured interviews of underserved, African-American crack cocaine users, collected from February to May 2006 in a large, urban setting, were analyzed using content analysis.

Decisions to participate in research: views of underserved minority drug users with or at risk for HIV.

Under-representation of minority populations, particularly African Americans, in HIV/AIDS research is problematic because African Americans bear a greater disease burden from HIV/AIDS. Studies of motivations for participating in research have emphasized factors affecting individuals' willingness to participate and barriers to participation, especially in regard to HIV vaccine research. Little is known about how underserved minority drug users perceive research and their decisions to participate.

Internet influences on sexual practices among young people in Hanoi, Vietnam.

While the influences of the Internet on adult sexuality are well recognized, research on the potential connection between the Internet and young people's sexuality is still limited. We conducted a qualitative study to examine how young people (aged 15-19 years) in Hanoi, Vietnam used the Internet to develop sexual practices and identities. Our analysis of texts from focus groups, in-depth interviews, chat scripts and field notes reveals how the Internet is used to assemble sexual information that was not available from other sources such as the family and school.

The lives of female sex workers in Vietnam: Findings from a qualitative study.

To facilitate better understanding of the environment and power structures in which sex work in Vietnam takes place, this study examined the sex workers' social and economic lives, their working environment, social relationships and presentation of self in everyday social contacts and interactions. Thirty in-depth interviews and 14 focus groups were conducted with street-based and venue-based sex workers in the cities of Da Nang and Hanoi. Results show that sex workers live and work within a complex system involving multiple relationships.

Perceptions of financial payment for research participation among African-American drug users in HIV studies.

Background: Financial compensation for participating in research is controversial, especially when participants are recruited from economically disadvantaged and/or marginalized populations such as drug users. Little is known about these participants' own views regarding payment for research participation.

Objective: The objective of the study was to elicit underserved minority drug users' views about monetary payments for participating in research.

Transgenic expression of CYP7A1 in LDL receptor-deficient mice blocks diet-induced hypercholesterolemia.

Constitutive expression of a cholesterol-7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) transgene in LDL receptor-deficient mice blocked the ability of a cholesterol-enriched diet to increase plasma levels of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins. LDL receptor-deficient mice expressing the CYP7A1 transgene exhibited complete resistance to diet-induced hypercholesterolemia and to the accumulation of cholesterol in the liver. Hepatic mRNA expression of liver X receptor-inducible ABCG5 and ABCG8 was decreased in CYP7A1 transgenic, LDL receptor-deficient mice fed a cholesterol-enriched diet.

Bile acids decrease hepatic paraoxonase 1 expression and plasma high-density lipoprotein levels via FXR-mediated signaling of FGFR4.

Objective: The purpose of this research was to determine how dietary bile acids repress hepatic expression of paraoxonase 1 (PON1).

Methods And Results: C57BL/6 mice and C3H/HeJ mice, having different susceptibilities to atherosclerosis, were fed a chow diet and an atherogenic diet containing taurocholate. Compared with the more atherosclerosis-susceptible C57BL/6 mice, C3H/HeJ mice display resistance to dietary bile acid repression of hepatic PON1 mRNA and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.