Publications by authors named "Hugo Lee"

A subpopulation of pancreatic beta cells becomes senescent during type 1 diabetes (T1D) progression, and removal of these populations protects against T1D in mice. Here, we present a protocol to measure senescence in murine pancreatic islet cells through analysis of senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity. We describe steps for staining with the fluorogenic substrate CFDG and analysis by flow cytometry.

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During the progression of type 1 diabetes (T1D), β cells are exposed to significant stress and, therefore, require adaptive responses to survive. The adaptive mechanisms that can preserve β cell function and survival in the face of autoimmunity remain unclear. Here, we show that the deletion of the unfolded protein response (UPR) genes Atf6α or Ire1α in β cells of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice prior to insulitis generates a p21-driven early senescence phenotype and alters the β cell secretome that significantly enhances the leukemia inhibitory factor-mediated recruitment of M2 macrophages to islets.

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Chronic elevation of sphingolipids contributes to β-cell failure. ORMDL3 has been identified as a key regulator of sphingolipid homeostasis, however, its function in pancreatic β-cell pathophysiology remains unclear. Here, we generated a mouse model lacking within pancreatic β-cells ( ).

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Chronic elevation of sphingolipids contributes to β-cell failure. ORMDL3 has been identified as a key regulator of sphingolipid homeostasis, however, its function in pancreatic β-cell pathophysiology remains unclear. Here, we generated a mouse model lacking within pancreatic β-cells ( ).

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Using climate model ensembles containing members that exhibit very high climate sensitivities to increasing CO concentrations can result in biased projections. Various methods have been proposed to ameliorate this 'hot model' problem, such as model emulators or model culling. Here, we utilize Bayesian Model Averaging as a framework to address this problem without resorting to outright rejection of models from the ensemble.

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Pancreatic β-cells are prone to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress due to their role in insulin secretion. They require sustainable and efficient adaptive stress responses to cope with this stress. Whether episodes of chronic stress directly compromise β-cell identity is unknown.

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Machine learning (ML)-workflows enable unprejudiced/robust evaluation of complex datasets. Here, we analyzed over 490,000,000 data points to compare 10 different ML-workflows in a large (N=11,652) training dataset of human pancreatic single-cell (sc-)transcriptomes to identify genes associated with the presence or absence of insulin transcript(s). Prediction accuracy/sensitivity of each ML-workflow was tested in a separate validation dataset (N=2,913).

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Background: Pancreatic β-cells are the insulin factory of an organism with a mission to regulate glucose homeostasis in the body. Due to their high secretory activity, β-cells rely on a functional and intact endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Perturbations to ER homeostasis and unmitigated stress lead to β-cell dysfunction and death.

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Pancreatic islets consist of several cell types, including alpha, beta, delta, epsilon, and PP cells. Due to cellular heterogeneity, it is challenging to interpret whole-islet transcriptome data. Single-cell transcriptomics offers a powerful method for investigating gene expression at the single-cell level and identifying cellular heterogeneity and subpopulations.

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The orosomucoid-like (Ormdl) proteins play a critical role in sphingolipid homeostasis, inflammation, and ER stress, all of which are associated with obesity and βcell dysfunction. However, their roles in β cells and obesity remain unknown. Here, we show that islets from overweight/obese human donors displayed marginally reduced ORMDL1-2 expression, whereas ORMDL3 expression was significantly downregulated compared with islets from lean donors.

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Immune-mediated destruction of insulin-producing β cells causes type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, how β cells participate in their own destruction during the disease process is poorly understood. Here, we report that modulating the unfolded protein response (UPR) in β cells of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice by deleting the UPR sensor IRE1α prior to insulitis induced a transient dedifferentiation of β cells, resulting in substantially reduced islet immune cell infiltration and β cell apoptosis.

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Viperin is a radical SAM enzyme that has been shown to possess antiviral activity against a broad spectrum of viruses; however, its molecular mechanism is unknown. We report here that recombinant fungal and archaeal viperin enzymes catalyze the addition of the 5'-deoxyadenosyl radical (5'-dA) to the double bond of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), producing a new compound we named adenylated isopentyl pyrophosphate (AIPP). The reaction is specific for IPP, as other pyrophosphate compounds involved in the mevalonate biosynthetic pathway did not react with 5'-dA Enzymatic reactions employing IPP derivatives as substrates revealed that any chemical change in IPP diminishes its ability to be an effective substrate of fungal viperin.

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Background: The rate of hospitalization in elderly patients because of falls is increasing. The objective of this study was to investigate long-term trends in injury profiles of low-energy falls and to identify injuries associated with need for in-patient rehabilitation.

Methods: A single-centre retrospective study was performed at an inner city Major Trauma Centre in Sydney.

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One recognized complication of trabeculectomy with visually devastating potential is blebitis. We present a case of a 74-year-old woman with a culture and polymerase chain reaction-positive Abiotrophia defectiva bleb-associated endophthalmitis. Abiotrophia defectiva is a rare but possible cause of endophthalmitis secondary to blebitis and should be considered in culture-negative cases.

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