Concussion-related visual memory and reaction time impairment in college athletes improved after osteopathic manipulative medicine: a randomized clinical trial.

Context: Concussion is an acute, transient disruption in brain function due to head injury. Previous studies suggest osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) improved recovery from concussion.

Objectives: The hypothesis was that new-onset impairments (NOI) of neurological functions identified by Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) will improve more so after OMM than after concussion-education.

Gut Microbiome Changes with Osteopathic Treatment of Constipation in Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Introduction: The gut microbiome appears to be predictive of Parkinson's disease (PD) with constipation. Chronic constipation frequently manifests prior to motor symptoms and impairs quality of life. An osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) sequence used physical exam assessment and manual treatment of neuromusculoskeletal dysfunctions pertinent to constipation in PD for this prospective ABA-design study, IRB-NYITBHS1065.

Effects of depression and exercise on health-related quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: There is limited literature describing the effect exercise may have on depression and an individual's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's Disease (PD). We aim to quantify this effect.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 60 PD subjects.

Metabolomic profiling in a Hedgehog Interacting Protein (Hhip) murine model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Genetic variants annotated to the hedgehog interacting protein (HHIP) are robustly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Hhip haploinsufficiency in mice leads to increased susceptibility towards the development of emphysema following exposure to chronic cigarette smoke (CS). To explore the molecular pathways which contribute to increased susceptibility, we performed metabolomic profiling using high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy (LC/MS-MS) on plasma, urine, and lung tissue of Hhip heterozygotes and wild type (Hhip ) C57/BL6 mice exposed to either room-air or CS for six months.

Integration of Osteopathic Manual Treatments in Management of Cervical Dystonia with Tremor: A Case Series.

Background: Cervical dystonia, also known as spasmodic torticollis, is a chronic disorder in which patients exhibit involuntary repetitive contractions of neck muscles resulting in abnormal postures or movements. Occasionally, there is also a dystonic head tremor. The underlying mechanisms for cervical dystonia and dystonic tremor are not clear, and treatments are limited.

Hhip haploinsufficiency sensitizes mice to age-related emphysema.

Genetic variants in Hedgehog interacting protein (HHIP) have consistently been associated with the susceptibility to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pulmonary function levels, including the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), in general population samples by genome-wide association studies. However, in vivo evidence connecting Hhip to age-related FEV1 decline and emphysema development is lacking. Herein, using Hhip heterozygous mice (Hhip(+/-)), we observed increased lung compliance and spontaneous emphysema in Hhip(+/-) mice starting at 10 mo of age.

Alternative Macrophage Activation Is Increased in Asthma.

The immune responses of type 2 T helper cells (Th2) play an important role in asthma and promote the differentiation of alternatively activated (M2) macrophages. M2 macrophages have been increasingly understood to contribute to Th2 immunity. We hypothesized that M2 macrophages are altered in asthma and modulate Th2 responses.

The Glymphatic-Lymphatic Continuum: Opportunities for Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.

The brain has long been thought to lack a lymphatic drainage system. Recent studies, however, show the presence of a brain-wide paravascular system appropriately named the glymphatic system based on its similarity to the lymphatic system in function and its dependence on astroglial water flux. Besides the clearance of cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid, the glymphatic system also facilitates the clearance of interstitial solutes such as amyloid-β and tau from the brain.

A Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Susceptibility Gene, FAM13A, Regulates Protein Stability of β-Catenin.

Rationale: A genetic locus within the FAM13A gene has been consistently associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in genome-wide association studies. However, the mechanisms by which FAM13A contributes to COPD susceptibility are unknown.

Objectives: To determine the biologic function of FAM13A in human COPD and murine COPD models and discover the molecular mechanism by which FAM13A influences COPD susceptibility.

Methylmercury-Dependent Increases in Fluo4 Fluorescence in Neonatal Rat Cerebellar Slices Depend on Granule Cell Migrational Stage and GABAA Receptor Modulation.

Methylmercury (MeHg) disrupts cerebellar function, especially during development. Cerebellar granule cells (CGC), which are particularly susceptible to MeHg by unknown mechanisms, migrate during this process. Transient changes in intracellular Ca(2+) (Ca(2+) i) are crucial to proper migration, and MeHg is well known to disrupt CGC Ca(2+) i regulation.

Haploinsufficiency of Hedgehog interacting protein causes increased emphysema induced by cigarette smoke through network rewiring.

Background: The HHIP gene, encoding Hedgehog interacting protein, has been implicated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and our subsequent studies identified a functional upstream genetic variant that decreased HHIP transcription. However, little is known about how HHIP contributes to COPD pathogenesis.

Methods: We exposed Hhip haploinsufficient mice (Hhip (+/-) ) to cigarette smoke (CS) for 6 months to model the biological consequences caused by CS in human COPD risk-allele carriers at the HHIP locus.

Faslodex inhibits estradiol-induced extracellular matrix dynamics and lung metastasis in a model of lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a destructive lung disease primarily affecting women. Genetic studies indicate that LAM cells carry inactivating tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-2 mutations, and metastasize to the lung. We previously discovered that estradiol increases the metastasis of TSC2-deficient cells in mice carrying xenograft tumors.

Gene expression analysis uncovers novel hedgehog interacting protein (HHIP) effects in human bronchial epithelial cells.

Hedgehog interacting protein (HHIP) was implicated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, it remains unclear how HHIP contributes to COPD pathogenesis. To identify genes regulated by HHIP, we performed gene expression microarray analysis in a human bronchial epithelial cell line (Beas-2B) stably infected with HHIP shRNAs.

Identification of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease genetic determinant that regulates HHIP.

Multiple intergenic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near hedgehog interacting protein (HHIP) on chromosome 4q31 have been strongly associated with pulmonary function levels and moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, whether the effects of variants in this region are related to HHIP or another gene has not been proven. We confirmed genetic association of SNPs in the 4q31 COPD genome-wide association study (GWAS) region in a Polish cohort containing severe COPD cases and healthy smoking controls (P = 0.

Progress toward heterologous expression of active G-protein-coupled receptors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Linking cellular stress response with translocation and trafficking.

High-level expression of mammalian G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is a necessary step toward biophysical characterization and high-resolution structure determination. Even though many heterologous expression systems have been used to express mammalian GPCRs at high levels, many receptors are improperly trafficked or are inactive in these systems. En route to engineering a robust microbial host for GPCR expression, we have investigated the expression of 12 GPCRs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where all receptors are expressed at the mg/L scale.

Continuous exposure to low concentrations of methylmercury impairs cerebellar granule cell migration in organotypic slice culture.

Chronic, low-level perinatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) is associated with neurological and motor deficits that appear to result from cerebellar dysfunction. Neuropathological studies suggest that these deficits are due to impaired cerebellar granule cell (CGC) migration. Although neuronal migration in vivo and in vitro has been shown to be impaired during acute and/or high level exposure to MeHg, the cellular effects of chronic exposure to submicromolar and micromolar levels of MeHg during development are not clear.

Why do electromagnetic pulses enhance bone growth?

The excitation probability of substrate molecules involved in the production of growth factors influencing the division of chondrocytes in the growth layer of bone under the influence of pulsed electromagnetic fields is studied theoretically in a quantum mechanical model calculation. In this model matrix elements and anti-bonding energy levels are assumed known and the dynamics of the interaction with pulsed electromagnetic fields is derived. The derivation makes it clear that continuous pulsing or large driving currents can overwhelm local diffusive transport to the growth plane resulting in a loss of its enhancement properties.

The NR2B subunit in NMDA receptors is functionally important during cerebellar granule cell migration.

Migration of cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) from the external germinal cell layer (EGL) to the internal granule cell layer (IGL) within the cerebellar cortex is a crucial developmental process. Antagonists to NMDA receptors impair CGC migration significantly, but studies to determine which subunit subtypes control or affect migration have been controversial. Migrating CGCs transiently express NMDA receptor subunit subtypes NR1a plus NR2B.

Microseism and infrasound generation by cyclones.

A two-dimensional cylindrical shear-flow wave theory for the generation of microseisms and infrasound by hurricanes and cyclones is developed as a linearized theory paralleling the seminal work by Longuet-Higgins which was limited to one-dimensional plane waves. Both theories are based on Bernoulli's principle. A little appreciated consequence of the Bernoulli principle is that surface gravity waves induce a time dependent pressure on the sea floor through a vertical column of water.