Publications by authors named "Jacquelyn McDonald"

Objective: Only approximately 20% of college students with an eating disorder (ED) seek treatment. One barrier to seeking treatment is weight discrimination. Past research demonstrates that experiencing weight discrimination is associated with increased ED risk and decreased in-person treatment engagement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease for which there are no prophylactic vaccines. Cyclophilin 19 is a secreted cis-trans peptidyl isomerase expressed in all life stages of Trypanosoma cruzi. This protein in the insect stage leads to the inactivation of insect anti-parasitic peptides and parasite transformation whereas in the intracellular amastigotes it participates in generating ROS promoting the growth of parasites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Disease outbreaks, skin lesions, mortality events, and reproductive abnormalities have been observed in wild populations of centrarchids. The presence of estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds (EEDCs) has been implicated as a potential causal factor for these effects. The effects of prior EEDC exposure on immune response were examined in juvenile largemouth bass () exposed to a potent synthetic estrogen (17α-ethinylestradiol, EE2) at a low (EE2, 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eukaryotes use histone variants and post-translation modifications (PTMs), as well as DNA base modifications, to regulate DNA replication/repair, chromosome condensation, and gene expression. Despite the unusual organization of their protein-coding genes into large polycistronic transcription units (PTUs), trypanosomatid parasites also employ a "histone code" to control these processes, but the details of this epigenetic code are poorly understood. Here, we present the results of experiments designed to elucidate the distribution of histone variants and PTMs over the chromatin landscape of .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This cross-sectional study utilized structural equation modeling to examine effects of COVID-19 stress on food insecurity and fruit and vegetable consumption mediated through personal agency and behavioral intention. Students (n = 749) enrolled at one federally designated Hispanic-serving public university during the fall 2020 semester. A 34-item survey was developed and administered.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Despite the dangers, there are limited drug treatments available, as few effective targets have been identified at the molecular level for combating infections, particularly in the central nervous system.
  • * Recent research has led to the screening of 85 compounds, resulting in 59 that effectively hinder the growth of the amoeba, and the sequencing of its transcriptome has allowed for the identification of important genes which can be targeted for new drug development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

African trypanosomes utilize glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) to evade the host immune system. VSG turnover is thought to be mediated via cleavage of the GPI anchor by endogenous GPI-specific phospholipase C (GPI-PLC). However, GPI-PLC is topologically sequestered from VSG substrates in intact cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlike most other eukaryotes, and other trypanosomatid protozoa have largely eschewed transcriptional control of gene expression, relying instead on posttranscriptional regulation of mRNAs derived from polycistronic transcription units (PTUs). In these parasites, a novel modified nucleotide base (β-d-glucopyranosyloxymethyluracil) known as J plays a critical role in ensuring that transcription termination occurs only at the end of each PTU, rather than at the polyadenylation sites of individual genes. To further understand the biology of J-associated processes, we used tandem affinity purification (TAP) tagging and mass spectrometry to reveal proteins that interact with the glucosyltransferase performing the final step in J synthesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Arginine balance in lysosomes is crucial for the growth and metabolism of mammalian cells, particularly within macrophages where the protozoan parasite causing leishmaniasis resides.
  • When infected, the parasite detects low arginine levels through a surface sensor, activating a response that increases the abundance and activity of an arginine transporter, necessary for its survival.
  • Disruption of this response through gene editing demonstrated that while the mutants could grow normally in lab settings, they were significantly less effective at developing and infecting within host macrophages and mice, highlighting the importance of arginine sensing for the parasite's pathogenicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Studies indicate that tobacco use among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) community members is consistently higher than the general population. is a tobacco cessation program developed and implemented in 1991 in San Francisco, California, that has shown promise in assisting LGBTQ members with tobacco cessation. This article describes the practical challenges of adapting to be implemented in a southcentral Texas community.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Monoallelic exclusion in African trypanosomes ensures that only one variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) gene is expressed at a time from multiple potential genes to evade the host's immune response.
  • The active VSG gene is transcribed from one of 15 polycistronic expression sites using RNA polymerase I, located in a specialized structure called the expression-site body (ESB).
  • Research creating double-expresser lines showed that two active expression sites could share the same ESB, indicating that this subnuclear body plays a critical role in regulating which VSG is expressed at any given time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

DNA focused panel sequencing has been rapidly adopted to assess therapeutic targets in advanced/refractory cancer. Integrated Genomic Profiling (IGP) utilising DNA/RNA with tumour/normal comparisons in a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) compliant setting enables a single assay to provide: therapeutic target prioritisation, novel target discovery/application and comprehensive germline assessment. A prospective study in 35 advanced/refractory cancer patients was conducted using CLIA-compliant IGP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by deficits in cerebral metabolic rates of glucose in the posterior cingulate (PC) and precuneus in AD subjects, and in APOEε4 carriers, decades before the onset of measureable cognitive deficits. However, the cellular and molecular basis of this phenotype remains to be clarified. Given the roles of astrocytes in energy storage and brain immunity, we sought to characterize the transcriptome of AD PC astrocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Integration of carcinogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs) into the host genome is a significant tumorigenic factor in specific cancers including cervical carcinoma. Although major strides have been made with respect to HPV diagnosis and prevention, identification and development of efficacious treatments for cervical cancer patients remains a goal and thus requires additional detailed characterization of both somatic events and HPV integration. Given this need, the goal of this study was to use the next generation sequencing to simultaneously evaluate somatic alterations and expression changes in a patient's cervical squamous carcinoma lesion metastatic to the lung and to detect and analyze HPV infection in the same sample.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF