Self-reported Health-related Quality of Life in Adolescents With Cerebral Palsy.

Background: Happiness, comfort, and motor function contribute to satisfaction with life for individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Evidence-based medical care can improve motor function and physical health of youth with CP. Less is known about medical care and its relationship to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescents and young adults with CP.

Clinical utility of a 377 gene custom next-generation sequencing epilepsy panel.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders with about 500 genes thought to be involved across the phenotypic spectrum (Busch et al. 2014; Ran et al. 2014), which includes monogenic, multigenic, epistatic and pleiotropic phenotype manifestations (Busch et al.

Adiponectin in the heart and vascular system.

Adipose tissue is not only a storage depot for energy, but also an active endocrine tissue. Adipokines, hormones and cytokines secreted from adipocytes, relay information about energy stores to peripheral tissues throughout the body. Most adipokines are produced in direct proportion to fat mass, and many have proinflammatory or otherwise adverse effects on the cardiovascular system.

Chronic exposure to arsenic in the drinking water alters the expression of immune response genes in mouse lung.

Background: Chronic exposure to drinking water arsenic is a significant worldwide environmental health concern. Exposure to As is associated with an increased risk of lung disease, which may make it a unique toxicant, because lung toxicity is usually associated with inhalation rather than ingestion.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine mRNA and protein expression changes in the lungs of mice exposed chronically to environmentally relevant concentrations of As in the food or drinking water, specifically examining the hypothesis that As may preferentially affect gene and protein expression related to immune function as part of its mechanism of toxicant action.

Laboratory diet profoundly alters gene expression and confounds genomic analysis in mouse liver and lung.

Nutritional studies in laboratory animals have long shown that various dietary components can contribute to altered gene expression and metabolism, but diet alone has not been considered in whole animal genomic studies. In this study, global gene expression changes in mice fed either a non-purified chow or a purified diet were investigated and background metal levels in the two diets were measured by ICP-MS. C57BL/6J mice were raised for 5 weeks on either the cereal-based, non-purified LRD-5001 diet or the purified, casein-based AIN-76A diet, as part of a larger study examining the effects of low dose arsenic (As) in the diet or drinking water.

Arsenic as an endocrine disruptor: arsenic disrupts retinoic acid receptor-and thyroid hormone receptor-mediated gene regulation and thyroid hormone-mediated amphibian tail metamorphosis.

Background: Chronic exposure to excess arsenic in drinking water has been strongly associated with increased risks of multiple cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and reproductive and developmental problems in humans. We previously demonstrated that As, a potent endocrine disruptor at low, environmentally relevant levels, alters steroid signaling at the level of receptor-mediated gene regulation for all five steroid receptors.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine whether As can also disrupt gene regulation via the retinoic acid (RA) receptor (RAR) and/or the thyroid hormone (TH) receptor (TR) and whether these effects are similar to previously observed effects on steroid regulation.

Gene response profiles for Daphnia pulex exposed to the environmental stressor cadmium reveals novel crustacean metallothioneins.

Background: Genomic research tools such as microarrays are proving to be important resources to study the complex regulation of genes that respond to environmental perturbations. A first generation cDNA microarray was developed for the environmental indicator species Daphnia pulex, to identify genes whose regulation is modulated following exposure to the metal stressor cadmium. Our experiments revealed interesting changes in gene transcription that suggest their biological roles and their potentially toxicological features in responding to this important environmental contaminant.

Exposure to arsenic at levels found inU.S. drinking water modifies expression in the mouse lung.

The mechanisms of action of drinking water arsenic in the lung and the threshold for biologic effects remain controversial. Our study utilizes Affymetrix 22,690 transcript oligonucleotide microarrays to assess the long-term effects of increasing doses of drinking water arsenic on expression levels in the mouse lung. Mice were exposed at levels commonly found in contaminated drinking water wells in the United States (0, 0.

Arsenic as an endocrine disruptor: effects of arsenic on estrogen receptor-mediated gene expression in vivo and in cell culture.

Arsenic (As) contamination of drinking water is considered a serious worldwide environmental health threat that is associated with increased disease risks including skin, lung, bladder, and other cancers; type 2 diabetes; vascular and cardiovascular diseases; reproductive and developmental effects; and neurological and cognitive effects. Increased health risks may occur at as low as 10-50 ppb, while biological effects have been observed in experimental animal and cell culture systems at much lower levels. We previously reported that As is a potent endocrine disruptor, altering gene regulation by the closely related glucocorticoid, mineralocorticoid, progesterone, and androgen steroid receptors (SRs) at concentrations as low as 0.