Cell Biochem Biophys
September 2024
One of the leading causes of mortality for women is gynecologic cancer (GC). Numerous molecules (tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes) are involved in this form of cancer's invasion, metastasis, tumorigenic process, and therapy resistance. Currently, there is a shortage of efficient methods to eliminate these diseases, hence it is crucial to carry out more extensive studies on GCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanomedicine often failed clinically to show therapeutic efficacy due to reduced particle circulation and enhanced capture by the reticuloendothelial system (RES), including the liver. Developing novel immunomodulatory surface coating can prevent macrophage capture and increase the particle circulation of the nanomedicine, resulting in higher therapeutic efficiency. Herein, we demonstrate the development of immunomodulatory small molecule (RZA15) with triazole functionality using copper-catalyzed click chemistry to conjugate onto spherical polystyrene nanoparticles using amide coupling reactions, achieving higher blood circulation and lesser macrophage uptake of the nanoconjugates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe blood-brain barrier (BBB) is located at the interface between the vascular system and the brain parenchyma, and is responsible for communication with systemic circulation and peripheral tissues. During life, the BBB can be subjected to a wide range of perturbations or stresses that may be endogenous or exogenous, pathological or therapeutic, or intended or unintended. The risk factors for many diseases of the brain are multifactorial and involve perturbations that may occur simultaneously (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough many studies have compared tumor fibroblasts (T-Fbs) and nontumor fibroblasts (N-Fbs), less is understood about the stromal contribution of metastatic lymph node fibroblasts (LN-Fbs) to the evolving microenvironment. Here, we explored the characteristics of LN-Fbs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the interactions between fibroblasts and ESCC tumor cells in metastatic lymph nodes. Fibroblasts were isolated from tumor, nontumor and metastatic lymph node tissues from different patients with ESCC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScreening implantable biomaterials for antifibrotic properties is constrained by the need for in vivo testing. Here we show that the throughput of in vivo screening can be increased by cellularly barcoding a chemically modified combinatorial library of hydrogel formulations. The method involves the implantation of a mixture of alginate formulations, each barcoded with human umbilical vein endothelial cells from different donors, and the association of the identity and performance of each formulation by genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms of the cells via next-generation sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngiogenesis plays an essential role in embryonic development, organ remodeling, wound healing, and is also associated with many human diseases. The process of angiogenesis in the brain during development is well characterized in animal models, but little is known about the process in the mature brain. Here, we use a tissue-engineered post-capillary venule (PCV) model incorporating stem cell derived induced brain microvascular endothelial-like cells (iBMECs) and pericyte-like cells (iPCs) to visualize the dynamics of angiogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Today, approximately one in five United States adolescents age 12 to 19 years is obese and just over a third are either overweight or obese. This study examines how parents and peers influence diet and physical activity behaviors of older adolescents (14-18 years) with overweight or obesity to inform weight management interventions.
Methods: Adolescent participants included 14 to 18-year-olds with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than the 85th percentile for their age and sex who were receiving care in a large healthcare system in Northern California.
Magnetic nanomaterials belong to a class of highly-functionalizable tools for cancer therapy owing to their intrinsic magnetic properties and multifunctional design that provides a multimodal theranostics platform for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. In this review article, we have provided an overview of the various applications of magnetic nanomaterials and recent advances in the development of these nanomaterials as cancer therapeutics. Moreover, the cancer targeting, potential toxicity, and degradability of these nanomaterials has been briefly addressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedicine (Baltimore)
December 2018
Asians are reported to have poorer healthcare experience than non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), but the sources of the differences are not understood. One explanation is Asian's reluctance to choose extreme responses in survey. We thus sought to compare NHW-Asian differences in responses to healthcare experience surveys when asked to report versus rate their experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh rates of heart disease, cancer, and stroke exist in rural South Georgia where the Emory Prevention Research Center's Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network provided mini-grant funding to six churches to implement policy and environmental change to promote healthy eating and physical activity. This study sought to determine whether perceptions of the health promotion environment changed over time and whether perceived environmental change was associated with healthy behavior at church and in general. This study used a single-group pre-post design with 1-year follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is recommended for adults aged 50-75 years, yet screening rates are low, especially among the uninsured. The CDC initiated the Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) in 2009 with the goal of increasing CRC screening rates to 80% by 2014. A total of 29 grantees (states and tribal organizations) receive CRCCP funding to (1) screen uninsured adults and (2) promote CRC screening at the population level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper, we propose two new approaches, FM-GA and CM-GA, to identify significant genes from microarray datasets. FM-GA and CM-GA combine our innovative FM-test and CM-test with genetic algorithm (GA), respectively, and leverage the strengths of GA. The performance of FM-GA and CM-GA was evaluated by the classification accuracy of decision trees constructed with the selected genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSafe and effective adjuvants for influenza vaccines that could increase both the levels of neutralizing antibody, including against drifted viral subtypes, and T-cell immunity would be a major advance in vaccine design. The JVRS-100 adjuvant, consisting of DOTIM/cholesterol cationic liposome-DNA complexes, is particularly promising for vaccines that require induction of high levels of antibody and T-cell immunity, including CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Inclusion of protein antigens with JVRS-100 results in the induction of enhanced humoral and cell-mediated (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany new vaccines under development consist of rationally designed recombinant proteins that are relatively poor immunogens unless combined with potent adjuvants. There is only one adjuvant in common use in the U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gene pathway can be defined as a group of genes that interact with each other to perform some biological processes. Along with the efforts to identify the individual genes that play vital roles in a particular disease, there is a growing interest in identifying the roles of gene pathways in such diseases.
Results: This paper proposes an innovative fuzzy-set-theory-based approach, Multi-dimensional Cluster Misclassification test (MCM-test), to measure the significance of gene pathways in a particular disease.
BMC Bioinformatics
December 2006
Background: Microarray techniques have revolutionized genomic research by making it possible to monitor the expression of thousands of genes in parallel. As the amount of microarray data being produced is increasing at an exponential rate, there is a great demand for efficient and effective expression data analysis tools. Comparison of gene expression profiles of patients against those of normal counterpart people will enhance our understanding of a disease and identify leads for therapeutic intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Iron and zinc deficiency remain substantial problems in small children in both developed and developing nations. Optimizing mineral absorption is an important strategy in minimizing this problem.
Objectives: To assess the effects of beef and soy proteins on the bioavailability of non-heme iron and zinc in children.
Background: Short-term studies in adolescents have generally shown an enhancement of calcium absorption by inulin-type fructans (prebiotics). Results have been inconsistent; however, and no studies have been conducted to determine whether this effect persists with long-term use.
Objective: The objective was to assess the effects on calcium absorption and bone mineral accretion after 8 wk and 1 y of supplementation with an inulin-type fructan.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
September 2005
Context: Understanding the relationship between calcium absorption and growth has been limited. We have developed a database of calcium absorption measurements in 315 girls aged 5.0-15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Zinc deficiency is increasingly recognized as an important cause of mortality and morbidity. Children in developing countries are at especially high risk because of relatively low zinc intakes and poor bioavailability.
Objective: We assessed the effect of 2-wk adaptation to low zinc intake (4 mg/d) on fractional zinc absorption, endogenous fecal zinc excretion, and urinary zinc excretion.
Low serum zinc concentrations have been reported in Crohn's disease (CD) and overt zinc deficiency has been described, but little is known about the effect of CD on zinc metabolism in adolescents. The aim of this study was to measure zinc absorption, endogenous fecal zinc excretion, urinary zinc excretion, and zinc balance in children with stable CD and in matched controls. Subjects were 15 children, ages 8-18 y, with stable CD, and 15 healthy matched controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Analytical methods for measuring the calcium isotope distribution in enriched human serum samples that use low blood volumes, simple preparation methods, and rapid analysis are important in clinical studies of calcium kinetics. Previously, sample preparation by oxalate precipitation typically required 500 micro L of serum. This method was time-consuming, and the blood volume required was limiting in circumstances when only a small amount of serum could be obtained.
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