Publications by authors named "Poore K"

The human-adapted enteric bacterial pathogen Shigella causes millions of infections each year, creates long-term growth effects among pediatric patients, and is a leading cause of diarrheal deaths worldwide. Infection induces watery or bloody diarrhea as a result of the pathogen transiting the gastrointestinal tract and infecting the epithelial cells lining the colon. With staggering increases in antibiotic resistance and the current lack of approved vaccines, standardized research protocols are critical to studying this formidable pathogen.

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The placental exposome represents the sum of all placental exposures, and through its influence on placental function can affect an individual's susceptibility to cardio-metabolic disease later in life. The placental exposome includes direct exposures during gestation, as well as those prior to gestation that affect the gametes or aspects of maternal physiology that influence placental function. This review will discuss the evidence for placental responses to environmental signals and its involvement in programming offspring health.

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Introduction: Placental oxidative stress features in pregnancy pathologies but in clinical trials antioxidant supplementation has not improved outcomes. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) stimulates glutathione production and is proposed as a therapeutic agent in pregnancy. However, key elements of N-acetylcysteine biology, including its cellular uptake mechanism, remains unclear.

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The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is predicted to be high in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the exact figure is not known in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Emerging data suggests that VDD plays a role in glycemic control. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of VDD among T2DM patients and to investigate its association with patients' characteristics and glycemic control in Jazan.

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Health systems globally are exploring new models of care to address the increasing demand for palliative, hospice, and end-of-life care. Yet few tools exist at the population level to explore "what if" scenarios and test, in a "cost avoidance environment," the impact of these new care models on policy, workforce, technology, and funding. This article introduces the application of scenario-based "what if" thinking and discrete event simulation in strategic planning for a not-for-profit hospice organization.

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Placental transport of vitamin D and other nutrients (e.g. amino acids, fats and glucose) to the fetus is sensitive to maternal and fetal nutritional cues.

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Background: The potential for emergence of antiviral drug resistance during influenza pandemics has raised great concern for public health. Widespread use of antiviral drugs is a significant factor in producing resistant strains. Recent studies show that some influenza viruses may gain antiviral drug resistance without a fitness penalty.

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The organic anion transporter OAT4 (SLC22A11) and organic anion transporting polypeptide OATP2B1 (SLCO2B1) are expressed in the basal membrane of the placental syncytiotrophoblast. These transporters mediate exchange whereby uptake of one organic anion is coupled to efflux of a counter-ion. In placenta, these exchangers mediate placental uptake of substrates for oestrogen synthesis as well as clearing waste products and xenobiotics from the fetal circulation.

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Background: Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) is a pathogen of multiple serogroups that is highly prevalent in many populations. Serogroups associated with invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in Canada, for example, include A, B, C, W-135, X and Y. IMD is a rare but serious outcome of Nm infection, and can be prevented with vaccines that target certain serogroups.

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Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest early nutrition has long-term effects on susceptibility to obesity, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Small and large animal models confirm the influence of different windows of sensitivity, from fetal to early postnatal life, on offspring phenotype. We showed previously that undernutrition in sheep either during the first month of gestation or immediately after weaning induces differential, sex-specific changes in adult metabolic and cardiovascular systems.

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The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, which represents a spectrum of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, continues to increase at an alarming rate in contemporary society. Inadequate responses of an individual to environmental challenges such as unbalanced diet or lack of physical exercise during their life course has been recognised to increase risk of this pathological condition. Recent evidence suggests that this may involve alterations in the settings of the circadian clock system, which consists of oscillating molecular pacemakers found not only in the hypothalamic region of the brain but also in most peripheral tissues, and of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis which regulates stress responses.

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The early-life environment affects risk of later metabolic disease, including glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and obesity. Changes in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathoadrenal function may underlie these disorders. To determine consequences of undernutrition in early gestation and/or immediately following weaning on HPA axis and sympathoadrenal function, 2- to 3-year-old Welsh Mountain ewes received 100% (C, n = 39) or 50% nutritional requirements (U, n = 41) from 1-31 days gestation, and 100% thereafter.

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The nutritional environment during development and even prior to conception may contribute to cardiovascular risk. In mature adult female sheep, we investigated the effect of preconceptional and periconceptional maternal nutritional restriction on the vascular reactivity of arteries from four vascular beds supplying the heart, thorax, kidney and hindlimb. Welsh Mountain ewes received 100% of nutrient requirements throughout gestation (control group, C, n = 18), or 50% of nutrient requirements for 30 days prior to conception (preconceptional group, PRE, n = 20) or for 15 days either side of conception (periconceptional group, PERI, n = 31) and 100% thereafter.

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In utero undernutrition in humans may result in cardiovascular (CV), metabolic, and growth adaptations. In sheep, maternal nutrient restriction during pregnancy, without effects on fetal or birth weight, results in altered CV control in the offspring. Adjustment of gestation length after undernutrition could be a strategy to enhance postnatal health/survival.

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The early life environment has long-term implications for the risk of developing cardiovascular (CV) disease in adulthood. Fetal responses to changes in maternal nutrition may be of immediate benefit to the fetus, but the long-term effects of these adaptations may prove detrimental if nutrition in postnatal life does not match that predicted by the fetus on the basis of its prenatal environment. We tested this predictive adaptive response hypothesis with respect to CV function in sheep.

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The early-life environment has implications for risk of adult-onset diseases, such as glucose intolerance, insulin insensitivity, and obesity, effects that may occur with or without reduced birth weight. We determined the consequences of nutrient restriction in early gestation and early postnatal life and their interactions on postnatal growth, body composition, and glucose handling. Ewes received 100% (C, n = 39) or 50% nutritional requirements (U, n = 41) from 1 to 31 days gestation and 100% thereafter.

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Preterm labour is the major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality in humans. The incidence is around 10% and the causes are often unknown. Consumption of dietary n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in western societies is increasing.

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Low birth weight is associated with altered adipose tissue deposition and regulation of leptin production. This study determined the effects of naturally occurring variations in birth weight in pigs on postnatal growth patterns, body fat depth and plasma leptin and other hormone concentrations. Low (< 1.

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Aims/hypothesis: We have previously demonstrated poor glucose tolerance in adult pigs of naturally occurring low birthweight. The aim of this study was to examine sensitivity to insulin in juvenile (3-month-old) and adult (12-month-old) pigs of low and high birthweight.

Methods: Low (<1.

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Tissue glucose-6-phosphatase (G6P) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) activities were investigated in sheep fetuses after experimental manipulation of thyroid hormone status. Increments in hepatic and renal G6P and PEPCK activities seen between 127-130 and 140-145 days of gestation (term, 145 +/- 2 days) were abolished when the normal prepartum rise in plasma triiodothyronine (T3), but not cortisol, was prevented by fetal thyroidectomy (TX). At 127-130 days, hepatic and renal G6P, and renal PEPCK, activities were similar in intact and TX fetuses; however, hepatic PEPCK was increased by TX.

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Dietary patterns that involve a decrease in fat and an increase in fruit and vegetable (FV) intake have been suggested to decrease cancer risks. In this study, intervention methods to selectively modify dietary fat and/or FV intakes were developed. Compliance to the diets and the effects on body weight are shown, because both of these dietary changes can impact on and be confounded by changes in energy intake.

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Programming of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during prenatal and early postnatal life may explain, in part, the association between low birth weight (BW) and the increased incidence of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in later life. This study examined the effect of natural variations in BW on HPA axis function in juvenile and adult pigs. Low (< 1.

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