Enhanced T cell responses to IL-6 in type 1 diabetes are associated with early clinical disease and increased IL-6 receptor expression.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a key pathogenic cytokine in multiple autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, suggesting that dysregulation of the IL-6 pathway may be a common feature of autoimmunity. The role of IL-6 in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is not well understood. We show that signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and STAT1 responses to IL-6 are significantly enhanced in CD4 and CD8 T cells from individuals with T1D compared to healthy controls.

Development of the complex general linear model in the Fourier domain: application to fMRI multiple input-output evoked responses for single subjects.

A linear time-invariant model based on statistical time series analysis in the Fourier domain for single subjects is further developed and applied to functional MRI (fMRI) blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) multivariate data. This methodology was originally developed to analyze multiple stimulus input evoked response BOLD data. However, to analyze clinical data generated using a repeated measures experimental design, the model has been extended to handle multivariate time series data and demonstrated on control and alcoholic subjects taken from data previously analyzed in the temporal domain.

Modeling adaptive regulatory T-cell dynamics during early HIV infection.

Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) are a subset of CD4(+) T-cells that have been found to suppress the immune response. During HIV viral infection, Treg activity has been observed to have both beneficial and deleterious effects on patient recovery; however, the extent to which this is regulated is poorly understood. We hypothesize that this dichotomy in behavior is attributed to Treg dynamics changing over the course of infection through the proliferation of an 'adaptive' Treg population which targets HIV-specific immune responses.

Dynamic Stress Factor (DySF): A Significant Predictor of Severe Hypoglycemic Events in Children with Type 1 Diabetes.

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is the current standard used in the clinical treatment of patients with diabetes. However, it has been shown that patients with similar HbA1c values may have widely different fluctuations in blood glucose values over the same period of time, including time spent in hyper- and/or hypo-glycemia. Hence, there exists a need for quantitative measures that can supplement HbA1c in managing patients with diabetes.

Changes in atherogenic dyslipidemia induced by carbohydrate restriction in men are dependent on dietary protein source.

Previous studies have shown that multiple features of atherogenic dyslipidemia are improved by replacement of dietary carbohydrate with mixed sources of protein and that these lipid and lipoprotein changes are independent of dietary saturated fat content. Because epidemiological evidence suggests that red meat intake may adversely affect cardiovascular disease risk, we tested the effects of replacing dietary carbohydrate with beef protein in the context of high- vs. low-saturated fat intake in 40 healthy men.