Background: Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that has a wide range of motor symptoms, such as tremor. Tremors are involuntary movements that occur in rhythmic oscillations and are typically categorized into rest tremor or action tremor. Action tremor occurs during voluntary movements and is a debilitating symptom of PD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative disease that involves dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Heart rate variability (HRV) is a valid and noninvasive measure for ANS dysfunction, yet no study has characterized HRV response to exercise in people with HD.
Objective: Characterize HRV response to exercise in individuals with HD and explore its implications for exercise prescription and cardiac dysautonomia mechanisms.
Background: The ability to objectively measure spatiotemporal metrics within individuals post-stroke is integral to plan appropriate intervention, track recovery, and ultimately improve efficacy of rehabilitation programs. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide a means to systematically collect gait-specific metrics that could not otherwise be obtained from clinical outcomes. However, the use of IMUs to measure spatiotemporal parameters in stroke survivors has yet to be validated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Postural control impairments begin early in Huntington's disease yet measures most sensitive to progression have not been identified. The aims of this study were to: 1) evaluate postural control and gait in people with and without Huntington's disease using wearable sensors; and 2) identify measures related to diagnosis and clinical severity.
Methods: 43 individuals with Huntington's disease and 15 age-matched peers performed standing with feet together and feet apart, sitting, and walking with wearable inertial sensors.
Background: Understanding the contribution of anticipatory postural adjustments (APA) to walking ability in individuals with Huntington's disease (HD) may provide insight into motor planning and the functional consequences of HD-specific cortical-basal ganglia pathway dysfunctions.
Research Question: How do inertial measurement unit (IMU)-derived APAs and first step parameters differ between individuals with HD and non-HD peers under no load and cognitive load conditions, and what is their relationship to gait speed and clinical measures?
Methods: 33 individuals with manifest HD and 15 non-HD peers wore three Opal APDM IMUs during a 14-meter walk under no load and cognitive load conditions. APA acceleration amplitudes, APA durations, first step range of motion (ROM), and first step durations were compared, along with their relationship to gait speed.
Objectives: To investigate impact of periodontal status on quality of life (QoL) in type-1 (T1D) and type-2 (T2D) diabetes patients pre- and post-periodontal treatment using the Well-being Questionnaire 12 (W-BQ12) and Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life-19 (ADDQoL-19).
Methods: W-BQ12 and ADDQoL-19 were self-completed by 56 T1D and 77 T2D patients at baseline and by those with periodontitis 3 and 6-months after therapy.
Results: At baseline, T1D patients had significantly higher general W-BQ12 [Median (IQR); 24.
IL-10 is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine capable of suppressing a number of proinflammatory signals associated with intestinal inflammatory diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Clinical use of human IL-10 (hIL-10) has been limited by anemia and thrombocytopenia following systemic injection, side effects that might be eliminated by a gut-restricted distribution. We have identified a transcytosis pathway used by cholix, an exotoxin secreted by nonpandemic forms of the intestinal pathogen A nontoxic fragment of the first 386 aa of cholix was genetically fused to hIL-10 to produce recombinant AMT-101.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndophytes confer unique ecological advantages to their host plants. In this study, we have characterized the diversity of endophytic consortia associated with the GPU-28 (GPU) and Udurumallige (UM) finger millet varieties, which are resistant and susceptible to the blast disease, respectively. Whole genome metagenome sequencing of GPU and UM helped to identify 1029 species (includes obligate endophytes) of microbiota.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe high-grade pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC), remain among the most deadly malignancies. Therapies that effectively target and kill tumor-initiating cells (TICs) in these cancers should translate to improved patient survival. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumors serve as excellent models to study tumor biology and characterize TICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComplement Ther Clin Pract
May 2015
Previous research has shown the vast mental and physical health benefits associated with yoga. Yoga practice can be divided into subcategories that include posture-holding exercise (asana), breathing (pranayama, Kriya), and meditation (Sahaj) practice. Studies measuring mental health outcomes have shown decreases in anxiety, and increases in cognitive performance after yoga interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine if there are differences in outcome scores if the Oral Health Impact Profile-49 (OHIP-49) is delivered by two different modes of administration (manual-self complete versus telephone interview).
Methods: Patients with chronic periodontitis (n=83, 54% females and 46% males, mean age 49.1±9.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
March 2010
Centromere-associated protein-E (CENP-E) is a kinetochore-associated mitotic kinesin that is thought to function as the key receptor responsible for mitotic checkpoint signal transduction after interaction with spindle microtubules. We have identified GSK923295, an allosteric inhibitor of CENP-E kinesin motor ATPase activity, and mapped the inhibitor binding site to a region similar to that bound by loop-5 inhibitors of the kinesin KSP/Eg5. Unlike these KSP inhibitors, which block release of ADP and destabilize motor-microtubule interaction, GSK923295 inhibited release of inorganic phosphate and stabilized CENP-E motor domain interaction with microtubules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe previously showed that activation of the small GTPase Cdc42 promotes breast cell migration on a collagen matrix. Here we further define the signaling pathways that drive this response and show that Cdc42-mediated migration relies on the adaptor molecule p130(Cas). Activated Cdc42 enhanced p130(Cas) phosphorylation and its binding to Crk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug discovery is in need of technologies that enable investigators to develop cell-based assays that accurately reflect the functional consequence of small molecule intervention on biological processes. Here, we describe a strategy that uses both one-arm homologous recombination and the beta-lactamase (BLA) reporter system, a sensitive and robust transcriptional reporter for gene activation. We demonstrate that this powerful approach can be utilized for developing cell-based assays for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in HEK293 somatic cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreast epithelial cells differentiate into tubules when cultured in floating three-dimensional (3D) collagen gels, but not when the cells are cultured in the same collagen matrix that is attached to the culture dish. These observations suggest that the biophysical properties of collagenous matrices regulate epithelial differentiation, but the mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. Tubulogenesis required the contraction of floating collagen gels through Rho and ROCK-mediated contractility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF