Toxicological Implications of Platinum Nanoparticle Exposure: Stimulation of Intracellular Stress, Inflammatory Response, and Akt Signaling In Vitro.

Due to their distinctive physicochemical properties, platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) have emerged as a material of interest for a number of biomedical therapeutics. However, in some instances NP exposure has been correlated to health and safety concerns, including cytotoxicity, activation of cellular stress, and modification to normal cell functionality. As PtNPs have induced differential cellular responses , the goal of this study was to further characterize the behavior and toxicological potential of PtNPs within a HepG2 liver model.

An insight into the microbiome of the Amblyomma maculatum (Acari: Ixodidae).

The aim of this study was to survey the bacterial diversity of Amblyomma maculatum Koch, 1844, and characterize its infection with Rickettsia parkeri. Pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA was used to determine the total bacterial population in A. maculatum.

Knockdown of selenocysteine-specific elongation factor in Amblyomma maculatum alters the pathogen burden of Rickettsia parkeri with epigenetic control by the Sin3 histone deacetylase corepressor complex.

Selenocysteine is the 21st naturally-occurring amino acid. Selenoproteins have diverse functions and many remain uncharacterized, but they are typically associated with antioxidant activity. The incorporation of selenocysteine into the nascent polypeptide chain recodes the TGA stop codon and this process depends upon a number of essential factors including the selenocysteine elongation factor (SEF).

Molecular characterization of tick salivary gland glutaminyl cyclase.

Glutaminyl cyclase (QC) catalyzes the cyclization of N-terminal glutamine residues into pyroglutamate. This post-translational modification extends the half-life of peptides and, in some cases, is essential in binding to their cognate receptor. Due to its potential role in the post-translational modification of tick neuropeptides, we report the molecular, biochemical and physiological characterization of salivary gland QC during the prolonged blood feeding of the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the gulf-coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum).

Uncovering latent deficits due to mild traumatic brain injury by using normobaric hypoxia stress.

Memory deficits and other cognitive symptoms frequently associated with mTBI are commonly thought to resolve within 7-10 days. This generalization is based principally on observations made in individuals who are in the unstressed environmental conditions typical of a clinic and so does not consider the impact of physiologic, environmental, or psychological stress. Normobaric hypoxic stress can be generated with normal mean sea level (MSL) air, which is about 21% oxygen (O2) and 78% nitrogen (N), by reducing the percentage of O2 and increasing the percentage of N so that the resultant mixed-gas has a partial pressure of O2 approximating that of specified altitudes.

Molecular characterization and functional significance of the Vti family of SNARE proteins in tick salivary glands.

Exocytosis involves membrane fusion between secretory vesicles and the plasma membrane. The Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment proteins (SNAPs) and their receptor proteins (SNAREs) interact to fuse vesicles with the membrane and trigger the release of their sialosecretome out of the tick salivary gland cells. In this study, we examined the functional significance of the Vti family of SNARE proteins of blood-feeding Amblyomma maculatum and Amblyomma americanum.

Evaluation of sumatriptan-naproxen in the treatment of acute migraine: a placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over study assessing cognitive function.

Objective: To assess the cognitive effects of acute migraine and the subsequent impact of acute treatment in a controlled setting.

Background: Cognitive dysfunction may be an associated symptom in patients with migraine with or without aura. The loss of cognitive efficiency in migraine may be disabling and is often under recognized.

Choice of a stable set of reference genes for qRT-PCR analysis in Amblyomma maculatum (Acari: Ixodidae).

Quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a widely used laboratory tool to quantify mRNA levels of target genes involved in various biological processes. The most commonly used method for analyzing qRT-PCR data are the normalizing technique where a housekeeping gene is used to determine the transcriptional regulation of the target gene. The choice of a reliable internal standard is pivotal for relative gene expression analysis to obtain reproducible results, especially when measuring small differences in transcriptional expression.

Laboratory-infected Ehrlichia chaffeensis female adult Amblyomma americanum salivary glands reveal differential gene expression.

Ticks are efficient ectoparasites that are able to steal blood, a rich source of nutrients, from their vertebrate hosts. The nymphal developmental stage of ticks plays an important role for pathogen transmission to human and other animal hosts. In this article, we describe a bloodmeal-based sex differentiation tool to generate adult female ticks infected with Ehrlichia chaffeensis to investigate vector-pathogen interactions (functional genomics and gene expression studies).

Two center, randomized pilot study of migraine prophylaxis comparing paradigms using pre-emptive frovatriptan or daily topiramate: research and clinical implications.

Objective: To compare the efficacy and clinical benefit of 2 paradigms of migraine prevention using pre-emptive frovatriptan and daily topiramate. The study compares the paradigms of pre-emptive use of frovatriptan, a drug approved for acute migraine, and the daily use of topiramate, a Federal Drug Administration-approved and -accepted standard for migraine prophylaxis.

Background: Traditionally, preventive treatment of migraine required daily medication.

A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study of sublingual feverfew and ginger (LipiGesic™ M) in the treatment of migraine.

Background: Therapeutic needs of migraineurs vary considerably from patient to patient and even attack to attack. Some attacks require high-end therapy, while other attacks have treatment needs that are less immediate. While triptans are considered the "gold standard" of migraine therapy, they do have limitations and many patients are seeking other therapeutic alternatives.

Delay activity in avian prefrontal cortex--sample code or reward code?

In the current study, we examined whether delay activity in the avian equivalent of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) represents a neural correlate of a to-be-remembered sample stimulus or an upcoming reward. Birds were trained on a directed forgetting paradigm in which sample stimuli (red and white) were either followed by a cue to remember (high-frequency tone) or a cue to forget (low-frequency tone). The task also incorporated a differential outcomes procedure in which a correct response on the memory test following a red (remember) sample was rewarded with food, but correct responses on the memory test following the white (remember) sample were not.