Publications by authors named "Robin Scaife"

Background: Post-operative urinary retention (POUR) is a common complication after colorectal surgery. Enhanced recovery pathways (ERP) typically include early catheter removal but may place patients at risk for POUR.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort analysis of patients undergoing colorectal surgery at a single institution between April 2014 and November 2017.

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Pathological bone destruction (osteolysis) is a hallmark of many bone diseases including tumor metastasis to bone, locally osteolytic giant cell tumor (GCT) of bone, and Paget's disease. Paclitaxel is frequently prescribed in the treatment of several malignant tumors where it has been shown to exert beneficial effects on bone lesions. However, the mechanism(s) through which paclitaxel regulates osteoclast formation and function remain ill defined.

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Hemopoietic lineage switch (Hls) 5 and 7 were originally isolated as genes up-regulated during an erythroid-to-myeloid lineage switch. We have shown previously that Hls7/Mlf1 imposes a monoblastoid phenotype on erythroleukemic cells. Here we show that Hls5 impedes erythroid maturation by restricting proliferation and inhibiting hemoglobin synthesis; however, Hls5 does not influence the morphology of erythroid cells.

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Microtubule drugs, which block cell cycle progression through mitosis, have seen widespread use in cancer chemotherapies. Although microtubules are subject to regulation by signal transduction mechanisms, their pharmacological modulation has so far relied on compounds that bind to the tubulin subunit. A new microtubule pharmacophore, diphenyleneiodonium, causing disassembly of the microtubule cytoskeleton is described here.

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Because cell proliferation is subject to checkpoint-mediated regulation of the cell cycle, pharmacophores that target cell cycle checkpoints have been used clinically to treat human hyperproliferative disorders. It is shown here that the flavoprotein inhibitor diphenyleneiodionium can block cell proliferation by targeting of cell cycle checkpoints. Brief exposure of mitotically arrested cells to diphenyleneiodonium induces a loss of the mitotic cell morphology, and this corresponds with a decrease in the levels of the mitotic markers MPM2 and phospho-histone H3, as well as a loss of centrosome maturation, spindle disassembly, and redistribution of the chromatin remodeling helicase ATRX.

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Because proliferation of eukaryotic cells requires cell cycle-regulated chromatid separation by the mitotic spindle, it is subject to regulation by mitotic checkpoints. To determine the mechanism of the antiproliferative activity of the flavoprotein-specific inhibitor diphenyleneiodonium (DPI), I have examined its effect on the cell cycle and mitosis. Similar to paclitaxel, exposure to DPI causes an accumulation of cells with a 4N DNA content.

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In living organisms, Ca2+ signalling is central to cell physiology. The Ca2+ chelator 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) has been widely used as a probe to test the role of calcium in a large variety of cell functions. Here we show that in most cell types BAPTA has a potent actin and microtubule depolymerizing activity and that this activity is completely independent of Ca2+ chelation.

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A number of key cellular functions, such as morphological differentiation and cell motility, are closely associated with changes in cytoskeletal dynamics. Many of the principal signaling components involved in actin cytoskeletal dynamics have been identified, and these have been shown to be critically involved in cell motility. In contrast, signaling to microtubules remains relatively uncharacterized, and the importance of signaling pathways in modulation of microtubule dynamics has so far not been established clearly.

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The unique tyrosine kinase binding (TKB) domain of Cbl targets phosphorylated tyrosines on activated protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs); this targeting is considered essential for Cbl proteins to negatively regulate PTKs. Here, a loss-of-function mutation (G304E) in the c-Cbl TKB domain, first identified in Caenorhabditis elegans, was introduced into a mouse and its effects in thymocytes and T cells were studied. In marked contrast to the c-Cbl knockout mouse, we found no evidence of enhanced activity of the ZAP-70 PTK in thymocytes from the TKB domain mutant mouse.

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The induction of protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathways is a principal mechanism for promoting cellular activation. Biochemical and genetic analyses have implicated the multi-adaptor proto-oncogene protein Cbl as a key negative regulator of activated protein tyrosine kinases. By inhibiting the function of Cbl as a multi-domain adaptor protein, through expression of a truncated form (480-Cbl), we demonstrate that Cbl is a potent negative regulator of actin assembly in response to receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) activation.

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