Tauopathies are a category of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the presence of abnormal tau protein-containing neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). NFTs are universally observed in aging, occurring with or without the concomitant accumulation of amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) in plaques that typifies Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common tauopathy. Primary age-related tauopathy (PART) is an Aβ-independent process that affects the medial temporal lobe in both cognitively normal and impaired subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is challenging at all stages due to variable symptomatology, comorbidities, and mimicking conditions. Postmortem assessment remains the gold standard for a definitive diagnosis. While it is well recognized that PD manifests pathologically in the central nervous system with aggregation of α-synuclein as Lewy bodies and neurites, similar Lewy-type synucleinopathy (LTS) is additionally found in the peripheral nervous system that may be useful as an antemortem biomarker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to validate a multiplex proteomic assay for the identification of high-specificity protein biomarkers by multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for the accurate, reliable, and confirmatory identification of bodily fluids commonly encountered in a forensic context. This includes the identification of peripheral blood, semen, saliva, urine, and vaginal/menstrual fluid. The assay is able to efficiently identify pure or mixed stains through the identification of target peptide fragments originating from tissue-specific proteins including: uromodulin from urine; prostatic acid phosphatase, prostate specific antigen and semenogelin-II for semen; statherin, submaxillary gland androgen-regulated protein 3B and amylase for saliva; cornulin, martrigel-induced gene C4 protein, suprabasin and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin for vaginal/menstrual fluid; and alpha-1 antitrypsin, hemopexin, and hemoglobin subunit beta for peripheral blood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccumulation of abnormal tau in neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) occurs in Alzheimer disease (AD) and a spectrum of tauopathies. These tauopathies have diverse and overlapping morphological phenotypes that obscure classification and quantitative assessments. Recently, powerful machine learning-based approaches have emerged, allowing the recognition and quantification of pathological changes from digital images.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2009
In a search for more effective anti-diabetic treatment, we used a process coupling low-affinity biochemical screening with high-throughput co-crystallography in the design of a series of compounds that selectively modulate the activities of all three peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), PPARalpha, PPARgamma, and PPARdelta. Transcriptional transactivation assays were used to select compounds from this chemical series with a bias toward partial agonism toward PPARgamma, to circumvent the clinically observed side effects of full PPARgamma agonists. Co-crystallographic characterization of the lead molecule, indeglitazar, in complex with each of the 3 PPARs revealed the structural basis for its PPAR pan-activity and its partial agonistic response toward PPARgamma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Macaques are used in cardiovascular and metabolic research. We determined echocardiographic-derived reference values of left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function in healthy adult bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata).
Methods: Transthoracic echocardiography was performed during ketamine sedation in 83 (67% female) healthy monkeys (age 7-26 years).
Background: Until now no technology has been available to study energy metabolism in monkeys. The objective of this study was to determine daily energy expenditures (EE) and respiratory quotients (RQ) in female monkeys of various body weights and ages.
Methods: 16 socially reared Bonnet Macaque female monkeys [5.
Increased tissue factor (TF) expression is observed in many types of cancer, associated with more aggressive disease, and in thrombosis. The mechanism by which TF promotes tumor growth remains unclear. Anticoagulation has been shown to result in a trend toward improved survival; no direct antitumor effect has been shown in cancer patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Tissue Factor (TF) expression is observed in many types of cancer, associated with more aggressive disease, and thrombosis. Alternatively-spliced human tissue factor (asHTF) has recently been identified in which exon 5 is deleted. asHTF is soluble due to the substitution of the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of exon 6 with a unique COOH-terminal domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) is a chaperone implicated as an independent predictor of clinical outcome in prostate cancer. Our aim was to characterize changes in Hsp27 after androgen withdrawal and during androgen-independent progression in prostate xenografts and human prostate cancer to assess the functional significance of these changes using antisense inhibition of Hsp27. A tissue microarray was used to measure changes in Hsp27 protein expression in 232 specimens from hormone naive and posthormone-treated cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We characterized relapse patterns in patients with sporadic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following radical and partial nephrectomy, and developed surveillance guidelines.
Materials And Methods: Between 1989 and 2000, 495 patients underwent nephrectomy for RCC at 1 of 5 Canadian referral centers. Median followup was 42 months.