Publications by authors named "Springer M"
Nutrient sensors allow cells to adapt their metabolisms to match nutrient availability by regulating metabolic pathway expression. Many such sensors are cytosolic receptors that measure intracellular nutrient concentrations. One might expect that inducing the metabolic pathway that degrades a nutrient would reduce intracellular nutrient levels, destabilizing induction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLoss of Sult1a1 reduces body weight and increases browning of white adipose tissue.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)
December 2024
Background And Objective: Overweight and obesity affects millions of individuals worldwide and consequently represents a major public health concern. Individuals living with overweight and obesity have difficulty maintaining a low body weight due to known physiological mechanisms which prevent further weight loss and drive weight regain. In contrast, mechanisms which promote low body weight maintenance receive less attention and are largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly life stress (ELS) can negatively impact health, increasing the risk of stress-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Importantly, PTSD disproportionately affects women, emphasizing the critical need to explore how sex differences influence the genetic and metabolic neurobiological pathways underlying trauma-related behaviors. This study uses the limited bedding and nesting (LBN) paradigm to model ELS and investigate its sex-specific effects on fear memory formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Households are key locations for the spread of SARS-CoV-2, yet there's limited understanding of how the virus transmits, especially with different variants and prior immunity.
- A study in the Boston area from March to July 2022 tracked 33 households, revealing that 58% of them reported a secondary case of COVID-19, with a secondary attack rate (SAR) of 39%.
- Results showed that household contacts are at significant risk of infection within two weeks of exposure, influenced not only by the original infected person but also by higher community transmission rates.
Article Synopsis
- The co-chaperone FKBP51, linked to the FKBP5 gene, is a significant psychiatric risk factor for anxiety and depression, particularly affecting the stress response.
- Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is also important in regulating stress, and both FKBP51 and CRH work together to influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
- Research shows that mice lacking FKBP51 in CRH-expressing neurons display increased stress effects, emphasizing the need for specific research on different cell types to develop personalized approaches for improving stress resilience and mental health.
Screening log: Challenges in community patient recruitment for gynecologic oncology clinical trials.
Contemp Clin Trials Commun
December 2024
Background: Clinical trial participation can improve overall survival and mitigate healthcare disparities for gynecologic cancer patients in low-volume community centers. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a centrally regulated but administratively decentralized electronic screening log system to identify eligible patients across a large catchment area for a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center's open clinical trials.
Methods: Electronic screening log data collected between 2014 and 2021 from ten community partner sites in a single NCI-designated cancer center's catchment area were reviewed retrospectively.
Objective: To compare changes in cognitive trajectories after stroke between younger (18-64) and older (65+) adults, accounting for pre-stroke cognitive trajectories.
Materials And Methods: Pooled cohort study using individual participant data from 3 US cohorts (1971-2019), the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study (ARIC), Framingham Offspring Study (FOS), and REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke Study (REGARDS). Linear mixed effect models evaluated the association between age and the initial change (intercept) and rate of change (slope) in cognition after compared to before stroke.
Article Synopsis
- Mammalian cardiac troponin I (cTnI) has an amino-terminal extension with serine targets that get phosphorylated to improve heart relaxation during increased heart activity.
- Researchers found that some species like shrews and moles evolved to mimic this phosphorylation process, allowing them to maintain extremely high resting heart rates.
- The study suggests that humans could improve heart function in heart failure by considering the removal of a weakly spliced exon found in cTnI, which has implications for heart health.
A Mathematical Model-Derived Disposition Index Without Insulin Validated in Youth with Obesity.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
August 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to validate a new mathematical model for measuring insulin sensitivity and β-cell function, as traditional methods are impractical for large-scale research.
- The researchers used data from previous studies involving 130 obese youths to compare their model-derived indices against standard clamp measurements and other indices.
- The findings indicated that the new model (mDI-woI) was more effective at detecting insulin resistance and prediabetes than traditional methods, suggesting it could serve as a cost-effective tool for large epidemiological studies.
Background: High blood pressure (BP) increases recurrent stroke risk.
Methods And Results: We assessed hypertension prevalence, treatment, control, medication adherence, and predictors of uncontrolled BP 90 days after ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke among 561 Mexican American and non-Hispanic White (NHW) survivors of stroke from the BASIC (Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi) cohort from 2011 to 2014. Uncontrolled BP was defined as average BP ≥140/90 mm Hg at 90 days poststroke.
Background: Stroke survivors believe neighborhood resources such as community centers are beneficial; however, little is known about the influence of these resources on stroke outcomes. We evaluated whether residing in neighborhoods with greater resource density is associated with favorable post-stroke outcomes.
Methods And Results: We included Mexican American and non-Hispanic White stroke survivors from the Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi project (2009-2019).
Background: It is unclear how post-stroke cognitive trajectories differ by stroke type and ischemic stroke subtype. We studied associations between stroke types (ischemic, hemorrhagic), ischemic stroke subtypes (cardioembolic, large artery atherosclerotic, lacunar/small vessel, cryptogenic/other determined etiology), and post-stroke cognitive decline.
Methods: This pooled cohort analysis from four US cohort studies (1971-2019) identified 1,143 dementia-free individuals with acute stroke during follow-up: 1,061 (92.
Article Synopsis
- Adolescence is a time marked by higher rates of risk-taking behaviors, including alcohol and drug use, which are linked to future alcohol use disorders in adults.
- Despite many studies on this topic, there’s a lack of preclinical research isolating the biological effects of adolescent drinking from social and environmental influences, resulting in mixed findings.
- In a series of studies using different rodent models across multiple labs, researchers found no significant increase in adult alcohol consumption after adolescent drinking, suggesting that human risks may stem from factors not present in these animal studies.
Importance: Stroke risk varies by systolic blood pressure (SBP), race, and ethnicity. The association between cumulative mean SBP and incident stroke type is unclear, and whether this association differs by race and ethnicity remains unknown.
Objective: To examine the association between cumulative mean SBP and first incident stroke among 3 major stroke types-ischemic stroke (IS), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)-and explore how these associations vary by race and ethnicity.
Background: Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) can bolster viral genomic surveillance efforts; however, approaches to maximise and standardise pathogen genome recovery from RDTs remain underdeveloped. We aimed to systematically optimise the elution of genetic material from RDT components and to evaluate the efficacy of RDT sequencing for outbreak investigation.
Methods: In this laboratory and cohort-based study we seeded RDTs with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 to optimise the elution of genomic material from RDT lateral flow strips.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the genetic and brain features linked to vocal learning in mammals by comparing data from the Egyptian fruit bat and 215 other placental mammals.* -
- Researchers found that certain proteins evolve more slowly in vocal learners and identified a specific brain region responsible for vocal motor control in the Egyptian fruit bat.* -
- Using machine learning, they uncovered 50 regulatory elements that are associated with vocal learning, suggesting that losses in these elements played a role in the evolution of vocal learning in mammals.*
Article Synopsis
- Toothed whales (Odontoceti) display a range of tooth and enamel types linked to their feeding habits, from complete teeth in dolphins to enamel-less teeth in some beaked whales.
- Previous research found mutations in genes responsible for enamel production in odontocetes, but the relationship between enamel complexity and genetic selection pressure remains unclear.
- This study analyzed enamel-specific gene sequences in 62 odontocete species, revealing fewer inactivating mutations in species with complex enamel, while those with simpler enamel exhibited higher mutation rates.
Lanthanides, a series of 15 f-block elements, are crucial in modern technology, and their purification by conventional chemical means comes at a significant environmental cost. Synthetic biology offers promising solutions. However, progress in developing synthetic biology approaches is bottlenecked because it is challenging to measure lanthanide binding with current biochemical tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Households are a major setting for SARS-CoV-2 infections, but there remains a lack of knowledge regarding the dynamics of viral transmission, particularly in the setting of widespread pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 immunity and evolving variants.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, case-ascertained household transmission study in the greater Boston area in March-July 2022. Anterior nasal swabs, along with clinical and demographic data, were collected for 14 days.
Article Synopsis
- Nine soluble ligands, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-11 (IL-11), share the glycoprotein-130 (gp130) receptor, forming the IL-6 family of cytokines.
- Several members of this family, such as cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), may play key roles in cancer development.
- Understanding these cytokines and their pathways could lead to targeted therapies that either inhibit or enhance their activity, potentially improving cancer treatment outcomes.