Publications by authors named "Theresa Frank"

Introduction: Non-adherence to recommended secondary preventive anticoagulation in stroke patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common phenomenon although the introduction of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has simplified anticoagulation management for physicians as well as for patients.

Methods: We examined the adherence of secondary preventive anticoagulation in AF patients after re-integration in their social environment 6 to 12 weeks after stroke unit and rehabilitation clinic treatment and analyzed for predictors for adherence and non-adherence. We conducted a telephone survey in consecutive patients treated between January 2013 and December 2021 at our institutional stroke unit with an acute cerebrovascular ischemic event and we analyzed discharge letters of rehabilitation clinics of those patients not anticoagulated at follow-up.

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Introduction: Adult attachment is commonly associated with emotion regulation. Less is known about the nonverbal embodiment of adult attachment.

Objective: We hypothesized that dismissing attachment is related to less movement and fewer facial expressions of emotions, whereas preoccupied attachment is associated with more negative emotional facial expressions.

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Cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) have developed multiple diverse strategies to ensure their replicative success and to evade immune recognition. Given the fact that G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are key regulators of numerous cellular processes and modify a variety of signaling pathways, it is not surprising that CMVs and other herpesviruses have hijacked mammalian GPCRs during their coevolution. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encodes for four viral GPCR homologues (vGPCRs), termed US27, US28, UL33, and UL78.

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Based on the previously published pyrazolopyridine-based hit compound for which negative allosteric modulation of both CXCR3 and CXCR4 receptors was disclosed, we designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated a set of novel, not only negative, but also positive allosteric modulators with preserved pyrazolopyridine core. Compound 9e is a dual negative modulator, inhibiting G protein activity of both receptors. For CXCR4 receptor para-substituted aromatic group of compounds distinguishes between negative and positive modulation.

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Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a major human pathogen and is associated with severe pathology, such as life-threatening courses of infection in immunocompromised individuals and neonates. Currently, antiviral therapy is still hampered by a considerable toxicity of the available drugs and induction of viral resistance. Recently, we and others reported the very potent antiviral activity of the broad antiinfective drug artesunate in vitro and in vivo.

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Background: Some herpesviruses like human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encode viral G protein-coupled receptors that cause reprogramming of cell signaling to facilitate dissemination of the virus, prevent immune surveillance and establish life-long latency. Human GPCRs are known to function in complex signaling networks involving direct physical interactions as well as indirect crosstalk of orthogonal signaling networks. The human chemokine receptor CXCR4 is expressed on hematopoietic stem cells, leukocytes, endothelial and epithelial cells, which are infected by HCMV or display reservoirs of latency.

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In this work we report a design, synthesis, and detailed functional characterization of unique strongly biased allosteric agonists of CXCR3 that contain tetrahydroisoquinoline carboxamide cores. Compound 11 (FAUC1036) is the first strongly biased allosteric agonist of CXCR3 that selectively induces weak chemotaxis and leads to receptor internalization and the β-arrestin 2 recruitment with potency comparable to that of the chemokine CXCL11 without any activation of G proteins. A subtle structural change (addition of a methoxy group, 14 (FAUC1104)) led to a contrasting biased allosteric partial agonist that activated solely G proteins, induced chemotaxis, but failed to induce receptor internalization or β-arrestin 2 recruitment.

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