Publications by authors named "V J D'Souza"

Although antibody derivatives, such as Fabs and scFvs, have revolutionized the cellular imaging, quantification and tracking of proteins, analogous tools and strategies are unavailable for cellular RNA visualization. Here, we developed four synthetic anti-RNA scFv (sarabody) probes and their green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions and demonstrated their potential to visualize RNA in live mammalian cells. We expressed these sarabodies and sarabody-GFP modules, purified them as soluble proteins, characterized their binding interactions with their corresponding epitopes and finally employed two of the four modules, sara1-GFP and sara1c-GFP, to visualize a target messenger RNA in live U2OS cells.

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Recent years have seen significant positive changes and developments in oral health-related policy and data on oral health and oral health care in Canada. Simultaneously, on the international stage, the momentum for oral health and related research continues to build. These changes have led to an initiative to create Canada's first National Oral Health Research Strategy (NOHRS), which was recently published by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (Allison and Rock 2024).

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Background: In India, Non-Degree Allopathic Providers (NDAPs), who do not have formal training in allopathic medicine, play a prominent role in basic healthcare delivery in both rural areas and urban informal settlements. Often recognized as providers of 'first contact' care for minor acute ailments, there is little information regarding the roles they play in providing services for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In this study, we explore the roles played by NDAPs in diagnosing and managing two NCDs-diabetes and hypertension-in urban informal settlements of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

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Objectives: To 1) examine the willingness of residents to undertake shared decision-making and 2) explore whether the willingness to engage in shared decision-making is influenced by the perceived stakes of a clinical situation.

Methods: Sequential mixed methods design. Phase One: Family Medicine residents completed IncorpoRATE, a seven-item measure of clinician willingness to engage in shared decision making.

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Objectives: Literature suggests that a high-fat diet (HFD) potentially increases the risk of chemical/drug-induced toxicity after an acute overdose. Drug/chemical-induced hepatotoxicity has been well studied, and the mechanism that regulates this toxicity has been extensively examined using different experimental animal models. Our study focuses on drug-induced hepatotoxicity in HFD-fed female Balb/C mice.

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