Publications by authors named "V R Fowler"

Mammalian red blood cells are generated via a terminal erythroid differentiation pathway culminating in cell polarization and enucleation. Actin filament polymerization is critical for enucleation, but the molecular regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. We utilized publicly available RNA-seq and proteomics datasets to mine for actin-binding proteins and actin-nucleation factors differentially expressed during human erythroid differentiation and discovered that a focal adhesion protein-Tensin-1-dramatically increases in expression late in differentiation.

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Actin is an essential component of the cytoskeleton in every eukaryotic cell. Cytoplasmic β-and γ-actin are over 99% identical to each other at the protein level, but are encoded by different genes and play distinct roles in vivo. Blood cells, especially red blood cells (RBC), contain almost exclusively β-actin, and it has been generally assumed that this bias is dictated by unique suitability of β-actin for RBC cytoskeleton function due to its specific amino acid sequence.

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Background: Despite the global public health threat posed by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacter spp., clinical and molecular epidemiological studies on international isolates remain scarce. Historically, the taxonomy of Enterobacter has been challenging, limiting our understanding of the clinical characteristics and outcomes of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter spp.

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Osteocytes, the most abundant bone cells, form an extensive cellular network via interconnecting dendrites. Like neurons in the brain, the long-lived osteocytes perceive mechanical and biological inputs and signal to other effector cells, leading to the homeostasis and turnover of bone tissues. Despite the appreciation of osteocytes' vital roles in bone biology, the initiation, growth, maintenance, and eventual degradation of osteocyte dendrites are poorly understood due to their full encasement by mineralized matrix.

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Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has been associated with over three hundred thousand annual deaths globally. It is resistant to most available antibiotics and associated with high morbidity and mortality. No global consensus currently exists for treatment strategies that balance safety and efficacy because of heterogeneity of treatment regimens in current clinical practice and scarcity of large-scale controlled studies arising from difficulties in establishing robust clinical outcomes.

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