Publications by authors named "W A Raymond"
Article Synopsis
- Riboswitches are noncoding RNA structures that bind to small molecules, altering their shape to regulate cell functions, and are mainly found in bacteria, fungi, and plants.
- Researchers used machine learning to analyze riboswitch sequences and 5'UTR mRNA sequences to identify potential new riboswitches, achieving high validation accuracy for their classifiers.
- They identified 436 mRNA sequences with potential riboswitch elements and created an online database to assist in further research on these riboswitches.
Mucus plugs occlude airways to obstruct airflow in asthma. Studies in patients and in mouse models show that mucus plugs occur in the context of type 2 inflammation, and studies in human airway epithelial cells (HAECs) show that IL-13-activated cells generate pathologic mucus independently of immune cells. To determine how HAECs autonomously generate pathologic mucus, we used a magnetic microwire rheometer to characterize the viscoelastic properties of mucus secreted under varying conditions.
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- The study investigates the effectiveness of eosinophil peroxidase (EPX) as a biomarker for inflammation in asthma patients over a 3-year period.
- Researchers compared serum and sputum EPX levels in 480 asthma participants with those in healthy controls, noting that abnormal EPX levels were common in asthma patients, even when blood eosinophils were within normal ranges.
- The findings suggest that while serum EPX reflects systemic inflammation, sputum EPX is a better indicator of airway inflammation; however, treatments like mepolizumab often fail to normalize airway EPX levels despite improving systemic levels.
A novel DNase assay reveals low DNase activity in severe asthma.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
June 2024
Secreted deoxyribonucleases (DNases), such as DNase-I and DNase-IL3, degrade extracellular DNA, and endogenous DNases have roles in resolving airway inflammation and guarding against autoimmune responses to nucleotides. Subsets of patients with asthma have high airway DNA levels, but information about DNase activity in health and in asthma is lacking. To characterize DNase activity in health and in asthma, we developed a novel kinetic assay using a Taqman probe sequence that is quickly cleaved by DNase-I to produce a large product signal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute lung injury (ALI) carries a high risk of mortality but has no established pharmacologic therapy. We previously found that experimental ALI occurs through natural killer (NK) cell NKG2D receptor activation and that the cognate human ligand, MICB, was associated with ALI after transplantation. To investigate the association of a common missense variant, , with ALI.
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