1,912 results match your criteria: " University of Texas Health Science Center[Affiliation]"

Tumoral hypoxia correlates with worse outcomes in glioblastoma (GBM). While bevacizumab is routinely used to treat recurrent GBM, it may exacerbate hypoxia. Evofosfamide is a hypoxia-targeting prodrug being tested for recurrent GBM.

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Impact of Integrase inhibitors and tenofovir alafenamide on weight gain in people with HIV.

Curr Opin HIV AIDS

May 2021

Department of Infectious Diseases, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Purpose Of Review: Obesity is increasing in people with HIV (PWH). This review aims to summarise the recent evidence investigating the associations between the use of integrase inhibitors and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) with weight gain and the mechanisms by which this may occur. Understanding the role that antiretroviral therapies play in promoting weight gain is critical in making informed treatment decisions.

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Alcohol Binge Drinking Selectively Stimulates Protein S-Glutathionylation in Aorta and Liver of Mice.

Front Cardiovasc Med

March 2021

Vascular Biology Section, Evans Department of Medicine, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States.

Binge drinking has become the most common and deadly pattern of excessive alcohol use in the United States, especially among younger adults. It is closely related to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Oxidative stress as a result of ethanol metabolism is the primary pathogenic factor for alcohol-induced end organ injury, but the role of protein S-glutathionylation-a reversible oxidative modification of protein cysteine thiol groups that mediates cellular actions by oxidants-in binge drinking-associated cardiovascular disease has not been explored.

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Article Synopsis
  • Mice genetically heterogeneous from a specific cross showed a significant increase in male lifespan by 19% when fed a non-feminizing estrogen, 17-α-estradiol (17aE2), starting at 16 months and by 11% starting at 20 months.
  • Other treatments tested, including nicotinamide riboside and three others, did not show substantial lifespan benefits for the mice.
  • The study reinforces earlier findings about 17aE2, suggesting that it may offer important insights into sex-specific aging processes since it provided notable lifespan extensions even when dosing began later in life.
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Objectives: Fat quality and quantity may affect health similarly or differently. Fat quality can be assessed by measuring fat density on CT scan (greater density = smaller, higher quality adipocytes). We assessed the effects of tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing hormone analogue that reduces visceral fat (VAT) quantity in some people living with HIV (PWH), on fat density.

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Scaffold repurposing of fendiline: Identification of potent KRAS plasma membrane localization inhibitors.

Eur J Med Chem

May 2021

Chemical Biology Program, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, 77555, USA. Electronic address:

KRAS plays an essential role in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and survival. Mutated KRAS is a major driver of malignant transformation in multiple human cancers. We showed previously that fendiline (6) is an effective inhibitor of KRAS plasma membrane (PM) localization and function.

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Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly prevalent disabling condition among older adults, and treatment remains a challenge. Limited research has qualitatively examined late-life CLBP and its management. Study objective was to examine how older adults experience pain management approaches for CLBP.

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Early Postmarket Results with EmboTrap II Stent Retriever for Mechanical Thrombectomy: A Multicenter Experience.

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol

May 2021

From the Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology (A.S., V.M.S., Y.S., J.N.J., J.-K.B., P.K.), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Background And Purpose: EmboTrap II is a novel stent retriever with a dual-layer design and distal mesh designed for acute ischemic stroke emergent large-vessel occlusions. We present the first postmarket prospective multicenter experience with the EmboTrap II stent retriever.

Materials And Methods: A prospective registry of patients treated with EmboTrap II at 7 centers following FDA approval was maintained with baseline patient characteristics, treatment details, and clinical/radiographic follow-up.

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Background: The type 2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 promote not only atopic dermatitis (AD) but also the resolution of inflammation. How type 2 cytokines participate in the resolution of AD is poorly known.

Objective: Our aim was to determine the mechanisms and cell types governing skin inflammation, barrier dysfunction, and resolution of inflammation in a model of AD.

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Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first-line treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), yet their mechanisms of action are not fully understood and their therapeutic benefit varies among individuals. We used a targeted metabolomics approach utilizing a panel of 180 metabolites to gain insights into mechanisms of action and response to citalopram/escitalopram. Plasma samples from 136 participants with MDD enrolled into the Mayo Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomic Study (PGRN-AMPS) were profiled at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment.

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Article Synopsis
  • In 2008, guidelines were established for researching autophagy, which has since gained significant interest and new technologies, necessitating regular updates to monitoring methods across various organisms.
  • The new guidelines emphasize selecting appropriate techniques to evaluate autophagy while noting that no single method suits all situations; thus, a combination of methods is encouraged.
  • The document highlights that key proteins involved in autophagy also impact other cellular processes, suggesting genetic studies should focus on multiple autophagy-related genes to fully understand these pathways.
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Discriminative stimulus effects of carfentanil in rats discriminating fentanyl: Differential antagonism by naltrexone.

Drug Alcohol Depend

April 2021

Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive (Mail Code 7764), San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA; Addiction Research, Treatment and Training (ARTT) Center of Excellence, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA. Electronic address:

Background: A significant number of deaths caused by opioids involve fentanyl and/or one of its very potent analogs (e.g., carfentanil).

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Tumor cell-intrinsic programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) signals mediate immunopathologic effects in breast, colon, and ovarian cancers and in melanomas, but bladder cancer (BC) effects are unreported. We show here that BC cell-intrinsic PD-L1 signals in mouse MB49 and human RT4, UM-UC3, and UM-UC-14 BC cells regulate important pathologic pathways and processes, including effects not reported in other cancers. α-PD-L1 antibodies reduced BC cell proliferation in vitro, demonstrating direct signaling effects.

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Background: Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) homologs are ethanol metabolites used to identify and monitor alcohol drinking in humans. In this study, we measured levels of the 2 most abundant homologs, PEth 16:0/18:1 and PEth 16:0/18:2, in whole blood samples from rhesus macaque monkeys that drank ethanol daily ad libitum to assess the relationship between PEth levels and recent ethanol exposure in this animal model.

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from The Monkey Alcohol Tissue Research Resource.

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Objective: Childhood physical and sexual abuse are stressful experiences that may alter the emotional response to future stressors. Stress-related emotional function is supported by brain regions that include the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, and amygdala. The present study investigated whether childhood physical and sexual abuse are associated with stress-elicited brain activity in young adulthood.

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The 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and other structurally related synthetic cathinones, are popular alternatives to prototypical illicit psychostimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine. These drugs are often referred to as 'bath salts' and function either as cocaine-like inhibitors of monoamine uptake, or amphetamine-like substrates for dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin transporters. These studies used male Sprague-Dawley rats trained to discriminate MDPV from saline to evaluate the substitution profiles of structurally related synthetic cathinones, cocaine, and other direct-acting dopamine and noradrenergic receptor agonists in order to characterize the relative contributions of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin to the discriminative stimulus effects of MDPV.

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Elevated cAMP Protects against Diclofenac-Induced Toxicity in Primary Rat Hepatocytes: A Protective Effect Mediated by the Exchange Protein Directly Activated by cAMP/cAMP-Regulated Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors.

Mol Pharmacol

April 2021

Dept. Gastroenterology and Hepatology (F.A.A.M., M.B.-H., H.M.), Dept. Molecular Pharmacology, Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD, GRIAC (N.M., A.O., M.S.), Dept. Laboratory Medicine (M.B.-H., H.M.), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Inserm UMR-1048, Institut des Maladies Métaboliques et Cardiovasculaires, Univ Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France (F.L.); and Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, Texas Therapeutics Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas (X.C.)

Chronic consumption of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac may induce drug-induced liver injury (DILI). The mechanism of diclofenac-induced liver injury is partially elucidated and involves mitochondrial damage. Elevated cAMP protects hepatocytes against bile acid-induced injury.

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Background: Omega-3 (n-3) and omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may have different effects on cognitive health due to their anti- or pro-inflammatory properties.

Methods: We aimed to prospectively examine the relationships between n-3 and n-6 PUFA contents in serum phospholipids with incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD). We included 1264 non-demented participants aged 84 ± 3 years from the German Study on Ageing, Cognition, and Dementia in Primary Care Patients (AgeCoDe) multicenter-cohort study.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic that lacks effective therapeutic interventions. SARS-CoV-2 infects ACE2-expressing cells and gains cell entry through either direct plasma membrane fusion or endocytosis. Recent studies have shown that in addition to ACE2, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) also play an important role in SARS-CoV-2 cell attachment by serving as an attachment factor.

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Eosinophils are a myeloid cell subpopulation that mediates type 2 T helper cell immune responses. Unexpectedly, we identified a rapid accumulation of eosinophils in 22 human liver grafts after hepatic transplantation. In contrast, no eosinophils were detectable in healthy liver tissues before transplantation.

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Background: A systemic evaluation of immune cell infiltration patterns in experimental acute pancreatitis (AP) is lacking. Using multi-dimensional flow cytometry, this study profiled infiltrating immune cell types in multiple AP mouse models.

Methods: Three AP models were generated in C57BL/6 mice via cerulein (CAE) injection, alcohol and palmitoleic acid (EtOH + POA) injection, and alcohol diet feeding and cerulein (EtOH + CAE) injection.

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Proteasome inhibitor (PI) therapy has improved the survival of multiple myeloma (MM) patients. However, inevitably, primary or acquired resistance to PIs leads to disease progression; resistance mechanisms are unclear. Obesity is a risk factor for MM mortality.

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Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a type of breast cancer (BC) showing a high recurrence ratio and a low survival probability, which requires novel actionable molecular targets. The involvement of alternative splicing (AS) in TNBC promoted us to study the potential roles of AS events in the survival prognosis of TNBC patients.

Methods: A total of 150 TNBC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were involved in this work.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A genome-wide association study analyzed data from over 256,000 Europeans aged 60 and above, identifying 15 genetic loci linked to muscle weakness, 12 of which were previously unassociated with grip strength.
  • * The study suggests that muscle weakness may involve different biological mechanisms than continuous strength, implicating factors related to autoimmune diseases, arthritis, and aspects of the aging process.
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High-fat diet-induced upregulation of exosomal phosphatidylcholine contributes to insulin resistance.

Nat Commun

January 2021

James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA.

High-fat diet (HFD) decreases insulin sensitivity. How high-fat diet causes insulin resistance is largely unknown. Here, we show that lean mice become insulin resistant after being administered exosomes isolated from the feces of obese mice fed a HFD or from patients with type II diabetes.

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