Type 2 diabetes presents a public health crisis and a global pandemic. Successful management of diabetes requires engagement in a daily regimen of self-care behaviors to achieve optimal glycemic control and to reduce the severity of...
Na,K-ATPase is essential for the regulation of cytoplasmic Na+ and K+ levels in lens cells. Insufficient Na,K-ATPase activity is associated with cataract formation. Based on earlier studies in which Src-tyrosine kinase inhibitors were found to...
Sleep apnea syndromes; Overweight persons--Health and hygiene; Obesity
Overweight and obesity is a major contributing factor in an estimated 70% of all obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) cases. Approximately five percent of the adult population has OSA, and the numbers continue to soar with the rising prevalence of...
Several technical and economic obstacles currently hamper the industrial development of ethanol from biomass. One of the key bottlenecks is the slow kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, and the subsequent rate reduction as the...
Human arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT) is a phase II cytosolic enzyme that occurs as two isozymes, NAT1 and NAT2. This family of polymorphic enzymes catalyzes the detoxification and/or activation of many aromatic and heterocyclic amine drugs and...
Guanine-rich oligonucleotides (GROs) are being developed as a novel anticancer agents. GROs exhibit potent antiproliferative properties against several malignant cell lines and in established in vivo tumor models. In a recent Phase I clinical trial...
20S proteasome, essential component of protein degradation mechanism, is important to maintain homeostasis. Its malfunctions have been associated with several pathological conditions. This study presents an extensive study of murine cardiac 20S...
Rising concerns about dependency on fossil fuels in the 21st century has sparked a growth in research for renewable energy sources. One renewable energy production process of interest is the reduction of cellulose into fermentable sugars by means...
Hepatitis C virus--Research; Interferon--Therapeutic use; Adenosylmethionine
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of chronic liver disease in the United States and is a huge burden on the US healthcare system. The FDA-approved traditional standard of care for HCV is pegylated interferon-alpha (lFNα) combined...
Hypoxia is characterized by an inadequate oxygen supply to the tissues in
proportion to their metabolic needs, and is a primary factor in traumatic CNS
injury, strokes, cardiopulmonary diseases, and obstructive sleep apnea. The
cAMP-dependent...
Griffithsin (GRFT) is a carbohydrate binding protein derived from the red alga Griffithisia sp. that has been shown to effectively interfere with the cellular attachment and infectivity of a number of viruses, including HIV-1. However, it is...
This thesis begins by reviewing human N-acetyltransferases (Chapter I), then outlines experiments involving human hepatocytes and rat N-acetyltransferases (Chapters II-V). These experiments facilitated the development of a dissertation project...
Oxidative stress-induced immunosuppression could be due to a decrease in CD4 + T lymphocyte activation or proliferation. 4-Hydroxynonenal (HNE), an end product of lipid peroxidation, and its protein adducts act as markers of oxidative stress. In...
Women air pilots; Women--Recreation--Social aspects; Leisure--Social aspects
Serious leisure theory (Stebbins, 1992) is used to frame this examination of women's long-term involvement in airplane piloting. Through in-depth, semi-structured telephone and e-mail interviews with women having over 15 years experience as private...
The importance of physical activity in preventing disease and promoting health is increasingly evident in health outcomes research. Although most adults in the U.S. have initiated exercise programs at some point in their lives, research suggests...
It has been shown that GSK3 β plays a critical role in the inflammation response by differentially regulating MyD88-dependent pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines production in TLR4-stimulated innate immune cells. The work included in this...
Heart failure is the most frequent cause of mortality in western countries. Currently, there is no cure treatment for heart failure and the long term survival rate following heart failure is poor, with one third of patients dying within a year of...
Prostate--Cancer--Diagnosis; Chemical detectors; Biosensors
Prostate cancer is the most common type diagnosed among men in the United States.
Random oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) libraries are used to generate DNA aptamers by
systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). We explored...
Metastasis is a complex process requiring directed migration of metastatic cells to favorable microenvironments. Increased CXCR4 expression has been implicated in more invasive, aggressive and metastatic tumor phenotypes and poor patient survival...
Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) and 2 (NAT2) catalyze the detoxification and/or activation of aromatic and heterocyclic amine carcinogens by two pathways. This metabolism reaction can lead to the detoxification by Nacetylation, or...
