Females have a higher incidence of autoimmune diseases than males for reasons that are currently unknown. CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells play an important role in the maintenance of immunological homeostasis and self-tolerance by suppressing...
T cells; Disease susceptibility; Lupus; Sex factors in disease
Females are more susceptible to autoimmune disease than males. In several mouse models of disease, castration of males exacerbates disease while androgen treatment ameliorates disease. These data suggest hormones can have an influence on disease...
The immune system is of profound importance for host survival due to its ability to clear many acquired diseases. In case of infections and cancer, disease arises due to under-performance of immune system. Whereas in autoimmunity and...
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...
Coal-fired power plants--Environmental aspects--United States; Mercury wastes--Environmental aspects--United States
This dissertation tests whether or not mercury emissions from electric power plants are not a significant contributor to mercury measurements in rainfall and argues that the current United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...
Down syndrome--Patients; Williams syndrome--Patients; Social interaction in children; Social perception in children
The present project examined the regulatory function of social referencing in two neurodevelopmental disorders that have been well defined genetically and are characterized by differing patterns of socio-cognitive development: Down syndrome (DS)...
Cancer accounts for nearly one-quarter of deaths in the United States, exceeded only by heart diseases. Despite the development of various strategies to treat cancer, it remains one of the most deadly diseases worldwide due to the limited effects...
Human exposure to mercury has been shown to cause a number of adverse health outcomes, predominantly neurological effects. The developing fetus is most susceptible, and even low levels of exposure have been shown to produce nervous system deficits....
Mishaps in prenatal development can influence mammary gland development
and, ultimately, affect susceptibility to factors that cause breast cancer. This research was
based on the underlying hypothesis that maternal dietary composition during...
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...
United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976; Brownfields--United States
Public investment and interest into brownfields has increased markedly in the past two decades. However, scholarship has not kept pace with this growth. Every state in the U.S. has created a brownfields program to deal with the presence of these...
Drug resistance in microorganisms; Salmonella typhimurium
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is an enteric pathogen capable of infecting
a wide range of hosts. The manner in which this pathogen is able to interact with its
host is difficult to define, as is the case with most microbes. Through the...
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...
Algebra--Study and teaching (Secondary); Motivation in education; Feedback (Psychology)
The double-blind study used two intact ninth grade high school Algebra One classes for a total sample size of 46. Within each of the classes the participants were assigned randomly to one of three treatment groups: self-referenced feedback,...
Many species of fungi undergo a dimorphic transition to switch from a unicellular yeast-like growth form to a filamentous growth form. Ustilago maydis undergoes such a transition, in response to successful mating events and subsequent host cues, to...
This dissertation is composed of three essays in which I examine the influence of formal institutions on entrepreneurs and new firms. In the first essay, "The Influence of Institutions on the Likelihood of Self-Employment: A Multilevel...
Embryonic development requires the orchestration of temporally precise genetic events that culminate in the formation of a complete organism. The molecular mechanisms responsible for ontogenesis are regulated by environmental and somatic factors in...
Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Western societies. Thus, understanding the molecular mechanisms to reduce myocardial ischemia and limit infarction size are of great importance. Ample evidence has shown that...
Complement, an early recognition system of innate immunity that senses local tissue damage and infection, cross-talks with and regulates other signaling systems, including Toll-like receptor (TLR) pathways. In the context of periodontitis,...
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that is subdivided into Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and indeterminate colitis (IC). Epidemiological studies have proven that genetic variation increases...
