Interstitial Cystitis: The Estrogen Connection

Interstitial cystitis (IC), or painful bladder syndrome, is an autoimmune condition with an unknown etiology. Common symptoms include urinary urgency, frequency, and bladder and urethral pain and burning. This condition, like many autoimmune disorders, disproportionately affects females; therefore, female sex hormones are hypothesized to play a role in the disorder. My hypothesis is that estrogen, both endogenous and synthetic, affects the severity of IC symptoms. Through surveying the available literature on interstitial cystitis, I have found that IC symptoms often correlate with low estrogen. My hope is that by understanding more about how hormones affect IC, we can come up with better treatment plans for IC sufferers

Is Bioethics Relevant?

We live in a broken, unjust, and often dangerous world. Technology promises hope; hope for new cures, broader access to information, and a better quality of life for humankind. Technologies such as gene editing and artificial intelligence continue to progress at a pace we have never seen before, running far ahead of the ethical discussions surrounding their stewardship. In a technology-driven culture like ours, one might be tempted to ask whether the ethical discussion is still relevant

Autonomy and Patient Care: To What Extent Should Children Make Their Own Decisions?

On June 14, 2016, 5-year old Julianna Snow died at home, in accordance with her stated wishes not to return to the hospital. Julianna suffered from a severe form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder which, while not always lethal,1 had weakened her body to the extent that even a cold could be fatal. Julianna’s case raises important questions about patient autonomy and end-of-life care for children. The child did not wish to return to the hospital, and was willing to go to heaven instead.6 Though her parents respected her autonomy and honored her decision, the question remains: did Julianna have the decision-making capacity to make a life-or-death decision at such a young age? Are there cases where autonomy may have to be sacrificed in favor of other important ethical determinants, such as beneficence or non-maleficence

Recombinant Netrin-4 Does Not Signal Through the Netrin-1 or Netrin-3 Pathway in \u3cem\u3eTetrahymena thermophila\u3c/em\u3e

Netrin 4 protein and its homologs are found throughout the animal kingdom. Netrin-4 is known to have a protective role against vascular damage. Previous studies have shown that human netrin-1 has a role in angiogenesis. This information about human netrin-1 and netrin-4 led us to research the pathway of netrin-4 in Tetrahymena thermophila. Our previous studies of the netrin proteins show that netrin-1 and netrin-3 are both repellents in Tetrahymena thermophila. The data in this study show that netrin-4 is also a repellent of Tetrahymena thermophila. These data suggest that netrin-4 could signal through the same pathway as netrin-1 and netrin-3. Furthermore, in our previous studies of the signaling pathways for netrin-1 and netrin-3, we discovered that netrin-1 signals through a tyrosine kinase pathway and netrin-3 signals through a serine/threonine kinase pathway. Because of this we decided to investigate whether or not netrin-4 signals through the same or different pathway as netrin-1 or netrin-3. We performed a cross adaptation assay on Tetrahymena thermophila using netrin-1, netrin-3, and netrin-4. The data from this assay suggests that netrin-4 does not signal through the same pathway as netrin-1 or netrin-3. Netrin-4 also was shown to have no effect on mitosis, which is similar to previous findings with netrin-1 in this organism. In contrast, netrin-3 peptides have been shown to inhibit mitosis in this organism