Lipotoxicity in smooth muscle

Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Vita.Atherosclerosis and bladder dysfunction can both result from the high lipid levels that occur with obesity and diabetes and can cause cell dysfunction and death, termed lipotoxicity, in various cell types. However, lipotoxicity has not been shown in smooth muscle. The goal of this dissertation was to determine if lipotoxicity does occur in vascular smooth muscle and to determine how to modulate this lipotoxicity. We found that vascular smooth muscle takes up fatty acid and does not store it adequately, thus rendering it free to cause lipotoxicity in the cell. This lipotoxicity did not seem to be due to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production the unsaturated fatty acid oleate protected against palmitate-induced apoptosis. Bladder smooth muscle may also be susceptible to lipotoxicity. We found that there were significant differences in the levels of certain peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) between Yucatan and Ossabaw male swine and between male and female Ossabaw swine, suggesting genetic and gender differences in PPARs. These results may explain the differences in prevalence of bladder dysfunctions between males and females and within the sexes. To modulate lipotoxicity in smooth muscle, we overexpressed caveolin-1 (Cav-1), a protein found in caveolae. Cav-1 increased CD36 expression and redistribution inside the cell and increased apoptosis. These studies may have implications for atherosclerosis and bladder dysfunctions that result from obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome.Includes bibliographical reference

On Verifying Causal Consistency

Causal consistency is one of the most adopted consistency criteria for distributed implementations of data structures. It ensures that operations are executed at all sites according to their causal precedence. We address the issue of verifying automatically whether the executions of an implementation of a data structure are causally consistent. We consider two problems: (1) checking whether one single execution is causally consistent, which is relevant for developing testing and bug finding algorithms, and (2) verifying whether all the executions of an implementation are causally consistent. We show that the first problem is NP-complete. This holds even for the read-write memory abstraction, which is a building block of many modern distributed systems. Indeed, such systems often store data in key-value stores, which are instances of the read-write memory abstraction. Moreover, we prove that, surprisingly, the second problem is undecidable, and again this holds even for the read-write memory abstraction. However, we show that for the read-write memory abstraction, these negative results can be circumvented if the implementations are data independent, i.e., their behaviors do not depend on the data values that are written or read at each moment, which is a realistic assumption.Comment: extended version of POPL 201

Dynamic Race Prediction in Linear Time

Writing reliable concurrent software remains a huge challenge for today's programmers. Programmers rarely reason about their code by explicitly considering different possible inter-leavings of its execution. We consider the problem of detecting data races from individual executions in a sound manner. The classical approach to solving this problem has been to use Lamport's happens-before (HB) relation. Until now HB remains the only approach that runs in linear time. Previous efforts in improving over HB such as causally-precedes (CP) and maximal causal models fall short due to the fact that they are not implementable efficiently and hence have to compromise on their race detecting ability by limiting their techniques to bounded sized fragments of the execution. We present a new relation weak-causally-precedes (WCP) that is provably better than CP in terms of being able to detect more races, while still remaining sound. Moreover it admits a linear time algorithm which works on the entire execution without having to fragment it.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 1 algorithm, 1 tabl

The gaseous pixel device

The Gaseous Pixel Chamber is a new device developed during the last year within the LAA project at CERN. Basically we print electrodes onto a flexible Kapton foil with standard printed circuit technology used in the CERN workshops. We have found a design which allows us to operate the foil as a particle detector working in the gaseous limited streamer mode. This work has been previously reported. We are well satisfied with the operational characteristics that this device has reached so far (efficiency, ease to build and to operate). However, the demands imposed on any detector device at future hadron colliders are very stringent. There are still many possible improvements needed to meet the technical challenge for a device to work at the LHC,SSC or Eloisatron hadron collider (such as time response, space resolution, energy proportionality). Therefore we propose an R&D programme for studying the aspects that are relevant for application of this kind of detector within a hadron collider environment

Defects in SiO2 as the possible origin of near interface traps in the SiC∕SiO2 system: A systematic theoretical study

A systematic study of the level positions of intrinsic and carbon defects in SiO2 is presented, based on density functional calculations with a hybrid functional in an alpha-quartz supercell. The results are analyzed from the point of view of the near interface traps (NIT), observed in both SiC/SiO2 and Si/SiO2 systems, and assumed to have their origins in the oxide. It is shown that the vacancies and the oxygen interstitial can be excluded as the origin of such NIT, while the silicon interstitial and carbon dimers give rise to gap levels in the energy range inferred from experiments. The properties of these defects are discussed in light of the knowledge about the SiC/SiO2 interface

The Poet X: Disrupting Shakespeare, Healthy Relationships, and Language Dynamics

Anti-racist teaching can be used in a practical manner to disrupt canonical texts. The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo, disrupts William Shakespeare\u27s Romeo and Juliet through focusing in on racial literacy, healthy relationships, and honoring authentic language

Wakanda: Opening the High School Classroom to Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism has a solid place in high school classrooms thanks to the current work of Ryan Coogler, but also to those who have been in this work for decades including the Mother of Afrofuturism herself, Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, dream hampton, and a litany of Black poets and artists. This article leaps inside an Afrofuturistic unit curated for high school seniors with feedback and insight from their teachers and also the students who buckled up for a journey through time, space, and place

Monocytes regulate the mechanism of T-cell death by inducing Fas-mediated apoptosis during bacterial infection.

Monocytes and T-cells are critical to the host response to acute bacterial infection but monocytes are primarily viewed as amplifying the inflammatory signal. The mechanisms of cell death regulating T-cell numbers at sites of infection are incompletely characterized. T-cell death in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) showed 'classic' features of apoptosis following exposure to pneumococci. Conversely, purified CD3(+) T-cells cultured with pneumococci demonstrated necrosis with membrane permeabilization. The death of purified CD3(+) T-cells was not inhibited by necrostatin, but required the bacterial toxin pneumolysin. Apoptosis of CD3(+) T-cells in PBMC cultures required 'classical' CD14(+) monocytes, which enhanced T-cell activation. CD3(+) T-cell death was enhanced in HIV-seropositive individuals. Monocyte-mediated CD3(+) T-cell apoptotic death was Fas-dependent both in vitro and in vivo. In the early stages of the T-cell dependent host response to pneumococci reduced Fas ligand mediated T-cell apoptosis was associated with decreased bacterial clearance in the lung and increased bacteremia. In summary monocytes converted pathogen-associated necrosis into Fas-dependent apoptosis and regulated levels of activated T-cells at sites of acute bacterial infection. These changes were associated with enhanced bacterial clearance in the lung and reduced levels of invasive pneumococcal disease

Occupational Therapy Feeding and Eating Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders and Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A Systematic Review

Due to the limited evidence and lack of methodological rigor regarding feeding and issues in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), clinicians who treat children with these diagnoses rely on the limited amount of information and many are not aware of evidence-based interventions (Ahearn, Castine, Nault, & Green, 2001; Marshall, Hill, & Dodrill, 2013). The purpose of this scholarly project is to gather, critique, and determine efficacy of occupational therapy feeding and eating interventions for children with ASD and PDD. We systematically reviewed literature for higher-level evidence, as defined by Level III evidence or above, in regards to occupational therapy feeding and eating interventions for children with ASD and PDD in studies that were published between January 2000 and December 2015 and located in PubMed, OT Search, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT). Our search yielded a total of 7,189 titles and abstracts that were narrowed through the screening process to 27 articles for review. The secondary review resulted in 11 articles, which received a full-text review. A total of 9 articles were found to meet inclusion criteria and be appropriate for critical appraisal. The results of these articles were compiled in an evidence table and a systematic review manuscript was specifically written for the AJOT. Our scholarly project highlights the various discrepancies regarding research for occupational therapy feeding and eating interventions for children with ASD and PDD. Recommendations for future research and implications for occupational therapy practice include the need for higher-level evidence to support the practice of occupational therapy practitioners and the development of a specific protocol to standardize occupational therapy treatment for feeding and eating difficulties among children with ASD and PDD