Pharmacokinetic modeling of cortisol binding to dietary fiber in the gastrointestinal tract

Abstract only availableCortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone produced in the adrenal cortex during stressful situations. The purpose of this project was to determine whether cortisol binds to dietary fiber and to design a pharmacokinetic model to predict whether or not fiber has a significant binding capacity in the human gastrointestinal tract. Studies have shown that estrogen binds to dietary fiber. Coumesterol, a cholesterol derived steroid structurally similar to estrogen, is also thought to bind to dietary fiber. The fluorescence of coumestrol bound to oat, wheat and psyllium fiber was analyzed in order to determine the binding capacities of each. This indicates that steroids have different binding capacities important in the pharmacokinetic model. This model would provide useful information capable of predicting physiological changes due to changes in dietary habits as well as medicines such as antibiotics that may alter steroid secretion. If steroids do have a recycling route and dietary fiber has a significant binding capacity in the human body then an increase in dietary fiber may result in a decrease in cortisol.NSF-REU Program in Biosystems Modeling and Analysi

Didactic Software for Autistic Children

In this paper we describe the aims and requirements of a project devoted to designing and developing Open Source didactic Software (SW) for children in the autism disorder spectrum, conforming to the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) learning technique. In this context, participatory design with therapists and child?s parents is necessary to ensure a usable product that responds to these children?s special needs and respects education principles and constraints of the ABA methodology

The application of parameter sensitivity analysis methods to inverse simulation models

Knowledge of the sensitivity of inverse solutions to variation of parameters of a model can be very useful in making engineering design decisions. This paper describes how parameter sensitivity analysis can be carried out for inverse simulations generated through approximate transfer function inversion methods and also by the use of feedback principles. Emphasis is placed on the use of sensitivity models and the paper includes examples and a case study involving a model of an underwater vehicle. It is shown that the use of sensitivity models can provide physical understanding of inverse simulation solutions that is not directly available using parameter sensitivity analysis methods that involve parameter perturbations and response differencing

Case Report: Signal Drop on MRA Imaging of the Internal Carotid Artery after Neuroform Stent Placement

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is an important tool in evaluating the patency of vessels which have previously been stented. Neuroform stents (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, U.S.A.) are utilized to provide a scaffold across the neck of an aneurysm. These stents are synthesized from Nitinol (nickel and titanium) and thus cause minimal distortion upon imaging with MRA. Patients who have undergone Neuroform stent assisted coiling of aneurysms are routinely followed with MRA to delineate stenosis of the stented segment of vessel as well as recurrence of the aneurysms. While numerous reports show that Neuroform stents do not lead to MRA imaging artifact, we report of a case where the utilization of the Neuroform stent led to a signal drop out at the site of the stent upon evaluation with MRA and thus led to further invasive radiological procedures

Recommendations for Competency in Allergy Training for Undergraduates Qualifying as Medical Practitioners: A Position Paper of the World Allergy Organization

The global increased prevalence of allergy is such that between 20-30% of the world's population now suffers from some form of allergic disease, with considerable and continuing increases in prevalence over the last three decades [1]. Although the specialty of allergy is practiced and recognized in most developed countries, even some developed countries lack adequate resources to manage the local burden of allergic disease. In many developing countries there are few or no allergy specialists due to either the prevailing healthcare infrastructure, to socio-economic reasons, and/or to the lack of recognition of allergy as a clinical specialty. There is often minimal or no inclusion of allergy education/training in the undergraduate medical curriculum, and this shortfall must be addressed if the increasing burden of allergic diseases is to be managed. The majority of patients with common allergic diseases around the world are treated by primary care physicians, and not by trained specialists. However, a lack of appropriate education and training in allergy at the undergraduate level leaves many medical graduates with low baseline knowledge and skills in the science and practice of allergy. In addition, because it is a relatively new discipline, education and training in allergy in medical schools has lagged behind scientific and clinical developments in this field, and there are few allergy specialists available to teach this multidisciplinary subject. This phenomenon is described by the World Health Organization as the knowledge/practice gap. Unless allergy training is included as an essential part of undergraduate medical education at the clinical level, many physicians will qualify with inadequate competency to manage the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases at the primary care level. Thus, a cycle of lack of basic knowledge about the most common allergic diseases, lack of recognition of allergic disease at the clinical level, and inadequate knowledge and skills in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases will be perpetuated. To help break this cycle the World Allergy Organization (WAO) presents broad guidelines for the curriculum of education and training of medical students in the immune mechanisms of allergic responses, and the commonest manifestations of clinical allergy. Inclusion of these educational guidelines into curriculum development will provide medical graduates with the basic knowledge required to recognize and treat common allergic diseases during postgraduate training or as a general practitioner (care level 1), and the knowledge of when to refer the more complex problems to appropriate organ-based or allergy specialists (care levels 2 and 3) [2]. These guidelines outline optimal curriculum content, and are offered for consideration and modification to meet local needs and healthcare provision structures. Although certain immunodeficiency states may accompany allergies or may need to be considered in the differential diagnosis of allergic diseases, this document is not intended to provide a comprehensive guideline on the teaching of immune deficiencies to medical students

Ensuring Healthy American Indian Generations for Tomorrow through Safe and Healthy Indoor Environments

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author’s publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.American Indians (AI) have the highest rate of severe physical housing problems in the U.S. (3.9%). Little information exists about the environmental hazards in AI homes. The purposes of this paper are to discuss challenges that were encountered when recruiting AI for a home-and employment-based environmental health assessments, highlight major successes, and propose recommendations for future indoor environmental health studies. The Center for American Indian Community Health (CAICH) and Children’s Mercy Hospital’s Center for Environmental Health and Allergy and Immunology Research Lab collaborated to provide educational sessions and healthy home assessments for AI. Through educational trainings, more than 240 AI were trained on the primary causes of health problems in homes. A total of 72 homes and places of employment were assessed by AI environmental health specialists. The top three categories with the most concerns observed in the homes/places of employment were allergens/dust (98%), safety/injury (89%) and chemical exposure (82%). While some information on smoking inside the home was collected, these numbers may have been underreported due to stigma. This was CAICH’s first endeavor in environmental health and although challenges arose, many more successes were achieved

The Na+/Glucose Cotransporter Inhibitor Canagliflozin Activates AMPK by Inhibiting Mitochondrial Function and Increasing Cellular AMP Levels

Canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin, all recently approved for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, were derived from the natural product phlorizin. They reduce hyperglycemia by inhibiting glucose re-uptake by SGLT2 in the kidney, without affecting intestinal glucose uptake by SGLT1. We now report that canagliflozin also activates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an effect also seen with phloretin (the aglycone breakdown product of phlorizin), but not to any significant extent with dapagliflozin, empagliflozin or phlorizin. AMPK activation occurred at canagliflozin concentrations measured in human plasma in clinical trials, and was caused by inhibition of Complex I of the respiratory chain, leading to increases in cellular AMP or ADP. Although canagliflozin also inhibited cellular glucose uptake independently of SGLT2, this did not account for AMPK activation. Canagliflozin also inhibited lipid synthesis, an effect that was absent in AMPK knockout cells and that required phosphorylation of ACC1 and/or ACC2 at the AMPK sites. Oral administration of canagliflozin activated AMPK in mouse liver, although not in muscle, adipose tissue or spleen. As phosphorylation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by AMPK is known to lower liver lipid content, these data suggest a potential additional benefit of canagliflozin therapy compared to other SGLT2 inhibitors

The evolution of the low-density H i intergalactic medium from z = 3.6 to 0: Data, transmitted flux, and H i column density

We present a new, uniform analysis of the H i transmitted flux (F) and H i column density (N_{mathrm{H,{small I}}}) distribution in the low-density IGM as a function of redshift z for 0 < z < 3.6 using 55 HST/COS FUV (Δz = 7.2 at z < 0.5), five HST/STIS + COS NUV (Δz = 1.3 at z ∼1) and 24 VLT/UVES, and Keck/HIRES (Δz = 11.6 at 1.7 < z < 3.6) AGN spectra. We performed a consistent, uniform Voigt profile analysis to combine spectra taken with different instruments, to reduce systematics and to remove metal-line contamination. We confirm previously known conclusions on firmer quantitative grounds in particular by improving the measurements at z ∼1. Two flux statistics at 0 < F < 1, the mean H i flux and the flux probability distribution function (PDF), show that considerable evolution occurs from z = 3.6 to z = 1.5, after which it slows down to become effectively stable for z < 0.5. However, there are large sightline variations. For the H i column density distribution function (CDDF, f ∝ N_{ m H,{small I}}^{-eta }) at log (N_{mathrm{H,{small I}}}/1, {mathrm{cm}^{-2}}) [13.5, 16.0], β increases as z decreases from β = 1.60 at z ∼3.4 to β = 1.82 at z ∼0.1. The CDDF shape at lower redshifts can be reproduced by a small amount of clockwise rotation of a higher-z CDDF with a slightly larger CDDF normalization. The absorption line number per z (dn/dz) shows a similar evolutionary break at z ∼1.5 as seen in the flux statistics. High-N_{mathrm{H,{small I}}} absorbers evolve more rapidly than low-N_{mathrm{H,{small I}}} absorbers to decrease in number or cross-section with time. The individual dn/dz shows a large scatter at a given z. The scatter increases towards lower z, possibly caused by a stronger clustering at lower z

Requirements for physician competencies in allergy: key clinical competencies appropriate for the care of patients with allergic or immunologic diseases

Egypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2009; 7(1): 33-3