861 research outputs found
Memory, attention and fluency deficits in COPD may be a specific form of cognitive impairment
There is increasing evidence demonstrating an association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cognitive impairment. We present a narrative review of published studies on the subject and a cross-sectional study investigating domain-specific cognitive impairment in people with COPD compared to people with known Alzheimer's dementia, and controls without known COPD or cognitive impairment. The aim of the study was to compare prevalence and pattern of cognitive impairment between the three groups using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE)-III tool. A total of 89 participants were recruited (44 with COPD, 17 with Alzheimer's and 28 controls). Patients with COPD had significantly lower total ACE-III scores than controls (p<0.001). When comparing the COPD group to the known Alzheimer's dementia group, overall ACE-III scores were significantly lower in the Alzheimer's dementia group than the COPD group (p=0.019). The domain-specific scores for attention (p<0.004), memory (p<0.004) and fluency (p<0.001) were significantly lower in the Alzheimer's dementia group than the COPD group. Our result suggest that the COPD group were significantly more likely to have cognitive impairment than the healthy control group. This was supported by the results of a narrative review of the published literature. Our results show that the pattern of impairment in the COPD group is different to the pattern of impairment shown in the known Alzheimer's dementia group, with significant differences in the cognitive domains affected. These results are in keeping with the findings of other previously published studies included in the narrative review
Regulation of prostate-specific antigen expression
Steroid hormones are widely distributed, cholesterol-derived, small hydrophobic molecules.
They mediate a variety of biological functions, including tissue development, differentiation
and homeostasis. Mammalian steroid hormones (androgens, glucocorticoids,
mineralocorticoids, estrogens and progestins) exert their function by binding to the
corresponding intracellular steroid hormone receptor. This binding triggers a complex set of
molecular events, including protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions
Selection into medicine : the predictive validity of an outcome-based procedure
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dr. Kelly Dore for valuable advice and sharing Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal characteristics (CASPer) assignments in order to develop our Situational Judgement Test and Angela Verheyen and Guus Smeets for their essential support in gathering data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Characterisation of the androgen regulation of glycine N-methyltransferase in prostate cancer cells
The development and growth of prostate cancer is dependent on androgens; thus, the identification of androgen-regulated genes in prostate cancer cells is vital for defining the mechanisms of prostate cancer development and progression and developing new markers and targets for prostate cancer treatment. GlycineN-methyltransferase (GNMT) is aS-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase that has been recently identified as a novel androgen-regulated gene in prostate cancer cells. Although the importance of this protein in prostate cancer progression has been extensively addressed, little is known about the mechanism of its androgen regulation. Here, we show that GNMT expression is stimulated by androgen in androgen receptor (AR) expressing cells and that the stimulation occurs at the mRNA and protein levels. We have identified an androgen response element within the first exon of theGNMTgene and demonstrated that AR binds to this elementin vitroandin vivo. Together, these studies identify GNMT as a direct transcriptional target of the AR. As this is an evolutionarily conserved regulatory element, this highlights androgen regulation as an important feature of GNMT regulation.</jats:p
The loss of PTEN allows TCR alpha beta lineage thymocytes to bypass IL-7 and Pre-TCR-mediated signaling
Two androgen response regions cooperate in steroid hormone regulated activity of the prostate-specific antigen promoter
Transcription of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene is androgen
regulated. The PSA promoter contains at position -170 the sequence
AGAACAgcaAGTGCT, which is closely related to the ARE (androgen response
element) consensus sequence GGTACAnnnTGTTCT. This sequence is a high
affinity androgen receptor (AR) binding site and acts as a functional ARE
in transfected LNCaP cells. A 35-base pair segment starting at -400 (ARR:
androgen response region; GTGGTGCAGGGATCAGGGAGTCTCACAATCTCCTG) cooperates
with the ARE in androgen induction of the PSA promoter. A construct with
three ARR copies linked to a minimal PSA promoter showed a strong
(104-fold) androgen induced activity. The ARR was also able to confer
androgen responsiveness to a minimal thymidine kinase promoter. Both AR
binding and transcriptional activity resided in a 20-base pair ARR
subfragment: CAGGGATCAGGGAGTCTCAC (2S). Mutational analysis indicated that
the sequence GGATCAgggAGTCTC in the 2S fragment is a functionally active,
low affinity AR binding site. Like AR, the glucocorticoid receptor was
able to stimulate PSA promoter activity. Both the ARE and ARR are involved
in dexamethasone regulation of the PSA promoter. Both the AR and
glucocorticoid receptor were 20-100-fold more active on ARR-PSA and
ARR-thymidine kinase promoter constructs in LNCaP cells than in other cell
types (COS, HeLa, Hep3B, and T47D cells), indicating (prostate) cell
specificity
Both androgen receptor and glucocorticoid receptor are able to induce prostate-specific antigen expression, but differ in their growth-stimulating properties of LNCaP cells
Androgen receptor-positive LNCaP cells were stably transfected with a rat
glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression plasmid. Ligand-binding studies in
the generated cell lines revealed high-affinity binding of the cognate
ligands to their receptors. Transfection experiments with the newly
derived cell lines showed that, like androgen receptor, GR can induce
activity of a prostate-specific antigen promoter fragment linked to the
luciferase gene. Similarly, dexamethasone can stimulate expression of
endogenous prostate-specific antigen messenger RNA. Cell proliferation
could be induced by R1881. In contrast, dexamethasone treatment of the
GR-positive sublines had no stimulatory effect on cell growth. Using the
differential display technique, a so far unknown complementary DNA
fragment, designated 21.1, specifically induced by androgens and not by
glucocorticoids, has been identified. In conclusion, the newly generated
cell lines, together with the parental LNCaP cell line, form an attractive
system with which to study the mechanism of specificity of steroid hormone
regulation of gene expression
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