Kettering University

About: Kettering University is a education organization based out in Flint, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: RNA & Antigen. The organization has 6842 authors who have published 7689 publications receiving 337503 citations. The organization is also known as: GMI Engineering & Management Institute & General Motors Institute.

Evaluating the effects of the novel GLP-1 analogue liraglutide in Alzheimer’s disease: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ELAD study)

Abstract: Background: Liraglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue currently approved for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Preclinical evidence in transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease suggests that liraglutide exerts neuroprotective effects by reducing amyloid oligomers, normalising synaptic plasticity and cerebral glucose uptake, and increasing the proliferation of neuronal progenitor cells. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the change in cerebral glucose metabolic rate after 12 months of treatment with liraglutide in participants with Alzheimer's disease compared to those who are receiving placebo. Methods/design: ELAD is a 12-month, multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase IIb trial of liraglutide in participants with mild Alzheimer's dementia. A total of 206 participants will be randomised to receive either liraglutide or placebo as a daily injection for a year. The primary outcome will be the change in cerebral glucose metabolic rate in the cortical regions (hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, and posterior cingulate) from baseline to follow-up in the treatment group compared with the placebo group. The key secondary outcomes are the change from baseline to 12 months in z scores for clinical and cognitive measures (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale and Executive domain scores of the Neuropsychological Test Battery, Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes, and Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study - Activities of Daily Living) and the incidence and severity of treatment-emergent adverse events or clinically important changes in safety assessments. Other secondary outcomes are 12-month change in magnetic resonance imaging volume, diffusion tensor imaging parameters, reduction in microglial activation in a subgroup of participants, reduction in tau formation and change in amyloid levels in a subgroup of participants measured by tau and amyloid imaging, and changes in composite scores using support machine vector analysis in the treatment group compared with the placebo group. Discussion: Alzheimer's disease is a leading cause of morbidity worldwide. As available treatments are only symptomatic, the search for disease-modifying therapies is a priority. If the ELAD trial is successful, liraglutide and GLP-1 analogues will represent an important class of compounds to be further evaluated in clinical trials for Alzheimer's treatment. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01843075. Registration 30 April 2013.

Modulation of Activation-Loop Phosphorylation by JAK Inhibitors Is Binding Mode Dependent

Abstract: Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are being developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, myeloproliferative neoplasms, and leukemias. Most of these drugs target the ATP-binding pocket and stabilize the active conformation of the JAK kinases. This type I binding mode can lead to an increase in JAK activation loop phosphorylation, despite blockade of kinase function. Here we report that stabilizing the inactive state via type II inhibition acts in the opposite manner, leading to a loss of activation loop phosphorylation. We used X-ray crystallography to corroborate the binding mode and report for the first time the crystal structure of the JAK2 kinase domain in an inactive conformation. Importantly, JAK inhibitor-induced activation loop phosphorylation requires receptor interaction, as well as intact kinase and pseudokinase domains. Hence, depending on the respective conformation stabilized by a JAK inhibitor, hyperphosphorylation of the activation loop may or may not be elicited.

Production of Pili (Fimbriae) by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Correlation with Attachment to Corn Roots.

Abstract: Pseudomonas fluorescens isolates 13525 and 2-79 were grown in Luria broth and low-nutrient medium (LNM). Pililike fibrils were very rarely produced in Luria broth but were abundantly produced in LNM. In LNM the pili were peritrichously distributed and had diameters ranging from 3 to 8 nm. Pili were purified from strain 2-79, and the pilin subunit was found to have a molecular weight of about 34,000. Strain 2-79 produced two colony types on Luria agar, nonmucoidal and mucoidal. Cells in LNM cultures of the nonmucoidal colony type were highly piliated, and cells from the mucoidal type were nearly devoid of pili. The presence of pili on nonmucoidal isolate 2-79 was quantitatively correlated with hydrophobic attachment to polystyrene, hemagglutination, and attachment to corn roots.