Rush University Medical Center

About: Rush University Medical Center is a healthcare organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 13915 authors who have published 29027 publications receiving 1379216 citations. The organization is also known as: Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center.

Physical Activity and Changes in Weight and Waist Circumference in Midlife Women: Findings from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation

Abstract: Controversy exists regarding the extent to which age, menopausal status, and/or lifestyle behaviors account for the increased weight, fat mass, and central adiposity experienced by midlife women. To address this question, the authors longitudinally examined the relations of aging, menopausal status, and physical activity to weight and waist circumference in 3,064 racially/ethnically diverse women aged 42-52 years at baseline who were participating in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), an observational study of the menopausal transition. Over 3 years of follow-up (1996-1997 to 1999-2000), mean weight increased by 2.1 kg (standard deviation (SD), 4.8) or 3.0% (SD, 6.5) and mean waist circumference increased by 2.2 cm (SD, 5.4) or 2.8% (SD, 6.3). Change in menopausal status was not associated with weight gain or significantly associated with increases in waist circumference. A one-unit increase in reported level of sports/exercise (on a scale of 1-5) was longitudinally related to decreases of 0.32 kg in weight (p < 0.0001) and 0.10 cm in waist circumference (not significant). Similar inverse relations were observed for daily routine physical activity (biking and walking for transportation and less television viewing). These findings suggest that, although midlife women tend to experience increases in weight and waist circumference over time, maintaining or increasing participation in regular physical activity contributes to prevention or attenuation of those gains.

A Controlled Trial Comparing Foscarnet with Vidarabine for Acyclovir-Resistant Mucocutaneous Herpes Simplex in the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Abstract: Background and methods Most strains of herpes simplex virus that are resistant to acyclovir are susceptible in vitro to both foscarnet and vidarabine. We conducted a randomized trial to compare foscarnet with vidarabine in 14 patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and mucocutaneous herpetic lesions that had been unresponsive to intravenous therapy with acyclovir for a minimum of 10 days. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either foscarnet (40 mg per kilogram of body weight intravenously every 8 hours) or vidarabine (15 mg per kilogram per day intravenously) for 10 to 42 days. In the isolates of herpes simplex virus we documented in vitro resistance to acyclovir and susceptibility to foscarnet and vidarabine. Results The lesions in all eight patients assigned to foscarnet healed completely after 10 to 24 days of therapy. In contrast, vidarabine was discontinued because of failure in all six patients assigned to receive it. The time to complete healing (P = 0.01), time to 50 percent reductions in the size of the lesions (P = 0.01) and the pain score (P = 0.004), and time to the end of viral shedding (P = 0.006) were all significantly shorter in the patients assigned to foscarnet. Three patients had new neurologic abnormalities while receiving vidarabine. No patient discontinued foscarnet because of toxicity. Although initial recurrences of herpes simplex infection after the index lesion had healed tended to be susceptible to acyclovir, acyclovir-resistant infection eventually recurred in every healed patient, a median of 42.5 days (range, 14 to 191) after foscarnet was discontinued. Conclusions For the treatment of acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex infection in patients with AIDS, foscarnet has superior efficacy and less frequent serious toxicity than vidarabine. Once the treatment is stopped, however; there is a high frequency of relapse.

Oxidant stress regulation of IL-8 and ICAM-1 gene expression: differential activation and binding of the transcription factors AP-1 and NF-kappaB (Review).

Abstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated either extracellularly or intracellularly through ligand-receptor interactions, can function as signal transduction molecules to activate the chemotactic cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) and the cell surface adhesion protein, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1; CD54). Together, IL-8 and ICAM-1 orchestrate the transendothelial migration of neutrophils to sites of inflammation and injury. Recent results demonstrate that oxidant stress generated directly by exogenous H2O2 differentially induce IL-8 and ICAM-1 transcription in epithelial and endothelial cells. H2O2 induces IL-8 but not ICAM-1 in the A549 type-II-like epithelial cell line, whereas in a microvessel endothelial cell line (HMEC-1) as well as in primary endothelial cells, H2O2 induces ICAM-1 but not IL-8, which is spontaneously expressed. In contrast, the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFalpha, whose activity is dependent on the generation of intracellular ROS, induces IL-8 and ICAM-1 in both cell types. The differential induction of IL-8 and ICAM-1 by H2O2 and TNFalpha suggest that the two inflammatory stimuli target distinct redox responsive signaling pathways to activate cell type-specific gene expression. In this regard, we found that the cell type-specific pattern of IL-8 and ICAM-1 gene expression was associated with the differential activation and promoter binding of the redox regulated transcription factors AP-1 and NF-kappaB. In this review, our current understanding of the redox regulation of the IL-8 and ICAM-1 genes is summarized, and the differential roles AP-1 and NF-kappaB play in their cell type-specific expression, with particular emphasis on the differential effects induced by TNFalpha and H2O2 is discussed.

Altered bile acid profile associates with cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease-An emerging role for gut microbiome.

Abstract: Introduction Increasing evidence suggests a role for the gut microbiome in central nervous system disorders and a specific role for the gut-brain axis in neurodegeneration. Bile acids (BAs), products of cholesterol metabolism and clearance, are produced in the liver and are further metabolized by gut bacteria. They have major regulatory and signaling functions and seem dysregulated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods Serum levels of 15 primary and secondary BAs and their conjugated forms were measured in 1464 subjects including 370 cognitively normal older adults, 284 with early mild cognitive impairment, 505 with late mild cognitive impairment, and 305 AD cases enrolled in the AD Neuroimaging Initiative. We assessed associations of BA profiles including selected ratios with diagnosis, cognition, and AD-related genetic variants, adjusting for confounders and multiple testing. Results In AD compared to cognitively normal older adults, we observed significantly lower serum concentrations of a primary BA (cholic acid [CA]) and increased levels of the bacterially produced, secondary BA, deoxycholic acid, and its glycine and taurine conjugated forms. An increased ratio of deoxycholic acid:CA, which reflects 7α-dehydroxylation of CA by gut bacteria, strongly associated with cognitive decline, a finding replicated in serum and brain samples in the Rush Religious Orders and Memory and Aging Project. Several genetic variants in immune response–related genes implicated in AD showed associations with BA profiles. Discussion We report for the first time an association between altered BA profile, genetic variants implicated in AD, and cognitive changes in disease using a large multicenter study. These findings warrant further investigation of gut dysbiosis and possible role of gut-liver-brain axis in the pathogenesis of AD.