Shriners Hospitals for Children - Galveston

About: Shriners Hospitals for Children - Galveston is a healthcare organization based out in Galveston, Texas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Burn injury & Lean body mass. The organization has 249 authors who have published 420 publications receiving 15311 citations.

Characterization of the nasal, sublingual, and oropharyngeal mucosa microbiota in cleft lip and palate individuals before and after surgical repair.

Abstract: Objective: To delineate inherent differences in the microbial milieu in cleft palate patients compared with cleft lip patients and to document changes in microbial flora before and after cleft lip and palate repair. Design: A prospective study of preoperative and postoperative culture results from the nasal, sublingual, and oropharyngeal surfaces of patients undergoing primary cleft lip repair and palate closure. Setting: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Galveston, Texas, and University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. Patients: Seventy-nine patients were included in a 3-year period. Ten patients with isolated cleft lip underwent primary lip repair. Twenty-five patients with cleft lip and palate underwent primary lip repair, and 44 patients underwent palatoplasty. Results: Cleft palate patients had a significantly higher rate of colonization by staphylococcal species, but not methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, when compared to cleft lip patients (p = .0298; chi-square test)....

Propranolol Improves Impaired Hepatic Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Akt Signaling after Burn Injury

Abstract: Severe burn injury is associated with induction of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. ER stress leads to activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), suppression of insulin receptor signaling via phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 and subsequent insulin resistance. Marked and sustained increases in catecholamines are prominent after a burn. Here, we show that administration of propranolol, a nonselective β1/2 adrenergic receptor antagonist, attenuates ER stress and JNK activation. Attenuation of ER stress by propranolol results in increased insulin sensitivity, as determined by activation of hepatic phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Akt. We conclude that catecholamine release is responsible for the ER stress response and impaired insulin receptor signaling after burn injury.