University of Alabama at Birmingham

About: University of Alabama at Birmingham is a education organization based out in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 38523 authors who have published 86775 publications receiving 3930642 citations. The organization is also known as: UAB & The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Inflammatory cytokines within the central nervous system: sources, function, and mechanism of action.

Abstract: In recent years, there has been increasing evidence that soluble mediators such as cytokines from activated T lymphocytes and macrophages are able to modulate the growth and function of cells found within the central nervous system (CNS), specifically macroglia and microglia cells. Furthermore, glial cells, upon activation, can secrete immunoregulatory factors that influence lymphoid/mononuclear cells as well as the glial cells themselves. Thus the potential exists for bidirectional communication between lymphoid cells and glial cells within the CNS, which in part is mediated via cytokines. This review describes various neurological disease states in which both immune and glial cells may contribute to inflammation and immunologic events occurring in the CNS. The mechanisms by which glial cells both respond to and synthesize a variety of cytokines within the CNS and the capacity of glial cells to acquire major histocompatibility complex antigens and function as antigen-presenting cells within the CNS are described in detail. The implications of these functions, cytokine secretion and antigen presentation, by glial cells are discussed with respect to neurological diseases associated with autoimmunity and/or inflammation.

The emerging biology of the nitrite anion

Abstract: Nitrite has now been proposed to play an important physiological role in signaling, blood flow regulation and hypoxic nitric oxide homeostasis. A recent two-day symposium at the US National Institutes of Health highlighted recent advances in the understanding of nitrite biochemistry, physiology and therapeutics.

Caloric restriction reduces age-related and all-cause mortality in rhesus monkeys

Abstract: Caloric restriction (CR) without malnutrition increases longevity and delays the onset of age-associated disorders in short-lived species, from unicellular organisms to laboratory mice and rats. The value of CR as a tool to understand human ageing relies on translatability of CR's effects in primates. Here we show that CR significantly improves age-related and all-cause survival in monkeys on a long-term ~30% restricted diet since young adulthood. These data contrast with observations in the 2012 NIA intramural study report, where a difference in survival was not detected between control-fed and CR monkeys. A comparison of body weight of control animals from both studies with each other, and against data collected in a multi-centred relational database of primate ageing, suggests that the NIA control monkeys were effectively undergoing CR. Our data indicate that the benefits of CR on ageing are conserved in primates.

hGFAP-cre transgenic mice for manipulation of glial and neuronal function in vivo.

Abstract: With the goal of performing astrocyte-specific modification of genes in the mouse, we have generated a transgenic line expressing Cre recombinase under the control of the human glial fibrillary acidic protein (hGFAP) promoter Activity was monitored by crossing the hGFAP-cre transgenics with either of two reporter lines carrying a lacZ gene whose expression requires excision of loxP-flanked stop sequences We found that lacZ expression was primarily limited to the central nervous system, but therein was widespread in neurons and ependyma Cell types within the brain that notably failed to activate lacZ expression included Purkinje neurons of the cerebellum and choroid plexus epithelium Onset of Cre expression began in the forebrain by e135, suggesting that the hGFAP promoter is active in a multi-potential neural stem cell

Identification of Proteins in Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) Particles: the HCMV Proteome

Abstract: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a member of the herpesvirus family, is a large complex enveloped virus composed of both viral and cellular gene products. While the sequence of the HCMV genome has been known for over a decade, the full set of viral and cellular proteins that compose the HCMV virion are unknown. To approach this problem we have utilized gel-free two-dimensional capillary liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS to identify and determine the relative abundances of viral and cellular proteins in purified HCMV AD169 virions and dense bodies. Analysis of the proteins from purified HCMV virion preparations has indicated that the particle contains significantly more viral proteins than previously known. In this study, we identified 71 HCMV-encoded proteins that included 12 proteins encoded by known viral open reading frames (ORFs) previously not associated with virions and 12 proteins from novel viral ORFs. Analysis of the relative abundance of HCMV proteins indicated that the predominant virion protein was the pp65 tegument protein and that gM rather than gB was the most abundant glycoprotein. We have also identified over 70 host cellular proteins in HCMV virions, which include cellular structural proteins, enzymes, and chaperones. In addition, analysis of HCMV dense bodies indicated that these viral particles are composed of 29 viral proteins with a reduced quantity of cellular proteins in comparison to HCMV virions. This study provides the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the viral and cellular proteins that compose infectious particles of a large complex virus.