University of Louisville

About: University of Louisville is a education organization based out in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 24600 authors who have published 49248 publications receiving 1573346 citations. The organization is also known as: UofL.

Identifying mRNA, microRNA and protein profiles of melanoma exosomes.

Abstract: Background Exosomes are small membranous vesicles secreted into body fluids by multiple cell types, including tumor cells, and in various disease conditions. Tumor exosomes contain intact and functional mRNAs, small RNAs (including miRNAs), and proteins that can alter the cellular environment to favor tumor growth. Molecular profiling may increase our understanding of the role of exosomes in melanoma progression and may lead to discovery of useful biomarkers. Methodology/Principal Findings In the present study, we used mRNA array profiling to identify thousands of exosomal mRNAs associated with melanoma progression and metastasis. Similarly, miRNA array profiling identified specific miRNAs, such as hsa-miR-31, -185, and -34b, involved in melanoma invasion. We also used proteomic analysis and discovered differentially expressed melanoma exosomal proteins, including HAPLN1, GRP78, syntenin-1, annexin A1, and annexin A2. Importantly, normal melanocytes acquired invasion ability through molecules transported in melanoma cell-derived exosomes. Conclusions/Significance Our results indicate that melanoma-derived exosomes have unique gene expression signatures, miRNA and proteomics profiles compared to exosomes from normal melanocytes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth screening of the whole transcriptome/miRNome/proteome expression in melanoma exosomes. These results provide a starting point for future more in-depth studies of tumor-derived melanoma exosomes, which will aid our understanding of melanoma biogenesis and new drug-targets that may be translated into clinical applications, or as non-invasive biomarkers for melanoma.

Density studies of mhd interstellar turbulence : statistical moments, correlations and bispectrum

Abstract: We present a number of statistical tools that show promise for obtaining information on turbulence in molecular clouds (MCs) and diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). For our tests we make use of three-dimensional 5123 compressible MHD isothermal simulations performed for different sonic, i.e., , where VL is the injection velocity, Vs is the sound velocity, and Alfvenic , where VA is the Alfven velocity, Mach numbers. We introduce the bispectrum, a new tool for statistical studies of the interstellar medium which, unlike an ordinary power spectrum of turbulence, preserves the phase information of the stochastic field. We show that the bispectra of the three-dimensional stochastic density field and of column densities, available from observations, are similar. This opens good prospects for studies of MCs and diffuse media with the new tool. We use the bispectrum technique to define the role of nonlinear wave-wave interactions in the turbulent energy cascade. We also obtained the bispectrum function for density and column densities with varying magnetic field strength. As expected, a strong correlation is obtained for wave modes k 1 = k 2 for all models. Larger values of result in increased correlations for modes with k 1 ≠ k 2. This effect becomes more evident with increasing magnetic field intensity. We believe that the different MHD wave modes, e.g., Alfven and magneto-acoustic, which arise in strongly magnetized turbulence, may be responsible for the increased correlations compared to purely hydrodynamical perturbations. In addition to the bispectrum, we calculated the third and fourth statistical moments of density and column density, namely, skewness and kurtosis, respectively. We found a strong dependence of skewness and kurtosis with . In particular, as increases, so does the Gaussian asymmetry of the density distribution. We also studied the correlations of two-dimensional column density with dispersion of velocities and magnetic field, as well as the correlations of three-dimensional density with magnetic and kinetic energy and for comparison. Our results show that column density is linearly correlated with magnetic field for high . This trend is independent of the turbulent kinetic energy and can be used to characterize inhomogeneities of physical properties in low density clumps in the ISM.

Prior experience as a moderator of disaster impact on anxiety symptoms in older adults.

Abstract: As participants in a panel study, 234 older adults were interviewed before, as well as after, serious flooding occurred in southeastern Kentucky. Floods are not uncommon in this area, but these were more widespread than most, and resulted in both previously exposed and newly exposed subsamples of disaster victims. Flood impact was measured at both personal and community levels. With preflood symptoms controlled, there were modest flood effects on both trait anxiety and weather-specific distress in older adults without prior flood experience, but no flood effects in older adults who had been in floods before. Thus, the study provides support for the "inoculation hypothesis" and other conceptualizations that emphasize the advantage of being familiar or experienced with a stressor that is at hand. An implication is that "experienced" victims could be a valuable resource in prevention efforts. Language: en

Schwann Cell Transplantation for Repair of the Adult Spinal Cord

Abstract: The Schwann cell is one of the most widely studied cell types for repair of the spinal cord. These cells play a crucial role in endogenous repair of peripheral nerves due to their ability to dedifferentiate, migrate, proliferate, express growth promoting factors, and myelinate regenerating axons. Following trauma to the spinal cord, Schwann cells migrate from the periphery into the injury site, where they apparently participate in endogenous repair processes. For transplantation into the spinal cord, large numbers of Schwann cells are necessary to fill injury-induced cystic cavities. Several culture systems have been developed that provide large, highly purified populations of Schwann cells. Importantly, the development of in vitro systems to harvest human Schwann cells presents a unique opportunity for autologous transplantation in the clinic. In animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI), grafting Schwann cells or peripheral nerve into the lesion site has been shown to promote axonal regeneration and mye...