Adv Exp Med Biol
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This chapter focuses on the role of sphingolipids in the regulation of sterol-regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) dependent lipid synthesis and ATP-binding cassette protein ABCA1 and ABCG1 mediated lipid efflux, key regulators of cellular lipid homeostasis. Sphingolipid synthesis activates SREBPs independently of whether sphingolipid synthesis occurs through recycling or de novo pathways. SREBPs are major transcription factors of lipid metabolism that regulate more than 30 genes of cholesterol, fatty acid and phospholipid synthetic enzymes and they required NADPH cofactors. ⋯ Animal studies support the findings made in cultured cells. Inhibition of sphingolipid de novo synthesis increases anti-atherogenic lipoproteins and decreases atherosclerosis in mouse models. Together, manipulation of sphingolipid synthetic pathways is a potentially promising therapeutic target for treatment of low-HDL dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis.
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Mast cells play an important role in the lung in both health and disease. Their primary role is to initiate an appropriate program of inflammation and repair in response to tissue damage initiated by a variety of diverse stimuli. ⋯ A key goal is the development of treatments which attenuate adverse mast cell function when administered chronically to humans in vivo. Such therapies may offer a novel approach to the treatment of many life-threatening diseases.
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Adequate reliability of algorithms and computations of modern medical systems software is a matter of concern because the system software is in charge of satisfying safety requirements of the system environment, i.e., the patient. This chapter aims to present a framework for specifying the behavior of the Continuous Infusion Insulin Pump (CIIP) safety-critical medical system that satisfies diabetic's safety requirements.
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Vaccination is most often studied from a scientific, clinical, or epidemiological perspective, and rightly so, for vaccines are meant to improve health outcomes. But these are not the only lenses through which the effects of vaccination programs can be understood. This chapter provides an economic perspective on vaccination programs, detailing in particular a new line of inquiry that makes a case for the importance of vaccination to achieving national economic aims. ⋯ The chapter begins with a look at recent research that demonstrates powerful links that run from population health to economic well-being. Second, it discusses how knowledge of the economic benefits of health fundamentally transforms how we understand the value of vaccination. And third, it provides evidence for the scale of the returns that countries receive when they invest in immunization programs - returns that have not been fully captured by traditional economic analyses.