Thesis (M.S.)--Brandeis University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brandeis University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brandeis University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 9, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-49).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 2003. / Title from title page of source document. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc (Genetics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Pre-eclampsia is a multisystemic disorder with an incidence of ~6-8% in non-Caucasian women in the Western Cape. Trophoblast invasion is vital for adequate anchorage of the placenta to the uterine wall as well as for the optimisation of utero-placental blood flow in uncomplicated pregnancies. This process is facilitated by the fetal trophoblast cells that digest the extracellular matrix of the uterus by secreting various molecules, including the metalloproteinases (MMP), of which MMP-9 has an increased production during the first trimester. Leptin, an autocrine regulator of MMP-9 secretion, functions via the leptin receptor to prevent over-invasion of maternal tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the leptin (ob) and leptin receptor (obR) genes in predisposition to pre-eclampsia and involved screening the genes in South African non-Caucasian cohorts and performing statistical analysis to determine whether any variants contributed to the disease profile.

Thesis (MSc (Genetics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Pre-eclampsia is one of the most common hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in South Africa. Presently, the only cure for pre-eclampsia is delivery, which brings with it, additional complications. As an alternative, clinical management of this disorder relies on timely diagnosis. The predictive biomarker, Placental Protein 13 (PP13), is currently used for the early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, in an ELISA-based diagnostic kit, developed by Diagnostic Technologies Limited (DTL)1. A decrease in serum PP13 levels has been reported during the first trimester of pregnancy in women who later develop pre-eclampsia. The function of PP13 has not been fully elucidated and it is also not known whether the reduction in PP13 levels is a cause or an effect of the disease. The use of PP13 as a predictive biomarker for pre-eclampsia therefore warrants a comprehensive study of this peptide and the encoding gene, LGALS13. The aim of this study was firstly to characterise LGALS13 using a range of in silico tools. PP13 was found to be most homologous to the predicted protein product of a neighbouring “putative” gene, LOC148003. A gene conversion event between these two genes most likely underlies the so-called “hotspot mutation” in LGALS13. Data also demonstrates that the DelT mutation disrupts functionally and structurally important features of the gene and peptide sequences. Through the analysis of the putative promoter region of LGALS13, the presence of a Stimulatory protein-1 (Sp1) binding sequence element was predicted, which has implications for regulation of LGALS13. Secondly, the study aimed to establish a study cohort for the investigation of the effect that the LGALS13 genotype has on the expression of its mRNA and protein products. Serum, plasma and whole blood samples were collected and prepared from 316 pregnant women. Placental tissue samples were obtained from a selected group of these subjects for RNA extraction. Once the sampling on the two remaining targeted deliveries has occurred, the collection of samples will be batched and sent to DTL in Israel, for PP13 measurement. DNA was extracted from the whole blood samples obtained, and all study participants were genotyped for seven sequence variants within the LGALS13 gene using (i) Multiphor Single Stranded Conformational Polymorphism and Heteroduplex (SSCP/HD) analysis, (ii) restriction enzyme analysis and (iii) DNA sequencing. The genotype data sets will be compared with PP13 levels when they become available, and also with clinical parameters, once the deliveries have all occurred and the database is complete. This study demonstrated the power of an in silico approach to direct the focus of future experimental work. The newly established study cohort will be used for prospective studies aiming at a better understanding of the role which LGALS13 and PP13 play in the early prediction of preeclampsia.

No description available.

Thalassaemia and sickle cell disease (SCD) are the most widely distributed blood genetic disorders that occur at a high frequency in some populations including the Mediterranean region, parts of the Middle East, South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is estimated that thalassaemia major affects 100,000 newborn every year world-wide. The high incidence of these chronic haemolytic diseases in developing countries poses a high load on the national economy because of the expensive treatment protocols and the considerably high morbidity rates of these patients. Repeated blood transfusion to keep haemoglobin above an acceptable level requires well-equipped blood banks with expensive facilities to screen, store and manipulate blood and blood products. Iron chelation therapy is an essential part of treatment to avoid or delay the deleterious effects of iron overload on different organs including the liver, heart, pancreas and endocrine glands. This inquires injecting deferoxamine subcutaneously for 12 hours daily with a special pump. Both deferoxamine and pumps are expensive and therefore not accessible for all patients. In developing countries, the majority of transfusion-dependent patients with chronic haemolytic anaemia (thalassaemia and SCD) suffer from the consequences of sub-optimal treatment. The mortality rate is still high and usually patients die before the age of 30 years. They also suffer from chronic multi-organ damage including cardiac failure, liver cirrhosis, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, growth and pubertal failure and many skeletal abnormalities and fractures. In developed countries the introduction of high transfusion regimes and efficient chelation therapy improved survival rates and prevented cardiac and hepatic damage. However, a majority of thalassaemic patients still have significant growth and pubertal abnormalities, bone disease and multiple endocrine disorders. In Egypt the incidence of thalassaemia major ranges between 0.1 - 0.2% which gives very high patient load on the medical services. In our University of Alexandria Children's Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt. The Haematology clinic has an average of 150 thalassaemic children registered. The same problem is encountered by me in the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, with high prevalence of SCD and thalassaemia and suboptimal treatment. Because of the restricted economic resources, both hospitals adopt a low transfusion therapy (to keep haemoglobin above 9 g/dl) with IM chelation 3 times per week. With this form of sub-optimal treatment we observed that a large number of our thalassaemic children have severe growth and pubertal failure/delay, beside other hepatic, cardiac and skeletal abnormalities. In fact they constitute 40% of patients attending our Endocrinology clinic. This stimulated me to perform an extensive study to survey growth and pubertal development in theses patients (study-1) and investigate the different factors that might affect their growth and pubertal development (studies 4 through 10) a \veU as bone mass density (studies > 1,12). The frequent involvement of the liver in these patients led us to study some hepatic functions and the prevalence of transfusion-associated hepatitis B surface antigenaemia and hepatitis-C virus antibody scropositivity in relation to their linear growth (studies 2,3). We studied the nutritional intake of these patients, their intestinal absorption of D-Xylosc and 48-h stool fat content in relation to their body mass index, subcutaneous 'at thickness and mid-arm circumference (studies 4,5,9). Their defective linear growth urged us to investigate their growth hormone (GH) secretion (spontaneous nocturnal as well as after provocation) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGK-binding protein-3 (IGKBl'3) concentrations. Our findings demonstrated high prevalence of defective GH secretion in these children that necessitated imaging of their hypothalamic pituitary area. Imaging studies revealed original data about structural abnormalities in the anterior pituitary gland, different degrees of pituitary atrophy and empty sella and infiltration the gland as well as the mid-brain by hacniosidrin in thalassaemic children, the mechanism of these findings was explained (studies 4-6,10). Because of their slow growth, the presence of abnormal GH/IGF-I/BP3 axis, and structural abnormalities of the pituitary gland, the next step dealt with the response of IGF-I to exogenous GH and the clinical response of their linear growth to GH therapy for a year or more (studies 4,9). Based on the fact that these patients have high prevalence of bone pains and osteoporosis during late childhood and have high risk of spontaneous fracture thereafter, we measured their bone mass density to investigate the relation between the former and the degree of iron load, growth parameters, and different anabolic hormone concentrations in these patients (studies 11,12).