Browsing by Author "Thompson, Christopher K."
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- Building Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Community-Engaged Environmental Health Research in Appalachian VirginiaSatterwhite, Emily M.; Bell, Shannon E.; Marr, Linsey C.; Thompson, Christopher K.; Prussin, Aaron J. II; Buttling, Lauren G.; Pan, Jin; Gohlke, Julia M. (MDPI, 2020-03-05)This article describes a collaboration among a group of university faculty, undergraduate students, local governments, local residents, and U.S. Army staff to address long-standing concerns about the environmental health effects of an Army ammunition plant. The authors describe community-responsive scientific pilot studies that examined potential environmental contamination and a related undergraduate research course that documented residents’ concerns, contextualized those concerns, and developed recommendations. We make a case for the value of resource-intensive university–community partnerships that promote the production of knowledge through collaborations across disciplinary paradigms (natural/physical sciences, social sciences, health sciences, and humanities) in response to questions raised by local residents. Our experience also suggests that enacting this type of research through a university class may help promote researchers’ adoption of “epistemological pluralism”, and thereby facilitate the movement of a study from being “multidisciplinary” to “transdisciplinary”.
- Ecological and Human Health in Rural CommunitiesGohlke, Julia M.; Kolivras, Korine N.; Krometis, Leigh-Anne H.; Marmagas, Susan West; Marr, Linsey C.; Satterwhite, Emily M.; Angermeier, Paul L.; Clark, Susan F.; Ranganathan, Shyam; Schoenholtz, Stephen H.; Swarup, Samarth; Thompson, Christopher K. (2017-05-15)Environmental exposures to chemicals and microbes in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the objects we touch are now recognized to be responsible for 90% of all human illness. This suggests that well-documented health disparities within and between nations have significant geographic and ecological as well as socioeconomic dimensions that must be addressed in order to secure human well-being at local to global scales. While urbanization is a primary driver of global change, it is widely acknowledged that urbanization is dependent on large-scale resource extraction and agriculture in rural communities. Despite considerable evidence linking human industrial and agricultural activities to ecological health (i.e. health of an ecosystem including the non-human organisms that inhabit it), very little data are available directly linking exposure to environmental pollution and human health in rural areas, which have repeatedly been identified as subject to the most extreme health disparities...
- Limited Support for Thyroid Hormone or Corticosterone Related Gene Expression as a Proximate Mechanism of Incubation Temperature-Dependent Phenotypes in BirdsHope, Sydney F.; Buenaventura, Christopher R.; Husain, Zahabiya; DuRant, Sarah E.; Kennamer, Robert A.; Hopkins, William A.; Thompson, Christopher K. (Frontiers, 2019-07-05)The conditions that animals experience during early development can have profound consequences for health and fitness. In birds, one of the most important aspects of development is egg incubation temperature. A small decrease in average temperature leads to various impacts on offspring phenotype, such as smaller body sizes, slower growth rates, and less efficient metabolic activity. Little is known, however, about the proximate mechanisms underlying these incubation temperature-induced phenotypic changes. Two important hormones which could play a proximate role are thyroid hormone and corticosterone, which mobilize stored energy reserves and coordinate the normal growth of tissues, particularly in the brain. Previous research shows that circulating blood concentrations of both hormones are influenced by incubation temperature, but the mechanism by which incubation temperature may lead to these changes is unknown. We hypothesized that incubation temperature induces changes in thyroid hormone and corticosterone regulation, leading to changes in expression of hormone-sensitive genes in the brain. To test this, we incubated wood duck (Aix sponsa) eggs at three different temperatures within the natural range (35.0, 35.8, and 37.0 degrees C). We measured mRNA expression of thyroid hormone-related neuroendocrine endpoints (deiodinase 2/3, thyroid hormone receptor alpha/beta, neural regeneration related protein, and Krueppel-like factor 9) in newly hatched ducklings and corticosterone-related neuroendocrine endpoints (mineralocorticoid receptor, glucocorticoid receptor, cholecystokinin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor) in 15 day-old ducklings using qPCR on brain tissue from the hippocampus and hypothalamus. Contrary to our predictions, we found that mRNA expression of thyroid hormone-related endpoints in both brain areas were largely unaffected by incubation temperature, although there was a trend for an inverse relationship between mRNA expression and incubation temperature for several genes in the hypothalamus. We also found that mineralocorticoid receptor mRNA expression in the hypothalamus was lower in ducklings incubated at the low relative to the high temperatures. This study is the first to evaluate the effects of incubation temperature on mRNA expression of neuroendocrine endpoints in the developing avian brain and suggests that these particular endpoints may be largely resistant to changes in incubation temperature. Thus, further research into the proximate mechanisms for incubation temperature-induced developmental plasticity is needed.
- SARS-CoV-2 Rapidly Infects Peripheral Sensory and Autonomic Neurons, Contributing to Central Nervous System Neuroinvasion before ViremiaJoyce, Jonathan D.; Moore, Greyson A.; Goswami, Poorna; Harrell, Telvin L.; Taylor, Tina M.; Hawks, Seth A.; Green, Jillian C.; Jia, Mo; Irwin, Matthew D.; Leslie, Emma; Duggal, Nisha K.; Thompson, Christopher K.; Bertke, Andrea S. (MDPI, 2024-07-28)Neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19, acute and long term, suggest SARS-CoV-2 affects both the peripheral and central nervous systems (PNS/CNS). Although studies have shown olfactory and hematogenous invasion into the CNS, coinciding with neuroinflammation, little attention has been paid to susceptibility of the PNS to infection or to its contribution to CNS invasion. Here we show that sensory and autonomic neurons in the PNS are susceptible to productive infection with SARS-CoV-2 and outline physiological and molecular mechanisms mediating neuroinvasion. Our infection of K18-hACE2 mice, wild-type mice, and golden Syrian hamsters, as well as primary peripheral sensory and autonomic neuronal cultures, show viral RNA, proteins, and infectious virus in PNS neurons, satellite glial cells, and functionally connected CNS tissues. Additionally, we demonstrate, in vitro, that neuropilin-1 facilitates SARS-CoV-2 neuronal entry. SARS-CoV-2 rapidly invades the PNS prior to viremia, establishes a productive infection in peripheral neurons, and results in sensory symptoms often reported by COVID-19 patients.