Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): About 28.3 million Americans have type II diabetes (T2D) and over 40.1% of middle-aged adults have prediabetes, a condition characterized by impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. Current antidiabetic medications are effective in improving insulin sensitivity, but their chronic administration has significant side effects suc as cardiovascular compli ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Counteracting the threat of intoxication by organophosphorus nerve agents (OP's) is an important mission for homeland security as well as for treating workers exposed to pesticides. OP's act on acetylcholinesterase to prevent synaptic inactivation, thereby leading to immobilization and death on sustained application. Currently, the most promising stra ...

Project Summary/Abstract Ocular pharmaceuticals predominantly use the topical route of administration, which involves a number of benefits and limitations when compared to systemic drug routes. A major limitation of the ocular topical route is the rapid loss of drug via tearing and nasolacrimal drainage, requiring the use of frequent dosing and high drug concentrations that then create formulation ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mycotoxin is naturally occurring and is a toxic small molecule produced by fungi. These fungal toxins are representative of a large number of lipophilic agents that pose significant acute and chronic dangers to militarycombatants as potential warfare agents. There are many examples of mycotoxins, some more acutely potent than others. Mycotoxin is classified as ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this proposal is to exploit a newly discovered anti-inflammatory function involving the aminopeptidase activity of the leukotriene A4 hydrolase for the treatment of pulmonary emphysema. The leukotrieneA4 hydrolase is a dual-functioning enzyme with dichotomously opposing functions. As an epoxide hydrolase, it catalyzes the conversion of leukotri ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nonlinear optical microscopy techniques (such as two-photon florescence) are being used to acquire volumetric (i.e. three dimensional) images that probe several hundred microns into scattering tissue. These techniques are being combined with fast acquisition schemes to allow imaging of live, moving specimens at high NA. This combination allows for high-resoluti ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diabetes mellitus (DM) leads to a 3-4 fold higher risk of experiencing ischemic stroke. In addition, DM stroke patients are more prone to develop more and earlier white matter (WM) high-intensity lesions than non DM stroke patients. Treatment of stroke with tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) at 2-3 hours after stroke decreases lesion volume in non-DM rats. How ...

DESCRIPTION: New therapeutic agents are urgently needed for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD), the world's most common genetic disease. Our long-term goal is to develop a drug for use in children that prevents the inexorable progression of SCD. SCD affects approximately 100,000 people in the United States and millions worldwide. It kills more children in Africa than HIV, but while HI ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, is a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality around the world, responsible for approximately 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths per year.As a heterogeneous and poorly understood disorder, its pathogenesis and possible treatments are an area of active research. While the majority o ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this study is to develop a head tracking procedure for the automated assessment of hearing in infants using Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA). The head tracking procedure will be incorporated into the Intelligent Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (IVRA) system from Intelligent Hearing Systems Corp. The IVRA system currently provides automa ...