Bridget Martinez

Los Alamos National Laboratory | LANL

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a brain-degenerative disorder characterized by a progressive loss of midbrain dopamine neurons. Current standard-of-care includes oral administration of Levodopa to address motor symptoms, but this treatment is not disease-modifying. A reduction in Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling and neurotrophic support contributes to...

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease in which optic nerve damage and visual field defects occur. It is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. Its pathogenesis is largely unknown although several risk factors have been identified, with an increase in intraocular pressure being the main one. Lowering of intraocular pressure is the only treatme...

The incidence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing due to changing age demographics and the incidence of sports-related traumatic brain injury is tending to increase over time. Currently approved medicines for neurodegenerative diseases only temporarily reduce the symptoms but cannot cure or delay disease progression. Cell transplantation st...

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration describes a group of progressive brain disorders that primarily are associated with atrophy of the prefrontal and anterior temporal lobes. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration is considered to be equivalent to frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia is characterized by progressive impairments in behavior, exe...

A review of recent animal models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis showed a large number of miRNAs had altered levels of expression in the brain and spinal cord, motor neurons of spinal cord and brainstem, and hypoglossal, facial, and red motor nuclei and were mostly upregulated. Among the miRNAs found to be upregulated in two of the studies were mi...

An agreed-upon action plan is necessary by national health funding and research agencies over the next decade to lower the number of new cases of neurodegenerative disease. Many of the biomarkers currently used clinically for many neurodegenerative diseases are inadequate, and have inherent limitations in regard to sensitivity and specificity. Ther...

Effective treatments are not yet available for neurodegenerative diseases, which are rapidly increasing in number as life spans in many countries continue to lengthen. Neurodegenerative diseases place a huge burden on families and on healthcare systems as they are a common cause of morbidity and cognitive impairment in older adults. The cost and so...

Though not as well-known as Alzheimer’s disease, yet with a prevalence of 15–22/100,000, and an incidence 2.7–4.1/100,000 cases per year, frontotemporal dementia is a grave, chronic neurodegenerative disorder with low life expectancy, a survival comparable to that of Alzheimer’s disease, and a distressing clinical course for patients as well as fam...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of small, genome-encoded endogenous RNAs that are transcribed but not translated into proteins. They serve essential roles in virtually every aspect of brain function, including neurogenesis, neural development, and cellular responses leading to changes in synaptic plasticity. They are implicated in neurodegeneration...

This volume presents recent data on the latest achievements in new and emerging technologies for biomarkers and for innovations in their assessment. The chapters cover topics such as activation of microglia and macrophages in neurodegenerative diseases; oxidative stress and cellular dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases; TSPO PET imaging as a b...

Background: sParkinson's disease (PD) is a relentless, chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of substantia nigra (SN) neurons that leads to the onset of motor and non-motor symptoms. Standard of care for PD consists of replenishing the loss of dopamine through oral administration of Levodopa; however, this treatme...

A review of recent animal models of Huntington’s disease showed many microRNAs had altered expression levels in the striatum and cerebral cortex, and which were mostly downregulated. Among the altered microRNAs were miR-9/9*, miR-29b, miR-124a, miR-132, miR-128, miR-139, miR-122, miR-138, miR-23b, miR-135b, miR-181 (all downregulated) and miR-448 (...

Inappropriate activation of the renin-angiotensin system decreases glucose uptake in peripheral tissues. Chronic angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT 1 ) blockade increases glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, decreases the abundance of large adipocytes, and macrophage infiltration in adipose. However, the contributions of each tissue to the improvement i...

Measurement and characterization of structural dynamics properties have been studied extensively for applications such as structural health monitoring and non-destructive evaluation. The emergence of video-based structural dynamics techniques combined with high-bandwidth 5G networks, embedded computers containing graphical processing units (GPU), a...

B12 deficiency can arise symptomatically from an array of varying pathologies including frank deficiency from strict vegan diets. Other high-risk contributing pathological conditions include chronic alcoholism, autoimmune disease, and chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, and it is also seen in those with a history of gastric surgery. Ad...

Choroidal neovascularization characterizes wet age-related macular degeneration. Choroidal neovascularization formation involves a primarily angiogenic process that is combined with both inflammation and proteolysis. A primary cause of choroidal neovascularization pathogenesis is alterations in pro-and anti-angiogenic factors derived from the retin...

A main cause of vision loss in the elderly is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Among the cellular, biochemical, and molecular changes linked to this disease, inflammation and angiogenesis appear as being crucial in AMD pathogenesis and progression. There are two forms of the disease: dry AMD, accounting for 80-90% of cases, and wet AMD. The...

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by pronounced inflammatory infiltrates entering the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve leading to demyelination. Focal demyelination is associated with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, while progressive forms of the disease show axonal d...

Cardiac myocytes possess the property of automaticity; however, irregularities in the automaticity can lead to cardiac arrhythmias and heart blocks, which can cause life-threatening health concerns. Currently, full-field, high-resolution, anomaly detection methods for non-contact, electro-mechanical dynamics of cardiac myocytes do not exist. This r...

Modern infrastructure systems, such as bridges, dams, power generation stations, and buildings increasingly have an intrinsic cyber-physical nature to them. Infrastructure now commonly, includes actuators, network connections, sensors, control systems, and computational resources. It is of increasing concern that modern infrastructure is vulnerable...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The disability caused by inflammatory demyelination clinically dominates the early stages of relapsing-remitting MS and is reversible. Once there is considerable loss of axons, MS patients enter a secondary progressive stage. Disease-modifying drugs curr...

Traditional modal analysis requires physically attached sensors for data acquisition and vibration-based monitoring. Although traditional modal analysis presents well-established techniques for dynamics analysis, they can impose mass-loading effects on lightweight structures and increase budgetary demands on the maintenance of such data acquisition...

Video-based techniques for identification of structural dynamics have the advantage that they are very inexpensive to deploy compared to conventional accelerometer or strain gauge techniques. When structural dynamics from video is accomplished using full-field, high-resolution analysis techniques utilizing algorithms on the pixel time series such a...

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. It is the main cause of non-traumatic neurological disability in young adults. Multiple sclerosis mostly affects people aged 20-50 years; however, it can occur in young children and much older adults. Factors identified in the distribution of MS include age, gender, g...

Recent progress in biomarker research, neuromethods development, and clinical practice has contributed to advances in stroke diagnoses and treatment optimization. At present, no “perfect” biomarker(s) exists for stroke. A “perfect” biomarker could assist in risk assessment, predict and distinguish the stroke from mimicking conditions, and measure d...

This chapter focuses on the main classes of plasticity biomarkers consisting various neurovascular specific regulators, glial/neuronal proteins, and peptide growth factor profiles related to selective types of experimental stroke recovery. Radiological methods supporting the progress of spontaneous, therapy-induced restoration, and cell-induced rep...

Stroke assessment is critical, complex, and should include integrative techniques combining clinical/functional, neurostructural, and biochemical markers. Accurate assessment of stroke and its appropriate timely management are essential to ensure a favorable outcome avoiding the risk of recurrent events. There is still an unmet medical need in sear...

Diabetes mellitus, together with its complications, has been increasing in prevalence worldwide. Its complications include cardiovascular disease (e.g., myocardial infarction, stroke), neuropathy, nephropathy, and eye complications (e.g., glaucoma, cataracts, retinopathy, and macular edema). In patients with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitu...

Mechanoreciprocity refers to a cell’s ability to maintain tensional homeostasis in response to various types of forces. Physical forces are continually being exerted upon cells of various tissue types, even those considered static, such as the brain. Through mechanoreceptors, cells sense and subsequently respond to these stimuli. These forces and t...

The most common age-related neurodegenerative disease is Alzheimer’s disease (AD) characterized by aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides in extracellular plaques and aggregated hyperphosphorylated tau protein in intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles, together with loss of cholinergic neurons, synaptic alterations, and chronic inflammation within the b...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) serve essential roles in virtually every aspect of brain function, including neurogenesis, neural development, and cellular responses leading to changes in synaptic plasticity. They are also implicated in neurodegeneration and neurological disorders, in responses to hypoxia and ischemia, and in ischemic tolerance induced by ische...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related, progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline and responsible for most cases of dementia in the elderly. Late-onset or sporadic AD accounts for > 95% of cases, with age at onset > 65 years. Currently there are no drugs or other therapeutic age...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease for which the characteristic motor symptoms emerge after an extensive loss of dopamine containing neurons. The cell bodies of these neurons are present in the substantia nigra, with the nerve terminals being in the striatum. Both innate and adaptive immune responses may contribute...

Pathological activation of the renin-angiotensin system and inflammation are associated with hypertension and the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The contributions of angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1) activation, independent of blood pressure, and inflammation on glucose intolerance and renal damage are not well defined. Using a rat model...

Attempts to reproduce the findings of experimental treatments for stroke in animal models have been mainly unsuccessful. This review considers possible reasons for this failure to translate from animals to humans. Differences among animal models of stroke, transient ischemic attack, and traumatic brain injury in the type and extent of cerebral inju...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder, with the clinical main symptoms caused by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, corpus striatum and brain cortex. Over 90% of patients with PD have sporadic PD and occur in people with no known family history of the disorder. Currently there...

Hyperglycemia increases the risk of oxidant overproduction in the heart through activation of a multitude of pathways. Oxidation of mitochondrial enzymes may impair their function resulting in accumulation of intermediates and reverse electron transfer, contributing to mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) becom...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is characterized by primary damage to the brain from the external mechanical force and by subsequent secondary injury due to various molecular and pathophysiological responses that eventually lead to neuronal cell death. Secondary brain injury events may occur minutes, hours, or even days after the trauma, and provide v...

Most of all strokes are ischemic due to occlusion of a vessel, and comprise two main types, thrombotic and embolic. Inflammation and immune response play an important role in the outcome of ischemic stroke. Pharmaceutical and cell-based therapies with immunomodulatory properties could be of benefit in treating ischemic stroke. Possible changes in m...

Open peer review report 1 on “Immunomodulators and microRNAs as neurorestorative therapy for ischemic stroke”

The contribution of thyroidal status in insulin signaling and glucose homeostasis has been implicated as a potential pathophysiological factor in humans, but the specific mechanisms remain largely elusive. Fasting induces changes in both thyroid hormone secretion and insulin signaling. Here, we explore how mammals that undergo natural, prolonged bo...

Fasting typically suppresses thyroid hormone (TH)-mediated cellular events and increases sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) activity. THs may regulate metabolism through nongenomic pathways and directly through activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Adult male elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) are active, hypermetabolic, and n...

Proper medical treatment of a stroke victim relies on accurate and rapid differentiation between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, which in current practice is performed by computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. A panel of microRNAs could be an extremely useful clinical tool for distinguishing between hemorrhagic and...

Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are associated with glucose intolerance, calling into question the contribution of thyroid hormones (TH) on glucose regulation. TH analogues and derivatives may be effective treatment options for glucose intolerance and insulin resistance (IR), but their potential gluco-regulatory effects during conditions of...

Thyroid hormones (TH) regulate metabolism, but are typically suppressed during times of stressful physiological conditions, including fasting. Interestingly, prolonged fasting in northern elephant seal pups is associated with reliance on a lipid-based metabolism and increased levels of circulating thyroid hormones that are partially attributed to a...

MicroRNAs are a family of small, genome-encoded endogenous RNAs that are transcribed but are not translated into proteins. They serve essential roles in virtually every aspect of brain function, including neurogenesis, neural development, and cellular responses leading to changes in synaptic plasticity. They are also implicated in neurodegeneration...

Background Numerous experimental studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can correct various metabolic disorders such as hyperglycaemia, overweight, hyperphagia, hyperlipidaemia, inflammation, altered activity of the sympathetic nervous system, and insulin signalling defects, all of which contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Obje...

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Stroke is the second leading cause of death above the age of 60 years and the leading cause of acquired disability in adults. The main type of stroke is ischemic stroke (80%) and it is subclassified as thrombotic or embolic in nature. A thrombotic stroke or infarction occurs when a clo...

Prolonged food deprivation in mammals typically reduces glucose, insulin and thyroid hormone (TH) concentrations, as well as tissue deiodinase (DI) content and activity, which, collectively, suppress metabolism. However, in elephant seal pups, prolonged fasting does not suppress TH levels, and is associated with up-regulation of adipose TH-mediated...

Food deprivation in mammals is typically associated with reduced thyroid hormone (TH) concentrations and deiodinase content and activity to suppress metabolism. However, in prolonged-fasted, metabolically active elephant seal pups, TH levels are maintained, if not elevated. The functional relevance of this apparent paradox is unknown and demonstrat...

Activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) leads to an increase in blood pressure and onset of insulin resistance (IR); however, the contributions of increased blood pressure and AT1 activation independently on the manifestation of IR are not well defined. The goal of this study was to determine the contribution of elevated blood pressure, in...