Alastair Blake MD

Alastair Blake MD

United States
1K followers 500+ connections

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About

Passionate about improving healthcare outcomes by leveraging cutting edge technology &…

Activity

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Experience

  • Layer Health Graphic

    Layer Health

    New York City Metropolitan Area

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    New York, New York, United States

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    New York, New York

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    Greater Boston Area

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    London, United Kingdom

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    London, United Kingdom

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    London, United Kingdom

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    London, United Kingdom

Education

  • The Wharton School Graphic

    The Wharton School

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    Thouron Scholar
    Kaiser Fellow
    Statistics Teaching Assistant

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    Academic Awards achieved:
    Dorothy Knott Prize for Palliative Care in 2012
    William Harvey Studentship in 2010

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Publications

  • The CQC inspections: what they mean for general practice.

    The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners

    See publication

  • The Roles of BDNF, pCREB and Wnt3a in the Latent Period Preceding Activation of Progenitor Cell Mitosis in The Adult Dentate Gyrus by Fluoxetine

    PLOS One

    AbstractThe formation of new neurons continues into adult life in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus, as in many other species. Neurogenesis itself turns out to be highly labile, and is regulated by a number of factors. One of these is the serotoninergic system: treatment with drugs (such as the SSRI fluoxetine) markedly stimulates mitosis in the progenitor cells of the dentate gyrus. But this process has one remarkable feature: it takes at least 14 days of continuous treatment to be…

    AbstractThe formation of new neurons continues into adult life in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus, as in many other species. Neurogenesis itself turns out to be highly labile, and is regulated by a number of factors. One of these is the serotoninergic system: treatment with drugs (such as the SSRI fluoxetine) markedly stimulates mitosis in the progenitor cells of the dentate gyrus. But this process has one remarkable feature: it takes at least 14 days of continuous treatment to be effective. This is despite the fact that the pharmacological action of fluoxetine occurs within an hour or so of first administration. This paper explores the role of BDNF in this process, using the effect of a Trk antagonist (K252a) on the labelling of progenitor cells with the mitosis marker Ki67 and the associated expression of pCREB and Wnt3a. These experiments show that (i) Fluoxetine increased Ki67 counts, as well as pCREB and Wnt3a expression in the dentate gyrus. The action of fluoxetine on the progenitor cells and on pCREB (but not Wnt3a) depends upon Trk receptor activation, since it was prevented by icv infusion of K252a. (ii) These receptors are required for both the first 7 days of fluoxetine action, during which no apparent change in progenitor mitosis occurs, as well as the second 7 days. Increased pCREB was always associated with progenitor cell mitosis, but Wnt3a expression may be necessary but not sufficient for increased progenitor cell proliferation. These results shed new light on the action of fluoxetine on neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus, and have both clinical and experimental interest.

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