Pulmonary artery relative area change is inversely related to ex vivo measured arterial elastic modulus in the canine model of acute pulmonary embolization

A low relative area change (RAC) of the proximal pulmonary artery (PA) over the cardiac cycle is a good predictor of mortality from right ventricular failure in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). The relationship between RAC and local mechanical properties of arteries, which are known to stiffen in acute and chronic PH, is not clear, however. In this study, we estimated elastic moduli of three PAs (MPA, LPA and RPA: main, left and right PAs) at the physiological state using mechanical testing data and correlated these estimated elastic moduli to RAC measured in vivo with both phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) and M-mode echocardiography (on RPA only). We did so using data from a canine model of acute PH due to embolization to assess the sensitivity of RAC to changes in elastic modulus in the absence of chronic PH-induced arterial remodeling. We found that elastic modulus increased with embolization-induced PH, presumably a consequence of increased collagen engagement, which corresponds well to decreased RAC. Furthermore, RAC was inversely related to elastic modulus. Finally, we found MRI and echocardiography yielded comparable estimates of RAC. We conclude that RAC of proximal PAs can be obtained from either MRI or echocardiography and a change in RAC indicates a change in elastic modulus of proximal PAs detectable even in the absence of chronic PH-induced arterial remodeling. The correlation between RAC and elastic modulus of proximal PAs may be useful for prognoses and to monitor the effects of therapeutic interventions in patients with PH.     

Influence of inverse dynamics methods on the calculation of inter-segmental moments in vertical jumping and weightlifting

Background  

A vast number of biomechanical studies have employed inverse dynamics methods to calculate inter-segmental moments during movement. Although all inverse dynamics methods are rooted in classical mechanics and thus theoretically the same, there exist a number of distinct computational methods. Recent research has demonstrated a key influence of the dynamics computation of the inverse dynamics method on the calculated moments, despite the theoretical equivalence of the methods. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the influence of the choice of inverse dynamics on the calculation of inter-segmental moments.     

Inositol polyphosphate multikinase: an emerging player for the central action of AMP-activated protein kinase

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an essential enzyme indispensable for energy sensing and metabolic homeostasis at both the cellular and whole-body levels. Phosphorylation of AMPK, a key step for its activation, is known to be regulated by upstream kinases such as liver kinase B1 (LKB1) and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase-beta (CaMKKβ). Recent evidence shows that inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK), which possesses both inositol phosphate kinase and lipid inositol kinase activities, can physiologically regulate AMPK signaling in cultured cells and in the arcuate nucleus. IPMK-mediated regulation of AMPK occurs through the dynamic protein interactions of IPMK with AMPK in response to glucose availability. Here we review and discuss a novel role for the hypothalamic IPMK signaling in the control of AMPK and central energy homeostasis.     

One ring to rule them all: trafficking of heme and heme synthesis intermediates in the metazoans

The appearance of heme, an organic ring surrounding an iron atom, in evolution forever changed the efficiency with which organisms were able to generate energy, utilize gasses and catalyze numerous reactions. Because of this, heme has become a near ubiquitous compound among living organisms. In this review we have attempted to assess the current state of heme synthesis and trafficking with a goal of identifying crucial missing information, and propose hypotheses related to trafficking that may generate discussion and research. The possibilities of spatially organized supramolecular enzyme complexes and organelle structures that facilitate efficient heme synthesis and subsequent trafficking are discussed and evaluated. Recently identified players in heme transport and trafficking are reviewed and placed in an organismal context. Additionally, older, well established data are reexamined in light of more recent studies on cellular organization and data available from newer model organisms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cell Biology of Metals.     

Physiological mechanisms for food-hoarding motivation in animals

The study of ingestive behaviour has an extensive history, starting as early as 1918 when Wallace Craig, an animal behaviourist, coined the terms ‘appetitive’ and ‘consummatory’ for the two-part sequence of eating, drinking and sexual behaviours. Since then, most ingestive behaviour research has focused on the neuroendocrine control of food ingestion (consummatory behaviour). The quantity of food eaten, however, is also influenced by the drive both to acquire and to store food (appetitive behaviour). For example, hamster species have a natural proclivity to hoard food and preferentially alter appetitive ingestive behaviours in response to environmental changes and/or metabolic hormones and neuropeptides, whereas other species would instead primarily increase their food intake. Therefore, with the strong appetitive component to their ingestive behaviour that is relatively separate from their consummatory behaviour, they seem an ideal model for elucidating the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying the control of food hoarding and foraging. This review focuses on the appetitive side of ingestive behaviour, in particular food hoarding, attempting to integrate what is known about the neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating this relatively poorly studied behaviour. An hypothesis is formed stating that the direction of ‘energy flux’ is a unifying factor for the control of food hoarding.     

Antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin and disease activity score in early arthritis: a cohort study

Introduction  

The aim of our study was to investigate the association between arthritic disease activity and antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV), because such a relation has been suggested.     

Ensemble attribute profile clustering: discovering and characterizing groups of genes with similar patterns of biological features

Background  

Ensemble attribute profile clustering is a novel, text-based strategy for analyzing a user-defined list of genes and/or proteins. The strategy exploits annotation data present in gene-centered corpora and utilizes ideas from statistical information retrieval to discover and characterize properties shared by subsets of the list. The practical utility of this method is demonstrated by employing it in a retrospective study of two non-overlapping sets of genes defined by a published investigation as markers for normal human breast luminal epithelial cells and myoepithelial cells.     

Construction and Characterization of a Magnaporthe grisea Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Library

Diaz-Perez, S. V., Crouch, V. W., and Orbach, M. J. 1996. Construction and characterization of a Magnaporthe grisea bacterial artificial chromosome library. Fungal Genet. Biol. 20, 280-288. A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of Magnaporthe grisea containing 4128 clones with an average insert size of 66-kb has been constructed. This library represents seven genome equivalents of M. grisea and has been demonstrated to be representative of the genome by screening for the presence of several single-copy genes and DNA markers. The utility of the library for use in map-based cloning projects was shown by the spanning of a nine-cosmid, 207-kb DNA contig with only 3 BAC clones. In addition, using a lys1-3 auxotroph, we have shown that BAC clones at least 113 kb can be transformed into M. grisea to screen for complementation of mutations. Thus, BACs isolated in chromosome walks can be rapidly screened for the presence of the sought after gene. The ease of construction of BAC libraries and of isolation and manipulation of BAC clones makes the BAC system an ideal one for physical analyses of fungal genomes.     

In vitro zygotic embryo culture of wild Musa acuminata ssp.malaccensis and factors affecting germination and seedling growth

In vitro zygotic embryo culture of wild banana significantly increased the germination compared to greenhouse grown seeds. Embryo orientation and BAP concentration significantly affected germination rate. These factors together with gelling agent, dark and light conditions and coconut water, also showed variable effects on the number of roots per plant, root length, shoot length, number of days to root emergence and number of days to shoot emergence.