Turbulence downstream of subcoronary stentless and stented aortic valves

Regions of turbulence downstream of bioprosthetic heart valves may cause damage to blood components, vessel wall as well as to aortic valve leaflets. Stentless aortic heart valves are known to posses several hemodynamic benefits such as larger effective orifice areas, lower aortic transvalvular pressure difference and faster left ventricular mass regression compared with their stented counterpart. Whether this is reflected by diminished turbulence formation, remains to be shown. We implanted either stented pericardial valve prostheses (Mitroflow), stentless valve prostheses (Solo or Toronto SPV) in pigs or they preserved their native valves. Following surgery, blood velocity was measured in the cross sectional area downstream of the valves using 10MHz ultrasonic probes connected to a dedicated pulsed Doppler equipment. As a measure of turbulence, Reynolds normal stress (RNS) was calculated at two different blood pressures (baseline and 50% increase). We found no difference in maximum RNS measurements between any of the investigated valve groups. The native valve had significantly lower mean RNS values than the Mitroflow (p=0.004), Toronto SPV (p=0.008) and Solo valve (p=0.02). There were no statistically significant differences between the artificial valve groups (p=0.3). The mean RNS was significantly larger when increasing blood pressure (p=0.0006). We, thus, found no advantages for the stentless aortic valves compared with stented prosthesis in terms of lower maximum or mean RNS values. Native valves have a significantly lower mean RNS value than all investigated bioprostheses.     

Increasing Gap Junctional Coupling: A Tool for Dissecting the Role of Gap Junctions

Much of our current knowledge about the physiological and pathophysiological role of gap junctions is based on experiments where coupling has been reduced by either chemical agents or genetic modification. This has brought evidence that gap junctions are important in many physiological processes. In a number of cases, gap junctions have been implicated in the initiation and progress of disease, and experimental uncoupling has been used to investigate the exact role of coupling. The inverse approach, i.e., to increase coupling, has become possible in recent years and represents a new way of testing the role of gap junctions. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge obtained with agents that selectively increase gap junctional intercellular coupling. Two approaches will be reviewed: increasing coupling by the use of antiarrhythmic peptide and its synthetic analogs and by interfering with the gating of gap junctional channels.     

Can artificially selected phenotypes influence a component of field fitness? Thermal selection and fly performance under thermal extremes

Artificially selected lines are widely used to investigate the genetic basis of quantitative traits and make inferences about evolutionary trajectories. Yet, the relevance of selected traits to field fitness is rarely tested. Here, we assess the relevance of thermal stress resistance artificially selected in the laboratory to one component of field fitness by investigating the likelihood of adult Drosophila melanogaster reaching food bait under different temperatures. Lines resistant to heat reached the bait more often than controls under hot and cold conditions, but less often at intermediate temperatures, suggesting a fitness cost of increased heat resistance but not at temperature extremes. Cold-resistant lines were more common at baits than controls under cold as well as hot field conditions, and there was no cost at intermediate temperatures. One of the replicate heat-resistant lines was caught less often than the others under hot conditions. Direct and correlated patterns of responses in laboratory tests did not fully predict the low performance of the heat selected lines at intermediate temperatures, nor the high performance of the cold selected lines under hot conditions. Therefore, lines selected artificially not only behaved partly as expected based on laboratory assays but also evolved patterns only evident in the field releases.     

Age patterns of intra‐pair DNA methylation discordance in twins: Sex difference in epigenomic instability and implication on survival

Aging is a biological process linked to specific patterns and changes in the epigenome. We hypothesize that age‐related variation in the DNA methylome could reflect cumulative environmental modulation to the epigenome which could impact epigenomic instability and survival differentially by sex. To test the hypothesis, we performed sex‐stratified epigenome‐wide association studies on age‐related intra‐pair DNA methylation discordance in 492 twins aged 56–80 years. We identified 3084 CpGs showing increased methylation variability with age (FDR < 0.05, 7 CpGs with p < 1e‐07) in male twins but no significant site found in female twins. The results were replicated in an independent cohort of 292 twins aged 30–74 years with 37% of the discovery CpGs successfully replicated in male twins. Functional annotation showed that genes linked to the identified CpGs were significantly enriched in signaling pathways, neurological functions, extracellular matrix assembly, and cancer. We further explored the implication of discovery CpGs on individual survival in an old cohort of 224 twins (220 deceased). In total, 264 CpGs displayed significant association with risk of death in male twins. In female twins, 175 of the male discovery CpGs also showed non‐random correlation with mortality. Intra‐pair comparison showed that majority of the discovery CpGs have higher methylation in the longer‐lived twins suggesting that loss of DNA methylation during aging contributes to increased risk of death which is more pronounced in male twins. In conclusion, age‐related epigenomic instability in the DNA methylome is more evident in males than in females and could impact individual survival and contribute to sex difference in human lifespan.     

Mechanical stresses in carotid plaques using MRI-based fluid-structure interaction models

Risk assessment in patients with carotid atherosclerosis relies on the degree of luminal stenosis. Incorporating morphological information on plaque composition obtained noninvasively through the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could include other variables besides the degree of stenosis into carotid plaque risk assessment. Knowledge of the morphologic composition of the plaque allows determination of mechanic stresses exerted on the protective fibrous cap, which may be of importance in the assessment of plaque vulnerability. Based on image processing of transverse MRI scans, longitudinal 2D fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations of carotid atherosclerotic plaques were performed facilitating in-vivo estimation of longitudinal internal fibrous cap stresses. The FSI simulation combined finite element analysis (FEA) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of blood-flow variables. Preliminary results from two symptomatic patients revealed longitudinal stress levels (max. 254.1 and 143.2 kPa) approaching established criteria for plaque rupture at known predilection sites of plaque rupture. Determination of longitudinal fibrous cap stresses may prove useful in assessing plaque vulnerability and improve risk stratification in patients with carotid atherosclerosis.     

Recognition of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) noisy screams: evidence from conspecifics and human listeners

Vocalizations are among the diverse cues that animals use to recognize individual conspecifics. For some calls, such as noisy screams, there is debate over whether such recognition occurs. To test recognition of rhesus macaque noisy screams, recorded calls were played back to unrelated and related conspecific group members as either single calls or short bouts. Higher-ranking, but not lower-ranking, monkeys looked longer toward the playback speaker in trials containing screams from kin than in those composed of screams from nonkin. In a second study, human listeners performed a "same/different" discrimination task between presentations of rhesus screams from either the same or two different monkeys. Listeners discriminated between "same" and "different" callers above an established empirical threshold, whether screams were presented singly or in short bouts. Together, these results suggest that rhesus monkeys can distinguish noisy screams between kin and nonkin, and humans are able to discriminate different individuals' noisy screams, even when the duration of the bout is short. Whether noisy screams are ideally designed signals for individual recognition is discussed with respect to possible evolutionary origins of the calls.     

Population bottlenecks constrain host microbiome diversity and genetic variation impeding fitness

It is becoming increasingly clear that microbial symbionts influence key aspects of their host’s fitness, and vice versa. This may fundamentally change our thinking about how microbes and hosts interact in influencing fitness and adaptation to changing environments. Here we explore how reductions in population size commonly experienced by threatened species influence microbiome diversity. Consequences of such reductions are normally interpreted in terms of a loss of genetic variation, increased inbreeding and associated inbreeding depression. However, fitness effects of population bottlenecks might also be mediated through microbiome diversity, such as through loss of functionally important microbes. Here we utilise 50 Drosophila melanogaster lines with different histories of population bottlenecks to explore these questions. The lines were phenotyped for egg-to-adult viability and their genomes sequenced to estimate genetic variation. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified in these lines to investigate microbial diversity. We found that 1) host population bottlenecks constrained microbiome richness and diversity, 2) core microbiomes of hosts with low genetic variation were constituted from subsets of microbiomes found in flies with higher genetic variation, 3) both microbiome diversity and host genetic variation contributed to host population fitness, 4) connectivity and robustness of bacterial networks was low in the inbred lines regardless of host genetic variation, 5) reduced microbial diversity was associated with weaker evolutionary responses of hosts in stressful environments, and 6) these effects were unrelated to Wolbachia density. These findings suggest that population bottlenecks reduce hologenomic variation (combined host and microbial genetic variation). Thus, while the current biodiversity crisis focuses on population sizes and genetic variation of eukaryotes, an additional focal point should be the microbial diversity carried by the eukaryotes, which in turn may influence host fitness and adaptability with consequences for the persistence of populations.     

Structural Basis of WLS/Evi-Mediated Wnt Transport and Secretion

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Role of adenine deaminase in purine salvage and nitrogen metabolism and characterization of the ade gene in Bacillus subtilis.

The isolation of mutants defective in adenine metabolism in Bacillus subtilis has provided a tool that has made it possible to investigate the role of adenine deaminase in adenine metabolism in growing cells. Adenine deaminase is the only enzyme that can deaminate adenine compounds in B. subtilis, a reaction which is important for adenine utilization as a purine and also as a nitrogen source. The uptake of adenine is strictly coupled to its further metabolism. Salvaging of adenine is inhibited by the stringent response to amino acid starvation, while the deamination of adenine is not. The level of adenine deaminase was reduced when exogenous guanosine served as the purine source and when glutamine served as the nitrogen source. The enzyme level was essentially the same whether ammonia or purines served as the nitrogen source. Reduced levels were seen on poor carbon sources. The ade gene was cloned, and the nucleotide sequence and mRNA analyses revealed a single-gene operon encoding a 65-kDa protein. By transductional crosses, we have located the ade gene to 130 degrees on the chromosomal map.     

Deduced amino acid sequence of Escherichia coli adenosine deaminase reveals evolutionarily conserved amino acid residues: implications for catalytic function

The goal of the research reported here is to identify evolutionarily conserved amino acid residues associated with enzymatic deamination of adenosine. To do this, we isolated molecular clones of the Escherichia coli adenosine deaminase gene by functional complementation of adenosine deaminase deficient bacteria and deduced the amino acid sequence of the enzyme from the nucleotide sequence of the gene. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed the presence of a 996-nucleotide open reading frame encoding a protein of 332 amino acids having a molecular weight of 36,345. The deduced amino acid sequence of the E. coli enzyme has approximately 33% identity with those of the mammalian adenosine deaminases. With conservative amino acid substitutions the overall sequence homology approaches 50%, suggesting that the structures and functions of the mammalian and bacterial enzymes are similar. Additional amino acid sequence analysis revealed specific residues that are conserved among all three adenosine deaminases and four AMP deaminases for which sequence information is currently available. In view of previously published enzymological data and the conserved amino acid residues identified in this study, we propose a model to account for the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolytic deamination of adenosine. Potential catalytic roles are assigned to the conserved His 214, Cys 262, Asp 295, and Asp 296 residues of mammalian adenosine deaminases and the corresponding conserved amino acid residues in bacterial adenosine deaminase and the eukaryotic AMP deaminases.