Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) is the members of the nuclear receptor superfamily as a master transcriptional factor that promotes differentiation of preadipocytes by activating ...adipose-specific gene expression. Although PPARγ is expressed predominantly in adipose tissue and associated with adipocyte differentiation and glucose homeostasis, PPARγ is also present in a variety of cell types including vascular cells and cardiomyocytes. Activation of PPARγ suppresses production of inflammatory cytokines, and there is accumulating data that PPARγ ligands exert antihypertrophy of cardiomyocytes and anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and antiproliferative effects on vascular wall cells and cardiomyocytes. In addition, activation of PPARγ is implicated in the regulation of endothelial function, proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells, and activation of macrophages. Many studies suggest that PPARγ ligands not only ameliorate insulin sensitivity, but also have pleiotropic effects on the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, ischemic heart, and myocarditis.
We evaluated the effects of soil washing with ferric chloride (FeCl3) on cadmium (Cd) concentrations in soil solutions and Cd absorption by two spinach cultivars in pot experiments. Soil samples were ...collected from washed and unwashed plots of rice paddy fields in Fukuoka and Toyama, Japan. Spinach pot cultivation was performed with the above mentioned soil under oxidative conditions. Before and after spinach cultivation, the Cd content in washed soils was always lower than that in unwashed soils.Soil washing with FeCl3 affected the exchangeable cations (i.e. calcium increased and magnesium decreased). The Cd concentration in the soil solution from washed plot was lower than that in the solution from the unwashed plot throughout the spinach growth period, which was attributed to the exchangeable Cd content in both soils, because the fraction equilibrated with the Cd concentration in the soil solution. The exchangeable cation composition was affected by soil washing, but no significant difference in spinach yield was observed between the washed and unwashed plots. The leaf Cd concentration in the two spinach cultivars was up to 70% lower in the washed soils. This study suggested that soil washing in rice paddy fields with FeCl3 was effective for controlling the Cd absorption risk of upland crops such as spinach. However, some risks remain to clear the CODEX standard (0.2 mg kg−1) in the Cd content of leaf such as spinach, which has a high Cd absorptive capacity.
Background Clear images can be sent via e-mail using camera phones. We examined whether camera phones are useful to transmit electrocardiogram (ECG) images. Methods and Results ECG images were taken ...of 20 patients suspected to have acute coronary syndrome. Ten images were sent to a cardiologist by fax. The other 10 images were transmitted using a camera phone. The total time elapsed between image transmission to diagnosis by cardiologists was shorter in the camera phone group than in the fax group. Conclusions ECG image transmission by camera phone can be efficiently used in the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. (Circ J 2007; 71: 1499 - 1500)
Many cytokines have been reported to be increased in human and animal models with cardiovascular diseases. Myocardial infarction (MI) is accompanied with an inflammatory reaction which induces ...cardiac dysfunction and remodeling. The inflammatory reaction has been investigated in animal models of MI or myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The mechanisms by which cytokine cascade is activated in the infarcted myocardium have been recently elucidated. Several hematopoietic growth factors including interleukin-3 (IL-3), IL-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), and stem cell factor (SCF) have been reported to be positive regulators of granulopoiesis and act at different stages of myeloid cell development. G-CSF plays a critical role in regulation of proliferation, differentiation, and survival of myeloid progenitor cells. G-CSF also causes a marked increase in the release of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into the peripheral blood circulation, a process termed mobilization. Although cardiac myocytes have been considered as terminally differentiated cells, it has been recently reported that there are many proliferating cardiac myocytes after MI in human heart. After it was demonstrated that bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) can differentiate into cardiac myocytes, myocardial regeneration has been widely investigated. Recently, G-CSF has been reported to improve cardiac function and reduces mortality after acute MI. Although the mechanism by which G-CSF ameliorates cardiac dysfunction is not fully understood, there is the possibility that G-CSF may regenerate cardiac myocytes and blood vessels through mobilization of BMSCs. In the future, cytokine-mediated regeneration therapy may become to be a novel therapeutic strategy for MI.
Because cardiomyocyte death causes heart failure, it is important to find the molecules that protect cardiomyocytes from death. The death trap is a useful method to identify cell-protective genes.
In ...this study, we isolated the heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) as a protective molecule by the death trap method. Cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide was prevented by overexpression of HSF1 in COS7 cells. Thermal preconditioning at 42 degrees C for 60 minutes activated HSF1, which played a critical role in survival of cardiomyocytes from oxidative stress. In the heart of transgenic mice overexpressing a constitutively active form of HSF1, ischemia followed by reperfusion-induced ST-segment elevation in ECG was recovered faster, infarct size was smaller, and cardiomyocyte death was less than wild-type mice. Protein kinase B/Akt was more strongly activated, whereas Jun N-terminal kinase and caspase 3 were less activated in transgenic hearts than wild-type ones.
These results suggest that HSF1 protects cardiomyocytes from death at least in part through activation of Akt and inactivation of Jun N-terminal kinase and caspase 3.
Vestigial-like family member 3 (VGLL3) is a cofactor for the TEA-domain transcription factor (TEAD) family. Although VGLL3 influences myogenic differentiation, its involvement in slow- and ...fast-twitch fiber specification remains unknown. In this study, we established a cell line stably overexpressing VGLL3 and analyzed effects of VGLL3 on the myogenic differentiation of murine myoblast C2C12 cells. We found that VGLL3 expression promotes slow-twitch muscle differentiation. Mechanistically, VGLL3 expression induced the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), a master transcriptional regulator of slow-twitch muscle development. We also found that VGLL3 proteins are degraded by the proteasome, which causes switching of TEAD cofactors from VGLL3 to Yes-associated protein (YAP) and transcriptional coactivator with a PDZ-binding motif (TAZ). These results suggest that the balance between the two kinds of TEAD cofactors VGLL3 and YAP/TAZ controls muscle fiber-type specification.
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•VGLL3 promotes switching from fast-to slow-type myosin heavy chain.•VGLL3 induces expression of PGC-1α, a master regulator of slow-type myogenesis.•VGLL3 is degraded by the proteasome during myogenic differentiation.
Stent thrombosis is defined as thrombotic occlusion of a stent resulting in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, all thrombotic occlusions of stents might not result in ACS. The present case ...report describes silent, very late thrombotic occlusion of a drug-eluting stent that was confirmed from specimens removed by directional coronary atherectomy. (Circ J 2009; 73: 1762-1764)
Methanation of CO2 using H2 obtained by renewable energy sources has been gaining attention as one of the promising options for utilizing captured CO2 and surplus power obtained when intermittent ...power sources such as solar and wind energy are used. Herein, kinetics of CO2 methanation over Ni/ZrO2 was studied using a tubular quartz reactor at 0.9 MPa. The Sabatier reaction (CO2 + 4H2 = CH4 + 2H2O, ΔH r 298K = – 165 kJ mol–1) was carried out under stoichiometric gas feeding (CO2/H2 = 1/4 v/v to CH4/H2O = 1/2 v/v), and its reaction rate was determined. The exothermic nature of CO2 methanation and extremely high catalytic activities increased the reaction temperature to 400–600 °C even when the feed-gas temperature was as low as 250–400 °C, and the gas hourly space velocity was as high as 3 × 106 h–1. Nonlinear regression analyses based on one- and multistep kinetic models were used to investigate the reaction rates to estimate the kinetic parameters. Both models with optimized parameters can reproduce the experimentally obtained CH4 formation rates for the entire range of the feed-gas conversion with a coefficient of determination (R 2) of over 0.98.
Vestigial‐like family member 3 (VGLL3) is a cofactor for TEA domain transcription factors (TEADs). Although VGLL3 is known to be highly expressed and stimulate cell proliferation in mesenchymal ...cancer cells, its involvement in mesenchymal phenotypes is largely unknown. In this study, we found that VGLL3 promotes epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT)‐like phenotypic changes. We found that A549 human lung cancer cells stably expressing VGLL3 exhibit spindle‐like morphological changes, reduction in the epithelial marker E‐cadherin and induction of the mesenchymal marker Snail. Notably, VGLL3‐expressing cells exhibited enhanced motility. The DNA‐binding protein high‐mobility group AT‐hook 2 (HMGA2) was found to be a target of the VGLL3‐TEAD4 complex, and HMGA2 knockdown repressed EMT‐like phenotypic changes in VGLL3‐expressing cells. VGLL3‐dependent phenotypic changes are involved in transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β)‐induced EMT progression. VGLL3 or HMGA2 knockdown repressed the motility of the mesenchymal breast cancer MDA‐MB‐231 cells. Importantly, high levels of VGLL3 expression were shown to have a positive correlation with poor prognosis in various human cancers, such as breast, colon, ovarian, head and neck, pancreatic, renal, gastric and cervical cancers. These results suggest that VGLL3 promotes EMT‐like cell motility by inducing HMGA2 expression and accelerates cancer progression.
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