Chronic kidney disease is a worldwide health crisis, while diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has become the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). DKD is a microvascular complication and occurs ...in 30-40% of diabetes patients. Epidemiological investigations and clinical observations on the familial clustering and heritability in DKD have highlighted an underlying genetic susceptibility. Furthermore, DKD is a progressive and long-term diabetic complication, in which epigenetic effects and environmental factors interact with an individual's genetic background. In recent years, researchers have undertaken genetic and epigenetic studies of DKD in order to better understand its molecular mechanisms. In this review, clinical material, research approaches and experimental designs that have been used for genetic and epigenetic studies of DKD are described. Current information from genetic and epigenetic studies of DKD and ESRD in patients with diabetes, including the approaches of genome-wide association study (GWAS) or epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) and candidate gene association analyses, are summarized. Further investigation of molecular defects in DKD with new approaches such as next generation sequencing analysis and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) is also discussed.
PTCLab (Phase Transformation Crystallography Lab) is free and open‐source software to calculate the crystallographic features formed during a phase transformation, such as orientation relationship, ...interface orientation, interfacial structure etc. This program covers the crystallographic theories for both martensitic and diffusional transformation and allows users to represent the results in stereographic projection. The crystallographic models treated in PTCLab include the classical phenomenological theory of martensite crystallography (PTMC), the double shear version of PTMC, the invariant line model, O‐lattice theory, the O‐line model, the recently developed three‐dimensional near coincidence site method, the edge‐to‐edge matching model and variant selection analysis. In addition, a number of basic crystallographic calculations for single or multiple crystal structures can be performed with the calculation pad. High‐quality composite stereographic projection and electron diffraction patterns can be also obtained by the present application. PTCLab is written in Python, runnable cross platform, and is distributed at https://sourceforge.net/projects/tclab/.
This article introduces a free and open‐source program, PTCLab, for calculating phase transformation crystallography.
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter generally in the 1–100 nm dimension range. The application of nanotechnology to medicine, known as nanomedicine, concerns the use of ...precisely engineered materials at this length scale to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic modalities.1,2 Nanomaterials have unique physicochemical properties, such as ultra small size, large surface area to mass ratio, and high reactivity, which are different from bulk materials of the same composition. These properties can be used to overcome some of the limitations found in traditional therapeutic and diagnostic agents.
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2008); 83, 5, 761–769. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100400
Folic acid (FA), as a synthetic form of folate, has been widely used for dietary supplementation in pregnant women. The preventive effect of FA supplementation on the occurrence and recurrence of ...fetal neural tube defects (NTD) has been confirmed. Incidence of congenital heart diseases (CHD), however, has been parallelly increasing worldwide. The present study aimed to evaluate whether FA supplementation is associated with a decreased risk of CHD.
We searched the literature using PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar, for the peer-reviewed studies which reported CHD and FA and followed with a meta-analysis. The study-specific relative risks were used as summary statistics for the association between maternal FA supplementation and CHD risk. Cochran's Q and I
statistics were used to test for the heterogeneity.
Maternal FA supplementation was found to be associated with a decreased risk of CHD (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72-0.94). However, the heterogeneity of the association was high (P < 0.001, I
= 92.7%). FA supplementation within 1 month before and after pregnancy correlated positively with CHD (OR 1.10, 95%CI 0.99-1.23), and high-dose FA intake is positively associated with atrial septal defect (OR 1.23, 95%CI 0.64-2.34). Pregnant women with irrational FA use may be at increased risk for CHD.
Data from the present study indicate that the heterogeneity of the association between maternal FA supplementation and CHD is high and suggest that the real relationship between maternal FA supplementation and CHD may need to be further investigated with well-designed clinical studies and biological experiments.
The adrenal gland is paired peripheral end organs of the neuroendocrine system and is responsible for producing crucial stress hormones from its two functional compartments, the adrenal cortex, and ...the adrenal medulla under stimuli. Left-right asymmetry in vertebrates exists from the central nervous system to peripheral paired endocrine glands. The sided difference in the cerebral cortex is extensively investigated, while the knowledge of asymmetry of paired endocrine glands is still poor. The present study aims to investigate the asymmetries of bilateral adrenal glands, which play important roles in stress adaptation and energy homeostasis via steroid hormones produced from the distinct functional zones. Left and right adrenal glands from male C57BL/6J mice were initially histologically analyzed, and high-throughput RNA sequencing was then used to detect the gene transcriptional difference between left and right adrenal glands. Subsequently, the enrichment of functional pathways and ceRNA regulatory work was validated. The results demonstrated that the left adrenal gland had higher tissue mass and levels of energy expenditure, whereas the right adrenal gland appeared to be more potent in glucocorticoid secretion. Further analysis of adrenal stem/progenitor cell markers predicted that Shh signaling might play an important role in the left-right asymmetry of adrenal glands. Of the hub miRNAs, miRNA-466i-5p was identified in the left-right differential innervation of the adrenal glands. Therefore, the present study provides evidence that there are asymmetries between the left and right adrenal glands in glucocorticoid production and neural innervation, in which Shh signaling and miRNA-466i-5p play an important role.
The flexible atomic code Gu, M F
Canadian journal of physics,
05/2008, Volume:
86, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We describe a complete software package for the computation of various atomic data such as energy levels; radiative transition; collisional excitation; ionization by electron impact, photoionization, ...autoionization; and their inverse processes radiative recombination and dielectronic capture. The atomic theoretical background and numerical techniques associated with each process are discussed in detail. Sample applications and results are presented. PACS Nos.: 31.15.-p, 32.70.Cs, 34.80.Kw, 32.80.Fb, 32.80.Dz
Transparent polycrystalline ceramics have found various applications, such as laser hosts, infrared (IR) windows/domes, lamp envelopes and transparent armors, instead of their single crystal ...counterparts, due mainly to their processing flexibility in fabricating items with large sizes and complex shapes and more importantly cost-effectiveness. High optical transparent ceramics require high purity and high density. To achieve high purity final products, it is necessary to use high purity precursor powders. To get high density, various sintering technologies have been employed, such as high-pressure (HP) sintering, high isostatic pressure (HIP) sintering, vacuum sintering and spark plasma sintering (SPS). At the same time, various wet chemical synthesis routes have been used to produce precursor powders at submicron or even nanometer scales, with significantly improved sinterability. Transparent ceramics for armor and IR window/dome applications should have superior mechanical and thermal properties. Therefore, nanosized ceramics and nanocomposite ceramics have attracted much attention more recently. This review was aimed to summarize the latest progress in processing, materials and applications of transparent ceramics. It is arranged by starting with a brief introduction, followed by a detailed description on various sintering technologies used to develop transparent ceramics. After that, potential applications of transparent ceramics, together with their optical, mechanical and thermal properties, will be discussed. It will be concluded with discussions on future trend and perspectives, as well as some important issues, of transparent ceramic materials.
The
(Solute carrier family 12 member 3) gene encodes a sodium-chloride cotransporter and mediates Na
and Cl
reabsorption in the distal convoluted tubule of kidneys. An experimental study has ...previously showed that with knockdown of zebrafish ortholog, slc12a3 led to structural abnormality of kidney pronephric distal duct at 1-cell stage, suggesting that
may have genetic effects in renal disorders. Many clinical reports have demonstrated that the function-loss mutations in the
gene, mainly including Thr60Met, Asp486Asn, Gly741Arg, Leu859Pro, Arg861Cys, Arg913Gln, Arg928Cys and Cys994Tyr, play the pathogenic effects in Gitelman syndrome. This kidney disease is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. In addition, several population genetic association studies have indicated that the single nucleotide variant Arg913Gln in the
gene is associated with diabetic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes subjects. In this review, we first summarized bioinformatics of the
gene and its genetic variation. We then described the different genetic and biological effects of
in Gitelman syndrome and diabetic kidney disease. We also discussed about further genetic and biological analyses of
as pharmacokinetic targets of diuretics.
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