Background and purpose
The pharmacologic effects of pioglitazone on the incidence of Parkinson disease (PD) are not clear. No study has examined the interaction between pioglitazone and statin ...treatment on prevention of PD. This study analyzed the associations between pioglitazone, statins, and the incidence of PD in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in Taiwan.
Methods
We used the National Health Insurance database from 1996 to 2013. DM and PD were diagnosed according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. We used the propensity score‐matching method to match the study groups. Cox regression analyses were employed to calculate the relative risk of the incidence of PD.
Results
There were 48 828 patients matched and categorized equally into the pioglitazone group and the non‐pioglitazone group. The number of PD patients in the pioglitazone group and the non‐pioglitazone group was 275 (1.1%) and 417 (1.7%), respectively. The pioglitazone group had a lower incidence of PD, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.66 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.57–0.78, and this benefit was dose‐dependent. Of note, as compared with either pioglitazone or statin treatment, our results first showed that the combination of pioglitazone and statins further lowered the risk of PD, with an aHR of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.64–0.94; P = 0.010).
Conclusions
Our study results suggested that pioglitazone could be a promising agent for reducing the incidence of PD in patients with DM, and works synergistically with statins.
Pioglitazone and statins may lower the indidence of Parkinsion disease independently and synergistically in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in various plants and Chinese herbs, is associated with multiple tumor-suppressing activities, has been tested in clinical trials. However, the molecular mechanisms ...involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppressing activities are not yet completely defined. Here, we showed that treatment with resveratrol inhibited cell mobility through induction of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) in lung cancer cells. We also found that downregulation of FOXC2 (forkhead box C2) is critical for resveratrol-mediated suppression of tumor metastasis in an in vitro and in vivo models. We also identified a signal cascade, namely, resveratrol-∣miRNA-520h-∣PP2A/C-∣Akt → NF-κB → FOXC2, in which resveratrol inhibited the expression of FOXC2 through regulation of miRNA-520h-mediated signal cascade. This study identified a new miRNA-520h-related signal cascade involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppression activity and provide the clinical significances of miR-520h, PP2A/C and FOXC2 in lung cancer patients. Our results indicated a functional link between resveratrol-mediated miRNA-520h regulation and tumor suppressing ability, and provide a new insight into the role of resveratrol-induced molecular and epigenetic regulations in tumor suppression.
Recent progress in observing sun-induced Chl fluorescence (SIF) provides an unprecedented opportunity to advance photosynthesis research in natural environments. However, we still lack an analytical ...framework to guide SIF studies and integration with the well-developed active fluorescence approaches. Here, we derive a set of coupled fundamental equations to describe the dynamics of SIF and its relationship with C₃ and C₄ photosynthesis. These equations show that, although SIF is dynamically as complex as photosynthesis, the measured SIF simplifies photosynthetic modeling from the perspective of light reactions by integrating over the dynamic complexities of photosynthesis. Specifically, the measured SIF contains direct information about the actual electron transport from photosystem II to photosystem I, giving a quantifiable link between light and dark reactions. With much-reduced requirements on inputs and parameters, the light-reactions-centric, SIF-based biophysical model complements the traditional, dark-reactions-centric biochemical model of photosynthesis. The SIF–photosynthesis relationship, however, is nonlinear. This is because photosynthesis saturates at high light whereas SIF has a stronger tendency to keep increasing, as fluorescence quantum yield has a relatively muted sensitivity to light levels. Successful applications of the SIF-based model of photosynthesis will depend on a predictive understanding of several previously underexplored physiological and biophysical processes. Advances can be facilitated by coordinated efforts in plant physiology, remote sensing, and eddy covariance flux observations.
DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most dangerous type of DNA damage because they can result in the loss of large chromosomal regions. In all mammalian cells, DSBs that occur throughout the cell ...cycle are repaired predominantly by the non-homologous DNA end joining (NHEJ) pathway. Defects in NHEJ result in sensitivity to ionizing radiation and the ablation of lymphocytes. The NHEJ pathway utilizes proteins that recognize, resect, polymerize and ligate the DNA ends in a flexible manner. This flexibility permits NHEJ to function on a wide range of DNA-end configurations, with the resulting repaired DNA junctions often containing mutations. In this Review, we discuss the most recent findings regarding the relative involvement of the different NHEJ proteins in the repair of various DNA-end configurations. We also discuss the shunting of DNA-end repair to the auxiliary pathways of alternative end joining (a-EJ) or single-strand annealing (SSA) and the relevance of these different pathways to human disease.
Direct solar-powered production of value-added chemicals from CO2 and H2O, a process that mimics natural photosynthesis, is of fundamental and practical interest. In natural photosynthesis, CO2 is ...first reduced to common biochemical building blocks using solar energy, which are subsequently used for the synthesis of the complex mixture of molecular products that form biomass. Here we report an artificial photosynthetic scheme that functions via a similar two-step process by developing a biocompatible light-capturing nanowire array that enables a direct interface with microbial systems. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that a hybrid semiconductor nanowire–bacteria system can reduce CO2 at neutral pH to a wide array of chemical targets, such as fuels, polymers, and complex pharmaceutical precursors, using only solar energy input. The high-surface-area silicon nanowire array harvests light energy to provide reducing equivalents to the anaerobic bacterium, Sporomusa ovata, for the photoelectrochemical production of acetic acid under aerobic conditions (21% O2) with low overpotential (η < 200 mV), high Faradaic efficiency (up to 90%), and long-term stability (up to 200 h). The resulting acetate (∼6 g/L) can be activated to acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) by genetically engineered Escherichia coli and used as a building block for a variety of value-added chemicals, such as n-butanol, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) polymer, and three different isoprenoid natural products. As such, interfacing biocompatible solid-state nanodevices with living systems provides a starting point for developing a programmable system of chemical synthesis entirely powered by sunlight.
Background and purpose
Our aim was to investigate the influence of admission dehydration on the discharge outcome in acute ischaemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
Methods
Between January 2009 and December ...2011, 4311 ischaemic and 1371 hemorrhagic stroke patients from the stroke registry of Chang Gung healthcare system were analyzed. The eligible patients were identified according to inclusion/exclusion criteria. In total, 2570 acute ischaemic and 573 acute hemorrhagic stroke patients were finally recruited. According to the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) to creatinine (Cr) ratio (BUN/Cr), these patients were divided into dehydrated (BUN/Cr ≥ 15) and non‐dehydrated (BUN/Cr < 15) groups. Demographics, admission costs and discharge outcomes including modified Rankin scale (mRS) and Barthel index (BI) were examined. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of two‐stage least squares including logistic and linear regression.
Results
Acute ischaemic stroke with admission dehydration had higher infection rates (P = 0.006), worse discharge BI (62.8 ± 37.4 vs. 73.4 ± 32.4, P < 0.001, adjusted P < 0.001), worse mRS (2.7 ± 1.6 vs. 2.3 ± 1.5, P < 0.001, adjusted P = 0.009) and higher admission costs (2470.8 ± 3160.8 vs. 1901.2 ± 2046.8 US dollars, P < 0.001, adjusted P = 0.013) than those without dehydration. However, acute hemorrhagic stroke with or without admission dehydration showd no difference in admission costs (P = 0.618) and discharge outcomes (BI, P = 0.058; mRS, P = 0.058).
Conclusion
Admission dehydration is associated with worse discharge outcomes and higher admission costs in acute ischaemic stroke but not in hemorrhagic stroke.
In biology as in real estate, location is a cardinal organizational principle that dictates the accessibility and flow of informational traffic. An essential question in nuclear organization is the ...nature of the address code—how objects are placed and later searched for and retrieved. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as key components of the address code, allowing protein complexes, genes, and chromosomes to be trafficked to appropriate locations and subject to proper activation and deactivation. lncRNA-based mechanisms control cell fates during development, and their dysregulation underlies some human disorders caused by chromosomal deletions and translocations.
While ordered L12 or gamma prime precipitates in face centered cubic (FCC) based microstructures have been extensively used for strengthening nickel or cobalt base superalloys, and more recently in ...high entropy alloys (HEAs) or complex concentrated alloys (CCAs), the possibility of exploiting ordered B2 precipitates in FCC-based systems has been relatively less investigated. The present study shows the propensity of developing a heterogeneous microstructure, consisting of two different distributions of FCC grain sizes, and two different size scales of B2 precipitates, within an FCC-based Al0.5Co1.5CrFeNi1.5 HEA/CCA. This alloy composition has been designed using solution thermodynamics-based modeling such that it has a high phase fraction and solvus temperature of the B2 phase. The resulting heterogenous microstructure exhibited an approximately 400% increase in yield strength with respect to the single-phase FCC solid solution condition of the same alloy while maintaining very good tensile ductility ∼20%.
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•The HEA/CCA Al0.5Co1.5CrFeNi1.5 has been identified as a candidate alloy for studying FCC + B2 microstructure.•Single phase FCC, FCC + L12 and FCC + B2 microstructures have been obtained in this alloy via thermomechanical processing.•Precipitation annealing directly after rolling resulted in a heterogeneous microstructure with multiple length scales of B2.•The heterogeneous microstructure results in a 400% increase in yield stress when compared to the single phase FCC condition.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as critical regulators of gene expression in the immune system. Studies have shown that lncRNAs are expressed in a highly lineage-specific manner and ...control the differentiation and function of innate and adaptive cell types. In this Review, we focus on mechanisms used by lncRNAs to regulate genes encoding products involved in the immune response, including direct interactions with chromatin, RNA and proteins. In addition, we address new areas of lncRNA biology, such as the functions of enhancer RNAs, circular RNAs and chemical modifications to RNA in cellular processes. We emphasize critical gaps in knowledge and future prospects for the roles of lncRNAs in the immune system and autoimmune disease.
In recent years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as an important class of regulators of gene expression. lncRNAs exhibit several distinctive features that confer unique regulatory ...functions, including exquisite cell- and tissue-specific expression and the capacity to transduce higher-order spatial information. Here we review evidence showing that lncRNAs exert critical functions in adult tissue stem cells, including skin, brain, and muscle, as well as in developmental patterning and pluripotency. We highlight new approaches for ascribing lncRNA functions and discuss mammalian dosage compensation as a classic example of an lncRNA network coupled to stem cell differentiation.
This Review discusses recent evidence showing that lncRNAs exert critical functions in adult tissue stem cells, developmental patterning, and pluripotency. The authors highlight new approaches for ascribing lncRNA functions and discuss mammalian dosage compensation as a classic example.
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