Sodium-induced hypertensive cardiac hypertrophy is related to pressure and volume overload.
Wistar rats were exposed to low and high sodium diet for 8 weeks. Angiotensin II receptor mRNA, abundance ...of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), vasoconstriction of aortic rings, and angiotensin II-induced calcium increase were investigated.
Rats on high sodium diet showed significantly elevated blood pressure. Heart weight, AT1 receptor mRNA in cardiac and aortic tissues, and abundance of p38MAPK were significantly increased in rats on high sodium diet.
Increased AT1 receptor expression and angiotensin II-induced calcium increase are compensatory effects in sodium-induced hypertension.
Purpureocillium lilacinum, widely used as a commercial biocontrol agent for controlling plant-parasitic nematodes, is an emerging opportunistic pathogen in humans and is increasingly reported, ...especially among immunocompromised patients. We report a classic case of cutaneous mycosis caused by P. lilacinum. A 51-year-old Chinese woman who received tacrolimus and glucocorticoid therapy for 3 years for nephrotic syndrome experienced recurrent papules, pustules, and ulceration on her right ring finger and subcutaneous nodules on her forearm 6 months ago. A lesion biopsy on the right ring finger revealed multiple epithelioid granulomas in the dermis and fat layer containing slender, pigmented fungal hyphae. The fungal culture showed the growth of violet floccose colonies. Lactophenol cotton blue culture stain demonstrated brush-like phialides, with a swollen basal part attached to chains of conidia. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA, alignment with GenBank, and use of a Basic Local Alignment Search Tool analysis led to the identification of P. lilacinum. Treatment with oral voriconazole was successful.
Objective: An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of L-arginine (L-Arg) and N-carbamoylglutamic acid (NCG) on the growth, metabolism, immunity and community of cecal bacterial flora of ...weanling and young rabbits. Methods: Eighteen normal-grade male weanling Japanese White rabbits (JWR) were selected and randomly divided into 6 groups with or without L-Arg and NCG supplementation. The whole feeding process was divided into weanling stage (day 37 to 65) and young stage (day 66 to 85). The effects of L-Arg and NCG on the growth, metabolism, immunity and development of the ileum and jejunum were compared via nutrient metabolism experiments and histological assessment. The different communities of cecal bacterial flora affected by L-Arg and NCG were assessed using high-throughput sequencing technology and bioinformatics analysis. Results: The addition of L-Arg and NCG enhanced the growth of weanling and young rabbit by increasing the nitrogen metabolism, protein efficiency ratio, and biological value, as well as feed intake and daily weight gain. Both L-Arg and NCG increased the concentration of immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgM, and IgG. NCG was superior to L-Arg in promoting intestinal villus development by increasing villus height, villus height/crypt depth index, and reducing the crypt depth. The effects of L-Arg and NCG on the cecal bacterial flora were mainly concentrated in different genera, including Parabacteroides, Roseburia, dgA-11_gut_group, Alistipes, Bacteroides, and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005. These bacteria function mainly in amino acid transport and metabolism, energy production and conversion, lipid transport and metabolism, recombination and repair, cell cycle control, cell division, and cell motility. Conclusion: L-Arg and NCG can promote the growth and immunity of weanling and young JWR, as well as effecting the jejunum and ileum villi. L-Arg and NCG have different effects in the promotion of nutrient utilization, relieving inflammation and enhancing adaptability through regulating microbial community.
Quantum machine learning has gained considerable attention as quantum technology advances, presenting a promising approach for efficiently learning complex data patterns. Despite this promise, most ...contemporary quantum methods require significant resources for variational parameter optimization and face issues with vanishing gradients, leading to experiments that are either limited in scale or lack potential for quantum advantage. To address this, we develop a general-purpose, gradient-free, and scalable quantum reservoir learning algorithm that harnesses the quantum dynamics of neutral-atom analog quantum computers to process data. We experimentally implement the algorithm, achieving competitive performance across various categories of machine learning tasks, including binary and multi-class classification, as well as timeseries prediction. Effective and improving learning is observed with increasing system sizes of up to 108 qubits, demonstrating the largest quantum machine learning experiment to date. We further observe comparative quantum kernel advantage in learning tasks by constructing synthetic datasets based on the geometric differences between generated quantum and classical data kernels. Our findings demonstrate the potential of utilizing classically intractable quantum correlations for effective machine learning. We expect these results to stimulate further extensions to different quantum hardware and machine learning paradigms, including early fault-tolerant hardware and generative machine learning tasks.
IL-2 is an important cytokine produced in T cells in response to Ag or mitogen stimulation. It is regulated at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. One of the key regulators of IL-2 ...mRNA stability is NF90. Upon T cell activation, NF90 translocates from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where it binds to the AU-rich element-containing 3' untranslated regions of IL-2 mRNA and stabilizes it. Our previous work showed that CD28 costimulation of T cells activated AKT to phosphorylate NF90 at Ser(647) and caused NF90 to undergo nuclear export and stabilize IL-2 mRNA. Phorbol ester (PMA) is a protein kinase C (PKC) activator. Through transcription activation and mRNA stabilization, IL-2 mRNA levels increase promptly when T cells are stimulated with PMA. However, how PMA stabilizes IL-2 mRNA was still unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that PMA stimulation led to phosphorylation of NF90 at Ser(647) via PKCβI. This phosphorylation was necessary for nuclear export of NF90 in response to PMA and for IL-2 mRNA stabilization. We show that phosphorylation at NF90-Ser(647) upregulated IL-2 production in response to PMA stimulation. Our results support a model in which PMA stimulation activates PKCβI to phosphorylate NF90-Ser(647), and this phosphorylation triggers NF90 relocation to the cytoplasm and stabilize IL-2 mRNA. Thus, our study elucidates the mechanism by which PMA activates and stabilizes IL-2 expression in T cells.
The AMP-activated protein kinase α (AMPKα) subunit is the catalytic subunit in the AMPK complex, playing a crucial role in AMPK activation. It has two isoforms: AMPKα1 and AMPKα2. Emerging evidence ...suggests that the AMPKα subunit exhibits subtype-specific effects in Alzheimer's disease (AD). This review discusses the role of the AMPKα subunit in the pathogenesis of AD, including its impact on β-amyloid (Aβ) pathology, Tau pathology, metabolic disorders, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammasome and pyroptosis. Additionally, it reviews the distinct roles of its isoforms, AMPKα1 and AMPKα2, in AD, which may provide more precise targets for future drug development in AD.
Thrombolysis effect of recombinant staphylokinase (rSaK) developed in China was evaluated in rabbits with experimental pulmonary embolus model. 125I-labeled human fibrin blood clot was prepared in ...vitro and was injected through jugular vein resulting in a pulmonary embolus. Twenty thousands AU.kg-1(rSaK-H) or 5000 AU.kg-1(rSaK-L) of rSaK was infused in 0.5 h at constant rate by a peristaltic 20,000 U.kg-1. Another 20,000 AU.kg-1 of rSaK was infused within 2.5 h(rSaK-2.5 h). The residual labeled blood clot in lungs were found to be 62% +/- 11% (rSaK-H), 78% +/- 7% (rSaK-L), 92% +/- 7% (NS), 60% +/- 13% (SK), and 64% +/- 16% (rSaK-2.5 h). 125I-labeled degradation products in blood and urine were also statistically higher in thrombolytic agents treated group than those in NS controls. The results suggest that the thrombolytic effect of rSaK was determined by total dose and not determined by infusion time. Two of seven rabbits in the rSaK 2.5 h infusion group, the bleeding time was prolonged to more than 10 minut
PDF
