A Kinase Interacting Protein 1 (AKIP1) promotes cardiomyocyte elongation and physiological cardiac remodelling.

A Kinase Interacting Protein 1 (AKIP1) is a signalling adaptor that promotes physiological hypertrophy in vitro. The purpose of this study is to determine if AKIP1 promotes physiological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vivo. Therefore, adult male mice with cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of AKIP1 (AKIP1-TG) and wild type (WT) littermates were caged individually for four weeks in the presence or absence of a running wheel.

ATPase Inhibitory Factor-1 Disrupts Mitochondrial Ca Handling and Promotes Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy through CaMKIIδ.

ATPase inhibitory factor-1 (IF1) preserves cellular ATP under conditions of respiratory collapse, yet the function of IF1 under normal respiring conditions is unresolved. We tested the hypothesis that IF1 promotes mitochondrial dysfunction and pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in the context of heart failure (HF). Methods and results: Cardiac expression of IF1 was increased in mice and in humans with HF, downstream of neurohumoral signaling pathways and in patterns that resembled the fetal-like gene program.

Pituitary dysfunction and association with fatigue in stroke and other acute brain injury.

Background: Poststroke fatigue (PSF) is a highly prevalent and debilitating condition. However, the etiology remains incompletely understood. Literature suggests the co-prevalence of pituitary dysfunction (PD) with stroke, and the question raises whether this could be a contributing factor to the development of PSF.

Selecting heart failure patients for metabolic interventions.

Heart failure (HF) has become the cardiovascular epidemic of the century and now imposes an immense burden on health care systems. While our understanding of the pathophysiology of HF has increased dramatically, the translation of knowledge into clinical practice has been disappointing. Metabolic dysfunction in HF has been studied for eight decades, but these efforts have not resulted in effective therapies.

Nonfocal Symptoms in Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack or Ischemic Stroke: Occurrence, Clinical Determinants, and Association with Cardiac History.

Background: Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) accompanied by nonfocal symptoms are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events, in particular cardiac events. Reported frequencies of TIAs accompanied by nonfocal symptoms range from 18 to 53%. We assessed the occurrence of nonfocal symptoms in patients with TIA or minor ischemic stroke in a neurological outpatient clinic in terms of clinical determinants, cardiac history, and atrial fibrillation (AF).

Overexpression of A kinase interacting protein 1 attenuates myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury but does not influence heart failure development.

Aims: A kinase interacting protein 1 (AKIP1) stimulates physiological growth in cultured cardiomyocytes and attenuates ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in ex vivo perfused hearts. We aimed to determine whether AKIP1 modulates the cardiac response to acute and chronic cardiac stresses in vivo.

Methods And Results: Transgenic mice with cardiac-specific overexpression of AKIP1 (AKIP1-TG) were created.

β-blocker Therapy is Not Associated with Reductions in Angina or Cardiovascular Events After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: Insights from the IMAGINE Trial.

Purpose: To evaluate whether β-blockers were associated with a reduction in cardiovascular events or angina after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery, in otherwise stable low-risk patients during a mid-term follow-up.

Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of the IMAGINE (Ischemia Management with Accupril post-bypass Graft via Inhibition of angiotensin coNverting Enzyme) trial, which tested the effect of Quinapril in 2553 hemodynamically stable patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >40 %, after scheduled CABG. The association between β-blocker therapy and the incidence of cardiovascular events (death, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, revascularizations, angina requiring hospitalization, stroke or hospitalization for heart failure) or angina that was documented to be due to underlying ischemia was tested with Cox regression and propensity adjusted analyses.

Stroke mimicking conversion disorder: two young women who put our feet back on the ground.

We describe two young female patients with symptoms and signs initially of conversion disorder. It became apparent, however, that both patients had a posterior circulation stroke. These cases remind us of just how broad the clinical presentation of neurological diseases is and illustrate how careful we must be in our own attributions, actions and diagnoses particularly when assessing patients with bizarre behaviour and with apparent inconsistencies on neurological examination.

Purification, immunological characterization and cDNA cloning of a 47 kDa glycoprotein secreted by carrot suspension cells.

A 47 kDa glycoprotein, termed EP4, was purified from carrot cell suspension culture medium. An antiserum raised against EP4 also recognized a protein of 45 kDa that was ionically bound to the cell wall. EP4 was detected in culture media from both embryogenic and non-embryogenic cell lines and was found to be secreted by a specific subset of non-embryogenic cells.

Identification of a transitional cell state in the developmental pathway to carrot somatic embryogenesis.

We have located a novel carbohydrate epitope in the cell walls of certain single cells in embryogenic, but not in non-embryogenic, suspension cultures of carrot. Expression of this epitope, recognized by the mAb JIM8, is regulated during initiation, proliferation, and prolonged growth of suspension cultures such that changes in the abundance of JIM8-reactive cells always precede equivalent changes in embryogenic potential. Therefore, a direct correlation exists between the presence of the JIM8-reactive cell wall epitope and somatic embryo formation.

Cell-specific expression of the carrot EP2 lipid transfer protein gene.

A cDNA corresponding to a 10-kD protein, designated extracellular protein 2 (EP2), that is secreted by embryogenic cell cultures of carrot was obtained by expression screening. The derived protein sequence and antisera against heterologous plant lipid transfer proteins identified the EP2 protein as a lipid transfer protein. Protein gel blot analysis showed that the EP2 protein is present in cell walls and conditioned medium of cell cultures.

Tunicamycin-inhibited carrot somatic embryogenesis can be restored by secreted cationic peroxidase isoenzymes.

Somatic embryogenesis of carrot (Daucus carota L.) is inhibited by the glycosylation inhibitor tunicamycin. This inhibition is reversible by the addition of correctly glycosylated glycoproteins which have been secreted into the culture medium.

Heterogeneity and cell type-specific localization of a cell wall glycoprotein from carrot suspension cells.

EP1, an extracellular protein from carrot (Daucus carota) cell suspensions, has been partially characterized by means of an antiserum and a cDNA clone. In both embryo and suspension cultures different molecular mass EP1 proteins were detected, some of which (31, 32, 52, and 54 kilodaltons) were bound to the cell wall and released into the medium, whereas others (49, 60, and 62 kilodaltons) were more firmly bound to the cell wall and could be extracted with a salt solution. Immunoprecipitation of in vitro translation products revealed a single primary translation product of 45 kilodaltons, suggesting that EP1 heterogeneity is due to differential posttranslational modification.

Calcium increases the yield of somatic embryos in carrot embryogenic suspension cultures.

An upward shift in the concentration of calcium present in the medium during somatic embryogenesis increased the number of embryos produced approximately two-fold. This was observed when embryogenic suspension cells grown in 2,4-D medium with the normal calcium concentration of 10(-3) M were transferred to hormone-free medium containing 10(-2) M calcium and when embryogenic suspension cells grown in 2,4-D medium containing 10(-4) M calcium were transferred to hormone-free medium with 10(-3) M calcium. At calcium concentrations between 6·10(-3) and 10(-2) M globular stage somatic embryos were found in cultures supplemented with 2·10(-6) M of 2,4-D indicating that elevated calcium counteracts the inhibitory effect of 2,4-D on somatic embryogenesis.

Substrate Utilization by Suspension Cultures and Somatic Embryos of Daucus carota L. Measured by C NMR.

The uptake and utilization of sucrose by embryogenic suspension cultures of carrot (Daucus carota L.) growing in the presence of 2,4-D and by somatic embryos derived from these cultures was monitored using (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance. The exogeneously supplied sucrose was completely hydrolyzed before cell entry; glucose was taken up preferentially when the cells were cultured in the presence of 2,4-D, while glucose and fructose were utilized at similar rates by somatic embryos in the absence of 2,4-D.

Gene-expression programs in embryogenic and non-embryogenic carrot cultures.

Somatic embryogenesis can be synchronized by enriching carrot (Daucus carota L.) suspension cultures for small, dense clusters of cells termed proembryogenic masses (PEMs). Gene-expression programs of PEMs were compared with those of embryonic and mature tissues by in-vitro translation of representative mRNA populations and by nucleic-acid hybridization.

Acquisition of embryogenic potential in carrot cell-suspension cultures.

Embryogenic suspension cultures of domesticated carrot (Daucus carota L.) are characterized by the presence of proembryogenic masses (PEMs) from which somatic embryos develop under conditions of low cell density in the absence of phytohormones. A culture system, referred to as starting cultures, was developed that allowed analysis of the emergence of PEMs in newly initiated hypocotyl-derived suspension cultures.

The action of some triphenylmethane dyes on yeast and erythrocyte membranes.

The action of a series of triphenylmethane dyes on the membranes of two different cell types, yeast cells and erythrocytes, have been studied. The action of the dyes on yeast cells resembles the action of other positively charged bactericides. The sequence of the activity in the dye series is completely different for yeast cells and erythrocytes.

THE ROLE OF POLYPHOSPHATES IN THE TRANSPORT MECHANISM OF GLUCOSE IN YEAST CELLS.

Several cations inhibit anaerobic fermentation of glucose by intact yeast cells. Some ions (e.g.