LRP1 is the cell-surface endocytosis receptor for vaspin in adipocytes.

Vaspin is a serine protease inhibitor that protects against adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance, two key drivers of adipocyte dysfunction and metabolic disorders in obesity. Inhibition of target proteases such as KLK7 has been shown to reduce adipose tissue inflammation in obesity, while vaspin binding to cell surface GRP78 has been linked to reduced obesity-induced ER stress and insulin resistance in the liver. However, the molecular mechanisms by which vaspin directly affects cellular processes in adipocytes remain unknown.

RaMP-DB 2.0: a renovated knowledgebase for deriving biological and chemical insight from metabolites, proteins, and genes.

Motivation: Functional interpretation of high-throughput metabolomic and transcriptomic results is a crucial step in generating insight from experimental data. However, pathway and functional information for genes and metabolites are distributed among many siloed resources, limiting the scope of analyses that rely on a single knowledge source.

Results: RaMP-DB 2.

COVID-19 and the Experiences and Needs of Staff and Management Working at the Front Lines of Long-Term Care in Central Canada.

Across the globe, long-term care has been under increased pressure throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first study to examine the experiences and needs of long-term care staff and management during COVID-19, in the Canadian context. Our group conducted online survey research with 70 staff and management working at public long-term care facilities in central Canada, using validated quantitative measures to examine perceived stress and caregiver burden; and open-ended items to explore stressors, ways of coping, and barriers to accessing mental health supports.

Cleavage of the vaspin N-terminus releases cell-penetrating peptides that affect early stages of adipogenesis and inhibit lipolysis in mature adipocytes.

Vaspin expression and function is related to metabolic disorders and comorbidities of obesity. In various cellular and animal models of obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis vaspin has shown beneficial, protective and/or compensatory action. While testing proteases for inhibition by vaspin, we noticed specific cleavage within the vaspin N-terminus and sequence analysis predicted cell-penetrating activity for the released peptides.

Breathing-focused Yoga as Augmentation for Unipolar and Bipolar Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial: Le yoga axé sur la respiration comme traitement d'appoint pour la dépression unipolaire et bipolaire: Un essai randomisé contrôlé.

Objective: Patients with depression frequently experience persistent residual symptoms even with optimal interventions. These patients often use complementary treatments, including yoga, as a preferred alternative or adjunctive treatment. There is evidence for the benefit of yoga for depression, but this has not been rigorously evaluated, particularly in bipolar depression.