NRH, a potent NAD enhancer, improves glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism in diet-induced obese mice though an active adenosine kinase pathway.

Aims: NAD deficiency underlies obesity-induced metabolic disturbances. This study evaluated dihydronicotinamide riboside (NRH), a potent NAD enhancer, in lean and obese mice and explored whether NRH operates through a unique mechanism involving adenosine kinase (ADK), an enzyme critical for NRH-driven NAD synthesis.

Methods: Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses were performed following a single 250 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection of NRH in healthy mice.

Noncanonical CDK4 signaling rescues diabetes in a mouse model by promoting β cell differentiation.

Expanding β cell mass is a critical goal in the fight against diabetes. CDK4, an extensively characterized cell cycle activator, is required to establish and maintain β cell number. β cell failure in the IRS2-deletion mouse type 2 diabetes model is, in part, due to loss of CDK4 regulator cyclin D2.

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Induced Proliferation Remains Intact in Aging Mouse β-Cells.

Aging is associated with loss of proliferation of the insulin-secreting β-cell, a possible contributing factor to the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the elderly. Our group previously discovered that moderate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress occurring during glucose exposure increases the adaptive β-cell proliferation response. Specifically, the ATF6α arm of the tripartite Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) promotes β-cell replication in glucose excess conditions.

Intersection of the ATF6 and XBP1 ER stress pathways in mouse islet cells.

Success or failure of pancreatic beta cell adaptation to ER stress is a determinant of diabetes susceptibility. The ATF6 and IRE1/XBP1 pathways are separate ER stress-response effectors important to beta cell health and function. ATF6α.

Prevalence and pattern of amblyopia in a rural hospital in Ghana.

Amblyopia is a developmental ocular disease of childhood-onset which may lead to persistent sequelae into adulthood. Early detection and management of amblyopia usually result in an improved visual outcome. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of amblyopia in a rural hospital in Ghana.

Assessment of availability, awareness and perception of stakeholders regarding preschool vision screening in Kumasi, Ghana: An exploratory study.

Background: Regardless of the importance of preschool vision screening (PSVS), there is limited data on the current state of these programs in Africa (particularly Ghana). This study sought to investigate the level of awareness and perception of stakeholders regarding PSVS, its availability and related policies/programmes in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 100 systematically sampled preschools in the metropolis (using probability proportional-to-size method); 72 private schools and 28 public schools.

DNA Damage Does Not Cause BrdU Labeling of Mouse or Human β-Cells.

Pancreatic β-cell regeneration, the therapeutic expansion of β-cell number to reverse diabetes, is an important goal. Replication of differentiated insulin-producing cells is the major source of new β-cells in adult mice and juvenile humans. Nucleoside analogs such as BrdU, which are incorporated into DNA during S-phase, have been widely used to quantify β-cell proliferation.