Adenosine kinase inhibition protects mice from abdominal aortic aneurysm via epigenetic modulation of VSMC inflammation.

Aims: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common, serious vascular disease with no effective pharmacological treatment. The nucleoside adenosine plays an important role in modulating vascular homeostasis, which prompted us to determine whether adenosine kinase (ADK), an adenosine metabolizing enzyme, modulates AAA formation via control of the intracellular adenosine level, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms.

Methods And Results: We used a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches in murine models of AAA induced by calcium chloride (CaCl2) application or angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion to study the role of ADK in the development of AAA.

Blockade of endothelial adenosine receptor 2 A suppresses atherosclerosis in vivo through inhibiting CREB-ALK5-mediated endothelial to mesenchymal transition.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide, and morbidity and mortality rates continue to rise. Atherosclerosis constitutes the principal etiology of CVDs. Endothelial injury, inflammation, and dysfunction are the initiating factors of atherosclerosis.

Inactivation of adenosine receptor 2A suppresses endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition and inhibits subretinal fibrosis in mice.

Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy has had a substantial impact on the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), the leading cause of vision loss in older adults. Despite treatment, many patients with nAMD still develop severe and irreversible visual impairment because of the development of subretinal fibrosis. We recently reported the anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic effects of inhibiting the gene encoding adenosine receptor 2A (), which has been implicated in cardiovascular disease.

Purine synthesis suppression reduces the development and progression of pulmonary hypertension in rodent models.

Aims: Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is a hallmark of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Proliferative cells utilize purine bases from the de novo purine synthesis (DNPS) pathways for nucleotide synthesis; however, it is unclear whether DNPS plays a critical role in VSMC proliferation during development of PH. The last two steps of DNPS are catalysed by the enzyme 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase/inosine monophosphate cyclohydrolase (ATIC).

Identification and Validation of a Ferroptosis-Related Signature for Predicting Prognosis and Immune Microenvironment in Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Objective: We aimed to explore the prognostic patterns of ferroptosis-related genes in papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) and investigate the relationship between ferroptosis-related genes and PRCC tumor immune microenvironment.

Methods: We obtained the mRNA expression and corresponding clinical data of PRCC from the public tumor cancer genome atlas database (TCGA). The PRCC patients were randomly divided into two cohort, training cohort and verification cohort, respectively.

Effects of insoluble dietary fiber from kiwi fruit pomace on the physicochemical properties and sensory characteristics of low-fat pork meatballs.

Abstract: As beverage industry by product, kiwi fruit pomace is potential but underutilized. In this study, insoluble dietary fiber from kiwi fruit pomace was modified via ultra-fine pulverization. The physicochemical and functional properties of kiwi fruit insoluble dietary fiber (KWIDF) superfine powder and its application in pork meatballs as a fat substitute were investigated.

Facile synthesis of self-healing and layered sodium alginate/polyacrylamide hydrogel promoted by dynamic hydrogen bond.

Hydrogels are widely used in many fields but generally suffer from low mechanical strength and poor self-healing performance. Here, a novel and facile method was developed to prepare a semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogel with layered structure and improved properties based on sodium alginate (SA) and polyacrylamide (PAM). Systematic characterizations revealed a formation mechanism of layered structure via hydrogen bonds (HBs) promoted self-assembly of SA in the porous PAM matrix.

The developmental difference of inattentional blindness in 3-to-5-year-old preschoolers and its relationship with fluid intelligence.

Preschoolers can focus on the events that they are interested in and shield other information that may still be obvious and important, and this phenomenon is termed as inattentional blindness (IB). The present study investigated the developmental differences in IB and explored its relationship with fluid intelligence in 3-to-5-year-old preschoolers. With the involvement of one hundred and thirty-five preschoolers, it was found that the IB rates decreased with age during 3-to-5-year-olds.