Exercise Regulates MicroRNAs to Preserve Coronary and Cardiac Function in the Diabetic Heart.

Rationale: Diabetic heart disease (DHD) is a debilitating manifestation of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Exercise has been proposed as a potential therapy for DHD, although the effectiveness of exercise in preventing or reversing the progression of DHD remains controversial. Cardiac function is critically dependent on the preservation of coronary vascular function.

Diabetes induces the activation of pro-ageing miR-34a in the heart, but has differential effects on cardiomyocytes and cardiac progenitor cells.

Increased apoptosis and premature cellular ageing of the diabetic heart underpin the development of diabetic heart disease. The molecular mechanisms underlying these pathologies are still unclear. Here we determined the role of pro-senescence microRNA (miR)-34a in accelerating the ageing of the diabetic heart.

Identification of novel microsatellite markers <1 Mb from the HBB gene and development of a single-tube pentadecaplex PCR panel of highly polymorphic markers for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of beta-thalassemia.

Beta (β)-thalassemia is one of the most common monogenic diseases worldwide. Affected pregnancies can be avoided through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which commonly involves customized assays to detect the different combinations of β-globin (HBB) gene mutations present in couples, in conjunction with linkage analysis of flanking microsatellite markers. Currently, the limited number of reported closely linked markers hampers their utility in indirect linkage-based PGD for this disorder.

Single-tube nonaplex microsatellite PCR panel for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis syndrome.

Objective: To develop a single-tube multi-marker assay for improved preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) of deletional and/or non-deletional Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis syndrome, providing haplotype confirmation of deletional status, and maximization of linkage informativity.

Methods: We performed in silico mining to identify novel microsatellites within 1 Mb flanking the alpha-globin gene cluster, and optimized a single-tube assay combining detection of α(0) -thalassemia deletions with multi-marker linkage analysis. We performed validation on 100 single cells prior to clinical PGD application.