Publications by authors named "Georges Kanaan"

Cryopeg brines are isolated volumes of hypersaline water in subzero permafrost. The cryopeg system at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, is estimated to date back to 40 ka BP or earlier, a remnant of a late Pleistocene Ocean. Surprisingly, the cryopeg brines contain high concentrations of organic carbon, including extracellular polysaccharides, and high densities of bacteria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Cardiac hypertrophy is a response to stress that can lead to heart failure, with Nod1 and RIP2 playing significant roles in this process, although other factors may also contribute.
  • Research involved comparing the effects of transverse aortic constriction between Nod1, RIP2, and wild-type mice to assess cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and overall heart function.
  • Findings showed that Nod1 and RIP2 activation improved cardiac outcomes and reduced hypertrophy, linked to lower inflammatory signaling and mitochondrial protein expression, with MAVS being a crucial component in the signaling complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Decades of work have shown that diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and worsens clinical outcomes after myocardial infarction. Because diabetes is an absolute contraindication to heart transplant, cell therapy is increasingly being explored as a means of improving heart function for these patients with very few other options. Given that hyperglycemia promotes the generation of toxic metabolites, the influence of the key detoxification enzyme glyoxalase 1 (Glo1) on chronic hyperglycemia induced heart explant-derived cell (EDC) dysfunction was investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive disease that is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases and with impaired mitochondrial metabolism in cardiac and skeletal muscles. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Type 2 diabetes is also one of the prevalent concomitant diseases in patients with AF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glutaredoxin 2 (GRX2), a mitochondrial glutathione-dependent oxidoreductase, is central to glutathione homeostasis and mitochondrial redox, which is crucial in highly metabolic tissues like the heart. Previous research showed that absence of Grx2, leads to impaired mitochondrial complex I function, hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy in mice but the impact on mitochondrial structure and function in intact cardiomyocytes and in humans has not been explored. We hypothesized that Grx2 controls cardiac mitochondrial dynamics and function in cellular and mouse models, and that low expression is associated with human cardiac dysfunction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To meet its exceptionally high energy demands, the heart relies largely on fatty acid oxidation, which then drives the oxidative phosphorylation system in mitochondria. Each day, this system produces about 6kg of ATP to sustain heart function. Fatty acid oxidation is sometimes associated with high rates of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF