PGC-1alpha mRNA expression is influenced by metabolic perturbation in exercising human skeletal muscle.

Endurance training leads to many adaptational changes in several tissues. In skeletal muscle, fatty acid usage is enhanced and mitochondrial content is increased. The exact molecular mechanisms regulating these functional and structural changes remain to be elucidated.

Mortality in elderly men and women in a Swedish municipality.

Aim: to analyse the relationship between age, self-rated global health, morbidity, mobility, life satisfaction, marital status, social network and 6-year mortality in elderly men and women living at home.

Method: the study area was a municipality in mid-eastern Sweden with a population of about 21,000. Data from interviews with non-institutionalized people aged 75 years and older in 1986 (n = 421) were linked to an individual-based research registry of prescription drug purchases.

Synthesis of a C-glycoside analogue of beta-D-galactosylthreonine.

A C-linked analogue of beta-D-galactosylthreonine has been prepared from 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-D-galactopyranolactone (1) in 14 steps. Three stereogenic centers were created during the synthesis, with the anomeric center of the C-glycoside being generated first by addition of a Grignard reagent to 1 and subsequent reduction of the intermediate hemiacetal with triethylsilane. The two stereogenic centers in the threonine moiety were both established by alkylation of Evans' chiral N-acyloxazolidinone enolates.

Increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in human skeletal muscle in response to short-term one-legged exercise training.

The effects of short-term exercise training on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and one of its regulatory transcription factors, the hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) subunit, were studied in eight healthy males. Muscle and blood samples were obtained before the 1st, and 24 h after the 7th training session. VEGF and HIF-1 mRNA were analysed using RT-PCR, VEGF mRNA localization with in situ hybridization and VEGF protein with ELISA.

Asymmetric hydrogen bonds in centrosymmetric environment. II. Neutron study of very short hydrogen bonds in potassium hydrogen dichloromaleate at 90 K and 170 K.

In our earlier neutron diffraction study of the title compound at 30 K and 295 K an unconventional strategy in the refinement of hydrogen was applied and the same procedure has now been followed in the present investigation at 170 K and 90 K. There are two short O..

Preparation of partially 2H/13C-labelled RNA for NMR studies. Stereo-specific deuteration of the H5" in nucleotides.

An effective in vitro enzymatic synthesis is described for the production of nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs) which are stereo-specifically deuterated on the H5" position with high selectivity (>98%), and which can have a variety of different labels (13C, 15N, 2H) in other positions. The NTPs can subsequently be employed in the enzymatic synthesis of RNAs using T7 polymerase from a DNA template. The stereo-specific deuteration of the H5" immediately provides the stereo-specific assignment of H5' resonances in NMR spectra, giving access to important structural parameters.

Synthesis of a C-glycoside analogue of beta-D-galactosyl hydroxynorvaline and its use in immunological studies.

A C-linked isostere of beta-D-galactosylated hydroxynorvaline has been prepared in eight steps from per-O-benzylated galactopyranolactone. Addition of a homoallylic Grignard reagent to the lactone, reduction of the resulting hemiacetal with triethylsilane, and a Wittig reaction with Garner's aldehyde were key steps in this synthesis. The C-linked building block was then incorporated at position 264 into the fragment CII(256--270) from typeII collagen by solid-phase synthesis using a combination of the tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) and 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) protective group strategies.

Superlattice formation in the lithiated vanadium oxide phases Li(0.67)V(6)O(13) and LiV(6)O(13).

Two new lithiated phases of V(6)O(13) were formed by carefully tuning the temperature of electrochemical lithiation in a "coffee-bag" type Li-ion battery at 2.78 V versus Li/Li(+). These were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Mitochondrial transcription factor A and respiratory complex IV increase in response to exercise training in humans.

Protein levels of mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) and nuclear- and mitochondrial-encoded subunits of respiratory chain complex IV (COX I and COX IV) as well as citrate synthase activity were analysed in muscle biopsy samples of vastus lateralis in six healthy male subjects before and after 4 weeks of one-legged cycle training. One leg was trained with restricted blood flow. The other leg was trained with the same power profile but with non-restricted blood flow.

Lu2SiO5 by single-crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction.

The structure of dilutetium silicon pentaoxide, Lu2SiO5, has isolated ionic SiO4 tetrahedral units and non-Si-bonded O atoms in distorted OLu4 tetrahedra. The OLu4 tetrahedra form edge-sharing infinite chains and double O2Lu6 tetrahedra along the c axis. The edge-sharing chains are connected to the O2Lu6 double tetrahedra by isolated SiO4 units.

Asymmetric hydrogen bonds in centrosymmetric environment: neutron study of very short hydrogen bonds in potassium hydrogen dichloromaleate.

The structure of the title compound has been studied by neutron diffraction at 30 and 295 K, with the emphasis on the location of the protons. There are two crystallographically independent H atoms in two very short hydrogen bonds, 2.437 (2) and 2.

(Li0.91Mn0.09)Mn2O4.

Lithium manganese oxide crystals with composition (Li(0.91)Mn(0.09))Mn(2)O(4) were synthesized by a flux method.

Increased expression of VEGF following exercise training in patients with heart failure.

Background And Aims: During the last decades several angiogenic factors have been characterized but so far it is unknown whether local muscle exercise training increases the expression of these factors in patients with moderate heart failure. Expression of the major putative angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at the level of messenger RNA (mRNA) and/or protein was therefore studied before and after 8 weeks of training in patient with chronic heart failure.

Methods: VEGF mRNA and protein concentrations were determined in skeletal muscle biopsies before and after 8 weeks of one-legged knee extension training in patients with chronic heart failure (New York Heart Association II-III).

Improving the well-being of elderly patients via community pharmacy-based provision of pharmaceutical care: a multicentre study in seven European countries.

Objective: This study aimed to measure the outcomes of a harmonised, structured pharmaceutical care programme provided to elderly patients (> or =65 years of age) by community pharmacists in a multicentre international study performed in 7 European countries.

Design And Setting: The study was a randomised, controlled, longitudinal, clinical trial with repeated measures performed over an 18-month period. A total of 104 intervention and 86 control pharmacy sites participated in the research and 1290 intervention patients and 1164 control patients were recruited into the study.

Exercise-induced angiogenesis-related growth and transcription factors in skeletal muscle, and their modification in muscle pathology.

Angiogenesis is the process of formation of new blood vessels; it is generally a rare occurrence in the adult, although it is a common adaptive response to exercise training in skeletal muscle. Current thinking is that angiogenesis is mediated by diffusible angiogenic factors and that the angiogenic activity is regulated through the balance between stimulatory and inhibitory factors. Recent studies have shown that up-regulation of angiogenic factors occurs in response to increased muscle activity in skeletal muscle.

X-ray study of deformation density and spontaneous polarization in ferroelectric NaNO2.

The deformation electron density of ferroelectric sodium nitrite has been determined from X-ray diffraction data at 30 K, using Hirshfeld deformation functions. Owing to the strong correlation between odd terms of the deformation coefficients, constraints were imposed in the refinement. The net charges for Na, N and O atoms were estimated to be 0.

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins-2 to -6 are expressed by human vascular smooth muscle cells.

We have investigated the expression and secretion of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs-1 to -6) in human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMCs) cultured from human renal arteries. Solution hybridization was used to determine IGFBP mRNA levels and Western immunoblot to detect the corresponding peptides. The hVSMCs expressed mRNAs for IGFBPs-2 to -6; IGFBP-1 mRNA was not detected.

Interaction of angiotensin II and the insulin-like growth factor system in vascular smooth muscle cells.

We studied the effects and interactions of ANG II and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells. ANG II (1 microM) and IGF-I (10 nM) stimulated both DNA and protein synthesis. The effects of the two peptides in combination were additive or more than additive.

Different inhibitory actions of IGFBP-1, -2 and -4 on IGF-I effects in vascular smooth muscle cells.

IGF-I is involved in the regulation of metabolism, growth and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We have studied how IGFBP-1, -2 and -4 modulate IGF-I-induced DNA and protein synthesis in cultured rat VSMCs. DNA and protein synthesis were measured as incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [3H]leucine into DNA and protein respectively.

Effect of alpha-trinositol on interstitial fluid pressure, oedema generation and albumin extravasation in experimental frostbite in the rat.

1. The anti-inflammatory effect of alpha-trinositol (D-myo-inositol-1,2,6-trisphosphate) on oedema formation, microvascular protein leakage and interstitial fluid pressure (Pif) in rat skin after frostbite injury, was investigated. Alpha-trinositol (40 mg kg body weight(-1)) was administered intravenously as a bolus both before and/or in the interval between freezing and thawing of the tissue.

Exercise-induced expression of angiogenesis-related transcription and growth factors in human skeletal muscle.

mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) subunits HIF-1alpha and HIF-1beta in human skeletal muscle was studied during endurance exercise at different degrees of oxygen delivery. Muscle biopsies were taken before and after 45 min of one-legged knee-extension exercise performed under conditions of nonrestricted or restricted blood flow (approximately 15-20% lower) at the same absolute workload. Exercise increased VEGF mRNA expression by 178% and HIF-1beta by 340%, but not HIF-1alpha and FGF-2.