Dapagliflozin reduces systolic blood pressure and modulates vasoactive factors.

Aim: To investigate the mechanisms underlying improvements in blood pressure (BP) and congestive heart failure outcomes following treatment with dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 52 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with an HbA1c of less than 8% participated in this prospective, double-blind and placebo-controlled study. Patients were randomized (1:1) to either dapagliflozin 10 mg daily or placebo for 12 weeks.

Liraglutide treatment in overweight and obese patients with type 1 diabetes: A 26-week randomized controlled trial; mechanisms of weight loss.

Aim: To investigate the effects of liraglutide treatment on glycaemic control and adipose tissue metabolism in overweight and obese people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM).

Research Design And Methods: A total of 84 adult overweight and obese patients with T1DM, with no detectable C-peptide, were randomized (1:1) to either placebo or 1.8 mg/d liraglutide for 6 months.

Dapagliflozin Suppresses Hepcidin And Increases Erythropoiesis.

Context: Dapagliflozin and other SGLT2 inhibitors are known to increase hematocrit, possibly due to its diuretic effects and hemoconcentration.

Objective: Since type 2 diabetes is a proinflammatory state and since hepcidin, a known suppressor of erythropoiesis, is increased in proinflammatory states, we investigated the possibility that dapagliflozin suppresses hepcidin concentrations and thus increases erythropoiesis.

Design: Prospective, randomized, and placebo-controlled study.

Regulation of R-loops and genome instability in Fanconi anemia.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a devastating hereditary disorder with impaired genome stability resulting in physical abnormalities, gradual loss of hematopoietic stem cells and development of tumours and leukaemia. It has been suggested that functions of FA genes are required to maintain genome stability by counteracting endogenous metabolites, such as aldehydes, that damage DNA and stall replication forks. Recent studies have implicated co-transcriptional R-loops, consisting of a DNA:RNA hybrid and displaced single-stranded DNA, as one of the potential endogenous sources that induce genome instability and the FA phenotype.

Direct-from-Blood-Culture Disk Diffusion To Determine Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Gram-Negative Bacteria: Preliminary Report from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Methods Development and Standardization Working Group.

The performance of a disk diffusion test using broth from positive blood cultures as inoculum (direct disk diffusion [dDD]) was evaluated for a collection of 20 challenge isolates of , , and Isolates seeded into human blood were inoculated into Bactec Plus Aerobic/F, VersaTREK Redox 1, and BacT/Alert FA Plus bottles and incubated in the respective automated blood culture systems. Disk diffusion results were compared to reference disk diffusion results. Categorical agreement (CA) values for dDD, after removal of random errors due to natural MIC variation, were 87.

Visualization of conformational variability in the domains of long single-stranded RNA molecules.

We demonstrate an application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the structural analysis of long single-stranded RNA (>1 kb), focusing on 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Generally, optimization of the conditions required to obtain three-dimensional (3D) structures of long RNA molecules is a challenging or nearly impossible process. In this study, we overcome these limitations by developing a method using AFM imaging combined with automated, MATLAB-based image analysis algorithms for extracting information about the domain organization of single RNA molecules.

Liraglutide acutely suppresses glucagon, lipolysis and ketogenesis in type 1 diabetes.

In view of the occurrence of diabetic ketoacidosis associated with the use of sodium-glucose transport protein-2 inhibitors in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and the relative absence of this complication in patients treated with liraglutide in spite of reductions in insulin doses, we investigated the effect of liraglutide on ketogenesis. Twenty-six patients with inadequately controlled T1DM were randomly divided into 2 groups of 13 patients each. After an overnight fast, patients were injected, subcutaneously, with either liraglutide 1.

Dapagliflozin as Additional Treatment to Liraglutide and Insulin in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes.

Context: It is imperative that novel approaches to treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D) are devised.

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate whether addition of dapagliflozin to insulin and liraglutide results in a significant reduction in glycemia and body weight.

Design: This was a randomized clinical trial.

Addition of Liraglutide to Insulin in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of 12 Weeks.

Objective: To investigate whether addition of three different doses of liraglutide to insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) results in significant reduction in glycemia, body weight, and insulin dose.

Research Design And Methods: We randomized 72 patients (placebo = 18, liraglutide = 54) with T1D to receive placebo and 0.6, 1.

Insulin Resistance and Inflammation in Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism and Their Reduction After Testosterone Replacement in Men With Type 2 Diabetes.

Objective: One-third of men with type 2 diabetes have hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH). We conducted a randomized placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the effect of testosterone replacement on insulin resistance in men with type 2 diabetes and HH.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 94 men with type 2 diabetes were recruited into the study; 50 men were eugonadal, while 44 men had HH.

Bloom syndrome radials are predominantly non-homologous and are suppressed by phosphorylated BLM.

Biallelic mutations in BLM cause Bloom syndrome (BS), a genome instability disorder characterized by growth retardation, sun sensitivity and a predisposition to cancer. As evidence of decreased genome stability, BS cells demonstrate not only elevated levels of spontaneous sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), but also exhibit chromosomal radial formation. The molecular nature and mechanism of radial formation is not known, but radials have been thought to be DNA recombination intermediates between homologs that failed to resolve.

Noise coefficients of backscattered electron detectors for low voltage scanning electron microscopy.

Noise coefficients of backscattered electron (BSE) detectors for low voltage scanning electron microscopy were studied theoretically and experimentally. The conversion method of BSE detection, the scintillation detector with an acceleration of BSE and detectors with electron multipliers were considered. Formulae for noise coefficients were derived and noise coefficients of detectors were computed for different values of gains of detectors' components.

Bacillus subtilis DprA recruits RecA onto single-stranded DNA and mediates annealing of complementary strands coated by SsbB and SsbA.

Naturally transformable bacteria recombine internalized ssDNA with a homologous resident duplex (chromosomal transformation) or complementary internalized ssDNAs (plasmid or viral transformation). Bacillus subtilis competence-induced DprA, RecA, SsbB, and SsbA proteins are involved in the early processing of the internalized ssDNA, with DprA physically interacting with RecA. SsbB and SsbA bind and melt secondary structures in ssDNA but limit RecA loading onto ssDNA.

Early steps of double-strand break repair in Bacillus subtilis.

All organisms rely on integrated networks to repair DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in order to preserve the integrity of the genetic information, to re-establish replication, and to ensure proper chromosomal segregation. Genetic, cytological, biochemical and structural approaches have been used to analyze how Bacillus subtilis senses DNA damage and responds to DSBs. RecN, which is among the first responders to DNA DSBs, promotes the ordered recruitment of repair proteins to the site of a lesion.

Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of cytoskeletal proteins: molecular mechanism and biological significance.

Various nuclear functional complexes contain cytoskeletal proteins as regulatory subunits; for example, nuclear actin participates in transcriptional complexes, and actin-related proteins are integral to chromatin remodeling complexes. Nuclear complexes such as these are involved in both basal and adaptive nuclear functions. In addition to nuclear import via classical nuclear transport pathways or passive diffusion, some large cytoskeletal proteins spontaneously migrate into the nucleus in a karyopherin-independent manner.

A FANCD2 domain activates Tip60-dependent apoptosis.

The FA (Fanconi anaemia) FANCD2 protein is pivotal in the cellular response to DNA interstrand cross-links. Establishing cells expressing exogenous FANCD2 has proven to be difficult compared with other DNA repair genes. We find that in transformed normal human fibroblasts, exogenous nuclear expression of FANCD2 induces apoptosis, dependent specifically on exons 10-13.

Topo IIIalpha and BLM act within the Fanconi anemia pathway in response to DNA-crosslinking agents.

The Bloom protein (BLM) and Topoisomerase IIIalpha are found in association with proteins of the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway, a disorder manifesting increased cellular sensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents. In order to determine if the association reflects a functional interaction for the maintenance of genome stability, we have analyzed the effects of siRNA-mediated depletion of the proteins in human cells. Depletion of Topoisomerase IIIalpha or BLM leads to increased radial formation, as is seen in FA.

Application of channel electron multipliers in an electron detector for low-voltage scanning electron microscopy.

An electron detector containing channel electron multipliers was built and tested in the range of low-voltage scanning electron microscopy as a detector of topographic contrast. The detector can detect backscattered electrons or the sum of backscattered electrons and secondary electrons, with different amount of secondary electrons. As a backscattered electron detector it collects backscattered electrons emitted in a specific range of take-off angles and in a large range of azimuth angles enabling to obtain large solid collection angle and high collection efficiency.

Scanning electron microscope electron detector with a radial type discrete dynode electron multiplier.

A discrete dynode electron multiplier with radial flux of electrons was built and tested in the range of low-voltage scanning electron microscopy as a backscattered electron detector of topographic contrast. The multiplier collects backscattered electron emitted in a specific range of take-off angles and over the whole azimuth angular range enabling large solid collection angle. Multipliers with different dynode shapes were studied theoretically with the use of the software for particle optics and three assemblies were built and tested experimentally.

Loss of homologous recombination or non-homologous end-joining leads to radial formation following DNA interstrand crosslink damage.

High levels of interstrand cross-link damage in mammalian cells cause chromatid breaks and radial formations recognizable by cytogenetic examination. The mechanism of radial formation observed following DNA damage has yet to be determined. Due to recent findings linking homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining to the action of the Fanconi anemia pathway, we speculated that radials might be the result of defects in either of the pathways of DNA repair.

Tip60 is required for DNA interstrand cross-link repair in the Fanconi anemia pathway.

The disease Fanconi anemia is a genome instability syndrome characterized by cellular sensitivity to DNA interstrand cross-linking agents, manifest by decreased cellular survival and chromosomal aberrations after such treatment. There are at least 13 proteins acting in the pathway, with the FANCD2 protein apparently functioning as a late term effecter in the maintenance of genome stability. We find that the chromatin remodeling protein, Tip60, interacts directly with the FANCD2 protein in a yeast two-hybrid system.

Mammalian SNM1 is required for genome stability.

The protein encoded by SNM1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to act specifically in DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICL) repair. There are five mammalian homologs of SNM1, including Artemis, which is involved in V(D)J recombination. Cells from mice constructed with a disruption in the Snm1 gene are sensitive to the DNA interstrand crosslinker, mitomycin (MMC), as indicated by increased radial formation following exposure.

The hSNM1 protein is a DNA 5'-exonuclease.

The human SNM1 protein is a member of a highly conserved group of proteins catalyzing the hydrolysis of nucleic acid substrates. Although overproduction is unstable in mammalian cells, we have overproduced a recombinant hSNM1 protein in an insect cell system. The protein is a single-strand 5'-exonuclease, like its yeast homolog.

The yeast Snm1 protein is a DNA 5'-exonuclease.

Interstrand cross-links (ICL) in DNA arise from bifunctional alkylating agents, including nitrogen mustards, mitomycin C and psoralens. Such adducts prevent normal transcription or replication and are mutagenic. Therefore, cellular mechanisms for removing ICL damage are needed to maintain genome stability.

Direct interaction of FANCD2 with BRCA2 in DNA damage response pathways.

Fanconi anaemia (FA) is a chromosomal instability disorder characterized by cellular sensitivity to DNA interstrand crosslinking agents and a high risk of cancer. Six of the eight proteins encoded by the known FA genes form a nuclear complex which is required for the monoubiquitination of the FANCD2 protein. FANCD2 complexes and colocalizes with BRCA1, but its presumptive role in DNA repair has not yet been clearly defined.