Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women.

In terrestrial mammals, body volatiles can effectively trigger or block conspecific aggression. Here, we tested whether hexadecanal (HEX), a human body volatile implicated as a mammalian-wide social chemosignal, affects human aggression. Using validated behavioral paradigms, we observed a marked dissociation: Sniffing HEX blocked aggression in men but triggered aggression in women.

Expression of odorant receptor Olfr78 in enteroendocrine cells of the colon.

The precise regulation of digestive and other physiological processes in the gastrointestinal tract in accordance with the food ingested requires continuous monitoring of the luminal content by chemosensory cells. With regard to the detection of chemical compounds in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are interesting signaling proteins, since some of them are well known to bind to macronutrients, including sugars, amino acids and lipids. We report that Olfr78, a member of the odorant receptor (OR) class of GPCRs, is expressed in the murine gut.

Long-term reduction of mortality in the 4-year follow up of tirofiban therapy in elective percutaneous coronary interventions (TOPSTAR) trial.

Background: TOPSTAR was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial studying the effects of adding the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor tirofiban to conventional treatment with aspirin and clopidogrel in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). TOPSTAR demonstrated a lower periprocedural troponin release and a reduced 6-month mortality risk following PCI. The present study analyzed the corresponding long-term effects.

Mammalian olfactory receptors.

Perception of chemical stimuli from the environment is essential to most animals; accordingly, they are equipped with a complex olfactory system capable of receiving a nearly unlimited number of odorous substances and pheromones. This enormous task is accomplished by olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) arranged in several chemosensory compartments in the nose. The sensitive and selective responsiveness of OSNs to odorous molecules and pheromones is based on distinct receptors in their chemosensory membrane; consequently, olfactory receptors play a key role for a reliable recognition and an accurate processing of chemosensory information.

Heart valve involvement in Fabry cardiomyopathy.

Fabry disease is a rare X-linked lysosomal storage disorder leading to an accumulation of glycosphingolipids in all tissues and organs including the heart. Among the pathologies of myocardial involvement, reviews and registry data list affection of heart valves and its hemodynamic significance as predominant alterations during progression of the disease. We thought to approach this uncertainty with a systematic observational study.

Progression of left ventricular functional abnormalities in hypertensive patients with heart failure: an ultrasonic two-dimensional speckle tracking study.

Objective: Two-dimensional (2-D) strain imaging is a novel echocardiographic technique for myocardial function evaluation. We sought to investigate left ventricular (LV) systolic function in patients with heart failure caused by hypertension using a 2-D strain approach and to validate this method against Doppler strain measurements.

Methods: The study population comprised 81 patients (66.

Differential reaction of outgrowing olfactory neurites monitored in explant culture.

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) send their axons to distinct glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. On the way to their target, outgrowing axons are guided, fasciculated, and resorted before they extend in homotypic bundles to the glomerulus. The molecular mechanisms underlying these complex processes supposedly involve multiple intrinsic and extrinsic cues.

A new echocardiographic approach for the detection of non-ischaemic fibrosis in hypertrophic myocardium.

Aims: Regional myocardial fibrosis detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using late enhancement (LE) indicates an unfavorable prognosis. We investigated in a prospective study whether regional non-ischaemic fibrosis in hypertrophic myocardium can also be detected by ultrasonic strain-rate imaging based on specific visual features of the myocardial deformation traces.

Methods And Results: This diagnostic study aimed to define left ventricular fibrotic segments in 30 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 10), severe aortic valve stenosis (n = 10), Fabry disease cardiomyopathy (n = 10), and 10 healthy controls.

Use of tissue Doppler imaging to identify and manage systemic diseases.

In systemic diseases such as amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, Friedreich's ataxia, Fabry's disease and muscular dystrophy the clinician has to judge the presence and the amount of cardiac involvement. In most of these patients conventional echocardiographic parameters are not sensitive enough to detect sub-clinical dysfunction. Tissue Doppler imaging and in addition strain rate imaging has proven to be very sensitive for the assessment of myocardial dysfunction.

Promotor elements governing the clustered expression pattern of odorant receptor genes.

Odorant receptor (OR) genes of family mOR262 are only expressed in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) segregated in a central patch of the nasal turbinates; they comprise conserved DNA elements upstream of their transcription start sites that are proposed to govern the distinct expression pattern. In mouse lines with a transgene containing the coding sequence and a short upstream region of the mOR262-12 gene, expression was restricted to OSNs that were segregated in the characteristic central patch, although the number of cells varied considerably. Only in one line, the transgene was also expressed in OSNs ectopically positioned outside the patch.

Assessment of the contractile reserve in patients with intermediate coronary lesions: a strain rate imaging study validated by invasive myocardial fractional flow reserve.

Aims: The present study aims to compare the change of left ventricular deformation during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) with the reference standard of invasive myocardial fractional flow reserve (FFR) to assess the haemodynamic significance of intermediate coronary lesions.

Methods And Results: In 30 patients with an intermediate coronary artery stenosis in one epicardial coronary artery, FFR measurements were performed during coronary catheterization. In case of an FFR < 0.

Fabry disease: guidelines for the evaluation and management of multi-organ system involvement.

Fabry disease is an X-linked metabolic storage disorder due to the deficiency of lysosomal alpha-galactosidase A, and the subsequent accumulation of glycosphingolipids, primarily globotriaosylceramide, throughout the body. Males with classical Fabry disease develop early symptoms including pain and hypohidrosis by the second decade of life reflecting disease progression in the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems. An insidious cascade of disease processes ultimately results in severe renal, cardiac, and central nervous system complications in adulthood.

Cells in the vomeronasal organ express odorant receptors but project to the accessory olfactory bulb.

Recent evidence indicates that the vomeronasal organ (VNO) of mice not only responds to pheromones but also to odorants. To analyze whether genes encoding odorant receptors (ORs) are expressed in the VNO, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses were performed. These led to the identification of 44 different OR genes, comprising class-I and class-II receptors.

Promoter motifs of olfactory receptor genes expressed in distinct topographic patterns.

Novel olfactory receptor-encoding genes that are expressed in olfactory sensory neurons arranged in a clustered pattern in the nasal epithelium, typical of the mOR262 (approved gene symbol Olfr) family, were identified. The genes share sequence motifs upstream of their transcription start sites that are highly related to those previously identified as characteristic of the mOR262 genes, suggesting that these regulatory elements may contribute to governing their unique expression pattern. Promoter analyses of genes encoding class I receptors that are expressed in the dorsal region of the epithelium revealed a different, but again common set of sequence motifs.

Evolution of the "OR37" subfamily of olfactory receptors: a cross-species comparison.

Genes encoding the olfactory receptors of the "OR37" subfamily of the mouse are characterized by special features including a clustered expression pattern, assembly in two distinct gene clusters, and highly conserved putative promoter motifs. Mining the rat and dog databases revealed that these two species possess highly conserved clusters of OR37 genes at two syntenic genomic loci. In a prototherian mammal, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), none of the characteristic OR37 genes were found.

How to distinguish between ischemic and nonischemic postsystolic thickening: a strain rate imaging study.

Ongoing myocardial thickening after aortic valve closure (postsystolic thickening = epsilonPST) is an established marker for the presence of segmental ischemia. However, epsilonPST may also be present in late activated segments and can be induced by pharmacological interventions or left ventricular pressure overload. The aim of this study was to determine if it is possible to distinguish between ischemic and nonischemic epsilonPST.

The variation of morphological and functional cardiac manifestation in Fabry disease: potential implications for the time course of the disease.

Aims: The aim of this clinical cross-sectional study was to investigate the cardiac interrelation of morphological and functional abnormalities in patients with Fabry disease.

Methods And Results: Fifty-one patients (5-78 years) were compared with 25 controls (8-77 years). In all subjects, end-diastolic thickness of the left ventricle was measured by echocardiography and ultrasonic peak systolic strain rate (SR) was extracted to assess regional myocardial function.

Olfactory receptor proteins in axonal processes of chemosensory neurons.

Olfactory receptors are supposed to act not only as molecular sensors for odorants but also as cell recognition molecules guiding the axons of olfactory neurons to their appropriate glomerulus in the olfactory bulb. This concept implies that olfactory receptor proteins are located in sensory cilia and in the axons. To approach this critical issue, antibodies were generated against two peptides, one derived from olfactory receptor mOR256-17, one derived from the "mOR37" subfamily.