Use of All of Us data to increase health literacy and research skills in high school students.

Objective: This case study describes how an All of Us engagement project returned value to community by strengthening high school students' capacity to serve as health advocates.

Materials And Methods: Project activities included health literacy education and research projects on the influence of environmental, societal, and lifestyle factors on community health disparities. The research project involved use of the Photovoice method and All of Us data.

Co-administration of the flavanol (-)-epicatechin with doxycycline synergistically reduces infarct size in a model of ischemia reperfusion injury by inhibition of mitochondrial swelling.

(-)-Epicatechin (EPI) is cardioprotective in the setting of ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury and doxycycline (DOX) is known to preserve cardiac structure/function after myocardial infarction (MI). The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of EPI and DOX co-administration on MI size after IR injury and to determine if cardioprotection may involve the mitigation of mitochondrial swelling. For this purpose, a rat model of IR was used.

Intravenous (-)-epicatechin reduces myocardial ischemic injury by protecting mitochondrial function.

Background: Targeting the mitochondria during ischemia/reperfusion (IR) can confer cardioprotection leading to improved clinical outcomes. The cardioprotective potential of (-)-epicatechin (EPI) during IR via modulation of mitochondrial function was evaluated.

Methods And Results: Ischemia was induced in rats via a 45 min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery followed by 1 h, 48 h, or 3 week reperfusion.

Crosstalk between the renin-angiotensin system and the advance glycation end product axis in the heart: role of the cardiac fibroblast.

Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) are involved in maintaining extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis in the heart. CFs mediate responses to hormonal and mechanical stimuli and relay these to other local cell types through release of autocrine and/or paracrine factors. CFs also play important roles in the setting of injury, i.

A novel mechanism involving four-and-a-half LIM domain protein-1 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase-2 regulates titin phosphorylation and mechanics.

Understanding mechanisms underlying titin regulation in cardiac muscle function is of critical importance given recent compelling evidence that highlight titin mutations as major determinants of human cardiomyopathy. We previously identified a cardiac biomechanical stress-regulated complex at the cardiac-specific N2B region of titin that includes four-and-a-half LIM domain protein-1 (Fhl1) and components of the mitogen-activated protein signaling cascade, which impacted muscle compliance in Fhl1 knock-out cardiac muscle. However, direct regulation of these molecular components in mediating titin N2B function remained unresolved.

Cell adhesion molecule mediation of myocardial inflammatory responses associated with ventricular pacing.

Poorly synchronized activation of the ventricles can lead to impairment of normal cardiac structure/function. We reported previously that short term (4 h) left ventricular (LV) pacing-induced ventricular dyskinesis led to an inflammatory response localized to the epicardium. Results from this study demonstrated that neutrophils may play a major role in this inflammatory process.

Ventricular pacing-induced loss of contractile function and development of epicardial inflammation.

Perturbations in the normal sequence of ventricular activation can create regions of early and late activation, leading to dysynchronous contraction and areas of dyskinesis. Dyskinesis occurs across the left ventricular (LV) wall, and its presence may have important consequences on cardiac structure and function in normal and failing hearts. Acutely, dyskinesis can trigger inflammation and, in the long term (6 wk and above), leads to LV remodeling.

Effects of (-)-epicatechin on myocardial infarct size and left ventricular remodeling after permanent coronary occlusion.

Objectives: We examined the effects of the flavanol (-)-epicatechin on short- and long-term infarct size and left ventricular (LV) structure and function after permanent coronary occlusion (PCO) and the potential involvement of the protective protein kinase B (AKT)/extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) signaling pathways.

Background: (-)-epicatechin reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients and limits infarct size in animal models of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, nothing is known about its effects on infarction after PCO.

Regulation of cardiac fibroblast collagen synthesis by adenosine: roles for Epac and PI3K.

Rat cardiac fibroblasts (CF) express multiple adenosine (ADO) receptors. Pharmacological evidence suggests that activation of A(2) receptors may inhibit collagen synthesis via adenylyl cyclase-induced elevation of cellular cAMP. We have characterized the signaling pathways involved in ADO-mediated inhibition of collagen synthesis in primary cultures of adult rat CF.

Short- and long-term effects of (-)-epicatechin on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Epidemiological studies have shown a correlation between flavonoid-rich diets and improved cardiovascular prognosis. Cocoa contains large amounts of flavonoids, in particular flavanols (mostly catechins and epicatechins). Flavonoids possess pleiotropic properties that may confer protective effects to tissues during injury.

Changes in regional myocardial volume during the cardiac cycle: implications for transmural blood flow and cardiac structure.

Although previous studies report a reduction in myocardial volume during systole, myocardial volume changes during the cardiac cycle have not been quantitatively analyzed with high spatiotemporal resolution. We studied the time course of myocardial volume in the anterior mid-left ventricular (LV) wall of normal canine heart in vivo (n = 14) during atrial or LV pacing using transmurally implanted markers and biplane cineradiography (8 ms/frame). During atrial pacing, there was a significant transmural gradient in maximum volume decrease (4.