Vagally-mediated heart rate variability and depression in children and adolescents - A meta-analytic update.

Background: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and a leading cause of disability worldwide. In adults, depression is characterized by decreased vagal activity (vagally-mediated heart rate variability; vmHRV), while vmHRV is inversely correlated with depressive symptoms. In children/adolescents, a 2016 synthesis (4 studies, 259 individuals) found similarly decreased vmHRV in clinical depression, but no significant association between depressive symptoms and vmHRV (6 studies, 2625 individuals).

Osteoclasts and Macrophages-Their Role in Bone Marrow Cavity Formation During Mouse Embryonic Development.

The formation of the bone marrow cavity is a prerequisite for endochondral ossification. In reviews and textbooks, it is occasionally reported that osteoclasts are essential for bone marrow cavity formation removing hypertrophic chondrocytes. Mice lacking osteoclasts or having functionally defective osteoclasts have osteopetrotic bones, yet they still form a bone marrow cavity.

Mice Lacking Wnt9a or Wnt4 Are Prone to Develop Spontaneous Osteoarthritis With Age and Display Alteration in Either the Trabecular or Cortical Bone Compartment.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease of the joint, with a complex multifactorial not yet fully understood etiology. Over the past years, the Wnt signaling pathway has been implicated in osteoarthritis. In a recent genomewide association study (GWAS), the chromosomal location on chromosome 1, linked to the Wnt3a-Wnt9a gene locus, was identified as the most significant locus associated with a thumb osteoarthritis endophenotype.

[Smoking in Movies: Implementation Status of the World Health Organization Recommendations on the Protection of Minors].

Background:  To reduce the exposure of young people to smoking scenes in films, the World Health Organization has recommended classifying films with smoking scenes as unsuitable for children and adolescents.

Aim:  To examine the question whether this recommendation is being implemented in Germany and the USA by comparing the ratings for films with and without smoking scenes in both countries.

Method:  The selection criterion for the films was the box office result in German theaters in 2019.

Only the Co-Transcriptional Activity of β-Catenin Is Required for the Local Regulatory Effects in Hypertrophic Chondrocytes on Developmental Bone Modeling.

In hypertrophic chondrocytes, β-catenin has two roles. First, it locally suppresses the differentiation of osteoclasts at the chondro-osseous junction by maintaining the pro-osteoclastic factor receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) at low levels. Second, it promotes the differentiation of osteoblast-precursors from chondrocytes.

Loss of the WNT9a ligand aggravates the rheumatoid arthritis-like symptoms in hTNF transgenic mice.

Agonists and antagonists of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway are modulators of pathological aspects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Their activity is primarily modifying bone loss and bone formation, as shown in animal models of RA. More recently, modulation of Wnt signaling by the antagonist Sclerostin has also been shown to influence soft-tissue-associated inflammatory aspects of the disease pointing towards a role of Wnt signaling in soft-tissue inflammation as well.

Wnt signaling and Loxl2 promote aggressive osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most frequent primary malignant bone tumor in urgent need of better therapies. Using genetically modified mouse models (GEMMs), we demonstrate that Wnt signaling promotes c-Fos-induced OS formation via the actions of the collagen-modifying enzyme Loxl2. c-Fos/AP-1 directly regulates the expression of the Wnt ligands Wnt7b and Wnt9a in OS cells through promoter binding, and Wnt7b and Wnt9a in turn promote Loxl2 expression in murine and human OS cells through the transcription factors Zeb1 and Zeb2.

A Second Career for Chondrocytes-Transformation into Osteoblasts.

Purpose Of Review: The goal of the review is to summarize the current knowledge on the process of chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transdifferentiation during endochondral bone formation and its potential implications in fracture healing and disease.

Recent Findings: Lineage tracing experiments confirmed the transdifferentiation of chondrocytes into osteoblasts. More recent studies lead to the discovery of molecules involved in this process, as well as to the hypothesis that these cells may re-enter a stem cell-like phase prior to their osteoblastic differentiation.

Genetic interactions between Ror2 and Wnt9a, Ror1 and Wnt9a and Ror2 and Ror1: Phenotypic analysis of the limb skeleton and palate in compound mutants.

Mutations in the human receptor tyrosine kinase ROR2 are associated with Robinow syndrome (RRS) and brachydactyly type B1. Amongst others, the shortened limb phenotype associated with RRS is recapitulated in Ror2 mutant mice. In contrast, Ror1 mutant mice are viable and show no limb phenotype.

Glycolytic Functions Are Conserved in the Genome of the Wine Yeast Hanseniaspora uvarum, and Pyruvate Kinase Limits Its Capacity for Alcoholic Fermentation.

(anamorph ) is a predominant yeast on wine grapes and other fruits and has a strong influence on wine quality, even when starter cultures are employed. In this work, we sequenced and annotated approximately 93% of the genome. Southern and synteny analyses were employed to construct a map of the seven chromosomes present in a type strain.

Broad consent for health care-embedded biobanking: understanding and reasons to donate in a large patient sample.

PurposeTo facilitate ethically acceptable and practically successful health care-embedded biobanking, the attitudes and understanding of patients and their motivation to participate need to be explored.MethodsA questionnaire study was conducted among 760 outpatients of a northern German university hospital to assess their awareness of, and motivation for giving broad consent to health care-embedded biobanking, also addressing the issue of feedback on individual-level research findings.ResultsThe overall willingness to give broad consent was high (86.

CaMKII Signaling Stimulates Mef2c Activity but Only Minimally Affects Murine Long Bone Development .

The long bones of vertebrate limbs form by endochondral ossification, whereby mesenchymal cells differentiate into chondrogenic progenitors, which then differentiate into chondrocytes. Chondrocytes undergo further differentiation from proliferating to prehypertrophic, and finally to hypertrophic chondrocytes. Several signaling pathways and transcription factors regulate this process.

Forces determining the adsorption of a monoclonal antibody onto an aluminium hydroxide adjuvant: influence of interstitial fluid components.

This study evaluates the forces involved in the adsorption of abagovomab onto an aluminium hydroxide adjuvant in interstitial fluid and the influences of interstitial fluid and its components on this process. Abagovomab is a monoclonal, anti-idiotypic antibody developed as an immunovaccine for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Partial elution of abagovomab by a change in ionic strength indicates that electrostatic interactions influenced adsorption.