S-Nitrosylated hemoglobin predicts organ yield in neurologically-deceased human donors.

Current human donor care protocols following death by neurologic criteria (DNC) can stabilize macro-hemodynamic parameters but have minimal ability to preserve systemic blood flow and microvascular oxygen delivery. S-nitrosylated hemoglobin (SNO-Hb) within red blood cells (RBCs) is the main regulator of tissue oxygenation (StO). Based on various pre-clinical studies, we hypothesized that brain death (BD) would decrease post-mortem SNO-Hb levels to negatively-impact StO and reduce organ yields.

Airway Thiol-NO Adducts as Determinants of Exhaled NO.

Thiol-NO adducts such as -nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) are endogenous bronchodilators in human airways. Decreased airway -nitrosothiol concentrations are associated with asthma. Nitric oxide (NO), a breakdown product of GSNO, is measured in exhaled breath as a biomarker in asthma; an elevated fraction of expired NO (F) is associated with asthmatic airway inflammation.

Kruppel-like factor 15 is required for the cardiac adaptive response to fasting.

Cardiac metabolism is highly adaptive in response to changes in substrate availability, as occur during fasting. This metabolic flexibility is essential to the maintenance of contractile function and is under the control of a group of select transcriptional regulators, notably the nuclear receptor family of factors member PPARα. However, the diversity of physiologic and pathologic states through which the heart must sustain function suggests the possible existence of additional transcriptional regulators that play a role in matching cardiac metabolism to energetic demand.