Protective Potential of a Botanical-Based Supplement Ingredient against the Impact of Environmental Pollution on Cutaneous and Cardiopulmonary Systems: Preclinical Study.

Air pollution is a growing threat to human health. Airborne pollution effects on respiratory, cardiovascular and skin health are well-established. The main mechanisms of air-pollution-induced health effects involve oxidative stress and inflammation.

Double Knockout of the Na+-Driven Cl-/HCO3- Exchanger and Na+/Cl- Cotransporter Induces Hypokalemia and Volume Depletion.

We recently described a novel thiazide-sensitive electroneutral NaCl transport mechanism resulting from the parallel operation of the Cl/HCO exchanger pendrin and the Na-driven Cl/2HCO exchanger (NDCBE) in β-intercalated cells of the collecting duct. Although a role for pendrin in maintaining Na balance, intravascular volume, and BP is well supported, there is no in vivo evidence for the role of NDCBE in maintaining Na balance. Here, we show that deletion of NDCBE in mice caused only subtle perturbations of Na homeostasis and provide evidence that the Na/Cl cotransporter (NCC) compensated for the inactivation of NDCBE.

Spectral fringes in non-phase-matched SHG and refinement of dispersion relations in the VUV.

We consider second harmonic generation (SHG) of ultrashort pulses in the case of strong phase- and group-velocity mismatch. Spectral fringes appear in the second harmonic related to two delayed replicas of the fundamental pulse in the time domain. The fringe separation can be used to evaluate the group-velocity and refractive index of nonlinear crystals at extreme wavelengths.

Structural determinants of the insulin receptor-related receptor activation by alkali.

IRR is a member of the insulin receptor (IR) family that does not have any known agonist of a peptide nature but can be activated by mildly alkaline medium and was thus proposed to function as an extracellular pH sensor. IRR activation by alkali is defined by its N-terminal extracellular region. To reveal key structural elements involved in alkali sensing, we developed an in vitro method to quantify activity of IRR and its mutants.