SIRT1 deacetylates mitochondrial trifunctional enzyme α subunit to inhibit ubiquitylation and decrease insulin resistance.

Dysregulation of free acid metabolism is a major contributor to the development of insulin resistance and diabetes. Mitochondrial trifunctional enzyme subunit (MTPα) has a critical role in fatty acid β-oxidation. However, the association between MTPα and insulin resistance is not definitively known.

High Glucose Concentration Impairs 5-PAHSA Activity by Inhibiting AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Activation and Promoting Nuclear Factor-Kappa-B-Mediated Inflammation.

Recently, the endogenous fatty acid palmitic acid-5-hydroxystearic acid (5-PAHSA) was found to increase insulin sensitivity and have anti-inflammatory effects in mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced diabetes. However, it is unknown if 5-PAHSA affects glucose and lipid metabolism in db/db mice, which are characterized by extreme hyperglycemia. Here, we aim to determine the effect of continued 5-PAHSA administration on glucose and lipid metabolism in db/db mice.

9-PAHSA promotes browning of white fat via activating G-protein-coupled receptor 120 and inhibiting lipopolysaccharide / NF-kappa B pathway.

Browning of white adipose tissue is a novel mechanism to counteract obesity in view of its thermogenic activity. Activation of G-protein-coupled receptor 120 (GPR120) can promote the browning of white fat. 9-PAHSA, an endogenous mammalian lipid, which is acting as the ligand of GPR120 to enhance glucose uptake and exert anti-inflammatory effect.

Efficacy and Safety of Policosanol Plus Fenofibrate Combination Therapy in Elderly Patients with Mixed Dyslipidemia: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Study.

Background: Policosanol is a mixture of long-chain alcohols isolated from sugar cane. This controlled, randomized clinical trial was designed to compare the efficacy and safety of fenofibrate, policosanol and a combination of these 2 in lowering low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in elderly patients with mixed dyslipidemia.

Methods: A total of 102 patients aged ≥60years were randomly assigned into 3 groups: patients receiving a 24-week therapy of fenofibrate (200 mg/day), policosanol (20 mg/day) or fenofibrate + policosanol combination.

Adipocyte differentiation is regulated by mitochondrial trifunctional protein α-subunit via sirtuin 1.

Mitochondrial trifunctional protein α-subunit (MTPα) is involved in the fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) pathway. Two MTPα activities, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and long-chain hydratase, have been linked with the occurrence and development of obesity and obesity-related disorders. These activities catalyze two steps in the FAO pathway (the second and third reactions).

Freeze-thaw Caenorhabditis elegans freeze-thaw stress response is regulated by the insulin/IGF-1 receptor daf-2.

Background: Adaption to cold temperatures, especially those below freezing, is essential for animal survival in cold environments. Freezing is also used for many medical, scientific, and industrial purposes. Natural freezing survival in animals has been extensively studied.

CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein CEBP-2 controls fat consumption and fatty acid desaturation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Mammalian CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins (C/EBPs) are generally known as regulators in adipocyte differentiation. However, more understanding of the role of C/EBPs in lipid and glucose metabolism remains to be discovered. In this study, we verified the effect of CEBP-2, the homolog of CEBPs, on fat storage in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Adventitial gene transfer of catalase attenuates angiotensin II-induced vascular remodeling.

Vascular adventitia and adventitia‑derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to vascular remodeling following vascular injury. A previous ex vivo study in adventitial fibroblasts showed that catalase, one of most important anti‑oxide enzymes, was downregulated by angiotensin II (AngII). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether adventitial gene transfer of catalase affects AngII‑induced vascular remodeling in vivo.

Differential ERK1/2 Signaling and Hypertrophic Response to Endothelin-1 in Cardiomyocytes from SHR and Wistar-Kyoto Rats: A Potential Target for Combination Therapy of Hypertension.

Extracellular signal regulated kinase½ (ERK1/2) signaling is critical to endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. This study was to investigate ERK1/2 signaling and hypertrophic response to ET-1 stimulation in cardiomyocytes (CMs) from spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Primary neonatal SHR and WKY CMs were exposed to ET-1 for up to 24 hrs.

Effects of atorvastatin on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone metabolism in elderly males with osteopenia and mild dyslipidemia: a 1-year randomized trial.

We explored the effects of atorvastatin on BMD and biochemical markers of bone metabolism in a 1-year, prospective, randomized controlled study. 64 male patients with osteopenia and mild dyslipidemia (mean age 80.1±6.

Use of improved tracheal catheters in patient of tracheostomy tube-induced tracheoesophageal fistula: a case report.

Tracheostomy tube might cause tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) due to high cuff pressure or direct mechanical trauma. Surgical repair provides the ideal way to deal with TEF but it necessitates the weaning the patient from mechanical ventilation. Here we report a spontaneous closure of TEF by managing it with improved tracheal catheters in a patient who is dependent on mechanical ventilation.

Gamma-glutamyltransferase level and risk of hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Several prospective observational studies suggest that gamma-glutamyltransferase(GGT) level is positively associated with risk of hypertension. However, these studies draw inconsistent conclusions. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the exact association between GGT level and subsequent development of hypertension.

The cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 protects against oxidized LDL-induced inflammatory response in murine macrophages.

The endocannabinoid system has recently been attracted interest for its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties. In this study, we investigated the role of the endocannabinoid system in regulating the oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced inflammatory response in macrophages. RAW264.

Differential expression of alpha-enolase in the normal and pathological cardiac growth.

Objectives: It was found that alpha-enolase was dramatically up-regulated in the hypertrophic hearts of SHR in our previous study. The purposes of this study were to examine the expression pattern of alpha-enolase in pre- and postnatal myocardium of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, and to explore the relationship between the overexpression of alpha-enolase and left ventricular hypertrophy.

Methods: HE staining was used for the measurement of cardiac hypertrophy.

Alterations of mitochondrial enzymes contribute to cardiac hypertrophy before hypertension development in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is recently thought to be tightly associated with the development of cardiac hypertrophy as well as hypertension. However, the detailed molecular events in mitochondria at early stages of hypertrophic pathogenesis are still unclear. Applying two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem mass spectrometry, here we identified the changed mitochondrial proteins of left ventricular mitochondria in prehypertensive/hypertensive stages of cardiac hypertrophy through comparing spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and the age-matched normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats.

Efficacy and safety of benidipine therapy of essential hypertension in elderly Chinese patients.

Background: Benidipine (CAS 105979-17-7) is a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker used in the treatment of hypertension and angina pectoris.

Objective: To examine the efficacy and safety of therapy with benidipine in elderly hypertensive patients.

Methods: Chinese patients >60 years of age with mild to moderate essential hypertension were enrolled.

Hyper-phosphorylation of alpha-enolase in hypertrophied left ventricle of spontaneously hypertensive rat.

Cardiac hypertrophy is one of the main target organ damages of essential hypertension and predicts a poor prognosis of the disease. The molecules involved in this event, especially their posttranslational modifications, remain largely unknown to date. With a combination of phosphoprotein column enrichment and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis separation, here we compared the profiling of enriched phosphoproteins from the left ventricle (LV) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) to that of age-matched Wistar Kyoto rats.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma agonists attenuate angiotensin II-induced collagen type I expression in adventitial fibroblasts.

1. Angiotensin (Ang) II-mediated oxidative stress may be important in enhanced adventitial fibroblast collagen formation. The aim of the present study was to test whether PPAR-gamma agonists 15-deoxy-Delta(12,14)-prostaglandin J(2) (15d-PGJ2) and pioglitazone could alter AngII-induced collagen type I formation in vascular adventitial fibroblasts via reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Differential protein expression in hypertrophic heart with and without hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Although cardiac hypertrophy in hypertension has been well recognized, the molecular mechanisms for the development of hypertrophy are still largely unknown. In this study, the protein expression profiles of left ventricular myocardia in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats at different ages were analyzed using 2-DE in combination with MALDI-TOF/TOF MS/MS. The results showed that 20 proteins were modulated in the hypertrophic myocardium.