Left Atrial Phasic Function in Older Adults Is Associated with Fibrotic and Low-Grade Inflammatory Pathways.

Introduction: Concomitant risk factors challenge the mechanistic understanding of cardiac aging. We determined the degree to which the left atrial function could be distinguished by advanced cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in older adults and assessed associations between the left atrial function and the plasma biomarkers related to biological aging and cardiovascular disease [serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP1), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), B-type natriuretic peptides (BNPs), galectin-3 (Gal-3), high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hsTn1), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (sUPAR)].

Methods: Among a cross-sectional population-based cohort of older adults, longitudinal LA strain including reservoir strain (εs), conduit strain (εe), and booster strain (εa) as well as peak strain rates (SRs, SRe, SRa) were determined using CMR and studied in association with blood biomarkers.

Amorphous SiO2 nanoparticles promote cardiac dysfunction via the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore in rat heart and human cardiomyocytes.

Background: Silica nanoparticles (nanoSiO) are promising systems that can deliver biologically active compounds to tissues such as the heart in a controllable manner. However, cardiac toxicity induced by nanoSiO has been recently related to abnormal calcium handling and energetic failure in cardiomyocytes. Moreover, the precise mechanisms underlying this energetic debacle remain unclear.

A Glycosyltransferase from Nicotiana alata Pollen Mediates Synthesis of a Linear (1,5)-α-L-Arabinan When Expressed in Arabidopsis.

The walls of Nicotiana alata pollen tubes contain a linear arabinan composed of (1,5)-α-linked arabinofuranose residues. Although generally found as a side chain on the backbone of the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan I, the arabinan in N. alata pollen tubes is considered free, as there is no detectable rhamnogalacturonan I in these walls.

In vitro grown pollen tubes of Nicotiana alata actively synthesise a fucosylated xyloglucan.

Nicotiana alata pollen tubes are a widely used model for studies of polarized tip growth and cell wall synthesis in plants. To better understand these processes, RNA-Seq and de novo assembly methods were used to produce a transcriptome of N. alata pollen grains.

PCAF interacts with XBP-1S and mediates XBP-1S-dependent transcription.

X-box binding protein 1 (XBP-1) is a key regulator required for cellular unfolded protein response (UPR) and plasma cell differentiation. In addition, involvement of XBP-1 in host cell-virus interaction and transcriptional regulation of viruses, such as human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), has been revealed recently. Two XBP-1 isoforms, XBP-1U and XBP-1S, which share an identical N-terminal domain, are present in cells.