Systemic inflammation and sympathetic activation in gestational diabetes mellitus with obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Although some evidence suggests an association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), its consequences still remain largely unknown. We sought to determine whether OSA is associated with higher inflammation and sympathetic levels in GDM, and to relate them with insulin resistance and perinatal outcomes.

Methods: OSA was identified by polysomnography and defined as an apnea-hypopnea index of ≥ 5 h.

Activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system contributes to oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy through muscle atrophy.

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a late-onset disorder characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of specific muscles. OPMD is due to extension of a polyalanine tract in poly(A) binding protein nuclear 1 (PABPN1). Aggregation of the mutant protein in muscle nuclei is a hallmark of the disease.

Surfactant protein D concentration in a pediatric population with suspected sleep disorder.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects between 2% and 4% in children and there is a search for new biomarkers that can be useful both in the diagnosis and in the evolution of the disease. The surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a collection that is part of the innate immune system exerting an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effect. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the concentration of SP-D in the suspect OSA pediatric population.

Vitamin D as a biomarker of health in snoring children: a familial aggregation study.

Background: Hypovitaminosis D is a common health problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter-relationship between serum 25(OH)D levels and paternal and maternal vitamin D status in a sample of snoring children.

Methods: We selected 137 participants for whom serum 25(OH)D had been measured and underwent overnight polysomnography evaluation.

Polysomnographic Characteristics of Snoring Children: A Familial Study of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.

Background And Objectives: Available evidence suggests a familial basis for OSA. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential influences of parental OSA in predicting the diagnosis and severity of OSA in snoring children.

Methods: Observational study, we prospectively enrolled 84 children and their parents.

The infection cushion of Botrytis cinerea: a fungal 'weapon' of plant-biomass destruction.

The necrotrophic plant-pathogen fungus Botrytis cinerea produces multicellular appressoria dedicated to plant penetration, named infection cushions (IC). A microarray analysis was performed to identify genes upregulated in mature IC. The expression data were validated by RT-qPCR analysis performed in vitro and in planta, proteomic analysis of the IC secretome and biochemical assays.

Prothrombotic state in children with obstructive sleep apnea.

Objective: Increased blood coagulation might be one important mechanism linking obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with cardiovascular diseases. We tested the association between several hemostatic parameters and sleep breathing-related variables in a representative pediatric population with a clinical suspicion of OSA.

Methods: Polysomnography was performed in 152 snoring children to diagnose OSA.

Xlr1 is involved in the transcriptional control of the pentose catabolic pathway, but not hemi-cellulolytic enzymes in Magnaporthe oryzae.

Magnaporthe oryzae is a fungal plant pathogen of many grasses including rice. Since arabinoxylan is one of the major components of the plant cell wall of grasses, M. oryzae is likely to degrade this polysaccharide for supporting its growth in infected leaves.

The rice resistance protein pair RGA4/RGA5 recognizes the Magnaporthe oryzae effectors AVR-Pia and AVR1-CO39 by direct binding.

Resistance (R) proteins recognize pathogen avirulence (Avr) proteins by direct or indirect binding and are multidomain proteins generally carrying a nucleotide binding (NB) and a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain. Two NB-LRR protein-coding genes from rice (Oryza sativa), RGA4 and RGA5, were found to be required for the recognition of the Magnaporthe oryzae effector AVR1-CO39. RGA4 and RGA5 also mediate recognition of the unrelated M.

The pentose catabolic pathway of the rice-blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae involves a novel pentose reductase restricted to few fungal species.

A gene (MoPRD1), related to xylose reductases, was identified in Magnaporthe oryzae. Recombinant MoPRD1 displays its highest specific reductase activity toward L-arabinose and D-xylose. Km and Vmax values using L-arabinose and D-xylose are similar.

The Magnaporthe oryzae effector AVR1-CO39 is translocated into rice cells independently of a fungal-derived machinery.

Effector proteins are key elements in plant-fungal interactions. The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae secretes numerous effectors that are suspected to be translocated inside plant cells. However, their cellular targets and the mechanisms of translocation are still unknown.

PHO1 expression in guard cells mediates the stomatal response to abscisic acid in Arabidopsis.

Stomatal opening and closing are driven by ion fluxes that cause changes in guard cell turgor and volume. This process is, in turn, regulated by environmental and hormonal signals, including light and the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). Here, we present genetic evidence that expression of PHO1 in guard cells of Arabidopsis thaliana is required for full stomatal responses to ABA.

The TLR-mediated response of plasmacytoid dendritic cells is positively regulated by estradiol in vivo through cell-intrinsic estrogen receptor α signaling.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) produce large amounts of type I interferons (IFN-α/β) in response to viral or endogenous nucleic acids through activation of their endosomal Toll-like receptors (TLR-7 and TLR-9). Enhanced TLR-7-mediated IFN-α production by pDCs in women, compared with men, has been reported, but whether sex hormones, such as estrogens, are involved in this sex-based difference is unknown. Here we show, in humanized mice, that the TLR-7-mediated response of human pDCs is increased in female host mice relative to male.

The tig1 histone deacetylase complex regulates infectious growth in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

Magnaporthe oryzae is the most damaging fungal pathogen of rice (Oryza sativa). In this study, we characterized the TIG1 transducin beta-like gene required for infectious growth and its interacting genes that are required for plant infection in this model phytopathogenic fungus. Tig1 homologs in yeast and mammalian cells are part of a conserved histone deacetylase (HDAC) transcriptional corepressor complex.

Fracture risk in early postmenopausal women assessed using FRAX.

Objectives: To evaluate FRAX 10-year fracture probabilities depending on the recommended management strategy in early postmenopausal women who were untreated at baseline.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive study in 494 untreated women aged 45-60 years seen for the first time at a menopause clinic. Risk factors, physical findings, and bone mineral density (BMD) values determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were collected.

Fracture risk prediction using BMD and clinical risk factors in early postmenopausal women: sensitivity of the WHO FRAX tool.

The aim of this prospective study was (1) to identify significant and independent clinical risk factors (CRFs) for major osteoporotic (OP) fracture among peri- and early postmenopausal women, (2) to assess, in this population, the discriminatory capacity of FRAX and bone mineral density (BMD) for the identification of women at high risk of fracture, and (3) to assess whether adding risk factors to either FRAX or BMD would improve discriminatory capacity. The study population included 2651 peri- and early postmenopausal women [mean age (+/- SD): 54 +/- 4 years] with a mean follow-up period of 13.4 years (+/-1.

Bone mineral density and prediction of non-osteoporotic disease.

It is widely recognized that bone mineral density (BMD) is one of the best predictors of osteoporotic fractures. Sex hormone status clearly affects bone either directly or indirectly and a longer estrogen exposure appears to be a major determinant of postmenopausal BMD. Accordingly, several studies have led to the hypothesis that BMD might represent a marker of the accumulated lifetime exposure of estrogen and therefore be used as a predictor factor of the risk of other postmenopausal conditions such as breast cancer or cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

[How to prevent early postmenopausal fracture risk? Proposition of a strategy].

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a chronic disease, which justifies long-term treatment in those women with an increased risk of fracture. The current disponibility of various drugs, which have demonstrated their efficacy in reducing the incidence of fracture, has raised the question of the best treatment strategy in a woman who would begin her postmenopausal period with an increased risk for fracture. Indeed, for most treatments (with the exception of hormonal replacement therapy [HRT]), their efficacy in reducing the risk of fracture has been mainly demonstrated in higher risk elderly women (above 65 years) with prevalent vertebral fractures.

Frailty, osteoporosis and hip fracture: causes, consequences and therapeutic perspectives.

Objective: The aim of this review of the literature is to report the factors which both contribute to the frailty syndrome and increase hip fracture risk in the elderly. This work is the fruit of common reflection by geriatricians, endocrinologists, gynecologists and rheumatologists, and seeks to stress the importance of detection and management of the various components of frailty in elderly subjects who are followed and treated for osteoporosis. It also sets out to heighten awareness of the need for management of osteoporosis in the frail elderly.

Induction of the Arabidopsis PHO1;H10 gene by 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid but not jasmonic acid via a CORONATINE INSENSITIVE1-dependent pathway.

Expression of AtPHO1;H10, a member of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) PHO1 gene family, is strongly induced following numerous abiotic and biotic stresses, including wounding, dehydration, cold, salt, and pathogen attack. AtPHO1;H10 expression by wounding was localized to the cells in the close vicinity of the wound site. AtPHO1;H10 expression was increased by application of the jasmonic acid (JA) precursor 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), but not by JA or coronatine.

Bone mineral density at menopause does not predict breast cancer incidence.

Unlabelled: In this prospective study in 2,137 perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women who were followed over a 13.1-year period of time, we observed no association between bone mineral density measured at the beginning of menopause and the subsequent risk of breast cancer.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between BMD and the risk of breast cancer (BC) in young postmenopausal women.

Expression analyses of three members of the AtPHO1 family reveal differential interactions between signaling pathways involved in phosphate deficiency and the responses to auxin, cytokinin, and abscisic acid.

The PHO1 protein is involved in loading inorganic phosphate (Pi) to the root xylem. Ten genes homologous to AtPHO1 are present in the Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heyn genome.

Analysis of blazed diffractive optical elements formed with artificial dielectrics.

A new hybrid method for the analysis of diffractive optical elements, which combines fully vectorial and scalar theories, is presented. It is suitable for use with elements of arbitrary large zone, even when the local feature size is of the order of the wavelength. To assess its applicability, we have performed cross-checking tests.

Susceptibility of rice to the blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea.

The interaction between rice and the blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea is the focus of extensive studies on rice disease resistance and fungal infection mechanisms. Here, we review the characteristics of susceptible rice blast infections in terms of physiology, cytology and both host and pathogen transcriptional responses. The success of the infection and the type of disease symptoms strongly depend on environmental and developmental cues.