Mitochondrial regulation of flower development.

Flower development in plants depends not only on a set of nuclear genes but also on the coordinate action of the mitochondrion. Certain mitochondrial genomes in combination with certain nuclear genomes lead to the expression of cytoplasmic male-sterility (CMS). Both mitochondrial genes that determine male-sterility and nuclear Restorer-of-fertility genes that suppress the male-sterile phenotype have been cloned.

Blood pressure-independent relations of left ventricular geometry to the metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance: a population-based study.

Objective: Insulin resistance independently predicts heart failure and coronary disease, and has been related to thick left ventricular walls, mainly in studies of hypertensive samples not fully accounting for the influence of blood pressure. This study investigated whether the metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance are related to left ventricular geometry independently of blood pressure.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Fetal cord blood mononuclear cells that are collected at term from HIV-1 infected women harbor transcriptionally active integrated proviral DNA.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine levels of intrauterine infection and transcriptional activity in cord blood mononuclear cells that were collected at term from fetuses who were born to women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who received highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Study Design: RNA and DNA were isolated from maternal placental tissues and fetal cord blood specimens that were obtained at term from pregnant women who were infected with HIV and who received HAART. Levels of integrated HIV provirus and messenger RNA transcripts were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Below the belt: new insights into potential complications of HIV-1/schistosome coinfections.

Purpose Of Review: Areas of the world with high endemnicity for helminth parasites overlap with those regions that have a seemingly disproportionate prevalence of HIV/AIDS. This has fueled speculation that potential pathological interactions between these infectious agents may accelerate disease progression. The proximity of many helminth infections to gastrointestinal mucosal sites combined with the recent discovery that acute HIV-1 infection causes early and massive depletion of CD4+ T cells in the gut furthers the potential pathological significance of co-infection.

Accuracy of electrocardiography in diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy in arterial hypertension: systematic review.

Objective: To review the accuracy of electrocardiography in screening for left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with hypertension.

Design: Systematic review of studies of test accuracy of six electrocardiographic indexes: the Sokolow-Lyon index, Cornell voltage index, Cornell product index, Gubner index, and Romhilt-Estes scores with thresholds for a positive test of > or =4 points or > or =5 points.

Data Sources: Electronic databases ((Pre-)Medline, Embase), reference lists of relevant studies and previous reviews, and experts.

Both cyclooxygenase- and cytokine-mediated inflammation are associated with carotid intima-media thickness.

Background: Common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) is a valid index of atherosclerosis, which is viewed as an inflammatory disease. It is unknown if various modes of inflammation (cyclooxygenase [COX]-mediated, cytokine-mediated), oxidative stress and anti-oxidants are independently related to CCA-IMT.

Methods And Results: We investigated cross-sectional relations between CCA-IMT measured by B-mode ultrasound and COX-mediated inflammation (as measured by 15-keto-dihydro-prostaglandin F(2alpha) [PGF(2alpha)], cytokine-mediated inflammation (interleukin-6 [IL-6], high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP] and serum amyloid A protein [SAA]), oxidative stress (8-iso-PGF(2alpha), an F(2)-isoprostane; a non-enzymatic, free radical-induced product of arachidonic acid), and tocopherols (anti-oxidants) in a small subset of a population-based sample of elderly men (n=234) stating no use of anti-inflammatory medications.

Clinical and echocardiographic correlates of plasma procollagen type III amino-terminal peptide levels in the community.

Background: Left ventricular remodeling is characterized by increased collagen deposition in the extracellular matrix. Levels of plasma procollagen type III amino-terminal peptide (PIIINP), a marker of collagen turnover, are elevated in the setting of recent myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cardiomyopathy. Whether plasma PIIINP levels are a useful indicator of subclinical left ventricular abnormalities in ambulatory individuals has not been studied.

Age and follow-up time affect the prognostic value of the ECG and conventional cardiovascular risk factors for stroke in adult men.

Objectives: To explore whether the predictive power of mid-life ECG abnormalities and conventional cardiovascular risk factors for future stroke change over a 30-year follow-up period, and whether a repeated examination improves their predictive power.

Design And Setting: Longitudinal population-based study.

Participants: 2,322 men aged 50 years, with a follow-up period of 30 years.

Low-grade albuminuria and the incidence of heart failure in a community-based cohort of elderly men.

Aims: To investigate associations of urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and heart failure (HF) incidence in a community-based sample.

Methods And Results: In a prospective study of 70-year-old men free from HF at baseline (n = 1106), UAER (from timed overnight samples) was analysed with established risk factors for HF [acute MI before baseline, acute MI during follow-up (modelled as a time-dependent covariate), hypertension, diabetes, left ventricular hypertrophy, smoking, body mass index, and glomerular filtration rate] and more recently described risk factors [high-sensitive C-reactive protein and insulin sensitivity (clamp glucose disposal rate)] as predictors of HF incidence. Ninety-eight participants developed HF during a median follow-up of 9.

Persistent ischaemic ECG abnormalities on repeated ECG examination have important prognostic value for cardiovascular disease beyond established risk factors: a population-based study in middle-aged men with up to 32 years of follow-up.

Objective: To determine the effect of new, persistent or reverted ischaemic ECG abnormalities at ages 50 and 70 years on the risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease.

Design, Setting And Participants: A prospective community-based observational cohort of 50-year-old men in Sweden, followed for 32 years. 2322 men of age 50 years participated in 1970-3, and 1221 subjects were re-examined at the age of 70 years.

Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 genotype is independently associated with increased intima-media thickness in a recessive pattern.

Polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E (Apo E) gene have been associated with lipid levels, carotid intima media thickness (CCA-IMT), inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Earlier findings suggested an association of the Apo E alleles with increased CCA-IMT following a recessive pattern. Whether associations might be independent of C-reactive protein (CRP), lipid levels and other CVD risk factors is not known.

Prognostic factors of ovarian granulosa cell tumor: a study of 35 patients and review of the literature.

Ovarian granulosa cell tumors (GCT) are rare tumors with a tendency of late relapse and good prognosis. FIGO stage, tumor size, degree of cellular atypia, and mitotic index have been reported to predict recurrence. The objective of this study is to evaluate treatment practice and prognostic factors of GCT.

Human tissue mast cells are an inducible reservoir of persistent HIV infection.

We have proposed that, unlike other HIV-vulnerable cell lineages, progenitor mast cells (prMCs), cultured in vitro from undifferentiated bone marrow-derived CD34(+) pluripotent progenitors (PPPs), are susceptible to infection during a limited period of their ontogeny. As infected prMCs mature in culture, they lose expression of viral chemokine coreceptors necessary for viral entry and develop into long-lived, latently infected mature tissue mast cells (MCs), resistant to new infection. In vivo recruitment of prMCs to different tissue compartments occurs in response to tissue injury, growth, and remodeling or allergic inflammation, allowing populations of circulating and potentially HIV-susceptible prMCs to spread persistent infection to diverse tissue compartments.

Vascular permeability in ocular disease and the role of tight junctions.

Vascular permeability is closely linked with angiogenesis in a number of pathologies. In the retina, the normally well-developed blood-retinal barrier is altered in a host of eye diseases preceding or commensurate with angiogenesis. This review examines the literature regarding the tight junction complex that establishes the blood-retinal barrier focusing on the transmembrane proteins occludin and the claudin family and the membrane associated protein zonula occludens.

Microarray analysis reveals altered expression of a large number of nuclear genes in developing cytoplasmic male sterile Brassica napus flowers.

To gain new insights into the mechanism underlying cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), we compared the nuclear gene expression profiles of flowers of a Brassica napus CMS line with that of the fertile B. napus maintainer line using Arabidopsis thaliana flower-specific cDNA microarrays. The CMS line used has a B.

Biochemical and clinical approaches in evaluating the prognosis of colon cancer.

Background: Colorectal adenocarcinoma is a common malignant neoplasm in the Western world. To achieve optimal treatment results, the risk estimation of recurrence should be as accurate as possible.

Materials And Methods: Tissue material from tumour and normal mucosa was taken from six patients and was analysed to screen aberrantly expressed genes using cDNA microarray.

VEGF activation of protein kinase C stimulates occludin phosphorylation and contributes to endothelial permeability.

Purpose: VEGF is a potent permeabilizing factor that contributes to the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy and brain tumors. VEGF-induced vascular permeability in vivo and in cell culture requires PKC activity, but the mechanism by which PKC regulates barrier properties remains unknown. This study was conducted to examine how VEGF and diabetes alter occludin phosphorylation and endothelial cell permeability.

Metabolic risk factors for stroke and transient ischemic attacks in middle-aged men: a community-based study with long-term follow-up.

Background And Purpose: The impact of lipometabolic and glucometabolic disturbances on stroke incidence remains to be characterized in detail. We investigated relations of a comprehensive panel of baseline lipometabolic and glucometabolic variables to incident fatal and nonfatal stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), and stroke subtypes.

Methods: A community-based prospective study of 2313 middle-aged men invited to a health survey at age 50.

Socioeconomic factors as predictors of incident heart failure.

Background: Studies of socioeconomic factors as predictors of heart failure (HF) are few and have given opposing results. Further, it is unknown if these factors predict incident HF independently of myocardial infarction and other established risk factors for HF.

Methods And Results: In a community-based cohort of 2314 middle-age men free from HF, valvular disease, and previous myocardial infarction at baseline, socioeconomic factors were examined as predictors for HF using Cox proportional hazards analyses.

Molecular and phylogenetic analyses of the MADS-box gene family in tomato.

MIKCc-type MADS-box genes encode key transcriptional regulators of a variety of developmental processes in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, there has been relatively little effort to systematically carry out comparative genomic or functional analyses of these genes across flowering plants. Here we describe a strategy to identify members of the MIKCc-type MADS-box gene family from any angiosperm species of interest.

Factor analysis of fatty acids in serum lipids as a measure of dietary fat quality in relation to the metabolic syndrome in men.

Background: A specific fatty acid (FA) composition in plasma lipid esters is related to the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and may influence the development of the MetS.

Objective: The objective was to define and study FA factors as measures of dietary fat quality and endogenous FA metabolism in relation to MetS.

Design: Principal factor analysis was performed to define specific FA factors in men participating in a population-based cohort study-the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men.

Sleep disturbances independently predict heart failure in overweight middle-aged men.

Background: Sleep disturbances are associated with manifest heart failure (HF). However, the relationship between sleep disturbances and incident HF has been less studied.

Aims: To investigate self-reported sleep disturbances as predictors of HF in a longitudinal, community-based cohort of 2314 middle-aged men.

Diurnal blood pressure pattern and risk of congestive heart failure.

Context: High blood pressure is the most important risk factor for congestive heart failure (CHF) at a population level, but the relationship of an altered diurnal blood pressure pattern to risk of subsequent CHF is unknown.

Objectives: To explore 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure characteristics as predictors of CHF incidence and to investigate whether altered diurnal blood pressure patterns confer any additional risk information beyond that provided by conventional office blood pressure measurements.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective, community-based, observational cohort in Uppsala, Sweden, including 951 elderly men free of CHF, valvular disease, and left ventricular hypertrophy at baseline between 1990 and 1995, followed up until the end of 2002.

Impact of follow-up time and re-measurement of the electrocardiogram and conventional cardiovascular risk factors on their predictive value for myocardial infarction.

Objective: To explore if the predictive power of mid-life electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities and conventional cardiovascular risk factors for future myocardial infarction, change over a 30-year follow-up period and if repeated examination improves their predictive power.

Design And Setting: Longitudinal population-based study.

Participants: A total of 2322 men aged 50 years, with a total follow-up period of 30 years and 1221 subjects were re-examined at age of 70 years.