Reliability and validity of a short Japanese version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale.

Objective: This study aimed to verify the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the S-UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. This is expected to facilitate comparisons of findings between international and Japanese samples in studies of impulsivity.

Methods: Two surveys were conducted.

Sema3a maintains normal heart rhythm through sympathetic innervation patterning.

Sympathetic innervation is critical for effective cardiac function. However, the developmental and regulatory mechanisms determining the density and patterning of cardiac sympathetic innervation remain unclear, as does the role of this innervation in arrhythmogenesis. Here we show that a neural chemorepellent, Sema3a, establishes cardiac sympathetic innervation patterning.

A new synbiotic consisting of Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei and dextran improves milk production in Holstein dairy cows.

To evaluate the effects of a new synbiotic consisting of Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei (Lcc) and dextran (Dex) on milk production, a total of 58 Holstein dairy cows, which became pregnant and gave birth to calves at regular intervals and lactated steadily and continuously, were selected. The study had a completely randomized design, and the animals were divided into two groups.

Application of mesenchymal stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes as bio-pacemakers: current status and problems to be solved.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (CMG cells) are multipotent and can be induced by 5-azacytidine to differentiate into cardiomyocytes. We characterized the electrophysiological properties of these cardiomyocytes and investigated their potential for use as transplantable bio-pacemakers. After differentiation, action potentials in spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes were initially sinus node-like, but subsequently became ventricular cardiomyocyte-like.

Nerve growth factor is critical for cardiac sensory innervation and rescues neuropathy in diabetic hearts.

Background: Molecular mechanisms regulating the cardiac sensory nervous system remain poorly understood. Cardiac sensory nerve impairment causes silent myocardial ischemia, a main cause of sudden death in diabetes mellitus (DM). The present study focused on the roles of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the regulation of the cardiac sensory nervous system and analyzed the mechanism of silent myocardial ischemia in DM.

Radical trifluoromethylation of ketone silyl enol ethers by activation with dialkylzinc.

[reaction: see text] The radical trifluoromethylation of ketone silyl enol ethers gave alpha-CF(3) ketones in good yields with wide scope of the ketonic substrates including acyclic ketones and cyclopentanone. The use of dialkylzinc to activate the silyl enol ethers is the key to the efficient radical trifluoromethylation.

Cardiac neural crest cells contribute to the dormant multipotent stem cell in the mammalian heart.

Arodent cardiac side population cell fraction formed clonal spheroids in serum-free medium, which expressed nestin, Musashi-1, and multi-drug resistance transporter gene 1, markers of undifferentiated neural precursor cells. These markers were lost following differentiation, and were replaced by the expression of neuron-, glial-, smooth muscle cell-, or cardiomyocyte-specific proteins. Cardiosphere-derived cells transplanted into chick embryos migrated to the truncus arteriosus and cardiac outflow tract and contributed to dorsal root ganglia, spinal nerves, and aortic smooth muscle cells.

Cardiomyocytes undergo cells division following myocardial infarction is a spatially and temporally restricted event in rats.

Dividing cardiomyocytes are observed in autopsied human hearts following recent myocardial infarction, however there is a lack of information in the literature on the division of these cells. In this study we used a rat model to investigate how and when adult mammalian cardiomyocytes proliferate by cell division after myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction was induced in Wistar rats by ligation of the left coronary artery.

Selective involvement of p130Cas/Crk/Pyk2/c-Src in endothelin-1-induced JNK activation.

Both integrin-based focal adhesion complexes and receptor tyrosine kinases have been proposed as scaffolds on which the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-induced signaling complex might assemble. We have recently reported that Ca2+-sensitive tyrosine kinase, Pyk2, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) act as independently regulated scaffolds in cardiomyocytes. In this report, we investigated the activation and regulation of p130Cas, Crk, Pyk2, and c-Src by a well-known hypertrophic agonist, endothelin-1 (ET), and determined their contributions to the activation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in cardiomyocytes.

Bone marrow-derived regenerated cardiomyocytes (CMG Cells) express functional adrenergic and muscarinic receptors.

Background: We recently reported that cardiomyocytes could be differentiated from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in vitro by 5-azacytidine treatment. In native cardiomyocytes, adrenergic and muscarinic receptors play crucial roles in mediating heart rate, conduction velocity, contractility, and cardiac hypertrophy. We investigated whether these receptors are expressed in differentiated CMG cells, and if so, whether they have downstream signaling systems.