Trigeminal neuralgia (part II): Factors affecting early pharmacotherapeutic outcome.

Aims: We conducted a cohort study to examine demographic and clinical features associated with the pharmacotherapeutic outcome in classical trigeminal neuralgia (CTN) patients.

Methods: Patients with a clinical profile indicating a diagnosis of CTN, as per the International Headache Society's published classification, were enrolled prospectively. Demographic and pain-related characteristics were carefully collected.

MntR(Rv2788): a transcriptional regulator that controls manganese homeostasis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The pathogenic mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis encodes two members of the DtxR/MntR family of metalloregulators, IdeR and SirR. IdeR represses gene expression in response to ferrous iron, and we here demonstrate that SirR (Rv2788), although also annotated as an iron-dependent repressor, functions instead as a manganese-dependent transcriptional repressor and is therefore renamed MntR. MntR regulates transporters that promote manganese import and genes that respond to metal ion deficiency such as the esx3 system.

The mycobacterial iron-dependent regulator IdeR induces ferritin (bfrB) by alleviating Lsr2 repression.

Emerging evidence indicates that precise regulation of iron (Fe) metabolism and maintenance of Fe homeostasis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are essential for its survival and proliferation in the host. IdeR is a central transcriptional regulator of Mtb genes involved in Fe metabolism. While it is well understood how IdeR functions as a repressor, how it induces transcription of a subset of its targets is still unclear.

Leukocyte Telomere Length and Risks of Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality in a Racially Diverse Population of Postmenopausal Women.

Objective: Telomeres are regions at the ends of chromosomes that maintain chromosomal structural integrity and genomic stability. In studies of mainly older, white populations, shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors and increased risks of mortality and coronary heart disease (CHD). On average, African Americans (AfAm) have longer LTL than whites, but the LTL-CHD relationship in AfAm is unknown.

Issues of cultural diversity in acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation.

Introduction: With the general population in the United States becoming increasingly diverse, it is important for rehabilitation professionals to develop the capacity to provide culturally sensitive treatment. This is especially relevant when working with minority populations who have a higher risk for brain injury and poorer rehabilitation outcomes.

Objectives: This article presents a number of clinical vignettes to illustrate how cultural factors can influence behavior in patients recovering from brain injury, as well as rehabilitation staff.

LIF promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast cancer through the AKT-mTOR pathway.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a multi-functional cytokine protein. The role of LIF in tumorigenesis is not well-understood. Here, we found that LIF promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis of breast cancer.

SIRT1 knockdown promotes neural differentiation and attenuates the heat shock response.

Neurons have a limited capacity for heat shock protein (HSP) induction and are vulnerable to the pathogenic consequence of protein misfolding and aggregation as seen in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), an NAD(+) -dependent lysine deacetylase with important biological functions, has been shown to sustain the DNA-binding state of HSF1 for HSP induction. Here we show that differentiation and maturation of embryonic cortical neurons and N2a neuroprogenitor cells is associated with decreases in SIRT1 expression and heat shock-dependent induction of HSP70 protein.

Spliced MDM2 isoforms promote mutant p53 accumulation and gain-of-function in tumorigenesis.

The tumour suppressor p53 is frequently mutated in tumours. Mutant p53 (Mutp53) proteins often gain new activities in promoting tumorigenesis, defined as gain-of-function (GOF). Mutp53 can accumulate to high levels in tumours, which promotes mutp53 GOF in tumorigenesis.

Tumour-associated mutant p53 drives the Warburg effect.

Tumour cells primarily utilize aerobic glycolysis for energy production, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. Its mechanism is not well understood. The tumour suppressor gene p53 is frequently mutated in tumours.

IdeR is required for iron homeostasis and virulence in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Iron is an essential but potentially harmful nutrient, poorly soluble in aerobic conditions, and not freely available in the human host. To acquire iron, bacteria have evolved high affinity iron acquisition systems that are expressed under iron limitation often in conjunction with virulence determinants. Because excess iron can be dangerous, intracellular iron must be tightly controlled.

Influence of the Bi3+ electron lone pair in the evolution of the crystal and magnetic structure of La(1-x)Bi(x)Mn2O5 oxides.

La(1-x)Bi(x)Mn2O5 (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.

Nutrition and wound healing.

Continued research and development in the field of wound healing holds the potential to affect both quality of life and incidence of mortality. For the health care provider to promote successful wound healing, an understanding of the function of nutrients in inflammation and tissue growth is helpful. The intent of this paper is to discuss the metabolic and cellular pathways crucial to wound healing and identify appropriate nutritional interventions and clinical applications.

Exercise-induced increases in inflammatory cytokines in muscle and blood of horses.

Reasons For Performing Study: Studies have demonstrated increases in mRNA expression for inflammatory cytokines following exercise in horses and have suggested those markers of inflammation may play a role in delayed onset muscle soreness. However, measurement of mRNA expression in white blood cells is an indirect method. No studies to date have documented the cytokine response to exercise directly in muscle in horses.

Neuroprotective drug riluzole amplifies the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1)- and glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1)-dependent cytoprotective mechanisms for neuronal survival.

Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) mediates the cellular response to stress to increase the production of heat shock protein (HSP) chaperones for proper protein folding, trafficking, and degradation; failure of this homeostatic mechanism likely contributes to neurodegeneration. We show that the neuroprotective drug riluzole increased the amount of HSF1 in NG108-15 neuroprogenitor cells by slowing the specific turnover of HSF1 and supporting a more robust and sustained activation of HSF1. Using Hsp70-luciferase as a functional readout of the activity of HSF1, we show that riluzole amplified the heat shock induction of the reporter gene with an optimal increase at 1 μM.

Aberrant regulation and modification of heat shock factor 1 in senescent human diploid fibroblasts.

Induction of the heat shock response (HSR), determined by hsp70-luciferase reporter and HSP70 protein expression, is attenuated as a function of age of the IMR-90 human diploid fibroblasts. To better understand the underlying mechanism, we evaluated changes in the regulation and function of the HSF1 transcription factor. We show that the activation of HSF1 both in vivo and in vitro was decreased as a function of age, and this was attributable to a change in the regulation of HSF1 as the abundance of HSF1 protein and mRNA was unaffected.

Riluzole increases the amount of latent HSF1 for an amplified heat shock response and cytoprotection.

Background: Induction of the heat shock response (HSR) and increased expression of the heat shock proteins (HSPs) provide mechanisms to ensure proper protein folding, trafficking, and disposition. The importance of HSPs is underscored by the understanding that protein mis-folding and aggregation contribute centrally to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases.

Methodology/principal Findings: We used a cell-based hsp70-luciferease reporter gene assay system to identify agents that modulate the HSR and show here that clinically relevant concentrations of the FDA-approved ALS drug riluzole significantly increased the heat shock induction of hsp70-luciferse reporter gene.

Access to health information. Editorial.

Objectives: To provide an editorial introduction to the 2008 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics with an overview of its contents and contributors.

Methods: A brief overview of the main theme of "Access to Health Information", and an outline of the purposes, contents, format, and acknowledgment of contributions for the 2008 IMIA Yearbook.

Results: This 2008 issue of the IMIA Yearbook highlights how Access to Health Information has become ubiquitous over the web during the past decade, with a significant number of publications in biomedical and health informatics addressing both the science and technology of the field and how it is contributing to the improvement of health systems worldwide through a number of original contributions, and selected excellent papers published during the past 12 months.

Edge-directed dynamic covalent synthesis of a chiral nanocube.

The dynamic multicomponent syntheses of nanometer-sized chiral molecular cubes 1a and 1b from 8 tritopic 90 degree corner units and 12 linear spacers using an edge-directed approach is described. Thus, the TFA-catalyzed reaction of 8 equiv C3-trihexadecyloxy-triformylcyclotribenzylene 2 as corner unit with 12 equiv of 1,4-phenylenediamine 3a or benzidine 3b as spacers yields nanocubes 1a and 1b, respectively in close to quantitative yield. The same reactions carried out with enantiomerically pure (P)-2 (>99% ee) gave the homochiral cubes (all-P)-1a and (all-P)-1b.

Changes in the regulation of heat shock gene expression in neuronal cell differentiation.

Neuronal differentiation of the NG108-15 neuroblastoma-glioma hybrid cells is accompanied by a marked attenuation in the heat shock induction of the Hsp70-firefly luciferase reporter gene activity. Analysis of the amount and activation of heat shock factor 1, induction of mRNA(hsp), and the synthesis and accumulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in the undifferentiated and differentiated cells suggest a transcriptional mechanism for this attenuation. Concomitant with a decreased induction of the 72-kDa Hsp70 protein in the differentiated cells, there is an increased abundance of the constitutive 73-kDa Hsc70, a protein known to function in vesicle trafficking.

Neural differentiation and the attenuated heat shock response.

Differentiation of neural progenitor cells of neuroblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and surrogate stem cell lineages from a state resembling stem cells to a state resembling neurons is accompanied by a marked attenuation in induction of the heat shock protein 70 promoter driven-luciferase reporter gene, and induction of the reporter gene in primary embryonic neurons from hippocampus, cortex, and spinal cord is lower still when compared to the differentiated cells. Neural specificity of this phenotype is demonstrated by a negative correlation of hsp70-reporter gene expression and neurite extension under various experimental conditions. Analysis of biochemical events involved in induction of the heat shock response (HSR) reveal a blunted activation of HSF1 DNA-binding activity, and decreased induction of the mRNA(hsp70) and the 72 kDa HSP70 protein.

Apoptosis-inducing activity of hydroxylated polymethoxyflavones and polymethoxyflavones from orange peel in human breast cancer cells.

Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) peel is a rich resource of flavonoids, especially polymethoxyflavones (PMFs). Citrus flavonoids exert a broad spectrum of biological activity, including antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in cancer cells.

Inhibition of Bacillus anthracis and potential surrogate bacilli growth from spore inocula by nisin and other antimicrobial peptides.

The ability of nisin, synthetic temporin analogs, magainins, defensins, and cecropins to inhibit Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus mycoides, and Bacillus subtilis growth from spore inocula was determined using well diffusion assays. Nisin, magainin II amide, and defensins were inhibitory in screening against B. anthracis Sterne or B.

Assessing information technologies for health.

Objectives: To provide an editorial introduction to the 2006 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics with an overview of its contents and contributors.

Methods: A brief overview of the main theme of 'Assessing Information Technology for Health Care', and an outline of the purposes, readership, contents, new format, and acknowledgment of contributions for the 2006 IMIA Yearbook.

Results: Assessing information technology (IT) in biomedicine and health care is emphasized in a number of survey and review articles.

New glycomimetics: anomeric sulfonates, sulfenamides, and sulfonamides.

The synthesis of a variety of new 1-thio-D-glucopyranose derivatives oxidized at the sulfur atom is described, including seven 1-C-sulfonic acids, three sulfonate esters, three sulfinate esters, an S,S'-diglycosyl thiolsulfonate and thiolsulfinate, four S-glycosyl sulfenamides, an S-glycosyl sulfinamide, and two S-glycosyl sulfonamides. These compounds possess unusual anomeric functionality that might be resistant or even inhibitory to normal enzymatic carbohydrate processing, and therefore, they may be of future use in studies of enzyme inhibition, structure, mechanism, and function.

Dynamic regulation and involvement of the heat shock transcriptional response in arsenic carcinogenesis.

The objective of this study is to better define induction of the heat shock response by arsenite, and to evaluation if induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs) contributes to the carcinogenic activity of arsenite. We show here that arsenite is a ubiquitous inducer of the heat shock response in mammalian cells: that it activated heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) DNA-binding activity, enhanced hsp 70 promoter, and induced hsp70mRNA and synthesis of HSP chaperones. Using a high throughput hsp70 promoter-luciferase reporter assay, we observed a hormetic dose response where low concentrations of arsenite stimulated and high concentrations inhibited.