Enhanced activity of the myocardial Na+/H+ exchanger contributes to left ventricular hypertrophy in the Goto-Kakizaki rat model of type 2 diabetes: critical role of Akt.

Aims/hypothesis: Diabetes mellitus is a strong risk factor for the development of heart failure, and left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy has been detected in a significant proportion of diabetic patients. Because several studies have suggested that the Na(+)/H(+) exchanger (NHE1) plays a part in the molecular mechanisms involved in cardiac hypertrophy, we investigated its activity and its role in LV myocytes from the Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat model of type 2 diabetes.

Materials And Methods: Fluorometric measurements were used to assess sarcolemmal NHE1 activity in isolated myocytes.

Prenatal molecular diagnosis of inherited cholestatic diseases.

Objectives: Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) and to a lesser extent, Alagille syndrome, often lead to end-stage liver disease during childhood. We report our experience of DNA-based prenatal diagnosis of PFIC1-3 and Alagille syndrome.

Patients And Methods: Four molecular antenatal diagnoses were performed in 3 PFIC families and 17 in 11 Alagille syndrome families.

Mechanisms of drug action and drug resistance in Leishmania as basis for therapeutic target identification and design of antileishmanial modulators.

The control of Leishmania infections relies primarily on chemotherapy. The arsenal of drugs available against Leishmania infections is limited and includes pentavalent antimonials, pentamidine, amphotericin B, miltefosine, paromomycin, allopurinol, and few other drugs at various stages of their development process. Knowledge about action and resistance mechanisms involved may allow the development of new drugs that minimise or circumvent drug resistance or may identify new targets for drug development.

Novel polysaccharide-decorated poly(isobutyl cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles.

Purpose: The aim of this work was to synthesize new surface-modified nanoparticles using a radical emulsion polymerization of an alkyl cyanoacrylate.

Methods: Isobutyl cyanoacrylate was polymerized in nitric acid 0.2 M containing a polysaccharide (0.

Divergent evolution of fucosyltransferase genes from vertebrates, invertebrates, and bacteria.

On the basis of function and sequence similarities, the vertebrate fucosyltransferases can be classified into three groups: alpha-2-, alpha-3-, and alpha-6-fucosyltransferases. Thirty new putative fucosyltransferase genes from invertebrates and bacteria and six conserved peptide motifs have been identified in DNA and protein databanks. Two of these motifs are specific of alpha-3-fucosyltransferases, one is specific of alpha-2-fucosyltransferases, another is specific of alpha-6-fucosyltransferases, and two are shared by both alpha-2- and alpha-6-fucosyltranserases.