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PloS One 2024Height loss is reported to be an independent risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Smoking, which is responsible for a considerable proportion of...
Height loss is reported to be an independent risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Smoking, which is responsible for a considerable proportion of deaths due to any cause, is also associated with lumbar disc degeneration, a major risk factor for height loss. Therefore, smoking could be an independent risk factor for height loss. To clarify the association between smoking status and height loss, a retrospective study with 8,984 (5,518 men and 3,466 women) Japanese workers was conducted. The present study population comprised 9,681 workers aged 40-74 years who participated in annual medical examinations between 2011 and 2017 (baseline). Subjects without a height measurement during 2012-2018 (endpoint) were excluded from the analysis (n = 697). Height loss was defined as being in the highest quartile of annul height decrease (1.48 mm/year for men and 1.79 mm/year for women). Independent of known cardiovascular risk factors, smoking was positively associated with height loss among men but not among women. With never smokers as the referent group, the adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.15 (0.98, 1.35) for former smokers and 1.24 (1.05, 1.46) for current smokers among men, respectively. Among women, the corresponding values were 0.98 (0.79, 1.21) and 0.90 (0.71, 1.16), respectively. Since height loss and smoking are independent risk factors for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, these results help clarify the mechanisms underlying the association between height loss and mortality risk.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Retrospective Studies; Japan; Smoking; Tobacco Smoking; Risk Factors; Cardiovascular Diseases
PubMed: 38359064
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298121 -
Plant, Cell & Environment Mar 2013Drought and tropospheric ozone are escalating climate change problems that can co-occur. In this study, we observed Medicago truncatula cultivar Jemalong that is...
Drought and tropospheric ozone are escalating climate change problems that can co-occur. In this study, we observed Medicago truncatula cultivar Jemalong that is sensitive to ozone and drought stress when applied singly, showed tolerance when subjected to a combined application of these stresses. Lowered stomatal conductance may be a vital tolerance mechanism to overcome combined ozone and drought. Sustained increases in both reduced ascorbate and glutathione in response to combined stress may play a role in lowering reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide toxicity. Transcriptome analysis indicated that genes associated with glucan metabolism, responses to temperature and light signalling may play a role in dampening ozone responses due to drought-induced stomatal closure during combined occurrence of these two stresses. Gene ontologies for jasmonic acid signalling and innate immunity were enriched among the 300 differentially expressed genes unique to combined stress. Differential expression of transcription factors associated with redox, defence signalling, jasmonate responses and chromatin modifications may be important for evoking novel gene networks during combined occurrence of drought and ozone. The alterations in redox milieu and distinct transcriptome changes in response to combined stress could aid in tweaking the metabolome and proteome to annul the detrimental effects of ozone and drought in Jemalong.
Topics: Chlorophyll; Dehydroascorbic Acid; Droughts; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Glutathione; Medicago truncatula; Nitric Oxide; Ozone; Phenotype; Photosynthesis; Plant Stomata; Plant Transpiration; Reactive Oxygen Species; Water
PubMed: 22946485
DOI: 10.1111/pce.12008 -
FEMS Microbiology Ecology Nov 2005The symbiosis of Azorhizobium caulinodans and an annul legume Sesbania rostrata was recently found to be tolerant to cadmium pollution by an unknown mechanism. In this... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
The symbiosis of Azorhizobium caulinodans and an annul legume Sesbania rostrata was recently found to be tolerant to cadmium pollution by an unknown mechanism. In this study, A. caulinodans ORS571 and ZY-20 showed much stronger tolerance to cadmium than a mutant ORS571-X15 and a common Rhizobium sp., with minimum inhibitory concentration values as high as 4 and 5 mM (versus 1 and 0.1 mM) on yeast extract mannitol agar medium, respectively. Although Cd uptake by all three strains of A. caulinodans were mostly from absorption rather than binding (both loosely or tightly) on cell surface, in resistant strains a higher portion of extractable Cd was bound on the cell surface vs. absorbed (about 1:2.5 ratio) compared to the sensitive mutant (about 1:35.1 ratio). These results suggest that certain level of metal exclusion by a permeability barrier was involved in the mechanism of resistance to Cd by A. caulinodans ORS571 and ZY-20. Over the 12-h period of cultivation in yeast extract mannitol agar medium with Cd addition, the Cd concentrations in the outer membrane and periplasm and spheroplast were the highest at the first 3 h, and declined steadily over time. The fact that Cd concentrations in spheroplast of all three strains were many folds higher than those in outer membrane and periplasm, suggests that extracellular sequestration was not the only mechanism of Cd tolerance in A. caulinodans. The decline of Cd concentrations was significantly faster and started earlier in strains ORS571 and ZY-20 than in ORS571-X15. This suggests a second, probably more substantial, mechanism involves active transport of the metal from the cell, e.g., some efflux system for maintaining homeostasis under cadmium stress.
Topics: Analysis of Variance; Azorhizobium caulinodans; Cadmium; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Species Specificity; Time Factors; Toxicity Tests
PubMed: 16332342
DOI: 10.1016/j.femsec.2005.05.006 -
Journal of Neurochemistry Mar 2013The protein anosmin-1, coded by the KAL1 gene responsible for the X-linked form of Kallmann syndrome (KS), exerts its biological effects mainly through the interaction...
The protein anosmin-1, coded by the KAL1 gene responsible for the X-linked form of Kallmann syndrome (KS), exerts its biological effects mainly through the interaction with and signal modulation of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1). We have previously shown the interaction of the third fibronectin-like type 3 (FnIII) domain and the N-terminal region of anosmin-1 with FGFR1. Here, we demonstrate that missense mutations reported in patients with KS, C172R and N267K did not alter or substantially reduce, respectively, the binding to FGFR1. These substitutions annulled the chemoattraction of the full-length protein over subventricular zone (SVZ) neuronal precursors (NPs), but they did not annul it in the N-terminal-truncated protein (A1Nt). We also show that although not essential for binding to FGFR1, the cysteine-rich (CR) region is necessary for anosmin-1 function and that FnIII.3 cannot substitute for FnIII.1 function. Truncated proteins recapitulating nonsense mutations found in KS patients did not show the chemotropic effect on SVZ NPs, suggesting that the presence behind FnIII.1 of any part of anosmin-1 produces an unstable protein incapable of action. We also identify the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway as necessary for the chemotropic effect exerted by FGF2 and anosmin-1 on rat SVZ NPs.
Topics: Amino Acid Motifs; Animals; Extracellular Matrix Proteins; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; Humans; Kallmann Syndrome; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Milk Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Neural Stem Cells; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 1
PubMed: 23189990
DOI: 10.1111/jnc.12104 -
PloS One 2013Multisensory integration is a common feature of the mammalian brain that allows it to deal more efficiently with the ambiguity of sensory input by combining...
Multisensory integration is a common feature of the mammalian brain that allows it to deal more efficiently with the ambiguity of sensory input by combining complementary signals from several sensory sources. Growing evidence suggests that multisensory interactions can occur as early as primary sensory cortices. Here we present incompatible visual signals (orthogonal gratings) to each eye to create visual competition between monocular inputs in primary visual cortex where binocular combination would normally take place. The incompatibility prevents binocular fusion and triggers an ambiguous perceptual response in which the two images are perceived one at a time in an irregular alternation. One key function of multisensory integration is to minimize perceptual ambiguity by exploiting cross-sensory congruence. We show that a haptic signal matching one of the visual alternatives helps disambiguate visual perception during binocular rivalry by both prolonging the dominance period of the congruent visual stimulus and by shortening its suppression period. Importantly, this interaction is strictly tuned for orientation, with a mismatch as small as 7.5° between visual and haptic orientations sufficient to annul the interaction. These results indicate important conclusions: first, that vision and touch interact at early levels of visual processing where interocular conflicts are first detected and orientation tunings are narrow, and second, that haptic input can influence visual signals outside of visual awareness, bringing a stimulus made invisible by binocular rivalry suppression back to awareness sooner than would occur without congruent haptic input.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Female; Humans; Male; Orientation; Probability; Touch; Vision Disparity; Vision, Binocular; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 23472219
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058754 -
Optics Express Mar 2020In this study, the characterization of Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) seasonal variations and inter-annual linear trend are presented for the first time over the polluted...
In this study, the characterization of Hydrogen Chloride (HCl) seasonal variations and inter-annual linear trend are presented for the first time over the polluted region at Hefei (117°10'E, 31°54'N), China. The time series of HCl were retrieved by the mid-infrared (MIR) solar spectra recorded by the ground-based high-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) between July, 2015 and April, 2019. The magnitude of HCl reaches a peak in January (2.70 ± 0.16) × 10 molecules*cm and a minimum in September (2.27 ± 0.09) × 10 molecules*cm. The four-year time series of HCl total column show a negative linear trend of (-1.83 ± 0.13) %. The FTIR data are compared with GEOS-Chem data in order to evaluate the performance of the GEOS-Chem model to simulate HCl. In general, total column FTIR data and GEOS-Chem model data are in a good agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.82. GEOS-Chem model data present a good agreement with FTIR data in seasonal variation and inter-annul trend. The maximum differences occur in January and April with mean differences of 4%-6%. We also present HCl time series observed by 6 NDACC stations (Bremen, Toronto, Rikubetsu, Izana, Reunion.maido, Lauder) in low-middle-latitude sites of the northern and southern hemispheres and Hefei stations in order to investigate the seasonal and annual trends of HCl in low-middle-latitude sites. The HCl total column at the northern hemisphere stations reached the maximum in the late winter or early spring and the minimum in the early winter or late autumn. In general, the seasonal variations of HCl over Hefei is similar to that in other northern hemisphere mid-latitude FTIR stations.
PubMed: 32225437
DOI: 10.1364/OE.384377 -
PloS One 2015Two prototypes of the large CarD_CdnL_TRCF family of bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding proteins, Myxococcus xanthus CarD and CdnL, have distinct functions whose...
Two prototypes of the large CarD_CdnL_TRCF family of bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding proteins, Myxococcus xanthus CarD and CdnL, have distinct functions whose molecular basis remain elusive. CarD, a global regulator linked to the action of several extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ-factors, binds to the RNAP β subunit (RNAP-β) and to protein CarG via an N-terminal domain, CarDNt, and to DNA via an intrinsically unfolded C-terminal domain resembling eukaryotic high-mobility-group A (HMGA) proteins. CdnL, a CarDNt-like protein that is essential for cell viability, is implicated in σA-dependent rRNA promoter activation and interacts with RNAP-β but not with CarG. While the HMGA-like domain of CarD by itself is inactive, we find that CarDNt has low but observable ability to activate ECF σ-dependent promoters in vivo, indicating that the C-terminal DNA-binding domain is required to maximize activity. Our structure-function dissection of CarDNt reveals an N-terminal, five-stranded β -sheet Tudor-like domain, CarD1-72, whose structure and contacts with RNAP-β mimic those of CdnL. Intriguingly, and in marked contrast to CdnL, CarD mutations that disrupt its interaction with RNAP-β did not annul activity. Our data suggest that the CarDNt C-terminal segment, CarD61-179, may be structurally distinct from its CdnL counterpart, and that it houses at least two distinct and crucial function determinants: (a) CarG-binding, which is specific to CarD; and (b) a basic residue stretch, which is also conserved and functionally required in CdnL. This study highlights the evolution of shared and divergent interactions in similar protein modules that enable the distinct activities of two related members of a functionally important and widespread bacterial protein family.
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Bacterial Proteins; Carrier Proteins; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; Genetic Complementation Test; Models, Molecular; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Myxococcus xanthus; Protein Binding; Protein Conformation; Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs; Sequence Alignment; Structure-Activity Relationship
PubMed: 25811865
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121322 -
The Linacre Quarterly Nov 2019Questions of life and death are primarily philosophical questions, as philosopher Robert Spaemann argues. Spaemann argues that "brain death" is philosophically...
UNLABELLED
Questions of life and death are primarily philosophical questions, as philosopher Robert Spaemann argues. Spaemann argues that "brain death" is philosophically unsatisfactory as a definition of death, and as the exclusive criterion for determining death, for two main reasons: first, because it attempts to annul the basic perceptions of the ordinary person in regard to death. Second, because the cause of life and unity in a living being cannot be reduced to the brain. This essay is an explication of Spaemann's contribution to the "brain death" question, which consists in illuminating the philosophical issues at stake.
SUMMARY
This article presents Robert Spaemann's philosophical case that "brain death" suffices neither as a definition of death nor as the sole criterion of death.
PubMed: 32431430
DOI: 10.1177/0024363919876391 -
Journal of Innate Immunity 2018The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is a host defence mechanism, known to facilitate the entrapment and growth inhibition of many bacterial pathogens....
The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is a host defence mechanism, known to facilitate the entrapment and growth inhibition of many bacterial pathogens. It has been implicated that the translocation of myeloperoxidase (MPO) from neutrophilic granules to the nucleus is crucial to this process. Under disease conditions, however, excessive NET formation can trigger self-destructive complications by releasing pathologic levels of danger-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs). To counteract such devastating immune reactions, the host has to rely on precautions that help circumvent these deleterious effects. Though the induction of DAMP responses has been intensively studied, the mechanisms that are used by the host to down-regulate them are still not understood. In this study, we show that p33 is an endothelial-derived protein that has the ability to annul NET formation. We found that the expression of human p33 is up-regulated in endothelial cells upon infections with Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria. Using tissue biopsies from a patient with streptococcal necrotising fasciitis, we monitored co-localisation of p33 with MPO. Further in vitro studies revealed that p33 is able to block the formation of DAMP-induced NET formation by inhibiting the enzymatic activity of MPO. Additionally, mice challenged with S. pyogenes bacteria demonstrated diminished MPO activity when treated with p33. Together, our results demonstrate that host-derived p33 has an important immunomodulating function that helps to counterbalance an overwhelming DAMP response.
Topics: Alarmins; Animals; Autoimmunity; Carrier Proteins; Cells, Cultured; Endothelial Cells; Extracellular Traps; Fasciitis, Necrotizing; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humans; Immunomodulation; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mitochondrial Proteins; Peroxidase; Protein Transport; Streptococcus pyogenes; Up-Regulation
PubMed: 29035880
DOI: 10.1159/000480386 -
Polymers Nov 2020The Arburg Plastic Freeforming process (APF) is a unique additive manufacturing material jetting method. In APF, a thermoplastic material is supplied as pellets, melted...
The Arburg Plastic Freeforming process (APF) is a unique additive manufacturing material jetting method. In APF, a thermoplastic material is supplied as pellets, melted and selectively deposited as droplets, enabling the use of commercial materials in their original shape instead of filaments. The medical industry could significantly benefit from the use of additive manufacturing for the onsite fabrication of customized medical aids and therapeutic devices in a fast and economical way. In the medical field, the utilized materials need to be certified for such applications and cannot be altered in any way to make them printable, because modifications annul the certification. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the processing conditions rather than the materials for successful printing. In this research, a medical-grade poly(methyl methacrylate) was analyzed. The deposition parameters were kept constant, while the drop aspect ratio, discharge rate, melt temperatures, and build chamber temperature were varied to obtain specimens with different geometrical accuracy. Once satisfactory geometrical accuracy was obtained, tensile properties of specimens printed individually or in batches of five were tested in two different orientations. It was found that parts printed individually with an XY orientation showed the highest tensile properties; however, there is still room for improvement by optimizing the processing conditions to maximize the mechanical strength of printed specimens.
PubMed: 33198390
DOI: 10.3390/polym12112677