Plos One
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Aminoglycoside antibiotics, especially gentamicin, are widely used to treat Gram-negative infections due to their efficacy and low cost. Nevertheless the use of gentamicin is limited by its major side effect, nephrotoxicity. Xenon (Xe) provided substantial organoprotective effects in acute injury of the brain and the heart and protected against renal ischemic-reperfusion injury. ⋯ With regard to the three HIF prolyl hydroxylases, Xe pretreatment upregulated prolyl hydroxylase domain-containing protein-2 (PHD2), suppressed PHD1, and had no influence on PHD3 in the rat kidneys. Pretreatment with Xe also increased the expression of miR-21, a microRNA known to have anti-apoptotic effects. These results support Xe renoprotection against gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity.
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Objective of this study was to examine the impact of executive function (EF) on mathematical and attention problems in very preterm (gestational age ≤ 30 weeks) children. Participants were 200 very preterm (mean age 8.2 ± 2.5 years) and 230 term children (mean age 8.3 ± 2.3 years) without severe disabilities, born between 1996 and 2004. EFs assessed included verbal fluency, verbal working memory, visuospatial span, planning, and impulse control. ⋯ A significant interaction of group with IQ (ß = -. 24, P = .02) showed that IQ contributed unique variance to attention problems as rated by teachers, but that effects were stronger for very preterm than for term infants. Over and above IQ, EF contributed unique variance to mathematics in primary school (ß = .13, P<.001), to parent rated inattention in preschool and in primary school (ß(s)>-.16, P(s)<.04), and to teacher rated inattention in primary school (ß = -.19; ß = .19, P(s)<.009). In conclusion, impaired EF is, over and above impaired IQ, an important predictor for poor mathematics and attention problems following very preterm birth.
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized with pulmonary vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling mediated by 15-lipoxygenase (15-LO)/15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE) according to our previous studies. Meanwhile, telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) activity is highly correlated with vascular injury and remodeling, suggesting that TERT may be an essential determinant in the development of PH. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution and molecular mechanisms of TERT in the pathogenesis of PH. ⋯ These results demonstrate that TERT regulates pulmonary vascular remodeling. TERT and 15-LO-2 form a positive feedback loop and together promote proliferation and migration of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, creating a self-amplifying circuit which propels pulmonary hypertension.
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Recent evidence suggests that the gut microbiota is an important contributing factor to obesity and obesity related metabolic disorders, known as the metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study was to characterise the intestinal microbiota in two pig models of obesity namely Göttingen minipigs and the Ossabaw minipigs. ⋯ Obesity-related changes in the composition of the gut microbiota were found in lean versus obese Göttingen and Ossabaw minipigs. In both pig models diet seems to be the defining factor that shapes the gut microbiota as observed by changes in different bacteria divisions between lean and obese minipigs.
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Axon remyelination in the central nervous system requires oligodendrocytes that produce myelin. Failure of this repair process is characteristic of neurodegeneration in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and it remains unclear how the lesion microenvironment contributes to decreased remyelination potential of oligodendrocytes. ⋯ These in vitro findings support a possible in vivo scenario whereby pH gradients attract OPCs toward acidic lesions, but resulting reduction in OPC survival and motility in acid decreases progress toward demyelinated axons and is further compounded by decreased differentiation into myelin-producing oligodendrocytes. As these processes are integral to OPC response to nerve demyelination, our results suggest that lesion acidity could contribute to decreased remyelination.