Myostatin dysfunction is associated with reduction in overload induced hypertrophy of soleus muscle in mice

Acknowledgements This project was also supported by Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant 249156 (A. Lionikas) and the grants VP1-3.1-SMM-01-V-02-003 (A. Kilikevicius) and MIP-067/2012 (T. Venckunas) from the Research Council of Lithuania as well as the grant from the Ministry of Higher Education of Saudi Arabia (Y. Alhind). We wish also to thank Mrs Indre Libnickiene for her excellent technical assistance provided during the project.Peer reviewedPostprin

Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research. Quarterly Report, June 1 - August 31, 1993

All tasks are on schedule, or ahead of schedule. Particular progress has been made in identifying industrial entities, commodities and specialty products of target interest for shale oil-derived products. There is clearly a major emphasis worldwide on new chemicals and shale oil-derived structures are similar to many of these chemicals of interest. Details of the mathematical modeling, programming and algorithm development have progressed with excellent results. Considerable effort will be required to interface these with the output of the gc/ms but we are receiving excellent support from Hewlett Packard in this regard. The ability to concentrate particularly valuable compounds with reasonable projected cost processes continues to show promise. In one system, a single-stage extraction recovered 87% of the total nitrogen in an extract representing only 33% of the fraction. Special attention is being paid to both nitrogen types and oxygen types. The raffinates from the polar solvent extractions will be evaluated for their oil and wax contents. All of the start-up infrastructure is now in place. Subcontracts have been initiated and equipment and supplies have been procured. We are now planning a major push to reach some general findings by early in 1994. From these findings, we will be prepared to focus on experimental verification of process design needed for the second program phase

Process/economic strategy for upgrading shale oil

A prime difficulty with the production of transportation fuels from Western US shale oil is the high heteroatom content, especially nitrogen. Nitrogen containing molecules are known to have high market value for non-fuel uses. Selective extraction of nitrogen-containing molecules from shale oil recovers these potentially valuable components while upgrading the remaining shale oil for refining to transportation fuels. A thermodynamically logical separation process sequence consisting of primarily distillation and liquid-liquid extraction has been shown effective in selective isolation of polar heteroatom-containing molecules. The polar fraction may be processed for the production of chemical intermediates and specialty chemicals of high value. Projected material balances show an overall product split of 80% refinery feed and 20% polar products. Based on product values and composition, a preliminary economic analysis yields 30% internal rate of return. A summary of the economic strategy, process results and promising products will be presented

Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research. Quarterly Report, December 1, 1994 - February 28, 1995

Objectives for the Quarter were: Perform six-stage extraction of total shale oil using the dual solvent system; complete modifications to the extraction unit to extract +400 `C fraction; conduct hydrodealkylation experiments on the shale oil fractions; complete cost and economic analysis for both schemes; and continue marketing efforts aimed at identifying additional majors as candidate partners for commercialization. Accomplishments for each task is described

Obesity resistant mechanisms in the Lean polygenic mouse model as indicated by liver transcriptome and expression of selected genes in skeletal muscle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Divergently selected Lean and Fat mouse lines represent unique models for a polygenic form of resistance and susceptibility to obesity development. Previous research on these lines focused mainly on obesity-susceptible factors in the Fat line. This study aimed to examine the molecular basis of obesity-resistant mechanisms in the Lean line by analyzing various fat depots and organs, the liver transcriptome of selected metabolic pathways, plasma and lipid homeostasis and expression of selected skeletal muscle genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Expression profiling using our custom Steroltalk v2 microarray demonstrated that Lean mice exhibit a higher hepatic expression of cholesterol biosynthesis genes compared to the Fat line, although this was not reflected in elevation of total plasma or liver cholesterol. However, FPLC analysis showed that protective HDL cholesterol was elevated in Lean mice. A significant difference between the strains was also found in bile acid metabolism. Lean mice had a higher expression of <it>Cyp8b1</it>, a regulatory enzyme of bile acid synthesis, and the <it>Abcb11 </it>bile acid transporter gene responsible for export of acids to the bile. Additionally, a higher content of blood circulating bile acids was observed in Lean mice. Elevated HDL and upregulation of some bile acids synthesis and transport genes suggests enhanced reverse cholesterol transport in the Lean line - the flux of cholesterol out of the body is higher which is compensated by upregulation of endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis. Increased skeletal muscle <it>Il6 </it>and <it>Dio2 </it>mRNA levels as well as increased activity of muscle succinic acid dehydrogenase (SDH) in the Lean mice demonstrates for the first time that changes in muscle energy metabolism play important role in the Lean line phenotype determination and corroborate our previous findings of increased physical activity and thermogenesis in this line. Finally, differential expression of <it>Abcb11 </it>and <it>Dio2 </it>identifies novel strong positional candidate genes as they map within the quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions detected previously in crosses between the Lean and Fat mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified novel candidate molecular targets and metabolic changes which can at least in part explain resistance to obesity development in the Lean line. The major difference between the Lean and Fat mice was in increased liver cholesterol biosynthesis gene mRNA expression, bile acid metabolism and changes in selected muscle genes' expression in the Lean line. The liver <it>Abcb11 </it>and muscle <it>Dio2 </it>were identified as novel positional candidate genes to explain part of the phenotypic difference between the Lean and Fat lines.</p

Measurement of Branching Fractions and Rate Asymmetries in the Rare Decays B -> K(*) l+ l-

In a sample of 471 million BB events collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider we study the rare decays B -> K(*) l+ l-, where l+ l- is either e+e- or mu+mu-. We report results on partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries in seven bins of di-lepton mass-squared. We further present CP and lepton-flavor asymmetries for di-lepton masses below and above the J/psi resonance. We find no evidence for CP or lepton-flavor violation. The partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and with results from other experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Observation of time-reversal violation in the B0 meson system

The individually named authors work collectively as The BABAR Collaboration. Copyright @ 2012 American Physical Society.Although CP violation in the B meson system has been well established by the B factories, there has been no direct observation of time-reversal violation. The decays of entangled neutral B mesons into definite flavor states (B0 or B¯¯¯0), and J/ψK0L or cc¯K0S final states (referred to as B+ or B−), allow comparisons between the probabilities of four pairs of T-conjugated transitions, for example, B¯¯¯0→B− and B−→B¯¯¯0, as a function of the time difference between the two B decays. Using 468×106 BB¯¯¯ pairs produced in Υ(4S) decays collected by the BABAR detector at SLAC, we measure T-violating parameters in the time evolution of neutral B mesons, yielding ΔS+T=−1.37±0.14(stat)±0.06(syst) and ΔS−T=1.17±0.18(stat)±0.11(syst). These nonzero results represent the first direct observation of T violation through the exchange of initial and final states in transitions that can only be connected by a T-symmetry transformation.DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF and DFG(Germany), INFN (Italy), FOM (The Netherlands), NFR (Norway), MES (Russia), MINECO (Spain), STFC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie Curie EIF (European Union), the A. P. Sloan Foundation (USA) and the Binational Science Foundation (USA-Israel)

Editorial: Advancing our commitment to antiracist scholarship

Social work prides itself as a profession committed to improving the lives of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Achieving this mission requires candid conversations about racism as a social justice and public health issue and the role of social work in dismantling white supremacy and promoting racial justice. At its core, research on social work practice and policy should focus on examining how racism and inequality undermine the health, well-being, and social mobility of diverse and marginalized populations. We write this statement as a call to social work researchers to prioritize pursuits that will surface and motivate action to address the causes and consequences of racism. We also call on researchers to renew their commitment to scholarship that alleviates the suffering in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color