Prolonged starvation causes up-regulation of AQP1 in adipose tissue capillaries of AQP7 knock-out mice

Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane proteins involved in the regulation of cellular transport and the balance of water and glycerol and cell volume in the white adipose tissue (WAT). In our previous study, we found the co-expression of the AQP1 water channel and AQP7 in the mouse WAT. In our present study, we aimed to find out whether prolonged starvation influences the AQP1 expression of AQP7 knock-out mice (AQP7 KO) in the WAT. To resolve this hypothesis, immunoperoxidase, immunoblot and immunogold microscopy were used. AQP1 expression was found with the use of immunohistochemistry and was confirmed by immunogold microscopy in the vessels of mouse WAT of all studied groups. Semi-quantitative immunoblot and quantitative immunogold microscopy showed a significant increase (by 2.5- to 3-fold) in the abundance of AQP1 protein expression in WAT in the 72 h starved AQP7 KO mice as compared to AQP7+/+ (p < 0.05) and AQP7−/− (p < 0.01) controls, respectively. In conclusion, the AQP1 water channel located in the vessels of WAT is up-regulated in response to prolonged starvation in the WAT of AQP7 KO mice. The present data suggest that an interaction of different AQP isoforms is required for maintaining proper water homeostasis within the mice WAT

Exogenous steroid hormones stimulate full development of autonomous endosperm in Arabidopsis thaliana

Most flowering plants, including important crops, require double fertilization to form an embryo and endosperm, which nourishes it. Independence from fertilization is a feature of apomictic plants that produce seeds, from which the plants that are clones of the mother plant arise. The phenomenon of apomixis occurs in some sexual plants under specific circumstances. Since the launch of a fertilization-independent mechanism is considered a useful tool for plant breeding, there have been efforts to artificially induce apomixis. We have been able to produce fertilization-independent endosperm in vitro in Arabidopsis over the last few years. This paper demonstrates the methods of improving the quality of the endosperm obtained using plant and mammalian steroid hormones. Additionally, it shows the study on the autonomous endosperm (AE) formation mechanism in vitro.This paper examines the effect of exogenous steroid hormones on unfertilized egg and central cell divisions in culture of unpollinated pistils of Arabidopsis Col-0 wild-type and fie-1 mutant. All media with hormones used (estrone, androsterone, progesterone, and epibrassinolide) stimulated central cell divisions and fertilization-independent endosperm development. The stages of AE development followed the pattern of Arabidopsis thaliana wild type after fertilization. Subsequent stages of AE were observed from 2-nuclear up to cellular with the most advanced occurring on medium with 24-epibrassinolide and progesterone. The significant influence of mammalian sex hormones on speed of AE development and differentiation was noticed. Using restriction analysis, the changes in methylation of FIE gene was established under in vitro condition. The authors of this paper showed that Arabidopsis thaliana has a high potency to fertilization-independent development

Speech therapy in the management of difficult-to-treat chronic cough — preliminary results

Introduction: The efficacy of management of chronic cough in adults is limited. Speech therapy is one of the few therapeuticmethods which seems to be useful in patients with persistent chronic cough. However, the method has not been available inPoland so far. The aim of the study was to implement speech therapy and assess its efficacy in the management of patients withdifficult-to-treat chronic cough. Material and methods: Patients, who were diagnosed and managed due to difficult-to-treat chronic cough, were enrolled intothe study. Speech therapy was developed on the basis of the technique described by Vertigan. The entire therapy consisted ofeight weekly sessions, each lasting 45 minutes. Before and after speech therapy, cough severity and its impact on the quality oflife was assessed by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ). Additionally, cough challengetest with capsaicin was performed. Results: Eighteen women were enrolled into the study, 15 of them (83%) attended all treatment sessions (median age 66 years,median duration of cough 60 months). There was a significant decrease in cough severity measured by VAS (46 vs 28 mm, p =0.016) after completion of speech therapy. A significant improvement in patients’ quality of life measured by LCQ (10.7 vs 14.6points, p = 0.004) and an increase in the threshold of cough reflex measured by capsaicin challenge were also demonstrated. Conclusions: Speech therapy resulted in a decrease in cough severity and improvement of quality of life of females with refractorychronic cough. Our results support the use of speech therapy as add-on treatment in females with difficult-to-treat cough

Classification of amyloidosis by model‐assisted mass spectrometry‐based proteomics

Funding Information: Funding: This research was partly funded by a “Center of Clinical Excellence” research grant from the Health Region of Southern Denmark to Odense Amyloidosis Center (AmyC). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Li-censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by the misfolding and extracellular aggregation of proteins as insoluble fibrillary deposits localized either in specific organs or systemically through-out the body. The organ targeted and the disease progression and outcome is highly dependent on the specific fibril‐forming protein, and its accurate identification is essential to the choice of treat-ment. Mass spectrometry‐based proteomics has become the method of choice for the identification of the amyloidogenic protein. Regrettably, this identification relies on manual and subjective inter-pretation of mass spectrometry data by an expert, which is undesirable and may bias diagnosis. To circumvent this, we developed a statistical model‐assisted method for the unbiased identification of amyloid‐containing biopsies and amyloidosis subtyping. Based on data from mass spectrometric analysis of amyloid‐containing biopsies and corresponding controls. A Boruta method applied on a random forest classifier was applied to proteomics data obtained from the mass spectrometric analysis of 75 laser dissected Congo Red positive amyloid‐containing biopsies and 78 Congo Red negative biopsies to identify novel “amyloid signature” proteins that included clusterin, fibulin‐1, vitronectin complement component C9 and also three collagen proteins, as well as the well‐known amyloid signature proteins apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein A4, and serum amyloid P. A SVM learning algorithm were trained on the mass spectrometry data from the analysis of the 75 amyloid-containing biopsies and 78 amyloid‐negative control biopsies. The trained algorithm performed su-perior in the discrimination of amyloid‐containing biopsies from controls, with an accuracy of 1.0 when applied to a blinded mass spectrometry validation data set of 103 prospectively collected am-yloid‐containing biopsies. Moreover, our method successfully classified amyloidosis patients ac-cording to the subtype in 102 out of 103 blinded cases. Collectively, our model‐assisted approach identified novel amyloid‐associated proteins and demonstrated the use of mass spectrometry‐based data in clinical diagnostics of disease by the unbiased and reliable model‐assisted classification of amyloid deposits and of the specific amyloid subtype.publishersversionpublishe

Self-Assessed Personality Traits and Adherence to the COVID-19 Lockdown

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, has forced all countries affected by it to introduce quarantine and isolation to prevent the spread of the virus, as well as masking and distancing. Not everyone is equally willing to follow the rules related to limit the extent of the coronavirus epidemic. This might be connected with personality traits, especially openness, positive attitude, and optimism. Materials and Methods: An online survey was created and completed by participants in April–May 2020. Self-assessment of personality traits and adherence to lockdown recommendations were assessed. A total of 7404 participants took part in the study, mainly from Poland (83.6%) and Italy (12.7%). Univariate and multivariate regression analysis was performed. Results: The participants were divided into groups depending on the degree of compliance with the lockdown rules. In the multivariate analysis, variables that increased the odds for stricter lockdown compliance were temporary work suspension OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.10–1.48), income level “we can’t handle this situation” OR 1.67 (95%CI 1.20–2.33), and junior high school education OR 1.68 (95% CI 1.13–2.50). Other significant factors included age and place of residence. Each point of self-assessed sociability OR 1.07 (95% CI 1.00–1.13) also increased the likelihood of adhering to lockdown rules. Conclusions: Taking the basic demographic characteristics as well as working and health environment conditions traits into account may be helpful when forecasting epidemiological compliance during a pandemic, as well as in other public health tasks. The key role of self-assessed personality traits was not confirmed in this study. Reliability of the results is limited by significant disproportions in the size of the study groups

Fat-to-glucose interconversion by hydrodynamic transfer of two glyoxylate cycle enzyme genes

The glyoxylate cycle, which is well characterized in higher plants and some microorganisms but not in vertebrates, is able to bypass the citric acid cycle to achieve fat-to-carbohydrate interconversion. In this context, the hydrodynamic transfer of two glyoxylate cycle enzymes, such as isocytrate lyase (ICL) and malate synthase (MS), could accomplish the shift of using fat for the synthesis of glucose. Therefore, 20 mice weighing 23.37 ± 0.96 g were hydrodinamically gene transferred by administering into the tail vein a bolus with ICL and MS. After 36 hours, body weight, plasma glucose, respiratory quotient and energy expenditure were measured. The respiratory quotient was increased by gene transfer, which suggests that a higher carbohydrate/lipid ratio is oxidized in such animals. This application could help, if adequate protocols are designed, to induce fat utilization for glucose synthesis, which might be eventually useful to reduce body fat depots in situations of obesity and diabetes

Terapia mowy w leczeniu przewlekłego, uporczywego kaszlu — wstępne wyniki

WSTĘP: Skuteczność leczenia przewlekłego kaszlu u dorosłych jest ograniczona. Terapia mowy to jedna z niewielu metod leczenia, które wydają się skuteczne u pacjentów z uporczywym, przewlekłym kaszlem. Metoda ta jednak nie była dotychczas dostępna w Polsce. Celem badania było wdrożenie terapii mowy i ocena jej skuteczności w leczeniu pacjentów z przewlekłym, uporczywym kaszlem. MATERIAŁ I METODY: Pacjenci diagnozowani i leczeni z powodu przewlekłego, niepoddającego się leczeniu kaszlu zostali włączeni do badania. Terapię mowy opracowano na podstawie techniki opisanej przez Vertigan i wsp. Składała się z ośmiu 45-minutowych spotkań, odbywających się raz w tygodniu. Przed i po zastosowaniu terapii mowy oceniano nasilenie kaszlu i jego wpływ na jakość życia przy zastosowaniu analogowej skali wizualnej (VAS, visual analogue scale) i kwestionariusza jakości życia przeznaczonego dla chorych z kaszlem (LCQ, Leicester Cough Questionnaire). Dodatkowo wykonywany był test prowokacyjny z kasacyjną oceniający wrażliwość odruchu kaszlu. WYNIKI: Do badania włączono 18 kobiet, ale tylko 15 (83%) z nich wzięło udział we wszystkich sesjach (mediana wieku 66 lat, mediana czasu trwania kaszlu 60 miesięcy). Po zakończeniu terapii mowy stwierdzono istotne zmniejszenie nasilenia kaszlu ocenianego w skali VAS (46 v. 28 mm, p = 0,016), istotną poprawę jakości życia ocenianej w LCQ (10,7 v. 14,6 punktu, p = 0,004) oraz zwiększenie dawki kapsaicyny wywołującej kaszel w teście prowokacji. WNIOSKI: Zastosowanie terapii mowy spowodowało zmniejszenie nasilenia kaszlu i poprawę jakości życia kobiet z przewlekłym, uporczywym kaszlem. Wyniki niniejszego badania wskazują na skuteczność dołączenia terapii mowy do leczenia kobiet z uporczywym, przewlekłym kaszlem.WSTĘP: Skuteczność leczenia przewlekłego kaszlu u dorosłych jest ograniczona. Terapia mowy to jedna z niewielu metod leczenia, które wydają się skuteczne u pacjentów z uporczywym, przewlekłym kaszlem. Metoda ta jednak nie była dotychczas dostępna w Polsce. Celem badania było wdrożenie terapii mowy i ocena jej skuteczności w leczeniu pacjentów z przewlekłym, uporczywym kaszlem. MATERIAŁ I METODY: Pacjenci diagnozowani i leczeni z powodu przewlekłego, niepoddającego się leczeniu kaszlu zostali włączeni do badania. Terapię mowy opracowano na podstawie techniki opisanej przez Vertigan i wsp. Składała się z ośmiu 45-minutowych spotkań, odbywających się raz w tygodniu. Przed i po zastosowaniu terapii mowy oceniano nasilenie kaszlu i jego wpływ na jakość życia przy zastosowaniu analogowej skali wizualnej (VAS, visual analogue scale) i kwestionariusza jakości życia przeznaczonego dla chorych z kaszlem (LCQ, Leicester Cough Questionnaire). Dodatkowo wykonywany był test prowokacyjny z kasacyjną oceniający wrażliwość odruchu kaszlu. WYNIKI: Do badania włączono 18 kobiet, ale tylko 15 (83%) z nich wzięło udział we wszystkich sesjach (mediana wieku 66 lat, mediana czasu trwania kaszlu 60 miesięcy). Po zakończeniu terapii mowy stwierdzono istotne zmniejszenie nasilenia kaszlu ocenianego w skali VAS (46 v. 28 mm, p = 0,016), istotną poprawę jakości życia ocenianej w LCQ (10,7 v. 14,6 punktu, p = 0,004) oraz zwiększenie dawki kapsaicyny wywołującej kaszel w teście prowokacji. WNIOSKI: Zastosowanie terapii mowy spowodowało zmniejszenie nasilenia kaszlu i poprawę jakości życia kobiet z przewlekłym, uporczywym kaszlem. Wyniki niniejszego badania wskazują na skuteczność dołączenia terapii mowy do leczenia kobiet z uporczywym, przewlekłym kaszlem

Reduced arsenic clearance and increased toxicity in aquaglyceroporin-9-null mice

Expressed in liver, aquaglyceroporin-9 (AQP9) is permeated by glycerol, arsenite, and other small, neutral solutes. To evaluate a possible protective role, AQP9-null mice were evaluated for in vivo arsenic toxicity. After injection with NaAsO(2), AQP9-null mice suffer reduced survival rates (LD(50), 12 mg/kg) compared with WT mice (LD(50), 15 mg/kg). The highest tissue level of arsenic is in heart, with AQP9-null mice accumulating 10-20 times more arsenic than WT mice. Within hours after NaAsO(2) injection, AQP9-null mice sustain profound bradycardia, despite normal serum electrolytes. Increased arsenic levels are also present in liver, lung, spleen, and testis of AQP9-null mice. Arsenic levels in the feces and urine of AQP9-null mice are only approximately 10% of the WT levels, and reduced clearance of multiple arsenic species by the AQP9-null mice suggests that AQP9 is involved in the export of multiple forms of arsenic. Immunohistochemical staining of liver sections revealed that AQP9 is most abundant in basolateral membrane of hepatocytes adjacent to the sinusoids. AQP9 is not detected in heart or kidney by PCR or immunohistochemistry. We propose that AQP9 provides a route for excretion of arsenic by the liver, thereby providing partial protection of the whole animal from arsenic toxicity

Cardiopoietic cell therapy for advanced ischemic heart failure: results at 39 weeks of the prospective, randomized, double blind, sham-controlled CHART-1 clinical trial

Cardiopoietic cells, produced through cardiogenic conditioning of patients' mesenchymal stem cells, have shown preliminary efficacy. The Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) trial aimed to validate cardiopoiesis-based biotherapy in a larger heart failure cohort