Effect of Canagliflozin on Renal Threshold for Glucose, Glycemia, and Body Weight in Normal and Diabetic Animal Models

Background: Canagliflozin is a sodium glucose co-transporter (SGLT) 2 inhibitor in clinical development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: 14 C-alpha-methylglucoside uptake in Chinese hamster ovary-K cells expressing human, rat, or mouse SGLT2 or SGLT1; 3 H-2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake in L6 myoblasts; and 2-electrode voltage clamp recording of oocytes expressing human SGLT3 were analyzed. Graded glucose infusions were performed to determine rate of urinary glucose excretion (UGE) at different blood glucose (BG) concentrations and the renal threshold for glucose excretion (RTG) in vehicle or canagliflozin-treated Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. This study aimed to characterize the pharmacodynamic effects of canagliflozin in vitro and in preclinical models of T2DM and obesity. Results: Treatment with canagliflozin 1 mg/kg lowered RT G from 415612 mg/dl to 94610 mg/dl in ZDF rats while maintaining a threshold relationship between BG and UGE with virtually no UGE observed when BG was below RTG. Canagliflozin dose-dependently decreased BG concentrations in db/db mice treated acutely. In ZDF rats treated for 4 weeks, canagliflozin decreased glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and improved measures of insulin secretion. In obese animal models, canagliflozin increased UGE and decreased BG, body weight gain, epididymal fat, liver weight, and the respiratory exchange ratio

The disruption of proteostasis in neurodegenerative diseases

Cells count on surveillance systems to monitor and protect the cellular proteome which, besides being highly heterogeneous, is constantly being challenged by intrinsic and environmental factors. In this context, the proteostasis network (PN) is essential to achieve a stable and functional proteome. Disruption of the PN is associated with aging and can lead to and/or potentiate the occurrence of many neurodegenerative diseases (ND). This not only emphasizes the importance of the PN in health span and aging but also how its modulation can be a potential target for intervention and treatment of human diseases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Qualidade de vida e saúde bucal em crianças - parte II: versão brasileira do Child Perceptions Questionnaire Quality of life and oral health in children - Part II: Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire

O Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14) é um instrumento auto-aplicável para avaliação da qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde bucal em crianças. O objetivo do estudo foi de traduzir e adaptar o questionário para seu uso no Brasil. O questionário foi traduzido do original em inglês ao português, utilizando o processo de tradução reversa (inglês/português/inglês), seguido de avaliação pelo comitê revisor e pela adaptação cultural em um grupo de 20 crianças. As crianças de 11 a 14 anos não compreenderam algumas questões do questionário. Inicialmente, as questões 4 e 11 apresentaram nível de incompreensão superior a 15%. Foram feitas as adaptações necessárias e a terceira versão em português foi auto-aplicada em uma nova amostra de 20 crianças. Nesta etapa, somente a questão 40 foi incompreendida e modificada. Q quarta versão em português foi considerada adequada para mais de 95% das crianças avaliadas. A versão para o português do instrumento CPQ11-14 é um instrumento útil para avaliação da qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde bucal em crianças brasileiras.<br>The Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14) is a self-administered instrument for the assessment of oral health-related quality of life in children. The objective of this study was to translate and adapt the questionnaire for use in Brazil. The questionnaire was translated from the English original into Brazilian Portuguese using the back-translation method (English/Portuguese/English), followed by evaluation by the review committee and cultural adaptation in a sample of 20 children. Eleven- to fourteen-year-old children did not understand some questions of the questionnaire. Initially, questions 4 and 11 showed an index of "incomprehensibility" in excess of 15%. The necessary cultural adapations were made and the third Portuguese version of CPQ11-14 was self-applied on a new sample of 20 children. Only one question (40) was misunderstood and modified. The fourth Portuguese version was considered adequate by more than 95% of the children evaluated. The Portuguese version of CPQ11-14 is a useful instrument for assessing oral health-related quality of life in Brazilian children