Celiac vagus nerve stimulation recapitulates angiotensin II-induced splenic noradrenergic activation, driving egress of CD8 effector cells

Angiotensin II (AngII) is a peptide hormone that affects the cardiovascular system, not only through typical effects on the vasculature, kidneys, and heart, but also through less understood roles mediated by the brain and the immune system. Here, we address the hard-wired neural connections within the autonomic nervous system that modulate splenic immunity. Chronic AngII infusion triggers burst firing of the vagus nerve celiac efferent, an effect correlated with noradrenergic activation in the spleen and T cell egress. Bioelectronic stimulation of the celiac vagus nerve, in the absence of other challenges and independently from afferent signals to the brain, evokes the noradrenergic splenic pathway to promote release of a growth factor mediating neuroimmune crosstalk, placental growth factor (PlGF), and egress of CD8 effector T cells. Our findings also indicate that the neuroimmune interface mediated by PlGF and necessary for transducing the neural signal into an effective immune response is dependent on α-adrenergic receptor signaling

TIMP3 interplays with apelin to regulate cardiovascular metabolism in hypercholesterolemic mice

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3 (TIMP3) is an extracellular matrix (ECM) bound protein, which has been shown to be downregulated in human subjects and experimental models with cardiometabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of TIMP3 on cardiac energy homeostasis during increased metabolic stress conditions

Responding to globalisation: The case of elite artistic gymnastics in China

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal International Review for the Sociology of Sport and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690217730679.This article explores a non-Western nation’s responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span. The concept of globalisation and patterns of ‘reach’ and ‘response’ act as the heuristic devices underpinning the analysis. Data were collected from a range of documents and fromand six semi-structured interviews. The trajectory of Chinese elite artistic gymnastics’ responses to globalisation can be characterised as a passive response in the 1950s, a participative response in the first half of the 1960s, a conflictual response from 1966 to the early 1970s, a participative response from the early 1970s to the 2012 Olympic Games, and a passive response, once again, during the Rio Olympiad (post-London 2012). In this way, a nation’s responses to globalisation are seen as dynamic rather than rigid or static. The ever-expanding reach of the international federation-led global system fundamentally demarcates the activities of member states. However, any nation-state has a degree of autonomy when responding to globalisation and in deciding the detailed pathways whereby to pursue success within this system, although in extreme cases, a nation-state can choose to resist this globalising context, largely depending on a government’s attitude towards globalisation and the value the government attaches to it

The angiogenic factor PIGF mediates a neuroimmune interaction in the spleen to allow the onset of hypertension

Hypertension is a health problem affecting over 1 billion people worldwide. How the immune system gets activated under hypertensive stimuli to contribute to blood pressure elevation is a fascinating enigma. Here we showed a splenic role for placental growth factor (PlGF), which accounts for the onset of hypertension, through immune system modulation. PlGF repressed the expression of the protein Timp3 (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 3), through the transcriptional Sirt1-p53 axis. Timp3 repression allowed costimulation of T cells and their deployment toward classical organs involved in hypertension. We showed that the spleen is an essential organ for the development of hypertension through a noradrenergic drive mediated by the celiac ganglion efferent. Overall, we demonstrate that PlGF mediates the neuroimmune interaction in the spleen, organizing a unique and nonredundant response that allows the onset of hypertension

Investigation on Thermal and Fluid Dynamic Behaviors in Mixed Convection in Horizontal Channels with Aluminum Foam and Heated from below

In this paper, mixed convection in a horizontal channel partially filled with a porous medium and the lower wall heated at uniform heat flux is studied experimentally and numerically. A simplified two-dimensional problem is modelled and solved numerically. The domain is made of a principal channel and two channels with adiabatic walls, one upstream and the other one downstream the principal channel. The heated wall temperature profiles as a function of the Ri values are presented. Average Nusselt numbers are evaluated. The experimental test section is made up of a horizontal wall and a parallel adiabatic wall. The distance between the horizontal walls is equal to 40 mm. The porous medium is an aluminium foam and it is placed over the heated lower wall. The porous plate has a thickness equal to 20 mm. The aluminium foam has 10, 20 and 40 PPI. The experiments are performed with working fluid air. The Reynolds numbers investigated are between 5.0 and 250, these being in the laminar regime. The Richardson number, Ri, holds values in the range 1 2000. Results in terms of wall temperature profiles, local and average Nusselt numbers are presented for different Reynolds and Rayleigh number values. Some comparison between experimental and numerical results are accomplished

Epigenetics and Arterial Hypertension

Arterial hypertension; Cardiovascular diseases; Chromatin remodeling; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Histone acetylation; Histone methylation; Histone modifications; MicroRNAs; Small noncoding RNA

Numerical and experimental investigations on a solar chimney integrated in a building facade

In the paper, a numerical and experimental investigations on a prototypal solar chimney system integrated in a south facade of a building is presented. The chimney consists of a converging channel with one vertical wall and one inclined. The numerical analysis is carried out on a three-dimensional model in airflow and the governing equations are given in terms of k-ε turbulence model. The problem is solved by means of the commercial code Ansys-Fluent. The numerical analysis was intended to examine the effect of the solar chimney’s stack height and depth. Results are given in terms of wall temperature distributions, air velocity and temperature fields and transversal profiles for a uniform wall heat flux on the vertical wall. Thermal and fluid dynamics behaviors are evaluated in order to have some indications to improve the energy conversion system. Furthermore first results of an experimental investigation on a chimney system 4.0 m high and 1.5 m wide are given. Air velocity in the channel and surface temperature on the heated wall are presented

Acrodermatitis chronic atrophicans and morphea

[No abstract available