Depletion of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) via siRNA mediated knockdown leads to stabilization of β-catenin and elicits distinct features of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy

AbstractCardiac myocyte growth is under differential control of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and glycogen-synthase-kinase-3β (GSK3β). Whereas active GSK3β negatively regulates growth and down-regulates cellular protein synthesis, activation of the mTOR pathway promotes protein expression and cell growth. Here we report that depletion of mTOR via siRNA mediated knockdown causes marked down-regulation of GSK3β protein in cardiac myocytes. As a result, GSK3β target protein β-catenin becomes stabilized and translocates into the nucleus. Moreover, mTOR knockdown leads to increase in cardiac myocyte surface area and produces an up-regulation of the fetal gene program. Our findings suggest a new type of convergence of mTOR and GSK3β activities, indicating that GSK3β-dependent stabilization of β-catenin in cardiac myocytes is influenced by mTOR

Voice-based assessments of trustworthiness, competence, and warmth in blind and sighted adults

The study of voice perception in congenitally blind individuals allows researchers rare insight into how a lifetime of visual deprivation affects the development of voice perception. Previous studies have suggested that blind adults outperform their sighted counterparts in low-level auditory tasks testing spatial localization and pitch discrimination, as well as in verbal speech processing; however, blind persons generally show no advantage in nonverbal voice recognition or discrimination tasks. The present study is the first to examine whether visual experience influences the development of social stereotypes that are formed on the basis of nonverbal vocal characteristics (i.e., voice pitch). Groups of 27 congenitally or early-blind adults and 23 sighted controls assessed the trustworthiness, competence, and warmth of men and women speaking a series of vowels, whose voice pitches had been experimentally raised or lowered. Blind and sighted listeners judged both men’s and women’s voices with lowered pitch as being more competent and trustworthy than voices with raised pitch. In contrast, raised-pitch voices were judged as being warmer than were lowered-pitch voices, but only for women’s voices. Crucially, blind and sighted persons did not differ in their voice-based assessments of competence or warmth, or in their certainty of these assessments, whereas the association between low pitch and trustworthiness in women’s voices was weaker among blind than sighted participants. This latter result suggests that blind persons may rely less heavily on nonverbal cues to trustworthiness compared to sighted persons. Ultimately, our findings suggest that robust perceptual associations that systematically link voice pitch to the social and personal dimensions of a speaker can develop without visual input

Glycophenotypic Alterations Induced by Pteridium aquilinum in Mice Gastric Mucosa: Synergistic Effect with Helicobacter pylori Infection

The bracken fern Pteridium aquilinum is a plant known to be carcinogenic to animals. Epidemiological studies have shown an association between bracken fern exposure and gastric cancer development in humans. The biological effects of exposure to this plant within the gastric carcinogenesis process are not fully understood. In the present work, effects in the gastric mucosa of mice treated with Pteridium aquilinum were evaluated, as well as molecular mechanisms underlying the synergistic role with Helicobacter pylori infection. Our results showed that exposure to Pteridium aquilinum induces histomorphological modifications including increased expression of acidic glycoconjugates in the gastric mucosa. The transcriptome analysis of gastric mucosa showed that upon exposure to Pteridium aquilinum several glycosyltransferase genes were differently expressed, including Galntl4, C1galt1 and St3gal2, that are mainly involved in the biosynthesis of simple mucin-type carbohydrate antigens. Concomitant treatment with Pteridium aquilinum and infection with Helicobacter pylori also resulted in differently expressed glycosyltransferase genes underlying the biosynthesis of terminal sialylated Lewis antigens, including Sialyl-Lewisx. These results disclose the molecular basis for the altered pattern of glycan structures observed in the mice gastric mucosa. The gene transcription alterations and the induced glycophenotypic changes observed in the gastric mucosa contribute for the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of Pteridium aquilinum in the gastric carcinogenesis process

NOMA: A Preventable “Scourge” of African Children

Noma is a serious orofacial gangrene originating intraorally in the gingival-oral mucosa complex before spreading extraorally to produce a visibly destructive ulcer. Although cases of noma are now rarely reported in the developed countries, it is still prevalent among children in third world countries, notably in sub-Sahara Africa, where poverty, ignorance, malnutrition, and preventable childhood infections are still common. This review summarizes historical, epidemiological, management, and research updates on noma with suggestions for its prevention and ultimate global eradication. The global annual incidence remains high at about 140,000 cases, with a mortality rate exceeding 90% for untreated diseases. Where the patients survive, noma defects result in unsightly facial disfigurement, intense scarring, trismus, oral incompetence, and social alienation. Although the etiology has long been held to be infectious, a definitive causal role between microorganisms cited, and noma has been difficult to establish. The management of noma with active disease requires antibiotics followed by reconstructive surgery. Current research efforts are focused towards a comprehensive understanding of the epidemiology, and further elucidation of the microbiology and pathogenesis of noma

The role of open abdomen in non-trauma patient : WSES Consensus Paper

The open abdomen (OA) is defined as intentional decision to leave the fascial edges of the abdomen un-approximated after laparotomy (laparostomy). The abdominal contents are potentially exposed and therefore must be protected with a temporary coverage, which is referred to as temporal abdominal closure (TAC). OA use remains widely debated with many specific details deserving detailed assessment and clarification. To date, in patients with intra-abdominal emergencies, the OA has not been formally endorsed for routine utilization; although, utilization is seemingly increasing. Therefore, the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES), Abdominal Compartment Society (WSACS) and the Donegal Research Academy united a worldwide group of experts in an international consensus conference to review and thereafter propose the basis for evidence-directed utilization of OA management in non-trauma emergency surgery and critically ill patients. In addition to utilization recommendations, questions with insufficient evidence urgently requiring future study were identified.Peer reviewe