Aldosterone Upregulates Connective Tissue Growth Factor Gene Expression via p38 MAPK Pathway and Mineralocorticoid Receptor in Ventricular Myocytes

The effect of aldosterone on connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) was examined in rat embryonic ventricular myocytes. Upon aldosterone treatment, CTGF expression was significantly increased in a dose and time-dependent manner. To explore the molecular mechanism for this upregulation, we examined the role of mineralocorticoid receptor. Pre-treatment of an antagonist (spironolactone) at 5-fold excess of aldosterone blocked the CTGF induction by aldosterone, suggesting that the upregulation was mediated by mineralocorticoid receptor. Aldosterone treatment resulted in activation of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and JNK pathways with a more transient pattern in p38 MAPK. Blocking studies using pre-treatment of the inhibitor of each pathway revealed that p38 MAPK cascade may be important for aldosterone-mediated CTGF upregulation as evidenced by the blocking of CTGF induction by SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor), but not by PD098059 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) and JNK inhibitor I. Interestingly, JNK inhibitor I and PD098059 decreased the basal level of CTGF expression. On the other hand, pre-treatment of spironolactone abrogated the p38 MAPK activation, indicating that mineralocorticoid receptor mechanism is linked to p38 MAPK pathway. Taken together, our findings suggest that aldosterone induces CTGF expression via both p38 MAPK cascade and mineralocorticoid receptor and that cross-talk exists between the two pathways

Cross-tier interference mitigation in a cellular system with small moving cells

In this paper, we consider the management of cross-tier interference in a HetNet cellular system employing small moving cells (SMCs). We manage the interference by using statistical channel information taking into consideration of SMC mobility. We represent the cross-tier interference channel in terms of dominant channel space and then determine the beam weight to minimize the effect of interference in the dominant channel space. Finally, the performance of the proposed scheme is verified by computer simulation.N

The effect of concentration of graphene nanoplatelets on mechanical and electrical properties of reduced graphene oxide papers

Macroscopic, freestanding graphene-based paper-like materials are of interest for use as mechanically strong, stiff, and flexible and electrically conductive materials. Chemically reduced graphene oxide paper shows promise for such applications. In this work, we studied the mechanical and electrical properties of a set of paper materials prepared by filtration of homogeneous colloidal suspensions of hydrazine-reduced graphene oxide with different concentrations. Young's modulus, fracture strength, and fracture strain of each type of sample was determined by tensile tests. The paper sample prepared from the colloidal suspension with the lowest concentration of reduced graphene oxide platelets had the highest modulus and fracture strength and showed the smoothest surface morphology. The electrical conductivity measured by the four-probe measurement method increased as the concentration was increased