The Interaction of Plasma Sialylated and Desialylated Lipoproteins with Collagen from the Intima and Media of Uninvolved and Atherosclerotic Human Aorta

We have evaluated the binding of sialylated and desialylated lipoproteins to collagen isolated from the proteoglycan and musculoelastic layers of intima and media of uninvolved human aorta and atherosclerotic lesions. Comparing various collagen preparations from the uninvolved intima-media, the binding of sialylated apoB-containing lipoproteins was best to collagen from the intimal PG-rich layer. Binding of sialylated apoB-containing lipoproteins to collagen from this layer of fatty streak and fibroatheroma was 1.4- and 3.1-fold lower, respectively, in comparison with normal intima. Desialylated VLDL versus sialylated one exhibited a greater binding (1.4- to 3.0-fold) to all the collagen preparations examined. Desialylated IDL and LDL showed a higher binding than sialylated ones when collagen from the intimal layers of fibroatheroma was used. Binding of desialylated HDL to collagen from the intimal PG-rich layer of normal tissue, initial lesion, and fatty streak was 1.2- to 2.0-fold higher compared with sialylated HDL

Role of Purinergic Receptors in Myeloid cells

In vitro studies of murine bone marrow-derived myeloid cells. Experimental design: We used an in vitro model of murine bone marrow-derived monocyte differentiation into myeloid mononuclear cells (Ryzhov S, Novitskiy SV, Goldstein AE, Biktasova A, Blackburn MR, Biaggioni I, Dikov MM, Feoktistov I. Adenosinergic regulation of the expansion and immunosuppressive activity of CD11b+Gr1+ cells. J Immunol 2011 December 1;187(11):6120-9) .We studied the effects of agonists and antagonist of purinergic receptors on monocyte differentiation into mature myeloid mononuclear cells. Phenotypic changes and cytokine/growth factors were analyzed. To determine the role of Gαq and Gαs pathways in the effects of A2B receptors, we suppressed Gαq protein function by overexpression of the regulator of G protein signaling (RGS)-2, a Gαq-specific GTPase accelerating protein. To mimic the A2B-dependent stimulation of Gαq, we expressed a constitutively active Gαq mutated at R183C. To ensure that only transfected cells are analyzed by flow cytometry, we cloned RGS2 constructs into pLVX-IRES-tdTomato bicistronic vector (Clontech) that allow the simultaneous expression of RGS2 and fluorescent tdTomato proteins separately but from the same RNA transcript. The same approach was used for transfection of constitutively active Gαq R183C. The following combinations of Gq/s activators/inhibitors were tested: 1) Inhibition of Gαq by overexpression of RGS2 followed by A2BRs stimulation with 1 µM NECA; 2) Activation of Gαs pathways by expression of the constitutively active Gαq followed by A2BRs stimulation with 1 µM NECA; Phenotypic changes in the expression of cell-surface markers after two-day differentiation of transfected cells are analyzed by gating for tdTomato fluorescence

Role of A2B receptors on myeloid cells in mouse miocardial infarction model

Echocardiography data obtained from wild-type and LysMCRE-A2BKO mice after experimental myocardial infarction. Experimental Design: Delete A2B receptors on myeloid cells using A2BR floxed mice (Ozgen, Australia) and myeloid cell-specific LysM Cre transgenic mice (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME) both on C57BL/6 background to test the necessity of A2B receptor signaling in these cells for regulation of differentiation and its role in cardiac recovery after MI. The following groups of mice are tested: 1) A2BMyeKO mice (LysM Cre+/-A2Bfl/fl) is used as an experimental group. 2) A2BMyeWT mice (LysM Cre-/-A2Bfl/fl) is used as a control group. MI in mice is induced by permanent LCA ligation as we described previously. Ryzhov S, Zhang Q, Biaggioni I, Feoktistov I. Adenosine A2B Receptors on Cardiac Stem Cell Antigen (Sca)-1-Positive Stromal Cells Play a Protective Role in Myocardial Infarction. Am J Pathol 2013 September;183(3):665-72. Ryzhov S, Goldstein AE, Novitskiy SV, Blackburn MR, Biaggioni I, Feoktistov I. Role of A2B adenosine receptors in regulation of paracrine functions of stem cell antigen 1-positive cardiac stromal cells. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2012 June;341(3):764-74. Aisagbonhi O, Rai M, Ryzhov S, Atria N, Feoktistov I, Hatzopoulos AK. Experimental myocardial infarction triggers canonical Wnt signaling and endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Dis Model Mech 2011 July;4(4):469-83

Application of high-performance computing for determining critical components of an energy system

This article presents a package for analyzing the energy system vulnerability developed with new technology for continuous integration, delivery, and deployment of applied software. It implements a framework that allows combining and optimally using various methods for modelling energy systems and provides the comprehensive assessment of their vulnerability with regard to various uncertainties. The essential principles to identify and rank critical elements of an energy system are considered in the article. The investigations made with the package shown that the principles seem to be logical for the subsequent construction of the invariant set of measures for improving the energy system resilience

Evaporation Rate of Aqueous Salt Solutions Droplets

The evaporation of aqueous salt solution droplets from metal surfaces has been studied experimentally. The volumetric evaporation rate is found to decrease in time for any initial droplet volume due to an increase in salt concentration and the efforts of system to take a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. Crystalline hydrate film was being formed during desorption of CaCl2 10%, LiCl 10%, LiBr 30% salts. When NaCl 10% salt solution evaporated, there was no film. The average evaporation rate of NaCl salt is higher than for other salts. The lowest values of the average evaporation rate were found for LiBr 30% salt solution

Impaired adenosine-mediated angiogenesis in preeclampsia: potential implications for fetal programming

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome, defined by such clinical hallmarks as the onset of maternal hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. The syndrome is also characterized by impaired blood flow through the utero-placental circulation and relative placental ischemia, which in turn, may generate feto-placental endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction in offspring born from preeclamptic pregnancies has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, later in life. Interestingly, diminished endothelial function, manifested by low angiogenic capacity, leads to hypertension in animal studies. Recently, we have shown that the adenosine receptor A2A/nitric oxide/vascular endothelial growth factor axis is reduced in human umbilical vein endothelial cells derived from preeclamptic pregnancies, an effect correlated with gestational age at onset of preeclampsia. We and others suggested that impaired vascular function might be associated with high cardiovascular risk in offspring exposed to pregnancy diseases. However, we are not aware of any studies that examine impaired adenosine-mediated angiogenesis as a possible link to hypertension in offspring born from preeclamptic pregnancies. In this review, we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that reduced adenosine-mediated angiogenesis during preeclamptic pregnancies might be associated with development of hypertension in the offspring

ИМПУЛЬСНОЕ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЕ ТЯГОВЫХ ЭЛЕНТРОДВИГАТЕЛЕЙ НА ЭЛЕКТРОПОЕЗДАХ ПОСТОЯННОГО ТОКА. Impul'snoe regulirovanie tâgovyh ęlektrodvigatelej na ęlektropoezdah postoânnogo toka

The paper deals with the applciation of mathematical programming techniques to network analysis and network management in general. First the authors shows the application of linear programming to network scheduling when the problem is to minimize the total crashing cost and the required completition time is given. In the second part the application of goal programming is presented in network scheduling in that case, when all kinds of constraints (time, resource etc.) are introduced into the problem and the manager has to deal with multiple objectives which may be in conflict. In the paper all kinds of network scheduling problems mentioned above are illustrated through a detailed numerical example

Integration of Web Processing Services with Workflow-Based Scientific Applications for Solving Environmental Monitoring Problems

Nowadays, developing and applying advanced digital technologies for monitoring protected natural territories are critical problems. Collecting, digitalizing, storing, and analyzing spatiotemporal data on various aspects of the life cycle of such territories play a significant role in monitoring. Often, data processing requires the utilization of high-performance computing. To this end, the paper addresses a new approach to automation of implementing resource-intensive computational operations of web processing services in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. To implement such an operation, we develop a workflow-based scientific application executed under the control of a multi-agent system. Agents represent heterogeneous resources of the environment and distribute the computational load among themselves. Software development is realized in the Orlando Tools framework, which we apply to creating and operating problem-oriented applications. The advantages of the proposed approach are in integrating geographic information services and high-performance computing tools, as well as in increasing computation speedup, balancing computational load, and improving the efficiency of resource use in the heterogeneous distributed computing environment. These advantages are shown in analyzing multidimensional time series

Integration of Web Processing Services with Workflow-Based Scientific Applications for Solving Environmental Monitoring Problems

Nowadays, developing and applying advanced digital technologies for monitoring protected natural territories are critical problems. Collecting, digitalizing, storing, and analyzing spatiotemporal data on various aspects of the life cycle of such territories play a significant role in monitoring. Often, data processing requires the utilization of high-performance computing. To this end, the paper addresses a new approach to automation of implementing resource-intensive computational operations of web processing services in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. To implement such an operation, we develop a workflow-based scientific application executed under the control of a multi-agent system. Agents represent heterogeneous resources of the environment and distribute the computational load among themselves. Software development is realized in the Orlando Tools framework, which we apply to creating and operating problem-oriented applications. The advantages of the proposed approach are in integrating geographic information services and high-performance computing tools, as well as in increasing computation speedup, balancing computational load, and improving the efficiency of resource use in the heterogeneous distributed computing environment. These advantages are shown in analyzing multidimensional time series