Rubisco activity and gene expression of tropical tree species under light stress

Tropical rain forests contain an ecologically and physiologically diverse range of vegetation and habitats. Sun-acclimated plants can be divided into two groups, shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant, according to the plant’s physiological and genetic responses. Some tropical species have potential capacity for light damage in a shaded environment as well as shade-tolerance to compensate for the impaired light harvesting complex. In particular, ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is regulated by the Calvin cycle, which participated in protein synthesis. Rubisco plays a role in CO2 fixation, which helps supply the energy to regulate Rubisco for ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) reduction. Light intensity is associated with the photosynthetic rate and genetic response to moderate growth environments.Keywords: Gene expression, growth, light intensity, Rubisco activityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(20), pp. 2764-276

Do depression, anxiety, emotional intelligence, and sleep quality affect diabetes management self-efficacy in Korean women with gestational diabetes in pregnancy?: a descriptive correlational study

Purpose This study aimed to identify factors associated with diabetes management self-efficacy in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Korea. Methods A total of 173 pregnant women with GDM in Korea were recruited by posting announcements at two Korean online communities focusing on pregnancy and GDM. Participants completed a structured online survey from July to September 2018. Thirteen inappropriate responses were excluded and a total of 160 questionnaires were used in the final analysis. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multiple regression with the enter method was done to identify the associations of depressive mood, anxiety, emotional intelligence, and sleep quality with diabetes management self-efficacy. Results Respondents reported a moderately depressive mood (mean, 10.36), low to moderate anxiety (mean, 41.65), above-average emotional intelligence (mean, 78.04), moderate sleep quality (mean, 42.01), and above-average diabetes management self-efficacy (mean, 52.29). The major factor associated with diabetes management self-efficacy of pregnant women with GDM was emotional intelligence (β=.51, p<.001). Other factors, in descending order of influence, were sleep quality (β=.22, p<.001) and exercise (β=.18, p=.004). Taken together, the aforementioned factors explained 34.6% (F=39.53, p<.001) of the total variance. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that to improve the diabetes management self-efficacy of pregnant women with GDM, it is necessary to develop an education program that can also enhance emotional intelligence, sleep quality, and exercise

The Effect of Ca-P Coated Bovine Bone Mineral on Bone Regeneration around Dental Implant in Dogs

There are many obstacles to overcome in implant dentistry. The bony defect around implant can be seen in immediate installation procedures. Following tooth extraction, however, a socket often presents dimensions that may be considerably greater than the dimensions of a conventional implant

Experimental Study on the Acellular Demal Matrix Graft for the Root Coverage in Dog

Mucogingival surgery is a plastic surgical procedure designed to correct defects in the morphology, position, and dimensions of the gingiva surrounding the teeth. Many surgical techniques have been reported in mucogingival surgery. Since these procedures also include the soft tissue esthetic approach, the term periodontal plastic surgery has been proposed to be more appropriate.1 Root coverage is a procedure that falls with this definition, and it has attracted more interest than others

Paricalcitol Pretreatment Attenuates Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Prostaglandin E 2

The protective mechanism of paricalcitol remains unclear in renal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. We investigated the renoprotective effects of paricalcitol in IR injury through the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptor EP4. Paricalcitol was injected into IR-exposed HK-2 cells and mice subjected to bilateral kidney ischemia for 23 min and reperfusion for 24 hr. Paricalcitol prevented IR-induced cell death and EP4 antagonist cotreatment offset these protective effects. Paricalcitol increased phosphorylation of Akt and cyclic AMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) and suppressed nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in IR-exposed cells and cotreatment of EP4 antagonist or EP4 small interfering RNA blunted these signals. In vivo studies showed that paricalcitol improved renal dysfunction and tubular necrosis after IR injury and cotreatment with EP4 antagonist inhibited the protective effects of paricalcitol. Phosphorylation of Akt was increased and nuclear translocation of p65 NF-κB was decreased in paricalcitol-treated mice with IR injury, which was reversed by EP4 blockade. Paricalcitol decreased oxidative stress and apoptosis in renal IR injury. Paricalcitol also attenuated the infiltration of inflammatory cells and production of proinflammatory cytokines after IR injury. EP4 antagonist abolished these antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects. The EP4 plays a pivotal role in the protective effects of paricalcitol in renal IR injury

Cardiovascular events and safety outcomes associated with remdesivir using a World Health Organization international pharmacovigilance database

On October 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved remdesivir as the first drug for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), increasing remdesivir prescriptions worldwide. However, potential cardiovascular (CV) toxicities associated with remdesivir remain unknown. We aimed to characterize the CV adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with remdesivir using VigiBase, an individual case safety report database of the World Health Organization (WHO). Disproportionality analyses of CV-ADRs associated with remdesivir were performed using reported odds ratios and information components. We conducted in vitro experiments using cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) to confirm cardiotoxicity of remdesivir. To distinguish drug-induced CV-ADRs from COVID-19 effects, we restricted analyses to patients with COVID-19 and found that, after adjusting for multiple confounders, cardiac arrest (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08–3.29), bradycardia (aOR: 2.09, 95% CI: 1.24–3.53), and hypotension (aOR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.03–2.73) were associated with remdesivir. In vitro data demonstrated that remdesivir reduced the cell viability of hPSC-CMs in time- and dose-dependent manners. Physicians should be aware of potential CV consequences following remdesivir use and implement adequate CV monitoring to maintain a tolerable safety margin

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe

Stroke genetics informs drug discovery and risk prediction across ancestries

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of stroke - the second leading cause of death worldwide - were conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry(1,2). Here, in cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analyses of 110,182 patients who have had a stroke (five ancestries, 33% non-European) and 1,503,898 control individuals, we identify association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci: 60 in primary inverse-variance-weighted analyses and 29 in secondary meta-regression and multitrait analyses. On the basis of internal cross-ancestry validation and an independent follow-up in 89,084 additional cases of stroke (30% non-European) and 1,013,843 control individuals, 87% of the primary stroke risk loci and 60% of the secondary stroke risk loci were replicated (P < 0.05). Effect sizes were highly correlated across ancestries. Cross-ancestry fine-mapping, in silico mutagenesis analysis(3), and transcriptome-wide and proteome-wide association analyses revealed putative causal genes (such as SH3PXD2A and FURIN) and variants (such as at GRK5 and NOS3). Using a three-pronged approach(4), we provide genetic evidence for putative drug effects, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as possible targets, with drugs already under investigation for stroke for F11 and PROC. A polygenic score integrating cross-ancestry and ancestry-specific stroke GWASs with vascular-risk factor GWASs (integrative polygenic scores) strongly predicted ischaemic stroke in populations of European, East Asian and African ancestry(5). Stroke genetic risk scores were predictive of ischaemic stroke independent of clinical risk factors in 52,600 clinical-trial participants with cardiometabolic disease. Our results provide insights to inform biology, reveal potential drug targets and derive genetic risk prediction tools across ancestries.</p