Expression of alternatively spliced isoforms of human Sp7 in osteoblast-like cells

BACKGROUND: Osteogenic and chondrocytic differentiation involves a cascade of coordinated transcription factor gene expression that regulates proliferation and matrix protein formation in a defined temporo-spatial manner. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 induces expression of the murine Osterix/Specificity protein-7 (Sp7) transcription factor that is required for osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Regulation of its expression may prove useful for mediating skeletal repair. RESULTS: Sp7, the human homologue of the mouse Osterix gene, maps to 12q13.13, close to Sp1 and homeobox gene cluster-C. The first two exons of the 3-exon gene are alternatively spliced, encoding a 431-residue long protein isoform and an amino-terminus truncated 413-residue short protein isoform. The human Sp7 protein is a member of the Sp family having 78% identity with Sp1 in the three, Cys2-His2 type, DNA-binding zinc-fingers, but there is little homology elsewhere. The Sp7 mRNA was expressed in human foetal osteoblasts and craniofacial osteoblasts, chondrocytes and the osteosarcoma cell lines HOS and MG63, but was not detected in adult femoral osteoblasts. Generally, the expression of the short (or beta) protein isoform of Sp7 was much higher than the long (or alpha) protein isoform. No expression of either isoform was found in a panel of other cell types. However, in tissues, low levels of Sp7 were detected in testis, heart, brain, placenta, lung, pancreas, ovary and spleen. CONCLUSIONS: Sp7 expression in humans is largely confined to osteoblasts and chondrocytes, both of which differentiate from the mesenchymal lineage. Of the two protein isoforms, the short isoform is most abundant

Philosophy of Hope

The philosophy of hope centers on two interlocking sets of questions. The first concerns the nature of hope. Specific questions here include how to analyze hope, how hope motivates us, and whether there is only one type of hope. The second set concerns the value of hope. Key questions here include whether and when it is good to hope and whether there is a virtue of hope. Philosophers of hope tend to proceed from the first set of questions to the second. This is a natural approach, for one might expect that you must develop a basic understanding of what hope is before you can determine its value. The structure of this chapter thus follows this approach. But readers should not be misled: there is in fact a good deal of feedback between the two sets of questions. A theory of hope is more plausible to the extent that it fits well with plausible ideas about the value of hope. So the movement from hope’s nature to its value is one of emphasis rather than a strict, step-wise process

Enhanced microbial bile acid deconjugation and impaired ileal uptake in pregnancy repress intestinal regulation of bile acid synthesis

Pregnancy is associated with progressive hypercholanemia, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia, which can result in metabolic disease in susceptible women. Gut signals modify hepatic homeostatic pathways, linking intestinal content to metabolic activity. We sought to identify whether enteric endocrine signals contribute to raised serum bile acids observed in human and murine pregnancies, by measuring fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 19/15 protein and mRNA levels, and 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one. Terminal ileal farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-mediated gene expression and apical sodium bile acid transporter (ASBT) protein concentration were measured by qPCR and western blotting. Shotgun whole-genome sequencing and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry were used to determine the cecal microbiome and metabonome. Targeted and untargeted pathway analyses were performed to predict the systemic effects of the altered metagenome and metabolite profiles. Dietary CA supplementation was used to determine whether the observed alterations could be overcome by intestinal bile acids functioning as FXR agonists. Human and murine pregnancy were associated with reduced intestinal FXR signaling, with lower FGF19/15 and resultant increased hepatic bile acid synthesis. Terminal ileal ASBT protein was reduced in murine pregnancy. Cecal bile acid conjugation was reduced in pregnancy because of elevated bile salt hydrolase-producing Bacteroidetes. CA supplementation induced intestinal FXR signaling, which was not abrogated by pregnancy, with strikingly similar changes to the microbiota and metabonome as identified in pregnancy. Conclusion: The altered intestinal microbiota of pregnancy enhance bile acid deconjugation, reducing ileal bile acid uptake and lowering FXR induction in enterocytes. This exacerbates the effects mediated by reduced bile acid uptake transporters in pregnancy. Thus, in pregnant women and mice, there is reduced FGF19/15-mediated hepatic repression of hepatic bile acid synthesis, resulting in hypercholanemia

In-hospital informal caregivers' needs as perceived by themselves and by the nursing staff in Northern Greece: A descriptive study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Informal care is common in many countries, especially in Greece, where families provide care in hospitals. Health education and informational needs are important factors for family members which are often underestimated by nursing staff. The aim of this study was to compare the perceptions of the nurses and the in-hospital informal caregivers about the in-hospital informal caregivers' knowledge and informational needs, as well as the factors that influence these perceptions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a non-experimental descriptive study conducted in three general hospitals in Greece. The sample consisted of 320 nurses and 370 in-hospital informal caregivers who completed questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using t-tests; group comparisons were conducted using ANOVA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The score of the questionnaire for health education and informational needs was significantly greater for informal caregivers (57.1 ± 6.9 and 26.6 ± 2.8) than for nurses (53.4 ± 5.7 and 22.4 ± 3.1) (p < 0.001). For the nursing staff, the factors that influence the informational needs of patients' caregivers were <it>level of education </it>and <it>working experience</it>, while for the caregivers the <it>level of education </it>was independently associated with the score for the health education needs. Finally, <it>age, marital status</it>, and <it>level of education </it>of informal caregivers' were independently associated with informational needs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The in-hospital informal caregivers perceived that they have more educational and informational needs than the nurses did. The findings of this study also show that the nursing staff has to identify the needs of in-hospital informal caregivers in order to be able to meet these needs.</p

Spleen transcriptome response to infection with avian pathogenic Escherichia coli in broiler chickens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Avian pathogenic <it>Escherichia coli </it>(APEC) is detrimental to poultry health and its zoonotic potential is a food safety concern. Regulation of antimicrobials in food-production animals has put greater focus on enhancing host resistance to bacterial infections through genetics. To better define effective mechanism of host resistance, global gene expression in the spleen of chickens, harvested at two times post-infection (PI) with APEC, was measured using microarray technology, in a design that will enable investigation of effects of vaccination, challenge, and pathology level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 1,101 genes significantly differentially expressed between severely infected and non-infected groups on day 1 PI and 1,723 on day 5 PI. Very little difference was seen between mildly infected and non-infected groups on either time point. Between birds exhibiting mild and severe pathology, there were 2 significantly differentially expressed genes on day 1 PI and 799 on day 5 PI. Groups with greater pathology had more genes with increased expression than decreased expression levels. Several predominate immune pathways, Toll-like receptor, Jak-STAT, and cytokine signaling, were represented between challenged and non-challenged groups. Vaccination had, surprisingly, no detectible effect on gene expression, although it significantly protected the birds from observable gross lesions. Functional characterization of significantly expressed genes revealed unique gene ontology classifications during each time point, with many unique to a particular treatment or class contrast.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>More severe pathology caused by APEC infection was associated with a high level of gene expression differences and increase in gene expression levels. Many of the significantly differentially expressed genes were unique to a particular treatment, pathology level or time point. The present study not only investigates the transcriptomic regulations of APEC infection, but also the degree of pathology associated with that infection. This study will allow for greater discovery into host mechanisms for disease resistance, providing targets for marker assisted selection and advanced drug development.</p

The authority of pleasure

The aim of the paper is to reassess the prospects of a widely neglected affective conception of the aesthetic evaluation and appreciation of art. On the proposed picture, the aesthetic evaluation and appreciation of art are non-contingently constituted by a particular kind of pleasure. Artworks that are valuable qua artworks merit, deserve, and call for a certain pleasure, the same pleasure that reveals (or at least purports to reveal) them to be valuable in the way that they are, and constitutes their aesthetic evaluation and appreciation. This is why and how art is non-contingently related to pleasure. Call this, the Affective View. While I don’t advance conclusive arguments for the Affective View in this paper, I aim to reassess its prospects by (1) undermining central objections against it, (2) dissociating it from hedonism about the value of artworks (the view that this value is grounded in, and explained by, its possessors’ power to please), and (3) introducing some observations on the practice of art in support of it. Given that the objections I discuss miss their target, and given the observations in support of it, I conclude that the Affective View is worth serious reconsideration

Evolution of the avian β-defensin and cathelicidin genes

Background: β-defensins and cathelicidins are two families of cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with a broad range of antimicrobial activities that are key components of the innate immune system. Due to their important roles in host defense against rapidly evolving pathogens, the two gene families provide an ideal system for studying adaptive gene evolution. In this study we performed phylogenetic and selection analyses on β-defensins and cathelicidins from 53 avian species representing 32 orders to examine the evolutionary dynamics of these peptides in birds. Results and conclusions: Avian β-defensins are found in a gene cluster consisting of 13 subfamiles. Nine of these are conserved as one to one orthologs in all birds, while the others (AvBD1, AvBD3, AvBD7 and AvBD14) are more subject to gene duplication or pseudogenisation events in specific avian lineages. Avian cathelicidins are found in a gene cluster consisting of three subfamilies with species-specific duplications and gene loss. Evidence suggested that the propiece and mature peptide domains of avian cathelicidins are possibly co-evolving in such a way that the cationicity of the mature peptide is partially neutralised by the negative charge of the propiece prior to peptide secretion (further evidence obtained by repeating the analyses on primate cathelicidins). Negative selection (overall mean d

A comprehensive analysis of common genetic variation around six candidate loci for intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.

OBJECTIVES: Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) has a complex etiology with a significant genetic component. Heterozygous mutations of canalicular transporters occur in a subset of ICP cases and a population susceptibility allele (p.444A) has been identified in ABCB11. We sought to expand our knowledge of the detailed genetic contribution to ICP by investigation of common variation around candidate loci with biological plausibility for a role in ICP (ABCB4, ABCB11, ABCC2, ATP8B1, NR1H4, and FGF19). METHODS: ICP patients (n=563) of white western European origin and controls (n=642) were analyzed in a case-control design. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers (n=83) were selected from the HapMap data set (Tagger, Haploview 4.1 (build 22)). Genotyping was performed by allelic discrimination assay on a robotic platform. Following quality control, SNP data were analyzed by Armitage's trend test. RESULTS: Cochran-Armitage trend testing identified six SNPs in ABCB11 together with six SNPs in ABCB4 that showed significant evidence of association. The minimum Bonferroni corrected P value for trend testing ABCB11 was 5.81×10(-4) (rs3815676) and for ABCB4 it was 4.6×10(-7)(rs2109505). Conditional analysis of the two clusters of association signals suggested a single signal in ABCB4 but evidence for two independent signals in ABCB11. To confirm these findings, a second study was performed in a further 227 cases, which confirmed and strengthened the original findings. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of a large cohort of ICP cases has identified a key role for common variation around the ABCB4 and ABCB11 loci, identified the core associations, and expanded our knowledge of ICP susceptibility

Analysing hope : The live possibility account

The orthodox definition of hope suffers from an exclusion problem: it is unable to exclude subjects without hope. In fact, the orthodox definition even allows for despair to be falsely classified as hope. This problem suggests two basic desiderata for a successful analysis of hope: it should solve the exclusion problem, and it should have the resources to explain why, in a given situation, a subject does or does not form a hope. Bearing these desiderata in mind, I assess two recent hope-accounts offered by Jack M. C. Kwong and Cheshire Calhoun. I then offer my own view, which is based on the Jamesian notion of a “live possibility”. I suggest that a possibility needs to reach a certain probability threshold in order to count as live, and according to my account, to hope is to desire the truth of such a live possibility. This view is well-equipped to solve the exclusion problem, and it can explain why a subject does or does not hope