Cardiac taurine and principal amino acids in right and left ventricles of patients with either aortic valve stenosis or coronary artery disease:the importance of diabetes and gender

Free intracellular taurine and principal α-amino acids (glutamate, glutamine, aspartate, asparagine and alanine) are abundant in human heart. They are cellular regulators and their concentration can change in response to disease and cardiac insults and have been shown to differ between hypertrophic left ventricle (LV) and the relatively “normal” right ventricle (RV) in patients with aortic valve stenosis (AVS). This difference has not been shown for coronary artery disease (CAD) and there are no studies that have simultaneously compared amino acid content in LV and RV from different pathologies. In this study we investigated the effect of disease on taurine and principal amino acids in both LV and RV, measured in myocardial biopsies collected from patients with either AVS (n = 22) or CAD (n = 36). Amino acids were extracted and measured using HPLC. Intra- and inter-group analysis was performed as well as subgroup analysis focusing on gender in AVS and type 2 diabetes in CAD. LV of both groups has significantly higher levels of taurine compared to RV. This difference disappears in both diabetic CAD patients and in male AVS patients. Alanine was the only α-amino acid to be altered by diabetes. LV of female AVS patients had significantly more glutamate, aspartate and asparagine than corresponding RV, whilst no difference was seen between LV and RV in males. LV of females has higher glutamate and glutamine and less metabolic stress than LV of males. This work shows that in contrast to LV, RV responds differently to disease which can be modulated by gender and diabetes

Effect of COVID-19 quarantine on the sleep quality and the depressive symptom levels of university students in Jordan during the spring of 2020

Objectives: This study was designed to assess the effect of COVID-19 home quarantine and its lifestyle challenges on the sleep quality and mental health of a large sample of undergraduate University students in Jordan. It is the first study applied to the Jordanian population. The aim was to investigate how quarantine for several weeks changed the students' habits and affected their mental health. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a random representative sample of 6,157 undergraduate students (mean age 19.79 ± 1.67 years, males 28.7%) from the University of Jordan through voluntarily filling an online questionnaire. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) were used to assess sleep quality and depressive symptoms, respectively. Results: The PSQI mean score for the study participants was 8.1 ± 3.6. The sleep quality of three-quarters of the participants was negatively affected by the extended quarantine. Nearly half of the participants reported poor sleep quality. The prevalence of poor sleep quality among participants was 76% (males: 71.5% and females: 77.8%). Similarly, the prevalence of the depressive symptoms was 71% (34% for moderate and 37% for high depressive symptoms), with females showing higher prevalence than males. The overall mean CES-D score for the group with low depressive symptoms is 9.3, for the moderate group is 19.8, while it is 34.3 for the high depressive symptoms group. More than half of the students (62.5%) reported that the quarantine had a negative effect on their mental health. Finally, females, smokers, and students with decreased income levels during the extended quarantine were the common exposures that are significantly associated with a higher risk of developing sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Mass and extended quarantine succeeded in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus; however, it comes with a high cost of potential psychological impacts. Most of the students reported that they suffer from sleeping disorders and had a degree of depressive symptoms. Officials should provide psychological support and clear guidance to help the general public to reduce these potential effects and overcome the quarantine period with minimum negative impacts

A New Incommensurate Fractional-Order COVID 19: Modelling and Dynamical Analysis

Nowadays, a lot of research papers are concentrating on the diffusion dynamics of infectious diseases, especially the most recent one: COVID-19. The primary goal of this work is to explore the stability analysis of a new version of the SEIR model formulated with incommensurate fractional-order derivatives. In particular, several existence and uniqueness results of the solution of the proposed model are derived by means of the Picard-Lindelof method. Several stability analysis results related to the disease-free equilibrium of the model are reported in light of computing the so-called basic reproduction number, as well as in view of utilising a certain Lyapunov function. In conclusion, various numerical simulations are performed to confirm the theoretical findings

The Fractional Discrete Predator–Prey Model: Chaos, Control and Synchronization

This paper describes a new fractional predator-prey discrete system of the Leslie type. In addition, the non-linear dynamics of the suggested model are examined within the framework of commensurate and non-commensurate orders, using different numerical techniques such as Lyapunov exponent, phase portraits, and bifurcation diagrams. These behaviours imply that the fractional predator-prey discrete system of Leslie type has rich and complex dynamical properties that are influenced by commensurate and incommensurate orders. Moreover, the sample entropy test is carried out to measure the complexity and validate the presence of chaos. Finally, nonlinear controllers are illustrated to stabilize and synchronize the proposed model

Analysis of the symmetry of electrodes for Electropalatography with Cone Beam CT Scanning

The process of compression of air and vibration of activity in the larynx through which speech is produced is of great interest in phonetics, phonology, psychology and is related to various areas of biomedical engineering as it has a strong relationship with cochlear implants, Parkinson’s disease and Stroke. One technique by means of which speech production is analysed is the use of electropalatography, in which an artificial palate, moulded to the speakers’ hard palate is introduced in the mouth. The palate contains a series of electrodes, which monitor contact between the tongue and the palate during speech production. There is interest in the symmetry or asymmetry of the movement of the tongue as this may be related to languages or right- or left-handedness, however this has never been thoroughly studied. A specific limitation of electropalatography for symmetry studies is that palates are hand-crafted and the position of the electrodes themselves may be asymmetric. In this work, we analyse the positioning of electrodes of one electropalatography setting. The symmetry was analysed by locating the electrodes of the palate through the observation of the palate with Computed Tomography. An algorithm to segment the electrodes and find the symmetry of left and right sides of the palates is described. No significant asymmetry was found for one specific palate. The methodology presented should allow the analysis of palates to be used in larger studies of speech production

Prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in schoolchildren: data from the french six cities study

International audienceBackground: The prevalence of asthma and allergy has recently risen among children. This increase in prevalence might be related to various factors, particularly diet. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in the French Six Cities Study. Methods: Cross-sectional studies were performed among 7432 schoolchildren aged 9-11 years in Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Creteil, Marseille, Reims, and Strasbourg. Parental questionnaires, based on the International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), were used to collect information on allergic diseases and potential exposure factors including a food frequency questionnaire to evaluate dietary habits. Skin prick testing to common allergens for allergic sensitization and bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) testing to exercise were performed. Confounders control was performed with multiple logistic regressions. Results: Asthma symptoms, asthma and allergic sensitization were more prevalent in boys than in girls and were more prevalent in the South than in the North of France. After adjustment for confounders, fruit juice intake was associated with a low prevalence of lifetime asthma (ORa [95 % CI]; 0.73 [0.56-0.97]), butter intake was positively associated with atopic wheeze (1.48 [1.07-2.05]) and having lunch at the canteen 1-2 times/week compared to never or occasionally was associated with a lower prevalence of past year wheeze (0.71 [0.52-0.96]), lifetime asthma (0.76 [0.60-0.96]) and allergic sensitization (0.80 [0.67-0.95]). Meat intake was inversely related to past year wheeze among atopic children (0.68 [0.50-0.98]) while fast food consumption and butter intake were associated with an increase prevalence of asthma (2.39 [1.47-3.93] and 1.51 [1.17-2.00] respectively). Fish intake was associated with a lower prevalence of asthma among non-atopic children (0.61 [0.43-0.87]. None of the dietary factors was associated with BHR. Conclusions: Diet is associated with wheeze, asthma and allergic sensitization but not with BHR in children. These results provide further evidence that adherence to a healthy diet including fruits, meat and fish seems to have a protective effect on asthma and allergy in childhood. However, prospective and experimental studies are needed to provide causal evidence concerning the effect of diet on asthma and atopy

Fibroblast growth factor 21 reflects liver fat accumulation and dysregulation of signalling pathways in the liver of C57BL/6J mice

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (Fgf21) has emerged as a potential plasma marker to diagnose non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). To study the molecular processes underlying the association of plasma Fgf21 with NAFLD, we explored the liver transcriptome data of a mild NAFLD model of aging C57BL/6J mice at 12, 24, and 28 months of age. The plasma Fgf21 level significantly correlated with intrahepatic triglyceride content. At the molecular level, elevated plasma Fgf21 levels were associated with dysregulated metabolic and cancerrelated pathways. The up-regulated Fgf21 levels in NAFLD were implied to be a protective response against the NAFLD-induced adverse effects, e.g. lipotoxicity, oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress. An in vivo PPARα challenge demonstrated the dysregulation of PPARα signalling in the presence of NAFLD, which resulted in a stochastically increasing hepatic expression of Fgf21. Notably, elevated plasma Fgf21 was associated with declining expression of Klb, Fgf21’s crucial co-receptor, which suggests a resistance to Fgf21. Therefore, although liver fat accumulation is a benign stage of NAFLD, the elevated plasma Fgf21 likely indicated vulnerability to metabolic stressors that may contribute towards progression to end-stage NAFLD. In conclusion, plasma levels of Fgf21 reflect liver fat accumulation and dysregulation of metabolic pathways in the liver

Molecular basis of arrhythmic substrate in ageing murine peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator deficient hearts modelling mitochondrial dysfunction.

INTRODUCTION: Ageing and chronic metabolic disorders are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and cardiac pro-arrhythmic phenotypes which were recently attributed to slowed atrial and ventricular action potential (AP) conduction in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator deficient (Pgc-1β-/-) mice. METHODS: We compared expression levels of voltage-gated Na+ channel (NaV1.5) and gap junction channels, Connexins 40 and 43 (Cx40 and Cx43) in the hearts of young and old, and wild-type (WT) and Pgc-1β-/- mice. This employed Western blotting (WB) for NaV1.5, Cx40 and Cx43 in atrial/ventricular tissue lysates, and immunofluorescence (IF) from Cx43 was explored in tissue sections. Results were analysed using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for independent/interacting effects of age and genotype. RESULTS: In atria, increased age and Pgc-1β-/- genotype each independently decreased both Cx40 and Cx43 expression without interacting effects. In IF experiments, both age and Pgc-1β deletion independently reduced Cx43 expression. In ventricles, age and genotype exerted interacting effects in WB studies of NaV1.5 expression. Young Pgc-1β-/- then showed greater NaV1.5 expression than young WT ventricles. However, neither age nor Pgc-1β deletion affected Cx43 expression, independently or through interacting effects in both WB and IF studies. CONCLUSION: Similar pro-arrhythmic atrial/ventricular phenotypes arise in aged/Pgc-1β-/- from differing contributions of altered protein expression and functional effects that may arise from multiple acute mechanisms

Changes in contractile protein expression are linked to ventricular stiffness in infants with pulmonary hypertension or right ventricular hypertrophy due to congenital heart disease

Background The right ventricle (RV) is not designed to sustain high pressure leading to failure. There are no current medications to help RV contraction, so further information is required on adaption of the RV to such hypertension. Methods The Right Ventricle in Children (RVENCH) study assessed infants with congenital heart disease undergoing cardiac surgery with hypertensive RV. Clinical and echocardiographic data were recorded, and samples of RV were taken from matched infants, analysed for proteomics and compared between pathologies and with clinical and echocardiographic outcome data. Results Those with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) were significantly more cyanosed than those with ventricular septal defect (median oxygen saturation 83% vs 98%, P=0.0038), had significantly stiffer RV (tricuspid E wave/A wave ratio 1.95 vs 0.84, P=0.009) and had most had restrictive physiology. Gene ontology in TOF, with enrichment analysis, demonstrated significant increase in proteins of contractile mechanisms and those of calmodulin, actin binding and others associated with contractility than inventricular septal defect. Structural proteins were also found to be higher in association with sarcomeric function: Z-disc, M-Band and thin-filament proteins. Remaining proteins associated with actin binding, calcium signalling and myocyte cytoskeletal development. Phosphopeptide enrichment led to higher levels of calcium signalling proteins in TOF. Conclusion This is the first demonstration that those with an RV, which is stiff and hypertensive in TOF, have a range of altered proteins, often in calcium signalling pathways. Information about these alterations might guide treatment options both in terms of individualised therapy or inotropic support for the Right ventricle when hypertensive due to pulmoanry hypertension or congenital heart disease