Vitamins Reverse Endothelial Dysfunction Through Regulation of eNOS and NAD(P)H Oxidase Activities

Antioxidant vitamins C and E have protective properties in genetic hypertension associated with enhanced oxidative stress. This study investigated whether vitamins C and/or E modulate vascular function by regulating enzymatic activities of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and NAD(P)H oxidase using thoracic aortas of 20- to 22-week-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their matched normotensive counterparts, Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). SHR aortas had impaired relaxant responses to acetylcholine but not to sodium nitroprusside, despite an 2-fold increase in eNOS activity and NO release. The levels of superoxide anion (O2 ), a potent NO scavenger, and NAD(P)H oxidase activity were also 2-fold higher in SHR aortas. Mechanical but not pharmacological inactivation of endothelium (by rubbing and 100 mol/L L-NAME, respectively) significantly abrogated O2 in both strains. Treatments of SHR aortas with NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitors, namely diphenyleneiodinium and apocynin, significantly diminished O2 production. The incubation of SHR aortas with different concentrations of vitamin C (10 to 100 mol/L) and specifically with high concentrations of vitamin E (100 mol/L) improved endothelial function, reduced superoxide production as well as NAD(P)H oxidase activity, and increased eNOS activity and NO generation in SHR aortas to the levels observed in vitamin C- and E-treated WKY aortas. Our results reveal endothelial NAD(P)H oxidase as the major source of vascular O2 in SHR and also show that vitamins C and E are critical in normalizing genetic endothelial dysfunction through regulation of eNOS and NAD(P)H oxidase activities

Improving Self-Care Management in Heart Failure Patients

This evidence-based project aimed to improve self-care and decrease the 30-day readmission rates in cardiology clinic heart failure (HF) patients. Thirty-day HF readmission rates, pose a financial burden to hospitals and consistent patient engagement and education in self-care among HF patients can decrease health care utilization, reduce mortality and improve quality of life. Patients received HF education during the first post-discharge clinic visit followed by weekly telephone calls. The Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) was administered to assess baseline knowledge of the self-care and reevaluated at the end of 30 and 90 days. None of the participants were readmitted within 30 days including all cause readmissions. Enhanced SCHFI questionnaire knowledge scores were seen at one month and three months indicating higher levels of knowledge of HF care. At one month, there was a 24% increase in knowledge scores in maintenance, 22.6% increase in management and 29.3% increase in confidence scale. At the end of 3 months there were 29%, 39% and 35% increase in maintenance, management and confidence scales respectively. The evidence-based project held in a cardiology clinic was successful in its efforts to decrease the 30-day readmissions rate and improved self-care and knowledge of heart failure among the participants. Key words: heart failure, self-care management, decreases 30-day readmission

Sir Deadpool: A revival of Arthurian morals in modern anti-heroes

Superheroes have always been a large part of my world. For too many Halloweens than I’d care to admit, I donned the same pink Power Rangers costume. Watching the costumed heroes never failed to entertain and inspire me as they protected their city and often times the planet. When the Power Rangers were busy, the X-Men took their place alongside Superman and the Justice League. My Saturday morning cartoons were filled with a myriad of characters clothed in brightly colored spandex beating up evil monsters and caring for the innocent who couldn’t protect themselves. That\u27s what I most loved and strived for, that selfless compassion and ability to help those in need. Growing older did not dull my hero obsession; it merely changed with the heroes that were presented to me, though I continued to favor those who spoke for the voiceless and shielded the weak over seeking glory. These heroes, such as Dr. Seuss\u27s Lorax and Marvel’s Spider-Man, were also far more complex than the Power Rangers of my childhood. With age also came the realization that I wasn’t the only one who loved these and other heroes for different reasons. Heroism became an increasingly amorphous concept for me, but I believe Bruce Meyer said it best when he wrote, “... the broadest statement that can be made about heroes is that they are emanations of what we value and what we find fascinating” (14). As the we of that continues to change, so too do the heroes of each new and varied society. Studying these differences in heroes can help scholars differentiate between regions and time periods

Form-focused instruction and the development of second language proficiency

This study has contributed to the area of FFI research in a number of ways. First, counter to current thinking, this study has come to the conclusion that the value of explicit knowledge is limited. In an attempt to demonstrate the presence of an interface between explicit and implicit knowledge, no evidence of such an interface has been provided. In the experiment that was conducted, one group of students received explicit instruction in two grammar structures while another group received implicit instruction. In addition, a no-treatment control group was included. Having explicit knowledge of the target structures has not proved to be an advantage to L2 learners in that no differences in implicit knowledge were observed between the implicit and explicit treatment groups. Because the strong interface position supposes unconditional conversion of explicit knowledge into implicit knowledge, it is falsified by these outcomes. Indirect effects of explicit knowledge upon implicit knowledge cannot be ruled out; in fact, this study has found that explicit instruction effectively promoted implicit knowledge of the simple morphological target structure, if the L2 had a similar structure. The parallelism between the first and second language either simplifies the explicit knowledge to such an extent that monitoring becomes a possibility, or it allows for successful transfer to occur. No further interactions between instruction and grammatical progress were observed. This study also gives rise to reconsider earlier FFI findings. In part, this study was motivated by a bias in FFI research towards the use of decontextualized knowledge tests at the expense of tests assessing the ability to use grammatical knowledge in natural settings. The outcomes clearly suggest that measures assessing grammatical knowledge in isolated contexts cannot readily be taken as representative of the learner’s implicit grammatical knowledge. FFI findings need to be reconsidered according to how progress was measured. Given that the use of measures of natural language have been rare, replication studies will be welcome. For example, as this study has shown, but also pointed out by the DeKeyser (2003), there are surprisingly few studies that actually compared explicit and implicit types of instruction. Most FFI studies have laboured under the assumption that explicit types of FFI are necessary, and have moved on to investigate the effects of different kinds of instruction in interaction with numerous other variables. Such studies, too, need to be considered in the light of the kind of measures used. Unusual to FFI studies, even to those that have used measures of spontaneous language use, was the qualitatively oriented exploration of the free written response data. This analysis has proved to be quite rewarding, though. Perhaps the most important outcome was the clear differentiation in the ability to correctly use conditional and causal subordinate clauses. The finding suggests that language learners do not see the parallelism between the two manifestations of the structure, and they seem to learn each manifestation independently. On the basis of these findings, and in as far as possible, the analyses for subordination have been conducted separately for each type. These findings have also provided suggestions as to how to define structure complexity. Complexity might be directly related to the number of different manifestations a structure can appear in. Although it is not entirely clear what would constitute a single manifestation, it seems fair to conclude that syntactic structures generally have more than morphological structures. Thus, this explanation would explain why instruction has primarily been found to be effective with morphological structures. This study emphasizes that L2 research is in desperate need of longitudinal studies that investigate how L2 learners start to use their developing L2 knowledge. Not only would this inform theories of knowledge and representation, it is probably also an important precursor for the kind of study conducted here. If one wants to make claims about the effect of instruction on grammatical development, it is important to understand precisely how particular structures emerge in the L2 learner’s language. With simple frequency counts and with points of measurement that were quite far apart, this study has been able to uncover interesting features of learner language. Much can probably be learned if learner language is more systematically examined. This study underscores Doughty’s claim that: “the case for explicit instruction has been overstated.” (2003, p. 274). However, these results should not be taken to mean that second language learning can do without instruction, as the no interface position has often been interpreted. Although in this study the effects of instruction were not spectacular, it has been very clearly demonstrated the instruction is an important catalyst of learning (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991;Long, 1983). The purpose of instruction should be to intensify the input. The focus should be on meaningful interaction, but some explicit FFI would probably do more good than harm. Grammar instruction should not aim for the establishment of explicit knowledge. Rather, for grammar instruction to be optimally effective, it should be geared towards the provision of structures in realistic and functional settings, and teaching the structure in isolated contexts should be avoided. After all, the goal of second language grammar teaching is not conscious knowledge of grammar, but proficiency

Plant growth regulators and biostimulants for use in varying management systems to improve corn grain yield

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) and biostimulants are product chemistries that have recently become popular in the agricultural market. There is no concrete evidence however, for their best place in a management system to optimize their return on investment and crop yield potential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the responses of corn (Zea mays L.) grain yield to in-furrow and foliar applications of PGRs and biostimulants, and to determine if PGRs and biostimulants impact yield differently under varying management systems. Field studies were conducted in the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons across three locations: Harrisburg, Champaign, and Yorkville in Illinois. Corn was grown under two different management conditions, a standard or an intensive input system. The standard management was implemented with a standard planting population, fertility based on soil test values, and with no foliar fungicide. The intensive input system used an increased plant population, added fertility through nitrogen side-dress and foliar micro fertilizer applications, and provided a fungicide application at the VT growth stage. The PGRs (Ascend SL or Optify/Stretch) were applied in-furrow at planting, and either Ascend SL, or a biostimulant (Toggle or Voyagro) was applied to the foliage at the V5 growth stage. Corn plants grown in the intensive input system out-yielded those grown in the standard system by 1 kilogram hectacre-1 (15 bushels acre-1) on average, showing that grain yield can be increased through management. Plant growth regulators and biostimulant applications resulted in few significant impacts on yield and yield components, with responses being both positive and negative. Therefore, PGRs and biostimulants can influence corn grain yield, but these responses vary and their effects were greatest when applied in an intensive input system

Wee1 kinase alters cyclin E/Cdk2 and promotes apoptosis during the early embryonic development of Xenopus laevis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cell cycles of the <it>Xenopus laevis </it>embryo undergo extensive remodeling beginning at the midblastula transition (MBT) of early development. Cell divisions 2–12 consist of rapid cleavages without gap phases or cell cycle checkpoints. Some remodeling events depend upon a critical nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, whereas others rely on a maternal timer controlled by cyclin E/Cdk2 activity. One key event that occurs at the MBT is the degradation of maternal Wee1, a negative regulator of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In order to assess the effect of Wee1 on embryonic cell cycle remodeling, Wee1 mRNA was injected into one-cell stage embryos. Overexpression of Wee1 caused cell cycle delay and tyrosine phosphorylation of Cdks prior to the MBT. Furthermore, overexpression of Wee1 disrupted key developmental events that normally occur at the MBT such as the degradation of Cdc25A, cyclin E, and Wee1. Overexpression of Wee1 also resulted in post-MBT apoptosis, tyrosine phosphorylation of Cdks and persistence of cyclin E/Cdk2 activity. To determine whether Cdk2 was required specifically for the survival of the embryo, the cyclin E/Cdk2 inhibitor, Δ34-Xic1, was injected in embryos and also shown to induce apoptosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Taken together, these data suggest that Wee1 triggers apoptosis through the disruption of the cyclin E/Cdk2 timer. In contrast to Wee1 and Δ34-Xic1, altering Cdks by expression of Chk1 and Chk2 kinases blocks rather than promotes apoptosis and causes premature degradation of Cdc25A. Collectively, these data implicate Cdc25A as a key player in the developmentally regulated program of apoptosis in <it>X. laevis </it>embryos.</p

Strategy focused instruction in literacy education and second language learning for adults (LESLLA) in the Netherlands

This survey study focused on the strategies that LESLLA teachers in the Netherlands model and train in their classes. A questionnaire was developed aiming at tapping into four different strategy types: metacognitive, social, affective and cognitive strategies. Eighty two LESLLA teachers participated in the study. The study revealed remarkable differences between teachers: 17% of the respondents could be characterized as strongly strategy focused, whereas 41% of the participants was categorized as strategy focused and 32% as moderately strategy focused. 10% of the teachers reported to rarely focus on any strategy at all. The results showed that the teachers in our sample focused more frequently on metacognitive and social strategies and less on affective and cognitive strategies. Strategy focus could not be related to teacher characteristics, such as their training or their years of teaching experience, and also not to the proficiency level of their learners

Seven Bacteriophages Isolated from the Female Urinary Microbiota

Recent research has debunked the myth that urine is sterile, having uncovered bacteria within the bladders of healthy individuals. However, the identity, diversity, and putative roles of bacteriophages in the bladder are unknown. We report the draft genome sequences of seven bacteriophages isolated from microbial communities from adult female bladders