Protein Phosphatase 5 Is a Negative Regulator of Estrogen Receptor-Mediated Transcription

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Inhibition of interleukin-6 decreases atrogene expression and ameliorates tail suspension-induced skeletal muscle atrophy

BackgroundInterleukin-6 (IL-6) is an inflammatory cytokine. Whether systemic IL-6 affects atrogene expression and disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy is unclear.\nMethodsTail-suspended mice were used as a disuse-induced muscle atrophy model. We administered anti-mouse IL-6 receptor antibody, beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) and vitamin D to the mice and examined the effects on atrogene expression and muscle atrophy.ResultsSerum IL-6 levels were elevated in the mice. Inhibition of IL-6 receptor suppressed muscle RING finger 1 (MuRF1) expression and prevented muscle atrophy. HMB and vitamin D inhibited the serum IL-6 surge, downregulated the expression of MuRF1 and atrogin-1 in the soleus muscle, and ameliorated atrophy in the mice.ConclusionSystemic IL-6 affects MuRF1 expression and disuse-induced muscle atrophy

Decreased hepatic enzymes reflect the decreased vitamin B6 levels in Parkinson's disease patients

Ikenaka K., Kajiyama Y., Aguirre C., et al. Decreased hepatic enzymes reflect the decreased vitamin B6 levels in Parkinson's disease patients. Pharmacology Research and Perspectives 12, e1174 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1002/prp2.1174.The study aims to investigate the vitamin B6 levels in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and their association with liver enzymes and evaluate how much dysregulation is associated with levodopa dose. Furthermore, to evaluate the effect of Opicapone, a catechol-o-methyl-transferase inhibitor, on vitamin B6 levels by monitoring the AST and ALT levels in patients treated with Levodopa–Carbidopa Intestinal Gel Infusion (LCIG). For these aims, serum vitamin B6 levels were measured (PD, n = 72 and controls, n = 31). The vitamin B6 level was compared with the total levodopa dose, clinical parameters, and blood homocysteine, albumin, and hemoglobin levels in PD patients. Correlations between vitamin B6 levels and AST and ALT levels, as well as the ratio ALT/AST, were analyzed. Changes in the AST and ALT levels and ALT/AST were analyzed in the patients treated with LCIG before and after the therapy (n = 24) and in the patients treated with LCIG + Opicapone before and after Opicapone treatment (n = 12). We found vitamin B6 levels were significantly lower in PD patients. Total levodopa dose and albumin levels were independently associated with vitamin B6 levels. Decreased vitamin B6 levels appeared as lower AST and ALT levels and ALT/AS. Treatment with LCIG decreased the AST and ALT levels and ALT/AST. Adjunctive therapy with Opicapone to LCIG ameliorated the decreased ALT and ALT/AST. We conclude that the ALT and ALT/AST can be useful parameters for monitoring vitamin B6 levels and Opicapone can ameliorate the dysregulated vitamin B6 in PD patients

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Zeolite from Coal Fly Ash by Using NaOH/Na2Co3 Solution

Zeolites have been synthesized through hydrothermal reaction of coal fly ash with alkaline solutions in order to facilitate effective use of the fly ash generated from the coal power stations. The properties of synthesized zeolite were examined by X-ray diffraction, and characterized by cation exchange capacity (CEC) and specific surface area. Each of NaOH solution or Na2CO3 solution was applied to test the effects of alkali type on hydrothermal reaction. The reaction conditions established in the present work ware the ratio of solid and liquid, 1 : 4 and reaction temperature, 393 K for the favored synthesis of zeolite in only few hours without any pretreatment. Only zeolite P was synthesized when 0.5 ～ 3.0 mol/dm3 NaOH was used, whereas both zeolite P and hydroxysodalite were produced in the case of NaOH solution of 4.0 mol/dm3. CEC value of 350 meq/100 g of the zeolite P synthesized with 2.0 mol/dm3 NaOH was sufficient for a cation exchanger. SEM photographs showed the growth of zeolite on the surface of the undissolved fly ash, resulting texture of amorphous fly ash covered with the crystallized zeolite. Sodium carbonate solution of 1.0 mol/dm3 alone failed the synthesis reaction of zeolite, whereas addition of more than 15% of NaOH proceeded the reaction. The thickness of zeolite layer depended on the amount of NaOH

Testosterone Deficiency Accelerates Neuronal and Vascular Aging of SAMP8 Mice: Protective Role of eNOS and SIRT1

Oxidative stress and atherosclerosis-related vascular disorders are risk factors for cognitive decline with aging. In a small clinical study in men, testosterone improved cognitive function; however, it is unknown how testosterone ameliorates the pathogenesis of cognitive decline with aging. Here, we investigated whether the cognitive decline in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8), which exhibits cognitive impairment and hypogonadism, could be reversed by testosterone, and the mechanism by which testosterone inhibits cognitive decline. We found that treatment with testosterone ameliorated cognitive function and inhibited senescence of hippocampal vascular endothelial cells of SAMP8. Notably, SAMP8 showed enhancement of oxidative stress in the hippocampus. We observed that an NAD+-dependent deacetylase, SIRT1, played an important role in the protective effect of testosterone against oxidative stress-induced endothelial senescence. Testosterone increased eNOS activity and subsequently induced SIRT1 expression. SIRT1 inhibited endothelial senescence via up-regulation of eNOS. Finally, we showed, using co-culture system, that senescent endothelial cells promoted neuronal senescence through humoral factors. Our results suggest a critical role of testosterone and SIRT1 in the prevention of vascular and neuronal aging

Utilizing agglutinative features in japanese-uighur machine translation

Japanese and Uighur languages are agglutinative languages and they have many syntactical and morphological similarities. And roughly speaking, we can translate Japanese into Uighur sequentially by replacing Japanese words with corresponding Uighur ones after morphological analysis. However, we should translate agglutinated suffixes carefully to make correct translation, because they play important roles on both languages. In this paper, we pay attention to them and propose a Japanese-Uighur machine translation utilizing the agglutinative features of both languages. To deal with the agglutinative features, we use the derivational grammar, which makes the similarities clearer between both languages. This makes our system proposed here simple and systematical. We have implemented the machine translation system and evaluated how effectively our system works