Transcriptional Regulator TonEBP Mediates Oxidative Damages in Ischemic Kidney Injury

TonEBP (tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein) is a transcriptional regulator whose expression is elevated in response to various forms of stress including hyperglycemia, inflammation, and hypoxia. Here we investigated the role of TonEBP in acute kidney injury (AKI) using a line of TonEBP haplo-deficient mice subjected to bilateral renal ischemia followed by reperfusion (I/R). In the TonEBP haplo-deficient animals, induction of TonEBP, oxidative stress, inflammation, cell death, and functional injury in the kidney in response to I/R were all reduced. Analyses of renal transcriptome revealed that genes in several cellular pathways including peroxisome and mitochondrial inner membrane were suppressed in response to I/R, and the suppression was relieved in the TonEBP deficiency. Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the cellular injury was reproduced in a renal epithelial cell line in response to hypoxia, ATP depletion, or hydrogen peroxide. The knockdown of TonEBP reduced ROS production and cellular injury in correlation with increased expression of the suppressed genes. The cellular injury was also blocked by inhibitors of necrosis. These results demonstrate that ischemic insult suppresses many genes involved in cellular metabolism leading to local oxidative stress by way of TonEBP induction. Thus, TonEBP is a promising target to prevent AKI

Minimization of Temperature Ranges between the Top and Bottom of an Air Flow Controlling Device through Hybrid Control in a Plant Factory

To maintain the production timing, productivity, and product quality of plant factories, it is necessary to keep the growth environment uniform. A vertical multistage type of plant factory involves different levels of growing trays, which results in the problem of difference in temperature among vertically different locations. To address it, it is necessary to install air flow devices such as air flow fan and cooling/heating device at the proper locations in order to facilitate air circulation in the facility as well as develop a controlling technology for efficient operation. Accordingly, this study compares the temperature and air distribution within the space of a vertical multistage closed-type plant factory by controlling cooling/heating devices and air flow fans harmoniously by means of the specially designed testbed. The experiment results indicate that in the hybrid control of cooling and heating devices and air flow fans, the difference in temperature decreased by as much as 78.9% compared to that when only cooling and heating devices were operated; the air distribution was improved by as much as 63.4%

Ubiquitin ligase MKRN1 modulates telomere length homeostasis through a proteolysis of hTERT

Telomere homeostasis is regulated by telomerase and a collection of associatedproteins. Telomerase is, in turn, regulated by post-translational modifications of the rate-limiting catalytic subunit hTERT. Here we show that disruption of Hsp90 by geldanamycin promotes efficient ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated degradation of hTERT. Furthermore, we have used the yeast two-hybrid method to identify a novel RING finger gene (MKRN1) encoding an E3 ligase that mediates ubiquitination of hTERT. Overexpression of MKRN1 in telomerase-positive cells promotes the degradation of hTERT and decreases telomerase activity and subsequently telomere length. Our data suggest that MKRN1 plays an important role in modulating telomere length homeostasis through a dynamic balance involving hTERT protein stability

Hanja alexia with agraphia after left posterior inferior temporal lobe infarction: a case study.

Korean written language is composed of ideogram (Hanja) and phonogram (Hangul), as Japanese consists of Kanji (ideogram) and Kana (phonogram). Dissociation between ideogram and phonogram impairment after brain injury has been reported in Japanese, but few in Korean. We report a 64-yr-old right-handed man who showed alexia with agraphia in Hanja but preserved Hangul reading and writing after a left posterior inferior temporal lobe infarction. Interestingly, the patient was an expert in Hanja; he had been a Hanja calligrapher over 40 yr. However, when presented with 65 basic Chinese letters that are taught in elementary school, his responses were slow both in reading (6.3 sec/letter) and writing (8.8 sec/letter). The rate of correct response was 81.5% (53 out of 65 letters) both in reading and writing. The patient's performances were beyond mean-2SD of those of six age-, sex-, and education-matched controls who correctly read 64.7 out of 65 and wrote 62.5 out of 65 letters with a much shorter reaction time (1.3 sec/letter for reading and 4.0 sec/letter for writing). These findings support the notion that ideogram and phonogram can be mediated in different brain regions and Hanja alexia with agraphia in Korean patients can be associated with a left posterior inferior temporal lesion

Clinical characteristics and serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide as a diagnostic marker of Kawasaki disease in infants younger than 3 months of age

PurposeThe incidence of Kawasaki disease (KD) is rare in young infants (less than 3 months of age), who present with only a few symptoms that fulfill the clinical diagnostic criteria. The diagnosis for KD can therefore be delayed, leading to a high risk of cardiac complications. We examined the clinical characteristics and measured the serum levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels of these patients for assessing its value in the early detection of KD.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the data of young infants diagnosed with KD from 2004 to 2012. The control group included 20 hospitalized febrile patients. Laboratory data, including NT-proBNP were obtained for each patient in both groups.ResultsIncomplete KD was observed in 21/24 patients (87.5%). The mean fever duration on admission was 1.36±1.0 days in the KD group. Common symptoms included erythema at the site of Bacille Calmette-Guerin inoculation (70.8%), skin rash (50.0%), changes of oropharyngeal mucosa (29.1%), and cervical lymphadenopathy (20.8%). The mean number of major diagnostic criteria fulfilled was 2.8±1.4. Five KD patients (20.8%) had only one symptom matching these criteria. The incidence of coronary artery complications was 12.5%. The mean serum NT-proBNP level in the acute phase, in the KD and control groups, were 4,159±3,714 pg/mL and 957±902 pg/mL, respectively, which decreased significantly in the convalescent phase.ConclusionIncomplete KD was observed in 87.5% patients. Serum NT-proBNP might be a valuable biomarker for the early detection of KD in febrile infants aged <3 months

Outcome prediction of pediatric drowning

Purpose Despite the well-known mortality of pediatric drowning, there is a paucity of evidence on the implications of an initial evaluation on the relevant outcome of drowning. This study aimed to investigate the association of initial clinical findings with outcome of children undergoing drowning. Methods This retrospective study was conducted using the medical records of 56 children undergoing drowning who visited 3 Korean academic hospitals from January 2000 through May 2020. We analyzed information regarding the prehospital resuscitation, drowning time, a 4-tiered chest radiographic grade, and the baseline characteristics. The grade was defined based on the findings of initial chest radiographs. The poor outcomes were defined as the need for intensive care unit care or death aftercare. We analyzed the association of the prehospital resuscitation, submersion time, and the radiographic grade with the poor outcomes using binary logistic regression. Results Among the 56 children, 31 (55.4%) were aged 1-4 years. Prehospital resuscitation and 1-5 minutes of submersion time were noted in the 25 (44.6%) and 30 children (53.6%), respectively. The chest radiographic grades 1 through 4 accounted for 17 (30.4%), 20 (35.7%), 12 (21.4%), and 3 children (5.4%), respectively. Poor outcomes occurred in 17 children (30.4%), including 3 deaths (5.4%). The association with the poor outcomes was noted in the submersion time of longer than 5 minutes (adjusted odds ratio, 21.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-415.73; compared with < 1 minute) while not in the submersion time and chest radiographic grade. Conclusion This study confirms that submersion time is an outcome predictor of drowning