Proliferation-dependent differential regulation of the dolichol pathway genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The dolichol pathway serves in the synthesis of the dolichol-linked oligosaccharide precursor for protein N-glycosylation. Recently, we reported that mRNAs of genes that function at the early steps in the dolichol pathway in yeast, ALG7, ALG1 and ALG2, were co-ordinately induced following growth stimulation of G0-arrested cells in a manner similar to that of the transcripts of the early growth response genes (Kukuruzinska,M.A. and Lennon,K. Glycobiology, 4, 437-443, 1994). To determine whether the entire dolichol pathway was co-ordinately regulated with growth, we examined the expression of genes functioning late in the pathway, including two genes encoding oligosaccharyltransferase subunits, at two critical control points in the G1 phase of cell cycle: G0/G1 and START. We show that early in G1, at the G0/G1 transition point, the late ALG genes and the two oligosaccharyltransferase-encoding genes examined were regulated co-ordinately with the early ALG genes: they were downregulated upon exit from the mitotic cell cycle into G0, and they were induced following growth stimulation in the absence of de novo protein synthesis. All the dolichol pathway genes produced transcripts with short, half-lives that were rapidly stabilized in the presence of cycloheximide. In contrast, cell division arrest late in G1, at START, was accompanied by a selective downregulation of only the first dolichol pathway gene, ALG7, and not of the genes functioning later in the pathway. These results indicate that, depending on their position in G1, cells either co-ordinately or differentially regulate the dolichol pathway gene

The impact of a household biogas programme on energy use and expenditure in East Java

Biogas has been promoted as a renewable, cleaner and cheaper energy source. While there are several initiatives promoting the use of biogas, credible analyses of its effects on the use of alternative energy sources and energy related expenditure are limited. This study uses panel data from households engaged in dairy farming in rural East Java to assess the impact of a household level programme, which promotes the construction of digesters that produce biogas, on energy use and expenditures. Both a difference-in-difference analysis and a pipeline comparison show that the use of digesters leads to a sharp reduction in energy related expenditures and a reduction in the use of firewood and liquefied petroleum gas. However, without subsidies, the payback period of between 11 and 14 years, albeit based only on reductions in energy costs accruing from investing in a digester, is perhaps too long to justify the investment

The CardioMetabolic Health Alliance Working Toward a New Care Model for the Metabolic Syndrome

AbstractThe Cardiometabolic Think Tank was convened on June 20, 2014, in Washington, DC, as a “call to action” activity focused on defining new patient care models and approaches to address contemporary issues of cardiometabolic risk and disease. Individual experts representing >20 professional organizations participated in this roundtable discussion. The Think Tank consensus was that the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex pathophysiological state comprised of a cluster of clinically measured and typically unmeasured risk factors, is progressive in its course, and is associated with serious and extensive comorbidity, but tends to be clinically under-recognized. The ideal patient care model for MetS must accurately identify those at risk before MetS develops and must recognize subtypes and stages of MetS to more effectively direct prevention and therapies. This new MetS care model introduces both affirmed and emerging concepts that will require consensus development, validation, and optimization in the future

Cause of Death and Predictors of All-Cause Mortality in Anticoagulated Patients With Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation : Data From ROCKET AF

M. Kaste on työryhmän ROCKET AF Steering Comm jäsen.Background-Atrial fibrillation is associated with higher mortality. Identification of causes of death and contemporary risk factors for all-cause mortality may guide interventions. Methods and Results-In the Rivaroxaban Once Daily Oral Direct Factor Xa Inhibition Compared with Vitamin K Antagonism for Prevention of Stroke and Embolism Trial in Atrial Fibrillation (ROCKET AF) study, patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation were randomized to rivaroxaban or dose-adjusted warfarin. Cox proportional hazards regression with backward elimination identified factors at randomization that were independently associated with all-cause mortality in the 14 171 participants in the intention-to-treat population. The median age was 73 years, and the mean CHADS(2) score was 3.5. Over 1.9 years of median follow-up, 1214 (8.6%) patients died. Kaplan-Meier mortality rates were 4.2% at 1 year and 8.9% at 2 years. The majority of classified deaths (1081) were cardiovascular (72%), whereas only 6% were nonhemorrhagic stroke or systemic embolism. No significant difference in all-cause mortality was observed between the rivaroxaban and warfarin arms (P=0.15). Heart failure (hazard ratio 1.51, 95% CI 1.33-1.70, P= 75 years (hazard ratio 1.69, 95% CI 1.51-1.90, P Conclusions-In a large population of patients anticoagulated for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, approximate to 7 in 10 deaths were cardiovascular, whereasPeer reviewe

A New Concept of Corporations: A Contractual and Private Property Model

Social responsibility --the doctrine that corporations are obligated to place public service ahead of private profit-rests on three premises: that corporations cannot exist without governmental permission and special privileges; that corporations are artificial legal entities and therefore not entitled to the same rights as individuals or other groups; and that giant publicly traded corporations are not private property because they are not personally managed by their owners. This Article challenges these premises, arguing that corporate features are created by contract; that the entity concept is illogical and unnecessary; and that giant corporations are private property because the officers are authorized agents of the shareholders. The Article thereby calls social responsibility into question