An update on transcriptional and post-translational regulation of brain voltage-gated sodium channels

Voltage-gated sodium channels are essential proteins in brain physiology, as they generate the sodium currents that initiate neuronal action potentials. Voltage-gated sodium channels expression, localisation and function are regulated by a range of transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms. Here, we review our understanding of regulation of brain voltage-gated sodium channels, in particular SCN1A (Naᵥ1.1), SCN2A (Naᵥ1.2), SCN3A (Naᵥ1.3) and SCN8A (Naᵥ1.6), by transcription factors, by alternative splicing, and by post-translational modifications. Our focus is strongly centred on recent research lines, and newly generated knowledge

Innovative Leadership and Venture Performance in the Hospitality Industry in Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated the relationship between innovative leadership and venture performance in some selected hotels in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between the dimension of innovative leadership (idea creation) with three measures of venture performance;   financial performance, non- financial performance and market performance respectively. The population of the study consisted of 675 male and female members of staff of some selected hotels in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, which included both senior and junior staff of firms. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaires. A total of 240 questionnaires were retrieved and analysed. Spearman’s Rank Correlation Statistical tool with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) were used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between idea creation and financial performance, non-financial performance and marketing performance of hotels in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. The study therefore concluded that the innovative leader should make sure to have as many ideas under development as grains of sand in the desert, in order to ensure that some of the ideas reach the market as innovations. The innovative leader should also reduce the time from idea to invoice, and increase the “payback” in the realization phase.It was thus recommended that innovative leadership should take control over the whole process, from idea generation to commercialization and realization. However, they are expected to employ different external actors in various parts of the process as they take control

Mapping arginine methylation in the human body and cardiac disease

Purpose Arginine methylation (ArgMe) is one of the most ubiquitous post-translational modifications, and hundreds of proteins undergo ArgMe in e.g. brain. However, the scope of ArgMe in many tissues, including the heart, is currently under explored. Here, we aimed to 1) identify proteins undergoing ArgMe in human organs, and 2) expose the relevance of ArgMe in cardiac disease. Experimental design We used publicly available proteomic data to search for ArgMe in 13 human tissues. We used glucose to induce H9c2 cardiac-like cell hypertrophy. Results Our results show that ArgMe is mainly tissue-specific; nevertheless, we suggest an embryonic origin of core ArgMe events. In the heart, we found 103 mostly novel ArgMe sites in 58 non-histone proteins. We provide compelling evidence that cardiac protein ArgMe is relevant to cardiomyocyte ontology, and important for proper cardiac function. This is highlighted by the fact that genetic mutations affecting methylated arginine positions are often associated with cardiac disease, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We provide pilot experimental data suggesting significant changes in ArgMe profiles of H9c2 cells upon induction of cell hypertrophy using glucose. Conclusions and clinical relevance Our work calls for in-depth investigation of ArgMe in normal and diseased tissues, using methods including clinical proteomics

Element similarity in high-dimensional materials representations

The traditional display of elements in the periodic table is convenient for the study of chemistry and physics. However, the atomic number alone is insufficient for training statistical machine learning models to describe and extract composition-structure–property relationships. Here, we assess the similarity and correlations contained within high-dimensional local and distributed representations of the chemical elements, as implemented in an open-source Python package ElementEmbeddings. These include element vectors of up to 200 dimensions derived from known physical properties, crystal structure analysis, natural language processing, and deep learning models. A range of distance measures are compared and a clustering of elements into familiar groups is found using dimensionality reduction techniques. The cosine similarity is used to assess the utility of these metrics for crystal structure prediction, showing that they can outperform the traditional radius ratio rules for the structural classification of AB binary solids

Element similarity in high-dimensional materials representations

The traditional display of elements in the periodic table is convenient for the study of chemistry and physics. However, the atomic number alone is insufficient for training statistical machine learning models to describe and extract composition-structure-property relationships. Here, we assess the similarity and correlations contained within high-dimensional local and distributed representations of the chemical elements, as implemented in an open-source Python package ElementEmbeddings. These include element vectors of up to 200 dimensions derived from known physical properties, crystal structure analysis, natural language processing, and deep learning models. A range of distance measures are compared and a clustering of elements into familiar groups is found using dimensionality reduction techniques. The cosine similarity is used to assess the utility of these metrics for crystal structure prediction, showing that they can outperform the traditional radius ratio rules for the structural classification of AB binary solids.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Evaluation of reproductive profile in male albino rats following varied duration of administration with Revive capsule

Background: Revive capsule is a polyherbal formulation commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction or enhance libido in men. Some of the individual herbs used in the formulation of this drug have been known scientifically to affect various biochemical components of the human body; hence this study was aimed at evaluating the reproductive profile in male albino rats following varied duration of administration with Revive capsule.  Methods: A total of 42 male albino rats were used for the study, and were divided into six (6) groups of seven (7) rats each. They were allowed to acclimatize for two (2) weeks by maintaining 12-hour light and dark cycles daily, with access to standard feed and water ad libitum. Group A (negative control) rats were administered with distilled water once daily, while groups B, C, D, E and F were administered once daily with 72 mg/kg of Revive capsule for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks respectively. The rat dose administered was extrapolated from the human dose using the formula by Paget and Barnes. At the end of each treatment week, the rats were allowed to fast overnight, followed by their anaesthetization using chloroform, and blood sample collection via jugular vein puncture. Also, the testes were excised; the epididymis were also excised from the testes and used immediately for semen analysis, while the epididymis-free testes were examined histologically. Rat-specific test kits with ELISA method were used to analyze serum LH, FSH and testosterone.Results: The results showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in serum LH, FSH and testosterone levels, and a significant increase in sperm count and sperm quality parameters in the treatment groups compared to the negative control, with the maximum levels attained after 6 weeks of treatment (group F). Also, photomicrographs of histologically examined testes of the treatment groups appeared indifferent from those of the negative control.Conclusions: These findings may suggest that in using a rat model, treatment with Revive capsule at the appropriate dosage for 6 weeks is safe, and that, besides its acclaimed use in enhancing libido or treating erectile dysfunction, it may also be effective in promoting male fertility.

Evaluation of serum leptin levels in diabetic and hypertensive subjects resident in Port Harcourt

Background: Diabetes and hypertension which are metabolic conditions are becoming more common and prevalent  in the world. Prolonged rise of blood sugar levels, is a hallmark of diabetes, a metabolic condition caused by problems with insulin production, insulin resistance or both while hypertension is the persistent high blood pressure in the arteries. Leptin is a hormone that inhibits appetite, reduces fat storage in adipocytes and aids in the regulation of energy balance hence implicated in diabetes and insulin resistance. Thus, can metabolic state affects its level in the serum. Methods: The study population is two hundred and forty (240) subjects that are residents of Port Harcourt aged between 30-70 years. Sixty subjects were used as the control, sixty subjects were diabetes, the other sixty subjects were hypertensive while the remaining sixty were subjects with both hypertension and diabetic mellitus. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to quantitatively measure leptin levels in the serum sample, glycated haemoglobin were determined quantitatively using sandwich immunodetection and blood pressure was measured using mercury sphygmomanometer. Results: The data generated were statistically analysed using Graph Pad Prism version 9.0.2. The results showed no significant difference in leptin levels in diabetics, hypertensive and subjects having both diabetes and hypertension when compared with the control subjects having none of these metabolic disorders (p =0.4166). Conclusions: Our results shows that leptin levels in the population were relatively within the reference ranges both for males (0.5-12ng/ml) and females (0.5-15ng/ml). It clearly shows that metabolic conditions (diabetes or hypertension) does not affect leptin levels in serum

Gendered violence and human rights: An evaluation of widowhood rites in Nigeria

This paper evaluates the connecting fabric between gendered violence and human rights through the dire lenses of widowhood rites in Oshimili-North Local Government Area in Delta State, Nigeria. This evaluation stems from the Sustainable Development Goal-5 whose aim is the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women as well as harmful practices. Hinged on the theories of cultural relativism and universalism, the paper provides information on the existence of dehumanizing cultural practices related with widowhood rites despite the enactment of human rights instruments that are expected to address this form of discrimination targeted mostly against women. In-depth interviews were conducted among widows who voluntarily shared their experiences. Findings show widows’ acceptability of widowhood practices despite their educational and financial status notwithstanding. Also worthy of note is that women are perpetrators of these widowhood rites and they ensure its strict compliance among other widows. It recommends the dire need of the Nigerian government to domesticate the global rights regime into its legal framework, education of the populace through the interpretation, appropriation and the reconstructing of these transnational discourses into the indigenous and ensure that, effective monitoring mechanisms are in place to guarantee the effective protection of this vulnerable population

Do sodium channel proteolytic fragments regulate sodium channel expression?

© 2017 Taylor & Francis The cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel (gene: SCN5A, protein: Na V 1.5) is responsible for the sodium current that initiates the cardiomyocyte action potential. Research into the mechanisms of SCN5A gene expression has gained momentum over the last few years. We have recently described the transcriptional regulation of SCN5A by GATA4 transcription factor. In this addendum to our study, we report our observations that 1) the linker between domains I and II (L DI-DII ) of Na V 1.5 contains a nuclear localization signal (residues 474–481) that is necessary to localize L DI-DII into the nucleus, and 2) nuclear L DI-DII activates the SCN5A promoter in gene reporter assays using cardiac-like H9c2 cells. Given that voltage-gated sodium channels are known targets of proteases such as calpain, we speculate that Na V 1.5 degradation is signaled to the cell transcriptional machinery via nuclear localization of L DI-DII and subsequent stimulation of the SCN5A promoter

Masculinity and men’s health-seeking behaviour in Nigerian academia

The nexus between masculinity and men’s health-seeking behaviour is a multifaceted global discourse which has been quite enlightening when viewed from varying perspectives. Remarkably, cultural and patriarchal norms continually impact the chauvinistic character of men with regards to their health. It is in line with this that the study investigates men’s health-seeking behaviour in the Nigerian academia by identifying factors that impede their acceptability of and accessibility to available healthcare facilities. More specifically, the study examined the extent to which gender/masculinity influences the health-seeking behaviour amongst men and how this invariably affects their rights to health enshrined in goal 3 of the SDGs. The Courtenay’s relational theory of gender and men’s health is the most suitable theory that puts the discourse in proper perspective. Data was obtained via in-depth interviews conducted with male staff of Covenant University. A convenient sample of 8 respondents were purposively and randomly selected from across the various ranks of the population of the study. The interview results identified and outlined themes on the health-seeking behaviour amongst men in the academia. The paper argues that despite high educational attainments, masculinity and cultural norms remain major influencers of men's health-seeking behaviour. This study concludes that there is a need for health education, sensitization and campaigns in other to enhance health-seeking behaviour amongst men in the academia