Involvement of STAT3 in Bladder Smooth Muscle Hypertrophy Following Bladder Outlet Obstruction

We examined the involvement of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in bladder outlet obstruction (BOO)-induced bladder smooth muscle hypertrophy using a rat in vivo and in vitro study. BOO induced increases in bladder weight and bladder smooth muscle thickness 1 week after the operation. By using antibody microarrays, 64 of 389 proteins blotted on the array met our selection criteria of an INR value between > or = 2.0 and < or = 0.5. This result revealed up-regulation of transcription factors, cell cycle regulatory proteins, apoptosis-associated proteins and so on. On the other hand, down-regulation (INR value < or = 0.5) of proteins was not found. In a profiling study, we found an increase in the expression of STAT3. A significant increase in nuclear phosphorylated STAT3 expression was confirmed in bladder smooth muscle tissue by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Cyclical stretch-relaxation (1 Hz) at 120% elongation significantly increased the expression of STAT3 and of alpha-smooth muscle actin in primary cultured bladder smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, the blockade of STAT3 expression by the transfection of STAT3 small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly prevented the stretch-induced increase in alpha-smooth muscle actin expression. These results suggest that STAT3 has an important role in the induction of bladder smooth muscle hypertrophy

Relation between psychosocial variables and the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional and prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This cross-sectional and prospective study used a variety of psychological inventories to evaluate the relationship between psychosocial factors and the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were 304 patients with type 2 diabetes who were treated as outpatients at diabetes clinics. All participants were assessed for HbA_1cand completed the following self-report psychological inventories: 1) Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ), 2) Problem Areas in Diabetes Survey (PAID), 3) Well-being Questionnaire 12 (W-BQ12), 4) Self-Esteem Scale (SES), 5) Social Support Scale, and 6) Self-Efficacy Scale. HbA_1cwas again measured one year later. The relationships between the psychosocial variables obtained by analysis of the psychological inventories and baseline or one-year follow-up HbA_1cwere determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Baseline HbA_1cwas significantly correlated with age, diet treatment regimen, number of microvascular complication of diabetes, and the total scores of DTSQ, W-BQ12, PAID, SES and the Self-Efficacy Scale. Hierarchical stepwise multiple regression revealed that significant predictors of baseline HbA_1cwere total DTSQ and PAID scores, along with age, diet treatment regimen, and number of microvascular complication of diabetes after adjustment for demographic, clinical and other psychosocial variables. Two hundred and ninety patients (95.4% of 304) were followed and assessed one year after baseline. Hierarchical stepwise multiple regression analysis showed the significant predictors of follow-up HbA_1cto be total DTSQ and PAID scores, along with age and diet treatment regimen. However, the correlation between baseline and follow-up HbA_1cwas so high that the only other variable to retain significance was diet treatment regimen once baseline HbA_1cwas included in the regression of follow-up HbA_1c.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The DTSQ and the PAID predicted both current and future HbA_1cto a similar and significant degree in patients with type 2 diabetes.</p

Amplitude enhancement of short period GPS-TEC oscillations over rainfall area

Correlation between rainfall and short period GPS-TEC (total electron content) variations are investigated by using the precipitation data obtained on the ground and estimated from satellite observations (JAXA/GSMaP) as a proxy of lower atmospheric wave activity. The GPS-TEC data obtained at a tropical station, PHIM, in Phimai, Thailand, for 2014–2020, and the data obtained at a mid-latitude station, NAKG, in Tokara Nakanoshima Island, Japan, for 2017–2019, are examined. A statistical analysis of MEM (maximum entropy method) power spectral density (PSD) in the period range from 50 to 1200 s over PHIM clearly shows an enhancement in the cases of rainfall from that in no-rainfall cases, in particular, on the dusk side. The enhancement is observed both acoustic wave periods less than 5–6 min and internal gravity wave periods more than 10 min. The enhancement after sunset could be an effect of strong rainfall more frequent on the dusk side than that in other local time, or it could suggest the importance of ionospheric electron density profile change for the TEC variation. On the other hand, the PSD does not show such clear enhancement over NAKG on the dusk side, although it shows a small enhancement on both dayside and night-side. A clear PSD bulge near the main vertical acoustic resonance periods, i.e., around 275 s, appears in the average PSD profile of the TEC at PHIM, which suggests that the resonance effect contribute to some extent the PSD enhancement under rainy condition. An event analysis also suggests the contribution of acoustic resonance to the enhancement of the short period TEC variation. A complicated spatial distribution of TEC oscillation over a rainfall area around PHIM, where the TEC oscillations with various periods co-exist, is presented

Antitumor effects of α-bisabolol against pancreatic cancer.

In the present study, we investigated whether α-bisabolol, a sesquiterpene alcohol present in essential oils derived from a variety of plants, has antitumor effects against pancreatic cancer. α-Bisabolol induced a decrease in cell proliferation and viability in pancreatic cancer cell lines (KLM1, KP4, Panc1, MIA Paca2), but not in pancreatic epithelial cells (ACBRI515). α-Bisabolol treatment induced apoptosis and suppressed Akt activation in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Furthermore, α-bisabolol treatment induced the overexpression of early growth response-1 (EGR1), whereas EGR1 siRNA decreased the α-bisabolol-induced cell death of KLM1 cells. Tumor growth in both subcutaneous and peritoneal xenograft nude mouse models was significantly inhibited by intragastric administration of 1000 mg/kg of α-bisabolol, once a week for three weeks. The results indicate that α-bisabolol could be a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of pancreatic cancer

CRISPR-KRISPR: A Method to Identify On-Target and Random Insertion of Donor DNAs and their Characterization in Knock-In Mice

CRISPR tools can generate knockout and knock-in animal models easily, but the models can contain off-target genomic lesions or random insertions of donor DNAs. Simpler methods to identify off-target lesions and random insertions, using tail or earpiece DNA, are unavailable. We develop CRISPR-KRISPR (CRISPR-Knock-ins and Random Inserts Searching PRotocol), a method to identify both off-target lesions and random insertions. CRISPR-KRISPR uses as little as 3.4 μg of genomic DNA; thus, it can be easily incorporated as an additional step to genotype founder animals for further breeding

Percutaneous Transluminal Angioscopy During Coronary Intervention

To investigate the feasibility of angioscopic-guided percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and to elucidate the mechanism of efficacy of coronary stenting for acute myocardial infarction, we performed coronary angioscopy in 102 patients with stable angina or acute myocardial infarction. Thrombi and intimal flaps were observed in most patients after coronary angioplasty. Large intimal splits were seen in one third of patients. Stents were inserted in 10 patients who were revealed to have a large flap or protruding split to the inner lumen. Thrombolytic agents were administered in 2 patients with large thrombi. Additional treatments were required in 32% of patients. No acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina occurred in patients during hospitalization. Thus, angioscopy of the coronary lumen enables clinicians to determine the most appropriate and least risky coronary intervention strategy. In patients with acute myocardial infarction, angioscopy revealed occlusive or protruding thrombi in 34 of 35 patients. The protruding thrombi disappeared after stenting. The frequency of large intimal flaps increased after predilatation with balloon, but these disappeared after stenting. The present angioscopic study demonstrates that the coronary stent compresses the occlusive or protruding thrombi and covers the ruptured thrombogenic plaque Consequently, smooth-surfaced and wide vessel lumen are obtained

Increased tolerance to photooxidative stress by overexpression of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase in transgenic tobacco

76-80Under abiotic stress conditions, plants suffer from oxidative damage caused by increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although chloroplasts are the main source of ROS generation in plant cells, changes in ROS level in mitochondria affect plant stress response. In this study, we investigated whether overexpression of mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) can enhance tolerance to photooxidative stress. We produced transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing rice Mn-SOD under the control of cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, and assessed the stress tolerance of those plants. The transgenic lines showed higher total SOD activity by 2.8 to 5.2 fold than wild type plants. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurement revealed that the stress-induced inhibition of photosystem II was alleviated under high light, chilling and heat stresses in the transgenic lines. This result indicates that the Mn-SOD contributes to the defense against photooxidative damages in chloroplasts under these stress conditions

Dynamic characteristics of DC-DC converter with novel digital peak current-injected control

This paper presents the dynamic characteristics of the proposed digital control current mode de-de converter. In the proposed novel digital control circuit, the peak current-injected control is realized using the combination of the simple dual A-Dsignal converter and the programmed delay circuit. In 100kHz digitally controlled de-de converter, it is seen in simulation that the proposed method has no overshoot of the output voltage and the convergencetime that the output voltage is settled to steady-state is only 151J1S. The difference between the transient time of the proposed circuit and that of the conventionalmethod is an order of magnitude. Furthermore, the ratio of resolution of the DPWM generator against the output voltage is 0.27% and is satisfied to apply the commercial power supply unit.INTELEC 2009 - 2009 International Telecommunications Energy Conference : Incheon, South Korea, 2009.10.18-2009.10.2