Rationale: Fibrosis promotes the maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF), making it resistant to therapy. Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to atrial fibrosis will open new pathways towards effective antifibrotic therapies. Objective: This study aims to decipher the mechanistic interplay between polo-like kinase 2 (PLK2) and the pro-fibrotic cytokine osteopontin (OPN) in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrosis and atrial fibrillation. Methods and Results: Atrial PLK2 mRNA ex...
Rationale: Epigenetic aging is a novel measure of biological age, reflecting exposures and disease risks independent of chronological age. It may serve as a useful biomarker of cardiovascular health (CVH) and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk for early detection or prevention. Objective: To examine associations between GrimAge acceleration (GrimAA), a measure of epigenetic aging calculated from the residuals of GrimAge regressed on chronological age, and two repeated CVH measures: a full scor...
#2Li Tang(CSU: Central South University)H-Index: 3
Last. James F. Martin(BCM: Baylor College of Medicine)H-Index: 86
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Rationale: During neonatal heart regeneration, the fibrotic response, which is required to prevent cardiac rupture, resolves via poorly understood mechanisms. Deletion of the Hippo pathway gene Sav in adult CMs increases Yap activity and promotes cardiac regeneration, partly by inducing fibrosis resolution. Deletion of Yap in neonatal cardiomyocytes (CMs) leads to increased fibrosis and loss of neonatal heart regeneration, suggesting that Yap inhibits fibrosis by regulating intercellular signali...
Rationale: A hallmark of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, which leads to increased endothelial cell production of superoxide and a simultaneous reduction in availability of the vasoprotective signalling radical, nitric oxide (NO). We recently demonstrated in preclinical models that type 2 diabetes simultaneously causes resistance to insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) mediated glucose lowering and endothelial NO release. Objective: To examine the effect of insulin and IGF-1 resistance spe...
Last. David K. Menon(University of Cambridge)H-Index: 116
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Rationale: Secondary brain hypoxia portends significant mortality in ischemic brain diseases, yet our understanding of hypoxic ischemic brain injury (HIBI) pathophysiology in humans remains rudimentary. Objective: To quantify the impact of secondary brain hypoxia on injury to the neurovascular unit in patients with HIBI. Methods and Results: We conducted a prospective interventional study of invasive neuromonitoring in 18 post-cardiac arrest patients with HIBI. The partial pressures of brain tis...
#1Rajat Gupta(UCLA: University of California, Los Angeles)H-Index: 1
#2Yan Lin(UCLA: University of California, Los Angeles)H-Index: 14
Last. Elizabeth Tran(UCLA: University of California, Los Angeles)H-Index: 3
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Rationale: Chronic electronic cigarette (EC) users exhibit a higher susceptibility of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to undergo oxidation as compared to non-user controls. However, there is a paucit...
Rationale: The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a complex regulatory network that maintains normal physiological functions. The role of the RAS in sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction (SIMD) is poorly defined. Angiotensinogen (AGT) is the unique precursor of the RAS and gives rise to all angiotensin peptides. The effects and mechanisms of AGT in development of SIMD have not been defined. Objective: To determine a role of AGT in SIMD and investigate the underlying mechanisms. Methods and Result...
#1Haiyan Chu(UTSW: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)H-Index: 1
#2Anastasia Sacharidou(UTSW: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)H-Index: 10
Last. Joachim Herz(UTSW: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)H-Index: 117
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Rationale: Preeclampsia (PE) is a potentially life-threatening, placenta-based hypertensive disorder during pregnancy, and the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) frequently leads to PE. APS pregnancies are also complicated by fetal demise and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Objective: Here we determined how the circulating antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) characteristic of APS alter placental trophoblast function to cause PE and also endanger the fetus. Methods and Results: Experiments wer...