Search results for " element"
showing 10 items of 2679 documents
Loss of the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type IV in dopaminoceptive neurons enhances behavioral effects of cocaine.
2008
The persistent nature of addiction has been associated with activity-induced plasticity of neurons within the striatum and nucleus accumbens (NAc). To identify the molecular processes leading to these adaptations, we performed Cre/loxP-mediated genetic ablations of two key regulators of gene expression in response to activity, the Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV) and its postulated main target, the cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB). We found that acute cocaine-induced gene expression in the striatum was largely unaffected by the loss of CaMKIV. On the behavioral level, mice lacking CaMKIV in dopaminoceptive neurons displayed increased sensitivity to cocai…
Exercise loading history and femoral neck strength in a sideways fall: A three-dimensional finite element modeling study
2016
Over 90% of hip fractures are caused by falls. Due to a fall-induced impact on the greater trochanter, the posterior part of the thin superolateral cortex of the femoral neck is known to experience the highest stress, making it a fracture-prone region. Cortical geometry of the proximal femur, in turn, reflects a mechanically appropriate form with respect to habitual exercise loading. In this finite element (FE) modeling study, we investigated whether specific exercise loading history is associated with femoral neck structural strength and estimated fall-induced stresses along the femoral neck. One hundred and eleven three-dimensional (3D) proximal femur FE models for a sideways falling situ…
Association Between ABCB1 Genetic Variants and Persistent Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia in Women With Breast Cancer
2020
Importance Persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (pCIA) has been recently described in patients with breast cancer and in its most severe form occurs in up to 10% of these patients. Genetic risk factors associated with pCIA have not been adequately explored. Objective To identify genetic variants associated with pCIA. Design, Setting, and Participants In this genetic association study, 215 women with breast cancer treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy with a follow-up of 1.5 to 10 years after the end of the treatment were recruited retrospectively through 3 hospital oncology units across Spain between 2005 and 2018. Severe pCIA was defined as lack of scalp hair recovery (Common Termi…
Assessment of ten trace elements in umbilical cord blood and maternal blood: association with birth weight
2015
Background Trace elements are an essential nutritional component for humans and inadequate tissue-concentrations may have a significant effect on fetal size. Objective To measure ten trace elements in blood samples from mothers and their newborns, and assess their association with anthropometric characteristics at birth. The effects of other factors on fetal growth, such as biologic characteristics of the infant and mother, were analysed. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Hospital general, University of Valencia, Spain. Healthy pregnant women, and their full-term infants were selected (n = 54 paired samples). Infants were grouped according to birth weight: small for gesta…
Enhanced Role of Transition Metal Ion Catalysis During In-Cloud Oxidation of SO2
2013
Global sulfate production plays a key role in aerosol radiative forcing; more than half of this production occurs in clouds. We found that sulfur dioxide oxidation catalyzed by natural transition metal ions is the dominant in-cloud oxidation pathway. The pathway was observed to occur primarily on coarse mineral dust, so the sulfate produced will have a short lifetime and little direct or indirect climatic effect. Taking this into account will lead to large changes in estimates of the magnitude and spatial distribution of aerosol forcing. Therefore, this oxidation pathway-which is currently included in only one of the 12 major global climate models-will have a significant impact on assessmen…
SW—Soil and Water
2002
Abstract Recent research has directed attention to the size distribution of eroded material because of its influence on deposition mechanics and in carrying capacity of pollutant materials. At first, in this paper the relationship between aggregate breakdown mechanism and erosion processes is briefly reviewed. Then the link between the clay enrichment ratio and the sediment delivery ratio at morphological unit scale is investigated. For 129 soil samples well distributed over the Sicilian Sparacia basin, the values for the experimental clay enrichment ratio calculated by the measured ultimate grain-size distributions are compared with the theoretical clay enrichment ratio values obtained by …
Progerin expression induces a significant downregulation of transcription from human repetitive sequences in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons.
2019
Repetitive DNA sequences represent about half of the human genome. They have a central role in human biology, especially neurobiology, but are notoriously difficult to study. The purpose of this study was to quantify the transcription from repetitive sequences in a progerin-expressing cellular model of neuronal aging. Progerin is a nuclear protein causative of the Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome that is also incrementally expressed during the normal aging process. A dedicated pipeline of analysis allowed to quantify transcripts containing repetitive sequences from RNAseq datasets oblivious of their genomic localization, tolerating a sufficient degree of mutational noise, all with low c…
Negative Regulation of β Enolase Gene Transcription in Embryonic Muscle Is Dependent upon a Zinc Finger Factor That Binds to the G-rich Box within th…
1998
We have previously identified a muscle-specific enhancer within the first intron of the human beta enolase gene. Present in this enhancer are an A/T-rich box that binds MEF-2 protein(s) and a G-rich box (AGTGGGGGAGGGGGCTGCG) that interacts with ubiquitously expressed factors. Both elements are required for tissue-specific expression of the gene in skeletal muscle cells. Here, we report the identification and characterization of a Kruppel-like zinc finger protein, termed beta enolase repressor factor 1, that binds in a sequence-specific manner to the G-rich box and functions as a repressor of the beta enolase gene transcription in transient transfection assays. Using fusion polypeptides of b…
Induction of Transglutaminase 2 by a Liver X Receptor/Retinoic Acid Receptor α Pathway Increases the Clearance of Apoptotic Cells by Human Macrophages
2009
Rationale: Liver X receptors (LXRs) are oxysterol-activated nuclear receptors that are involved in the control of cholesterol homeostasis and inflammatory response. Human monocytes and macrophages express high levels of these receptors and are appropriate cells to study the response to LXR agonists. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify new LXR targets in human primary monocytes and macrophages and the consequences of their activation. Methods and Results: We show that LXR agonists significantly increase the mRNA and protein levels of the retinoic acid receptor (RAR)α in primary monocytes and macrophages. LXR agonists promote RARα gene transcription through binding to a spec…
Practical strategies for stable operation of HFF-QCM in continuous air flow
2013
Currently there are a few fields of application using quartz crystal microbalances (QCM). Because of environmental conditions and insufficient resolution of the microbalance, chemical sensing of volatile organic compounds in an open system was as yet not possible. In this study we present strategies on how to use 195 MHz fundamental quartz resonators for a mobile sensor platform to detect airborne analytes. Commonly the use of devices with a resonant frequency of about 10 MHz is standard. By increasing the frequency to 195 MHz the frequency shift increases by a factor of almost 400. Unfortunately, such kinds of quartz crystals tend to exhibit some challenges to obtain a reasonable signal-to…