Nuclear Receptor Nur77 Controls Cardiac Fibrosis through Distinct Actions on Fibroblasts and Cardiomyocytes

Fibrosis is a hallmark of adverse cardiac remodeling, which promotes heart failure, but it is also an essential repair mechanism to prevent cardiac rupture, signifying the importance of appropriate regulation of this process. In the remodeling heart, cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) differentiate into myofibroblasts (MyoFB), which are the key mediators of the fibrotic response. Additionally, cardiomyocytes are involved by providing pro-fibrotic cues. Nuclear receptor Nur77 is known to reduce cardiac hypertrophy and associated fibrosis; however, the exact function of Nur77 in the fibrotic response is yet unknown. Here, we show that Nur77-deficient mice exhibit severe myocardial wall thinning, rupture and reduced collagen fiber density after myocardial infarction and chronic isoproterenol (ISO) infusion. Upon Nur77 knockdown in cultured rat CFs, expression of MyoFB markers and extracellular matrix proteins is reduced after stimulation with ISO or transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β). Accordingly, Nur77-depleted CFs produce less collagen and exhibit diminished proliferation and wound closure capacity. Interestingly, Nur77 knockdown in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes results in increased paracrine induction of MyoFB differentiation, which was blocked by TGF-β receptor antagonism. Taken together, Nur77-mediated regulation involves CF-intrinsic promotion of CF-to-MyoFB transition and inhibition of cardiomyocyte-driven paracrine TGF-β-mediated MyoFB differentiation. As such, Nur77 provides distinct, cell-specific regulation of cardiac fibrosis.     

An epidemiological study of well-water nitrates in a group of south west african/namibian infants

A study of 486 infants consuming well-water with various nitrate concentrations showed a strong correlation between actual nitrate intake and methaemoglobin levels. The regular administration of Vitamin C to infants is more important than the effects of age in lowering methaemoglobin levels. Mothers who live in high nitrate-bearing areas have increased infant wastage.     

Semantic-Web-Technologien in der Arbeitsplatzvermittlung

Zusammenfassung The importance of the Internet for job procurement is increasing for the reason that three quarters of the people in the employment age are online. On the other hand because ever more companies are publishing their job offers on the Web. However, due to the large number of openings published online it is almost impossible for job seekers and job portals to gain an overview of the entire employment market. Since job offers lack semantically meaningful annotations, the search and integration into databases are made highly difficult. Applying Semantic Web technologies to the e-recruitment process provides advantages for all participants in the market. In this paper we describe a method for analysing the domain-specific language of an application domain. We use this method to describe the e-recruitment process and the necessary ontologies for annotating job offers and job applications. In conclusion, we present the prototypical implementation of the scenario based on Semantic Web, especially semantic matching.     

Using machine learning models to explore the solution space of large nonlinear systems underlying flowsheet simulations with constraints

Flowsheet simulations of chemical processes on an industrial scale require the solution of large systems of nonlinear equations,so that solvability becomes a practical issue.Additional constraints from technical,economic,environmental,and safety considerations may further limit the feasible solution space beyond the convergence requirement.A priori,the design variable domains for which a simulation converges and fulfills the imposed constraints are usually unknown and it can become very time-consuming to distinguish feasible from infeasible design variable choices by simply running the simulation for each choice.To support the exploration of the design variable space for such scenarios,an adaptive sampling technique based on machine learning models has recently been proposed.However,that approach only considers the exploration of the convergent domain and ignores additional constraints.In this paper,we present an improvement which particularly takes the fulfillment of constraints into account.We successfully apply the proposed algorithm to a toy example in up to 20 dimensions and to an industrially relevant flowsheet simulation.     

Type I allergies to latex and the aeroallergenic problem

Between 1989 and 1995, a 12-fold increase in latex allergy was documented amongst our patients. Similar findings have been noted elsewhere. Increase in type I allergies to latex has become an international problem. The issues associated with latex allergy are described, including those posed by the ubiquitous nature of latex in medical equipment, and in commonplace domestic objects. The potential for allergic patients to cross react to a variety of fruits or plants is an added problem for sensitized patients. This paper concludes that the universal introduction of powder-free surgical gloves with low protein content would be a very important measure in the prevention of acquired latex allergy.     

Computational and Experimental Investigation of an Industrial Biomass Furnace

An industrial biomass boiler of 200 kW thermal power is analyzed by computational and experimental methods. Gas composition and temperature within the furnace and in the downstream heat exchanger are measured. Combustion, flow and heat transfer processes within the furnace, exhaust tract as well as the forced convection on the water side of the heat exchanger are computationally investigated by the finite volume method-based computational fluid dynamics procedures. The predictions are compared with the experiments. A satisfactory overall agreement between the predicted and measured temperatures is observed with an average deviation about 5 %. For oxygen mole fractions a fair agreement is found that shows deviations within the range of 10–20 %. For carbon monoxide, calculations exhibit a stronger underprediction.     

Visualization of the Function of a Biofilm Reactor by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This study demonstrates that Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can visualize the growth of biofilm on an inert support matrix, and quantitate the blocking effects caused by precipitation of metal ions from a stream of effluent flowing through the resultant bioreactor. The measurements were based on glass tubes (16 mm diameter, 70 mm length) packed with cubes of polyurethane foam coated with Citrobacter sp. biofilm. Each bioreactor was challenged with a buffered aqueous solution of lanthanum and/or copper ions plus an organic phosphate source which, in the presence of phosphatase in the biofilm, react together to produce a precipitate of metal phosphate. MRI can distinguish the solid metal phosphate from the surrounding fluid, and provide velocity maps that quantitate the effect of blockage on the flow field through the entire bioreactor. The use of these data to aid the design of an efficient bioreactor is discussed.     

Measurement of particle separation by magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of water in filtration devices made from glass and/or plastic not only visualizes in three dimensions all the structural components, but also the time course of the particle separation process.