The neuropeptide eclosion hormone (EH) is a key regulator of insect ecdysis. We tested the role of the two EH-producing neurons in Drosophila by using an EH cell-specific enhancer to activate cell death genes reaper and head involution defective to ablate the EH cells. In the EH cell knockout flies, larval and adult ecdyses were disrupted, yet a third of the knockouts emerged as adults, demonst...

Several previous studies have shown that essential hypertension (EH) is associated with fibrinolysis. Tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) plays a key role in fibrinolysis. Thus, it is possible that the t-PA gene is a susceptibility gene of EH. However, there have been no reported studies of association between EH and the t-PA gene using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The aim of the pre...

Endometrial hyperplasia (EH) is a condition originating from uterine endometrial glands undergoing disordered proliferation including the risk to progress to endometrial adenocarcinoma. In recent years, a steady increase in EH cases among younger women of reproductive age accentuates the demand of therapeutic alternatives, which emphasizes that an improved disease model for therapeutic agents e...

BACKGROUND Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in hypertensive subjects. Sympathetic activation has been suggested to contribute to LV hypertrophy, but this has not yet been conclusively validated in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS We comprehensively assessed total systemic and regional sympathetic activity by radiotracer dilu...

BACKGROUND It is not presently known whether non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is associated with the presence of structural alterations in small arteries or whether the combination of hypertension and NIDDM may have an additive effect on endothelial dysfunction. Therefore, we investigated subcutaneous small arteries in 12 normotensive subjects (NT group), 18 patients with essenti...

Many patients with essential hypertension (EH) exhibit increased left ventricular mass. Similarly, elevated circulating levels of an endogenous ouabainlike factor (OLF) have been described in some but not all patients with EH. Moreover, ouabain has a hypertrophic influence on isolated cardiac myocytes. Accordingly, we investigated relationships among plasma OLF, left ventricular mass, and cardi...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors gamma (PPARG) with essential hypertension (EH) and additional role of gene- high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) interaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 1640 patients with EH (806 males, 834 females), with a mean age of 52.5±12.6 years, were select...

The production of Alternaria alternata f. sp. lycopersici host-specific toxins (AAL toxins) and epoxide hydrolase (EH) activity were studied during the growth of this plant-pathogenic fungus in stationary liquid cultures. Media containing pectin as the primary carbon source displayed peaks of EH activity at day 4 and at day 12. When pectin was replaced by glucose, there was a single peak of EH ...