Angiogenesisis a key restorative mechanism in response to ischemia, and pro-angiogenic therapy could be beneficial in stroke. Accumulating experimental and clinical evidence suggest that human urinary kallidinogenase (HUK) improves stroke outcome, but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. The aim of current study was to verify roles of HUK in post-ischemic angiogenesis and identify relevant ...

A pilot-scale treatment system of atmospheric plasma jet (APJ) was developed and its effects on the inactivation natural bacteria in rice germ, black pepper powder, sesame were investigated. The optimal sample amount, rotary valve speed, operation time, pressure for determined to be 200 g, 40 rpm, 10 min, 0.2 MPa, respectively, which inactivated by 1.4, 1.0, 1.4 log CFU/g, respectively. Dust re...

Naively, one would expect longer papers to have larger impact (i.e., to be cited more). I tested this expectation by selecting all (∼ 30, 000) refereed papers from A&A, AJ, ApJ and MNRAS published between 2000 and 2004. These particular years were chosen so papers analyzed would not be too “fresh”, but at the same time length of each article could be obtained via ADS. I find that indeed longer ...

Dimerization of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is crucial for receptor function including agonist affinity, efficacy, trafficking and specificity of signal transduction, including G protein coupling. Emerging data suggest that the cardiovascular system is the main target of apelin, which exerts an overall neuroprotective role, and is a positive regulator of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 ...

Various studies have shown that eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has beneficial effects on obesity and associated disorders. Apelin, the ligand of APJ receptor also exerts insulin-sensitizing effects especially by improving muscle metabolism. EPA has been shown to increase apelin production in adipose tissue but its effects in muscle have not been addressed. Thus, the effects of EPA supplementation ...

BACKGROUND A drug delivery system specifically targeting endothelial cells (ECs) in tumors is required to prevent normal blood vessels from being damaged by angiogenesis inhibitors. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether apelin, a ligand for APJ expressed in ECs when angiogenesis is taking place, can be used for targeting drug delivery to ECs in tumors. METHODS AND RESULTS Uptak...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons. Recent studies have implicated that chronic hypoxia and insufficient vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-dependent neuroprotection may lead to the degeneration of motor neurons in ALS. Expression of apelin, an endogenous ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor APJ, is...

RATIONALE Pluripotent stem cells represent a powerful model system to study the early steps of cardiac specification for which the molecular control is largely unknown. The EGF-CFC (epidermal growth factor-Cripto/FRL-1/Cryptic) Cripto protein is essential for cardiac myogenesis in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). OBJECTIVE Here, we study the role of apelin and its G protein-coupled receptor, APJ,...

Apelin binds to the G protein-coupled apelin receptor (APJ; gene name aplnr) to modulate diverse physiological systems including cardiovascular function, and hydromineral and metabolic balance. Recently a second endogenous ligand for APJ, named apela, has been discovered. We confirm that apela activates signal transduction pathways (ERK activation) in cells expressing the cloned rat APJ. Previo...

HD 98800 is a 10 Myr, hierarchical quadruple with a signi cant dust component rst detected by IRAS. This dust is present in spite of the multiple stellar components [A-B, a visual pair with Sep =0.008, Aa+Ab, a single-lined spectroscopic binary with P = 262 d, and Bb+Ba, a double-lined spectroscopic binary with P = 315 d (Torres et al. 1995, ApJ, 452, 870)]. In order to study the relationship b...