OBJECTIVE Phenotypic plasticity of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to cardiovascular disease. Chondrocyte-like transformation of VSMCs associates with vascular calcification and underlies the formation of aortic cartilaginous metaplasia induced in mice by genetic loss of matrix Gla protein (MGP). Previous microarray analysis identified a dramatic downregulation of Wnt16 in calc...

BACKGROUND Two endophenotypes of arterial calcification, calcification on arterial wall and calcification in atherosclerotic plaques, are associated with different types of cardiovascular events. Mgp-deficient mice showed matrix Gla protein (MGP) is strongly associated with calcification on arterial wall without atherosclerotic plaques, and MGP variants were not significantly associated with my...

We introduce the mixture of Gaussian processes (MGP) model which is useful for applications in which the optimal bandwidth of a map is input dependent. The MGP is derived from the mixture of experts model and can also be used for modeling general conditional probability densities. We discuss how Gaussian processes -in particular in form of Gaussian process classification, the support vector mac...

BACKGROUND Ventricular and supraventricular premature complexes (PC) are frequent and usually symptomatic. According to a previous study, magnesium pidolate (MgP) administration to symptomatic patients can improve the PC density and symptoms. OBJECTIVE To assess the late follow-up of that clinical intervention in patients treated with MgP or placebo. METHODS In the first phase of the study,...

OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN Low grade inflammation is of pathogenic importance in atherosclerosis and in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Matrix GLA protein (MGP), an inhibitor of medial calcification of arteries, is increased in patients with atherosclerosis. In the present study levels of markers of calcification (MGP) and inflammation (YKL-40, hsCRP) were e...

BACKGROUND Chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with peritoneal calcification. Studies in vascular tissue suggest that ectopic calcification is not merely a passive but a regulated process resembling bone mineralization. We investigated whether peritoneal calcification is controlled by matrix Gla protein (MGP) secreted by peritoneal mesothelial cells. METHODS Human primary mesotheli...

RATIONALE Cartilaginous metaplasia of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) is characteristic for arterial calcification in diabetes and uremia and in the background of genetic alterations in matrix Gla protein (MGP). A better understanding of the molecular details of this process is critical for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to VSM transformation and arterial calcification. OBJECTIV...

Thromb Haemost 2009; 101: 605–606 With great interest I read the article by Koos et al. (1) on the association between low circulating inactive Matrix-Gla Protein (ucMGP) levels and the degree of calcification in patients with aortic valve disease published in this issue of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. The authors’ results support one of the potential mechanisms involved in vascular calcificatio...

The metallointercalator Lambda-1-Rh(MGP)2phi5+ binds tightly and specifically to the site 5'-CATATG-3' in the major groove of double helical DNA by a combination of direct readout and shape selection. To examine competitive interactions between this small metal complex and a DNA-binding transcription factor, the preferred binding site for Lambda-1-Rh(MGP)2phi5+ was engineered into the AP-1 reco...