Erratum to "Modulation of Human Cardiac Progenitors via Hypoxia-ERK Circuit Improves their Functional Bioactivities" Biomol. Ther. 21 (2013) 196-203

no abstract available

Antigenic characterization of classical swine fever virus YC11WB isolates from wild boar

Classical swine fever (CSF), a highly contagious disease that affects domestic pigs and wild boar, has serious economic implications. The present study examined the virulence and transmission of CSF virus strain YC11WB (isolated from a wild boar in 2011) in breeding wild boar. Virulence of strain YC11WB in domestic pigs was also examined. Based on the severe clinical signs and high mortality observed among breeding wild boar, the pathogenicity of strain YC11WB resembled that of typical acute CSF. Surprisingly, in contrast to strain SW03 (isolated from breeding pigs in 2003), strain YC11WB showed both acute and strong virulence in breeding pigs. None of three specific monoclonal antibodies (7F2, 7F83, and 6F65) raised against the B/C domain of the SW03 E2 protein bound to the B/C domain of strain YC11WB due to amino acid mutations (⁷²⁰K→R and ⁷²³N→S) in the YC11WB E2 protein. Although strains YC11WB and SW03 belong to subgroup 2.1b, they had different mortality rates in breeding pigs. Thus, if breeding pigs have not developed protective immunity against CSF virus, they may be susceptible to strain YC11WB transmitted by wild boar, resulting in severe economic losses for the pig industry.

Regular Exercise Training Increases the Number of Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Decreases Homocysteine Levels in Healthy Peripheral Blood

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are known to play an important role in the repair of damaged blood vessels. We used an endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming assay (EPC-CFA) to determine whether EPC numbers could be increased in healthy individuals through regular exercise training. The number of functional EPCs obtained from human peripheral blood-derived AC133 stem cells was measured after a 28-day regular exercise training program. The number of total endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (EPC-CFU) was significantly increased compared to that in the control group (p=0.02, n=5). In addition, we observed a significant decrease in homocysteine levels followed by an increase in the number of EPC-CFUs (p=0.04, n=5), indicating that the 28-day regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC colonies and decrease homocysteine levels. Moreover, an inverse correlation was observed between small-endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units (small-EPC-CFUs) and plasma homocysteine levels in healthy men (r=-0.8125, p=0.047). We found that regular exercise training could increase the number of EPC-CFUs and decrease homocysteine levels, thus decreasing the cardiovascular disease risk in men.

Modulation of Human Cardiac Progenitors via Hypoxia-ERK Circuit Improves their Functional Bioactivities

Recent accumulating studies have reported that hypoxic preconditioning during ex vivo expansion enhanced the self-renewal or differentiation of various stem cells and provide an important strategy for the adequate modulation of oxygen in culture conditions, which might increase the functional bioactivity of these cells for cardiac regeneration. In this study, we proposed a novel priming protocol to increase the functional bioactivity of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) for the treatment of cardiac regeneration. Firstly, patient-derived c-kit+ CPCs isolated from the atrium of human hearts by enzymatic digestion and secondly, pivotal target molecules identified their differentiation into specific cell lineages. We observed that hCPCs, in response to hypoxia, strongly activated ERK phosphorylation in ex vivo culture conditioning. Interestingly, pre-treatment with an ERK inhibitor, U0126, significantly enhanced cellular proliferation and tubular formation capacities of CPCs. Furthermore, we observed that hCPCs efficiently maintained the expression of the c-kit, a typical stem cell marker of CPCs, under both hypoxic conditioning and ERK inhibition. We also show that hCPCs, after preconditioning of both hypoxic and ERK inhibition, are capable of differentiating into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and cardiomyocytes (CMs), but not endothelial cells (ECs), as demonstrated by the strong expression of alpha-SMA, Nkx2.5, and cTnT, respectively. From our results, we conclude that the functional bioactivity of patient-derived hCPCs and their ability to differentiate into SMCs and CMs can be efficiently increased under specifically defined culture conditions such as short-term hypoxic preconditioning and ERK inhibition.

Treatment of 5th Metacarpal Neck Fracture Using Percutaneous Transverse Fixation with K-Wires

PURPOSE: To evaluate the radiologic and clinical results of percutaneous transverse fixation with K-wires for 5th metacarpal neck fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2007 and September 2010, 18 patients with a 5th metacarpal neck fracture, who underwent operative treatment, were included in this study. The surgical method was percutaneous transverse fixation using K-wires. We evaluated fracture angulation in oblique radiographs preoperatively, postoperatively, and at final follow-up, and used SPSS to perform statistical analysis. We also performed clinical evaluation using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score. RESULTS: All of the 18 cases were completely united, and in the oblique radiographs, the angulation was corrected from 50.69degrees to 11.68degrees. The average difference between postoperative and final follow-up angulations was 0.14degrees, which was statistically insignificant. Clinically, the DASH score was 1.030 and no complications were observed. CONCLUSION: Percutaneous transverse fixation using K-wires could be one of the best ways to treat a 5th metacarpal neck fracture because of its simple method and low rate of complications.

Effects of Angiotensin II and Shear Stress Interaction on Vascular Inflammation

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin II (AngII) and abnormal oscillatory shear stress are highly associated with vascular inflammation including atherosclerosis. However, it is poorly understood how interactions between AngII and shear stress in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) are involved in mechanisms by which cellular adhesion molecules are expressed. The purpose of this study was to improve that understanding. METHODS: AngII (10(-7)M for 6 hr) and two-types of shear stress treatments were used: laminar shear stress (LS: unidirectional, 12 dynes/cm2) and oscillatory shear stress (OS: bi-directional, 5 dynes/cm2, 1 Hz) in HAEC. Immunoblotting was used to detect expression of cellular adhesion molecules markers such as vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1). RESULTS: AngII significantly increased VCAM1 and ICAM1 expression in HAEC that had been reduced due to pretreatment with telmisartan. AngII-LS co-stimulation and AngII-OS co-stimulation significantly increased VCAM1 and ICAM1 expression in HAEC. The expression levels of VCAM1 and ICAM1 were also, significantly reduced when pretreated with telmisartan. However, VCAM1 and ICAM1 expression were significantly reduced under LS and OS stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: Telmisartan may modulate the expressions of VCAM1 and ICAM1 via different types of shear stress in HAEC that are activated by AngII.