Gender Differences in the Pursuit of Cardiac Electrophysiology Training in North America.

BACKGROUND: Despite the increase in the number of female physicians across most specialties within cardiology, <10% of clinical cardiac electrophysiology (EP) fellows are women. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the factors that influence fellows-in-training (FITs) to pursue EP as a career choice and whether this differs by gender. METHODS: The authors conducted an online multiple-choice survey through the American College of Cardiology to assess the decision factors that influence FITs in the United States and Canada to pursue cardiovascular subspecialties. RESULTS: A total of 933 (30.5%) FITs completed the survey; 129 anticipated specializing in EP, 259 in interventional cardiology (IC), and 545 in a different field or were unsure. A total of 1 in 7 (14%) FITs indicated an interest in EP. Of this group, more men chose EP than women (84% vs 16%; P < 0.001). The most important factor that influenced FITs to pursue EP was a strong interest in the field. Women were more likely to be influenced by having a female role model (P = 0.001) compared with men. After excluding FITs interested in IC, women who deselected EP were more likely than men to be influenced by greater interest in another field (P = 0.004), radiation concerns (P = 0.001), lack of female role models (P = 0.001), a perceived "old boys' club" culture (P = 0.001) and discrimination/harassment concerns (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Women are more likely than men to be negatively influenced by many factors when it comes to pursuing EP as a career choice. Addressing those factors will help decrease the gender disparity in the field.

In Vitro Validation of Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomers.

One of the crucial aspects of screening antisense oligonucleotides destined for therapeutic application is confidence that the antisense oligomer is delivered efficiently into cultured cells. Efficient delivery is particularly vital for antisense phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers, which have a neutral backbone, and are known to show poor gymnotic uptake. Here, we report several methods to deliver these oligomers into cultured cells. Although 4D-Nucleofector™ or Neon™ electroporation systems provide efficient delivery and use lower amounts of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer, both systems are costly. We show that some readily available transfection reagents can be used to deliver phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers as efficiently as the electroporation systems. Among the transfection reagents tested, we recommend Lipofectamine 3000™ for delivering phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers into fibroblasts and Lipofectamine 3000™ or Lipofectamine 2000™ for myoblasts/myotubes. We also provide optimal programs for nucleofection into various cell lines using the P3 Primary Cell 4D-Nucleofector™ X Kit (Lonza), as well as antisense oligomers that redirect expression of ubiquitously expressed genes that may be used as positive treatments for human and murine cell transfections.

Status of Early-Career Academic Cardiology: A Global Perspective.

Early-career academic cardiologists, who many believe are an important component of the future of cardiovascular care, face myriad challenges. The Early Career Section Academic Working Group of the American College of Cardiology, with senior leadership support, assessed the progress of this cohort from 2013 to 2016 with a global perspective. Data consisted of accessing National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute public information, data from the American Heart Association and international organizations, and a membership-wide survey. Although the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute increased funding of career development grants, only a small number of early-career American College of Cardiology members have benefited as funding of the entire cohort has decreased. Personal motivation, institutional support, and collaborators continued to be positive influential factors. Surprisingly, mentoring ceased to correlate positively with obtaining external grants. The totality of findings suggests that the status of early-career academic cardiologists remains challenging; therefore, the authors recommend a set of attainable solutions.

The soil microbiome influences grapevine-associated microbiota.

UNLABELLED: Grapevine is a well-studied, economically relevant crop, whose associated bacteria could influence its organoleptic properties. In this study, the spatial and temporal dynamics of the bacterial communities associated with grapevine organs (leaves, flowers, grapes, and roots) and soils were characterized over two growing seasons to determine the influence of vine cultivar, edaphic parameters, vine developmental stage (dormancy, flowering, preharvest), and vineyard. Belowground bacterial communities differed significantly from those aboveground, and yet the communities associated with leaves, flowers, and grapes shared a greater proportion of taxa with soil communities than with each other, suggesting that soil may serve as a bacterial reservoir. A subset of soil microorganisms, including root colonizers significantly enriched in plant growth-promoting bacteria and related functional genes, were selected by the grapevine. In addition to plant selective pressure, the structure of soil and root microbiota was significantly influenced by soil pH and C:N ratio, and changes in leaf- and grape-associated microbiota were correlated with soil carbon and showed interannual variation even at small spatial scales. Diazotrophic bacteria, e.g., Rhizobiaceae and Bradyrhizobium spp., were significantly more abundant in soil samples and root samples of specific vineyards. Vine-associated microbial assemblages were influenced by myriad factors that shape their composition and structure, but the majority of organ-associated taxa originated in the soil, and their distribution reflected the influence of highly localized biogeographic factors and vineyard management. IMPORTANCE: Vine-associated bacterial communities may play specific roles in the productivity and disease resistance of their host plant. Also, the bacterial communities on grapes have the potential to influence the organoleptic properties of the wine, contributing to a regional terroir. Understanding that factors that influence these bacteria may provide insights into management practices to shape and craft individual wine properties. We show that soil serves as a key source of vine-associated bacteria and that edaphic factors and vineyard-specific properties can influence the native grapevine microbiome preharvest.

Evidence that the LRRK2 ROC domain Parkinson's disease-associated mutants A1442P and R1441C exhibit increased intracellular degradation.

Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (lrrk2) gene are the leading genetic cause of Parkinson's disease (PD). In characterizing the novel ROC domain mutant A1442P, we compared its steady-state protein levels, propensity to aggregate, and toxicity with the pathogenic R1441C mutant and wild-type (WT) LRRK2. Mutant (R1441C and A1442P) and WT LRRK2 fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) and FLAG were transiently expressed in HEK293 cells using plasmid constructs. Western analysis and fluorescence microscopy consistently demonstrated lower mutant LRRK2 protein levels compared with WT. A time-course expression study using flow cytometry showed that WT LRRK2 expression increased initially but then plateaued by 72 hr. Conversely, R1441C and A1442P mutant expression attained 85% and 74% of WT levels at 24 hr but fell to 68% and 55% of WT levels by 72 hr, respectively. We found that proteasome inhibition markedly increased mutant LRRK2 to levels approaching those of WT. Taken together, our findings reveal increased intracellular degradation for both mutants. Furthermore, the impact of mutant and WT LRRK2 expression on HEK293 cell viability was assessed under normative and oxidative (hydrogen peroxide) conditions and found not to differ. Expression of WT and mutant LRRK2 protein gave rise to intracellular aggregates of similar appearance and cellular localization. In summary, we provide evidence that the novel A1442P mutant and the previously investigated R1441C pathogenic mutant exhibit increased intracellular degradation, a property reportedly demonstrated for the pathogenic LRRK2 kinase domain mutant I2020T.

Widespread microRNA repression by Myc contributes to tumorigenesis.

The c-Myc oncogenic transcription factor (Myc) is pathologically activated in many human malignancies. Myc is known to directly upregulate a pro-tumorigenic group of microRNAs (miRNAs) known as the miR-17-92 cluster. Through the analysis of human and mouse models of B cell lymphoma, we show here that Myc regulates a much broader set of miRNAs than previously anticipated. Unexpectedly, the predominant consequence of activation of Myc is widespread repression of miRNA expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals that much of this repression is likely to be a direct result of Myc binding to miRNA promoters. We further show that enforced expression of repressed miRNAs diminishes the tumorigenic potential of lymphoma cells. These results demonstrate that extensive reprogramming of the miRNA transcriptome by Myc contributes to tumorigenesis.