To examine the prevalence and correlates of orthostatic hypotension (OH) in middle-aged adults enrolled in the Korean Health and Genome Study. Participants were 8908 individuals aged 40-69 years. Supine blood pressure (BP) was measured three times at 30-s intervals after at least 5 min of rest in the supine position and single standing BP was measured at 0 and 2 min after standing, respectively. OH was defined as a reduction in systolic BP or diastolic BPX20 and 10 mmHg, respectively. The prevalence of OH at 0 and 2 min after standing was 12.3 and 2.9%, respectively. At 0 min of standing, OH frequency increased significantly with age from 6.4% in those aged 40-44 years to 23.1% in those aged 65-69 (Po0.001). After adjustment for age and other characteristics, hypertension was associated with a 1.7-fold excess in the odds of OH in men and a 1.6-fold excess in women (Po0.001). In contrast, an increase in body mass index (BMI) on the order of 5 kg/ m 2 was associated with a 20-30% reduction in the odds of OH (Po0.001). Diabetes in women was also associated with a 1.4-fold excess in the odds of OH (Po0.05). An increase in triglyceride by 136 mg/dl in men was associated with an increase in the odds of OH (Po0.05).In conclusion, the prevalence and correlates of OH other than diabetes and triglycerides were notably similar in men and women. While the association between hypertension and OH has been observed elsewhere, low BMI in Korean adults with OH may be an important marker for subclinical morbidity or coexisting risk factors that need to be identified.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), also known as multipotent stromal cells, are used in clinical trials. However, the use of MSCs for medical treatment of patients poses a potential problem due to the possibility of transdifferentiation into unwanted tissues. Disruption of the balance during MSC differentiation leads to obesity, skeletal fragility, and osteoporosis. Differentiation of MSCs into either adipocytes or osteoblasts is transcriptionally regulated by the two key transcription factors PPARc 2 and Runx2. PPARc 2 is highly expressed during adipocyte differentiation and regulates expression of genes involved in adipogenesis. Runx2 induces osteogenic gene expression and, thereby, increases osteoblast differentiation. Although transcriptional modulation of PPARc 2 has been investigated in adipogenesis, the underlying molecular mechanisms to control the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis in MSCs remain unclear. In this study, the role of sLZIP in regulation of PPARc 2 transcriptional activation was investigated along with sLZIP's involvement in differentiation of MSCs into adipocytes and osteoblasts. sLZIP interacts with PPARc 2 and functions as a corepressor of PPARc 2 . sLZIP enhances formation of the PPARc 2 corepressor complex through specific interaction with HDAC3, resulting in suppression of PPARc 2 transcriptional activity. We found that sLZIP prevents expression of PPARc 2 target genes and adipocyte differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. sLZIP also upregulates Runx2 transcriptional activity via inhibition of PPARc 2 activity, and promotes osteoblast differentiation. sLZIP transgenic mice exhibited enhanced bone mass and density, compared with wild-type mice. These results indicate that sLZIP has a critical role in the regulation of osteogenesis and bone development. However, sLZIP does not affect chondrogenesis and osteoclastogenesis. We propose that sLZIP is a novel PPARc 2 modulator for control of the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis during MSC differentiation, and that sLZIP can be used as a therapeutic target molecule for treatment of obesity, osteodystrophy, and osteoporosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are bone marrow-derived multipotential stromal cells that can differentiate into several distinct cell types, including fat, bone, cartilage, and muscle. 1 Adipogenesis and osteogenesis have a reciprocal relationship in common mesenchymal precursor cells. 2 Disruption of the balance in these processes during MSC differentiation leads to disorders, such as obesity, skeletal fragility, and osteoporosis. 1 MSC differentiation is regulated by specific transcription factors. MSCs differentiate into adipocytes when they express peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g 2 (PPARg 2 ), which enhances expression of adipogenic genes. 2 Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) enhances expression of osteogenic genes during osteoblast differentiation; however, PPARg 2 suppresses osteogenesis via inhibition of Runx2 transcriptional activity. 3 Therefore, characterization of the ...

Although cyclin G1 has been implicated in certain p53-related biological phenomena, other aspects of its function remain unclear. Here we report hitherto unknown mechanism by which cyclin G1 increases radiation sensitivity by regulating the level of cyclin B1. Overexpression of cyclin G1 was observable in lung carcinoma tissues. Irradiation of human lung cells with cyclin G1 overexpression resulted in increased cell death and c-H2AX foci suggesting that cyclin G1 rendered the cells more susceptible to DNA damage. Enhanced radiosensitivity by cyclin G1 was correlated with increased cyclin B1, CDC2/cyclin B1 complex, and MPM2. Cell cycle synchronization clearly showed coexpression of cyclin G1 and cyclin B1 in G2/M phase. Depletion of cyclin G1 by interference RNA revealed that cyclin G1 regulated transcription of cyclin B1 in a p53-independent manner, and confirmed that the increased mitotic cells and cell death by cyclin G1 were dependent upon cyclin B1. Therefore, our data suggest that cyclin G1 enhanced radiation sensitivity by overriding radiation-induced G2 arrest through transcriptional upregulation of cyclin B1.

The plasmonic response from a nanotextured silver coating was utilized to enhance the transfer of ultraviolet light generated in a group-III nitride nanowire emitter. A two-step approach was developed in a metal–organic chemical vapour deposition system to grow nanowires initially vertically by the vapour–liquid–solid mechanism and, subsequently, laterally by increasing the growth temperature and the group-V/III reactant ratio. This controllably produced a 20 nm GaN:Si core with a 200 nm outer-diameter AlGaN:Mg sheath structure. Solvothermal chemistry based on an ethylene glycol solvent was employed to deposit a silver coating that approximated a dense packing of metallic nanospheres. Nanoscale emission and plasmonically enhanced transfer of this energy were simulated to aid the development and understanding of this system.

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