Background Rates of cardiac arrhythmias increase with age and may be associated with clinically significant morbidity. We studied the association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) with nocturnal atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) and complex ventricular ectopy (CVE) in older men. Methods A total of 2911 participants in the Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men Study underwent unattended polysomnography. Nocturnal AF and CVE were ascertained by electrocardiogram-specific analysis of the polysomnographic data. Exposures were (1) SDB defined by respiratory disturbance index (RDI) quartile (a major index including all apneas and hypopneas), and ancillary definitions incorporating (2) obstructive events, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; Obstructive Apnea Hypopnea Index quartile), or (3) central events, central sleep apnea (CSA; Central Apnea Index category), and (4) hypoxia (percentage of sleep time with <90% arterial oxygen percent saturation). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Results An increasing RDI quartile was associated with increased odds of AF and CVE (P values for trend, .01 and <.001, respectively). The highest RDI quartile was associated with increased odds of AF (odds ratio [OR], 2.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19–3.89) and CVE (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.12–1.82) compared with the lowest quartile. An increasing OSA quartile was significantly associated with increasing CVE (P value for trend, .01) but not AF. Central sleep apnea was more strongly associated with AF (OR, 2.69; 95%CI, 1.61–4.47) than CVE (OR, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.97–1.66). Hypoxia level was associated with CVE (P value for trend, <.001); those in the highest hypoxia category had an increased odds of CVE (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.23–2.14) compared with the lowest quartile. Conclusions In this large cohort of older men, increasing severity of SDB was associated with a progressive increase in odds of AF and CVE. When SDB was characterized according to central or obstructive subtypes, CVE was associated most strongly with OSA and hypoxia, whereas AF was most strongly associated with CSA, suggesting that different sleep-related stresses may contribute to atrial and ventricular arrhythmogenesis in older men.

Cardiac fibrosis is a hallmark feature of pathologic remodeling of the heart in response to hemodynamic or neurohormonal stress. Accumulating evidence implicates connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) as a key mediator of this process. Our group has previously identified Kruppel-Like Factor 15 (KLF15) as an important regulator of cardiac remodeling in response to stress; however, the role of this transcription factor in cardiac fibrosis has not been reported. Here we provide evidence that treatment of neonatal rat ventricular fibroblasts (NRVFs) with the potent pro-fibrotic agent Transforming Growth Factor-β1 (TGFβ1) strongly reduces KLF15 expression while inducing the pro-fibrotic factor CTGF. Adenoviral overexpression of KLF15 inhibits basal and TGFβ1-induced CTGF expression in NRVFs. Furthermore, hearts from KLF15 −/− mice subjected to aortic banding exhibited increased CTGF levels and fibrosis. From a mechanistic standpoint, KLF15 inhibits basal and TGFβ1-mediated induction of the CTGF promoter. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrate that KLF15 inhibits recruitment of the coactivator P/CAF to the CTGF promoter with no significant effect on Smad3-DNA binding. Consistent with this observation, KLF15 mediated repression of the CTGF promoter is rescued by P/CAF overexpression. Our result implicates KLF15 as a novel negative regulator of CTGF expression and cardiac fibrosis.

The Kruppel-like Factor (KLF) family of zinc-finger transcription factors are critical regulators of cell differentiation, phenotypic modulation and physiologic function. An emerging body of evidence implicates an important role for these factors in cardiovascular biology, however, the role of KLFs in muscle biology is only beginning to be understood. This article reviews the published data describing the role of KLFs in cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells, and skeletal muscle and highlights the importance of these factors in cardiovascular development, physiology and disease pathobiology.

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In recent years, the green microalgae Neochloris oleoabundans have demonstrated to be an interesting natural source of carotenoids that could be used as potential food additive. In this work, different N. oleoabundans extracts obtained by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) have been analyzed in depth to evaluate the influence of different culture conditions (effect of nitrogen, light intensity or carbon supplied) not only on the total carotenoid content but also on the carotenoid composition produced by these microalgae. Regardless of the cultivation conditions, lutein and carotenoid monoesters were the most abundant carotenoids representing more than 60% of the total content in all extracts. Afterwards, the effect of the different N. oleoabundans extracts and the dose-effect of the most potent algae extracts (namely, N9, PS and CO (-)) on the proliferation of human colon cancer cells lines (HT-29 and SW480) and a cell line established from a primary colon cancer cell culture (HGUE-C-1) were evaluated by an MTT assay whereas a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to get additional evidences on the relationship between carotenoid content and the antiproliferative activity. Results revealed that, as a general trend, those extracts with high total carotenoid content showed comparably antiproliferative activity being possible to establish a high correlation between the cell proliferation values and the carotenoid constituents. Monoesters showed the highest contribution to cell proliferation inhibition whereas lutein and violaxanthin showed negative correlation and diesters and zeaxanthin showed a positive significant contribution to cell proliferation.

Soil amendments may increase the slate tolerance of plants consequently; it may increase the opportunity of using saline water in agricultural production. In the present pot trial, the effects of biochar (BIC) and compost (COM) on roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) irrigated with saline water (EC = 7.50 dS m−1) was studied. Roselle plants were amended with biochar (BIC1 and BIC2) or compost (COM1 and COM2) at rates of 1 and 2% (w/w), as well as by a mixture of the two amendments (BIC1+). The experiment included a control soil without any amendments. Biochar and compost significantly enhanced the soil quality and nutrients availability under saline irrigation. Compost and biochar improved the degree of soil aggregation, total soil porosity and soil microbial biomass. BIC1 + COM1 increased the soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen over the individual application of each amendments and control soil. BIC1 + COM1 increased the activity of dehydrogenase and phosphatase enzymes. Growth of roselle plants including: plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, and chlorophyll were significantly responded to the added amendments. The maximum sepal’s yield was achieved from the combined application of compost and biochar. All the investigated treatments caused remarkable increases in the total flavonol and anthocyanin. BIC1 + COM1 increased the total anthocyanin and flavonol by 29 and 17% above the control. Despite the notable improvement in soil and roselle quality as a result of the single addition of compost or biochar, there is a clear superiority due to mixing the two amendments. It can be concluded that mixing of biochar and compost is recommended for roselle plants irrigated with saline water.

A case of Hughes-Stovin syndrome (incomplete Behçet's disease) with extensive arterial involvement Unmasking the true face of a rare syndrome Robinson et al. [16] Case 4: A 21-year-old male; recurrent oral ulcers; no genital ulceration; superficial thrombophlebitis; pulmonary CT angiography a 35 mm right lateral segmental PAA with multiple pulmonary artery in situ thromboses Demirkan and Gültekin [17] Case 5, 6: two patients with HSS who presented with pulmonary artery aneurysm, thrombophlebitis, hemoptysis, and oral ulcers Al-Jahdali [18] Case 7: 23-year-old Saudi woman; recurrent oral ulceration; right-lower lobe PAA; papilledema; DVT Yagi et al. [19] Case 8: A 32-year-old male; multiple PAA; DVT of the right leg and the right femoral vein; thrombosis of the vena cava; aphthous ulcer in the oral cavity, an ulcer in the genital region Madiha and Sami [20] Case 9: DVT; oral ulcers; giant aneurysm in the left lower lobe pulmonary artery Summary of HSS case reports without features of the classic triad of BD Hughes and Stovin [1] Case 1, 2: two male patients; segmental PPA with peripheral venous thrombosis Kopp and Green [21] Case 3, 4: two male patients; PAA and recurrent thrombophlebitis Fabi et al. [22] Case 5: A 12-year-old boy; right atrium endocardial mass; jugular vein and cerebral venous thrombosis; deep venous thromboses; PAA Abdelbary et al. [23] Case 6: A 35-year-old Egyptian female lower limb deep vein thrombosis; pulmonary aneurysm Ribeiro et al. [24] Case 7: A 43-year-old male; superficial thrombophlebitis and DVT of the lower limbs; PAA Pankl et al. [25] Case 8: A 41-year-old man; deep venous thrombosis of the right leg, and PAA Al-Zeedy et al. [26] Case 9: A 53-year-old man; DVT and PAA Kably and Reveron [27] Case 10: A 41-year-old male; massive hemoptysis; ruptured PAA; DVT; cardio-venous thromboembolism; pulmonary infarction El Aoud et al. [28] Case 11: A 42-year-old woman; DVT; PAA Jaramillo et al. [29] Case 12: A 47-year-old male; dilated main pulmonary arteries, multiple right bronchial artery aneurysms and a splenic artery aneurysm Silva et al. [30] Case 13: A 25-year-old male; DVT; PAA Grembiale et al. [31] Case 14: DVT; PAA; Budd-Chiari syndrome; a thrombotic occlusion of inferior vena cava Amezyane et al. [32] Case 15: A 28-year-old female; right ventricular thrombus, PAA, iliac vein thrombosis; caval thrombosis Kim et al. [7] Case 16: A 45-year-old man; massive hemoptysis; DVT; bilateral PAA and inferior vena caval thrombosis Chalazonitis et al. [9] Case 17: A 18-year-old, Greek male patient; DVT; PAA; superior sagittal and transverse sinuses Emad et al. [2] Case 18, 19: two male patients; DVT, PAA, superior sagittal sinus thrombosis in one case Balci et al. [33] Case 20: A 41-year-old patient; multiple PAA; thrombus in both the inferior and superior vena cavae Herb et al. [34] Case 21: A 25-year-old man; PAA; multiple aneurysms of the bronchial arteries; severe hemoptysis; aneurysm of the left hepatic artery Margolesky et al. [35] Case 22: A 38-year-old woman; DVT, PAA; right ventricle th...