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These results clearly demonstrate that gAd and fAd mediate distinct and time-dependent effects on cardiomyocyte energy metabolism via AdipoR1 and AdipoR2.

What is the nature of the feelings evoked by music? We investigated how people represent the subjective experiences associated with Western and Chinese music and the form in which these representational processes are preserved across different cultural groups. US (n = 1,591) and Chinese (n = 1,258) participants listened to 2,168 music samples and reported on the specific feelings (e.g., “angry,” “dreamy”) or broad affective features (e.g., valence, arousal) that they made individuals feel. Using large-scale statistical tools, we uncovered 13 distinct types of subjective experience associated with music in both cultures. Specific feelings such as “triumphant” were better preserved across the 2 cultures than levels of valence and arousal, contrasting with theoretical claims that valence and arousal are building blocks of subjective experience. This held true even for music selected on the basis of its valence and arousal levels and for traditional Chinese music. Furthermore, the feelings associated with music were found to occupy continuous gradients, contradicting discrete emotion theories. Our findings, visualized within an interactive map (https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/∼acowen/music.html) reveal a complex, high-dimensional space of subjective experience associated with music in multiple cultures. These findings can inform inquiries ranging from the etiology of affective disorders to the neurological basis of emotion.

Adiponectin promotes cardioprotection by various mechanisms, and this study used primary cardiomyocytes and the isolated working perfused heart to investigate cardiometabolic effects. We show in adult cardiomyocytes that adiponectin increased CD36 translocation and fatty acid uptake as well as insulin-stimulated glucose transport and Akt phosphorylation. Coimmunoprecipitation showed that adiponectin enhanced association of AdipoR1 with APPL1, subsequent binding of APPL1 with AMPK␣2, which led to phosphorylation and inhibition of ACC and increased fatty acid oxidation. Using siRNA to effectively knockdown APPL1 in neonatal cardiomyocytes, we demonstrated an essential role for APPL1 in mediating increased fatty acid uptake and oxidation by adiponectin. Importantly, enhanced fatty acid oxidation in conjunction with AMPK and ACC phosphorylation was also observed in the isolated working heart. Despite increasing fatty acid oxidation and myocardial oxygen consumption, adiponectin increased hydraulic work and maintained cardiac efficiency. In summary, the present study documents several beneficial metabolic effects mediated by adiponectin in the heart and provides novel insight into the mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the importance of APPL1.AMP-activated protein kinase; fatty acid; metabolism THERE IS CURRENTLY GREAT INTEREST in elucidating the mechanisms by which obesity can influence myocardial remodeling (2). Changes in myocardial energy metabolism are one of the earliest measurable abnormalities in the hearts of obese animals or humans and precedes measurable changes in in vivo cardiac function (1,7,16,31,32,41). Shifts in myocardial substrate utilization in obesity and diabetes are typically characterized by an increase in fatty acids (FA) utilization and a decrease in glucose utilization (34). Multiple mechanisms account for these changes in metabolism and include altered glucose transport (42), increased delivery of FA, and activation of PPAR␣-mediated signaling pathways (2). A well controlled balance of FA uptake and oxidation is essential in maintaining both ATP production and cardiac contractile function and may also prevent potential adverse effects associated with lipotoxicity. For example, elevated FA uptake that is not matched by a proportionate increase in FA oxidation may contribute to the accumulation of intracellular triglycerides and lipotoxic products such as ceramide, diacylglycerol, and fatty acyl-CoA, which have widespread detrimental cellular consequences (38).Obese models such as Zucker rats exhibit a decreased ability to increase FA oxidative capacity in response to increasing FA delivery, and this has been suggested to contribute to accumulation of myocardial triglycerides and lipotoxicity (35,46). Although, ob/ob and db/db mice have increased capacity to oxidize FA in response to increasing delivery of FA substrates, which exceeds that of wild-type hearts, these animals also exhibit evidence of lipid accumulation and lipotoxicity, mitochondrial uncoupling, and decreased cardi...

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.

Nutritional control of molecular events has become of great interest given the increased incidence of diet-induced obesity, and consequently Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes, in recent years. The altered adipose tissue content in obese individuals results in an altered profile of circulating adipokines, and here we focus on adiponectin, whose circulating levels decrease in obese individuals. Adiponectin is a 30 kDa protein but circulates primarily as hexameric, oligomeric and, to a lesser extent, trimeric forms. Full-length adiponectin can also be cleaved to produce a fragment containing the globular domain that exerts potent metabolic effects. Adiponectin has insulin-mimetic and -sensitizing actions including stimulation of glucose uptake in skeletal muscle and suppression of glucose production in liver. Hence, adiponectin has attracted great interest as an antidiabetic agent. Adiponectin acts via two receptor isoforms, AdipoR1 (adiponectin receptor 1) and AdipoR2, which have distinct tissue distributions and affinities for recognition of the various adiponectin forms. Expression of AdipoR isoforms can be regulated by hyperinsulinaemia and hyperglycaemia with the consequence of increased sensitivity or resistance to specific forms of adiponectin. In summary, regulation of adiponectin or AdipoR expression may be of great importance in the development of metabolic perturbations characteristic of Type 2 diabetes in obese individuals.

Adiponectin has been shown to regulate glucose and fatty acid uptake and metabolism in skeletal muscle. Here we investigated the role of the recently cloned adiponectin receptor (AdipoR) isoforms in mediating effects of both globular (gAd) and full-length (fAd) adiponectin, and their regulation by hyperglycemia (25 mM, 20 h) and hyperinsulinemia (100 nM, 20 h). We used L6 rat skeletal muscle cells, which were found to express both AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 mRNA in a ratio of over 6:1 respectively. Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia both decreased AdipoR1 receptor expression by approximately 50%, while the latter induced an increase of approximately threefold in AdipoR2 expression. The ability of gAd to increase GLUT4 myc translocation, glucose uptake, fatty acid uptake and oxidation, as well as AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) phosphorylation, was decreased by both hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. Interestingly, hyperinsulinemia induced the ability of fAd to elicit fatty acid uptake and enhanced fatty acid oxidation in response to fAd. In summary, our results suggest that both hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia cause gAd resistance in rat skeletal muscle cells. However, hyperinsulinemia induces a switch toward increased fAd sensitivity in these cells.

Altered leptin action has been implicated in the pathophysiology of heart failure in obesity, a hallmark of which is extracellular matrix remodeling. Here, we characterize the direct influence of leptin on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity in primary adult rat cardiac fibroblasts and focus on elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible. Leptin increased expression and cell surface localization of membrane type 1 (MT1)-MMP, measured by cell surface biotinylation assay and antibody-based colorimetric detection of an exofacial epitope in intact cells. Coimmunoprecipitation analysis showed that leptin also induced the formation of a cluster of differentiation 44/MT1-MMP complex. Qualitative analysis using rhodamine-conjugated phalloidin immunofluorescence indicated that leptin stimulated actin cytoskeletal reorganization and enhanced stress fiber formation. Hence, we analyzed activation of Ras homolog gene family (Rho), member A GTPase activity and found a rapid increase in response to leptin that corresponded with increased phosphorylation of cofilin. Quantitative analysis of cytoskeleton reorganization upon separation of globular and filamentous actin by differential centrifugation confirmed the significant increase in filamentous to globular actin ratio in response to leptin, which was prevented by pharmacological inhibition of Rho (C3 transferase) or its downstream effector kinase Rho-associated coiled-coil-forming protein kinase (ROCK) (Y-27632). Inhibition of Rho or ROCK also attenuated leptin-stimulated increases in cell surface MT1-MMP content. Pro-MMP-2 is a known MT1-MMP substrate, and we observed that enhanced cell surface MT1-MMP in response to leptin resulted in enhanced extracellular activation of pro-MMP-2 measured by gelatin zymography, which was again attenuated by inhibition of Rho or ROCK. Using wound scratch assays, we observed enhanced cell migration, but not proliferation, measured by 5-bromo2'-deoxy-uridine incorporation, in response to leptin, again via a Rho-dependent signaling mechanism. Our results suggest that leptin regulates myocardial matrix remodeling by regulating the cell surface localization of MT1-MMP in adult cardiac fibroblasts via Rho/ROCK-dependent actin cytoskeleton reorganization. Subsequent pro-MMP-2 activation then contributes to stimulation of cell migration.