Complexity of heartbeat interval series is typically measured by entropy. Recent studies have found that sample entropy (SampEn) or fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn) quantifies essentially the randomness, which may not be uniformly identical to complexity. Additionally, these entropy measures are heavily dependent on the predetermined parameters and confined to data length. Aiming at improving the robustness of complexity assessment for short-term RR interval series, this study developed a novel measure--distribution entropy (DistEn). The DistEn took full advantage of the inherent information underlying the vector-to-vector distances in the state space by probability density estimation. Performances of DistEn were examined by theoretical data and experimental short-term RR interval series. Results showed that DistEn correctly ranked the complexity of simulated chaotic series and Gaussian noise series. The DistEn had relatively lower sensitivity to the predetermined parameters and showed stability even for quantifying the complexity of extremely short series. Analysis further showed that the DistEn indicated the loss of complexity in both healthy aging and heart failure patients (both p < 0.01), whereas neither the SampEn nor the FuzzyEn achieved comparable results (all p ≥ 0.05). This study suggested that the DistEn would be a promising measure for prompt clinical examination of cardiovascular function.
dIn recent years, the emergence of fungal resistance has become frequent, partly due to the widespread clinical use of fluconazole, which is minimally toxic and effective in the prevention and treatment of Candida albicans infections. The limited selection of antifungal drugs for clinical fungal infection therapy has prompted us to search for new antifungal drug targets. Calcium, which acts as the second messenger in both mammals and fungi, plays a direct role in controlling the expression patterns of its signaling systems and has important roles in cell survival. In addition, calcium and some of the components, mainly calcineurin, in the fungal calcium signaling pathway mediate fungal resistance to antifungal drugs. Therefore, an overview of the components of the fungal calcium-calcineurin signaling network and their potential roles as antifungal targets is urgently needed. The calciumcalcineurin signaling pathway consists of various channels, transporters, pumps, and other proteins or enzymes. Many transcriptional profiles have indicated that mutant strains that lack some of these components are sensitized to fluconazole or other antifungal drugs. In addition, many researchers have identified efficient compounds that exhibit antifungal activity by themselves or in combination with antifungal drugs by targeting some of the components in the fungal calcium-calcineurin signaling pathway. This targeting disrupts Ca 2؉ homeostasis, which suggests that this pathway contains potential targets for the development of new antifungal drugs.
Endothelial subcellular structures, including caveolae, fenestrae and transendothelial channels, are crucial for regulating microvascular function. Plasmalemma vesicle-associated protein (PLVAP) is an endothelial cell-specific protein that forms the stomatal and fenestral diaphragms of blood vessels and regulates basal permeability, leukocyte migration and angiogenesis. Loss of PLVAP in mice leads to premature mortality due to disrupted homeostasis. Evidence from previous studies suggested that PLVAP is involved in cancer, traumatic spinal cord injury, acute ischemic brain disease, transplant glomerulopathy, Norrie disease and diabetic retinopathy. Specifically, PLVAP expression has been demonstrated to be upregulated in these diseases, accompanied by pro-angiogenic or pro-inflammatory responses. Therefore, PLVAP is considered a novel therapeutic target, in addition to an endothelial cell marker. The present review summarizes the structure and functions of PLVAP, and its roles in pathophysiological processes.
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