Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (4)
Document Type
- Postprint (4) (remove)
Language
- English (4)
Keywords
- cancer (2)
- BMI change (1)
- actin cytoskeleton (1)
- adiposity (1)
- all-cause mortality (1)
- anthropometric measures (1)
- antimalarial activity (1)
- branching morphogenesis (1)
- cadherin (1)
- chirality (1)
From the roots of the African plant Bulbine frutescens (Asphodelaceae), two unprecedented novel dimeric phenylanthraquinones, named joziknipholones A and B, possessing axial and centrochirality, were isolated, together with six known compounds. Structural elucidation of the new metabolites was achieved by spectroscopic and chiroptical methods, by reductive cleavage of the central bond between the monomeric phenylanthraquinone and -anthrone portions with sodium dithionite, and by quantum chemical CD calculations. Based on the recently revised absolute axial configuration of the parent phenylanthraquinones, knipholone and knipholone anthrone, the new dimers were attributed to possess the P-configuration (i.e., with the acetyl portions below the anthraquinone plane) at both axes in the case of joziknipholone A, whereas in joziknipholone B, the knipholone part was found to be M-configured. Joziknipholones A and B are active against the chloroquine resistant strain K1 of the malaria pathogen, Plasmodium falciparum, and show moderate activity against murine leukemic lymphoma L5178y cells.
Abdominal and general adiposity are independently associated with mortality, but there is no consensus on how best to assess abdominal adiposity. We compared the ability of alternative waist indices to complement body mass index (BMI) when assessing all-cause mortality. We used data from 352,985 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for other risk factors. During a mean follow-up of 16.1 years, 38,178 participants died. Combining in one model BMI and a strongly correlated waist index altered the association patterns with mortality, to a predominantly negative association for BMI and a stronger positive association for the waist index, while combining BMI with the uncorrelated A Body Shape Index (ABSI) preserved the association patterns. Sex-specific cohort-wide quartiles of waist indices correlated with BMI could not separate high-risk from low-risk individuals within underweight (BMI<18.5 kg/m(2)) or obese (BMI30 kg/m(2)) categories, while the highest quartile of ABSI separated 18-39% of the individuals within each BMI category, which had 22-55% higher risk of death. In conclusion, only a waist index independent of BMI by design, such as ABSI, complements BMI and enables efficient risk stratification, which could facilitate personalisation of screening, treatment and monitoring.
Development of a multiple-chambered heart from the linear heart tube is inherently linked to cardiac looping. Although many molecular factors regulating the process of cardiac chamber ballooning have been identified, the cellular mechanisms underlying the chamber formation remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that cardiac chambers remodel by cell neighbour exchange of cardiomyocytes guided by the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway triggered by two non-canonical Wnt ligands, Wnt5b and Wnt11. We find that PCP signalling coordinates the localisation of actomyosin activity, and thus the efficiency of cell neighbour exchange. On a tissue-scale, PCP signalling planar-polarises tissue tension by restricting the actomyosin contractility to the apical membranes of outflow tract cells. The tissue-scale polarisation of actomyosin contractility is required for cardiac looping that occurs concurrently with chamber ballooning. Taken together, our data reveal that instructive PCP signals couple cardiac chamber expansion with cardiac looping through the organ-scale polarisation of actomyosin-based tissue tension.
Obesity is a risk factor for several major cancers. Associations of weight change in middle adulthood with cancer risk, however, are less clear. We examined the association of change in weight and body mass index (BMI) category during middle adulthood with 42 cancers, using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Of 241 323 participants (31% men), 20% lost and 32% gained weight (>0.4 to 5.0 kg/year) during 6.9 years (average). During 8.0 years of follow-up after the second weight assessment, 20 960 incident cancers were ascertained. Independent of baseline BMI, weight gain (per one kg/year increment) was positively associated with cancer of the corpus uteri (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.23). Compared to stable weight (+/- 0.4 kg/year), weight gain (>0.4 to 5.0 kg/year) was positively associated with cancers of the gallbladder and bile ducts (HR = 1.41; 1.01-1.96), postmenopausal breast (HR = 1.08; 1.00-1.16) and thyroid (HR = 1.40; 1.04-1.90). Compared to maintaining normal weight, maintaining overweight or obese BMI (World Health Organisation categories) was positively associated with most obesity-related cancers. Compared to maintaining the baseline BMI category, weight gain to a higher BMI category was positively associated with cancers of the postmenopausal breast (HR = 1.19; 1.06-1.33), ovary (HR = 1.40; 1.04-1.91), corpus uteri (HR = 1.42; 1.06-1.91), kidney (HR = 1.80; 1.20-2.68) and pancreas in men (HR = 1.81; 1.11-2.95). Losing weight to a lower BMI category, however, was inversely associated with cancers of the corpus uteri (HR = 0.40; 0.23-0.69) and colon (HR = 0.69; 0.52-0.92). Our findings support avoiding weight gain and encouraging weight loss in middle adulthood.