Muscle contraction is activated by two distinct mechanisms. One depends on the calcium influx, and the other is calcium-independent and activated by mechanical stress. A prototypical example of stretch activation is observed in insect muscles. In Lethocerus, a model system ideally suited for studying stretch activation, the two mechanisms seem to be under the control of different isoforms of tr...

Regulation of contraction in skeletal muscle is a highly cooperative process involving Ca(2+) binding to troponin C (TnC) and strong binding of myosin cross-bridges to actin. To further investigate the role(s) of cooperation in activating the kinetics of cross-bridge cycling, we measured the Ca(2+) dependence of the rate constant of force redevelopment (k(tr)) in skinned single fibers in which ...

Web-based services are vulnerable to a number of attacks. While providers of these services employ countermeasures (such as firewalls, encryption, and authentication systems) to reduce security risks, some of these security measures can be rendered useless if the PC of a user that accesses such a web-based service is not properly secured. Malicious software that is installed on a user’s PC, for...

Cardiac troponin C (cTnC) is a key effector in cardiac muscle excitation-contraction coupling as the Ca2+ sensing subunit responsible for controlling contraction. In this study, we generated several FRET sensors for divalent cations based on cTnC flanked by a donor fluorescent protein (CFP) and an acceptor fluorescent protein (YFP). The sensors report Ca2+ and Mg2+ binding, and relay global str...

The rate constant of tension redevelopment (ktr; 1986. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 83:3542-3546) was determined at various levels of thin filament activation in skinned single fibers from mammalian fast twitch muscles. Activation was altered by (a) varying the concentration of free Ca2+ in the activating solution, or (b) extracting various amounts of troponin C (TnC) from whole troponin complex...

T lymphocyte differentiation is a complex developmental process involving the interaction of lymphoid cells with thymic stromal elements. Humoral factors are known to effect certain steps in intrathymic T cell differentiation (1). There is, however, little doubt that other developmental steps require direct cell contacts between differentiating thymocytes and thymic stroma cells. This is partic...

Extensive research into magnesium (Mg) alloys highlights their possible applications in the field of biodegradable implants. As are highly electronegative, it is imperative to tailor degradation rate for clinical safety. Surface coatings have been widely used corrosion protection Mg alloys, but presence spatial defects limits effectiveness. An innovative and near-defect-free hydroxyapatite (HA)...

The teleost-specific whole genome duplication created multiple copies of genes allowing for subfunctionalization of isoforms. In this study, we show that the teleost cardiac Ca2+-binding troponin C (TnC) is the product of two distinct genes: cardiac TnC (cTnC, TnnC1a) and a fish-specific slow skeletal TnC (ssTnC, TnnC1b). The ssTnC gene is novel to teleosts as mammals have a single gene commonl...

BACKGROUND Although the identification of inflammatory infiltrates in endomyocardial biopsy specimens is necessary for the definite diagnosis of myocarditis, the biopsy test is invasive and is not sensitive. Therefore, a new diagnostic technique for the early and noninvasive evaluation of myocarditis has been awaited. Expression of tenascin-C (TNC), one of the oligometric extracellular glycopro...