Objective. Zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG) has recently been proposed as a new adipokine involved in body weight regulation. The purpose of this study is to investigate serum levels of ZAG in patients with hypertension and its association with related characteristics. Methods. 32 hypertension patients and 42 normal controls were recruited and the relationship between serum ZAG, total and high molecu...

The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate changes in plasma concentrations of zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG), a lipid mobilizing hormone, in obese subjects following Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) surgery or a very low calorie diet (VLCD). Fasting blood concentrations and anthropometric measurements were measured pre and 12 weeks post intervention. 14 healthy, obese individuals unde...

In this paper, we study the statistics of zig-zag transition walls in digital magnetic recording and their relationship to transition noise defining quantities. We provide analytic results that link the statistics of zig-zag transitions to media/recording parameters. The basis of our study is the triangle zig-zag transition (TZ-ZT) model due to its well-defined triangle zig-zag shape and its cr...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein (ZAG) in the early stage of diabetic nephropathy, in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS This cross-sectional observational study recruited patients with longstanding T2DM and healthy control subjects. Patients with T2DM were further stratified based on their urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) and estimated g...

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome associated with adiposity. Zinc alpha2-glycoprotein (ZAG), a novel adipokine, is a modulator of body fat mass and positively correlates with age. This observational study aims to investigate the relationship between plasma ZAG levels and frailty in the elderly.We enrolled 189 elder participants from a hospital-based comprehensive geriatric assessment program in T...

The C. elegans pharyngeal neuron M4 is a multi-functional cell that acts as a cholinergic motor neuron to stimulate peristaltic pharyngeal muscle contraction and as a neuroendocrine cell secreting neuropeptides and growth factors to affect other cells both inside and outside the pharynx. The conserved transcription factors ZAG-1 and CEH-28 are co-expressed in M4 through most of development, and...

The cause for wide variations in the zig-zag defect density in SSFLC devices using the same alignment layer material is investigated. In this paper, we show how the topography of the surface layer due to imperfect coating techniques and materials promotes the formation of zig-zag defects. We show that if the alignment surface slope is greater than the pretilt, high densities of zig-zag defects ...

PURPOSE To identify proteins differentially expressed between the tear film of keratoconus (KC) patients and control subjects using two dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry-based techniques. METHODS Twenty two patients (44 eyes) diagnosed with bilateral KC and 22 control subjects (44 eyes) were studied in a prospective case-control study. Keratoconus screening programs and...

Objectives: To determine whether assessing expression of MUC1 and ZAG proteins in prostate biopsies, by immunohistochemistry, improves prediction of radical prostatectomy histopathology, which in turn predicts longer-term outcomes. Methods: We studied 231 consecutive patients managed by two experienced urologic surgeons (MF, LH). Each patient had prostate biopsies revealing cancer followed by a...

The nervous system consists of diverse subtypes of neurons, whose identities must be specified during development. One important aspect of the differentiation program of neurons is the expression of the appropriate set of genes controlling axon pathway selection. We have identified a novel Znfinger/homeodomain containing transcription factor, zag-1, required for particular aspects of axonal pat...