Adiponectin (APN) has traditionally been viewed as an adipocyte-specific endocrine molecule with cardioprotective effects. Recent studies suggest that APN is also expressed in cardiomyocytes. However, biological significances of this locally produced APN remain completely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the pathological and pharmacological significance of cardiac-derived APN i...

Robot world model representations are a vital part of robotic applications. However, there is no support for such representations in model-driven engineering tool chains. This work proposes a novel Domain Specific Language (DSL) for robotic world models that are based on the Robot Scene Graph (RSG) approach. The RSG-DSL can express (a) application specific scene configurations, (b) semantic sce...

Resistin, an adipocyte secreted factor, has been suggested to link obesity with type 2 diabetes in rodent models, but its relevance to human diabetes remains uncertain. Although previous studies have suggested a role for this adipocytokine as a pathogenic factor, its functional effects, regulation by insulin, and alteration of serum resistin concentration by diabetes status remain to be elucida...

Agonists of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) are insulin sensitizers that potently improve lipemia in rodents. This study aimed to determine the contribution of lipid secretion vs. clearance and the involvement of white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) in the rapid hypolipidemic action of PPARgamma agonism. Male rats were treated with rosiglita...

Resisted sprint training (RST) affects sprint speed in the acceleration phase, but there is no research regarding this for in adolescents. This study investigated the effects of RST on sprint speed and ground reaction force (GRF) in high school baseball players. Subjects were assigned to the resisted sprint group (RSG, n=10, loading 20% body mass), or the normal sprint group (NSG, n=9, without ...

RATIONALE Patients treated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma agonist manifest favorable metabolic profiles associated with increased plasma adiponectin (APN). However, whether increased APN production as a result of PPAR-gamma agonist treatment is an epiphenomenon or is causatively related to the cardioprotective actions of PPAR-gamma remains unknown. OBJECTIVE To d...

Family systems theory posits that the relative effectiveness of early interventions will vary depending on various aspects of the family. This study tested whether maternal responsivity would predict the extent to which Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (PMT) facilitated generalized intentional communication better than a contrast treatment that was conducted in a small group by a responsive adult ...

Visfatin has been proposed as an insulin-mimicking adipocytokine, predominantly secreted from adipose tissue and correlated with obesity. However, recent studies suggest visfatin may act as a proinflammatory cytokine. Our studies sought to determine the significance of this adipocytokine and its potential role in the pathogenesis of T2DM. Firstly, we examined the effects of diabetic status on c...

From a magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we reproduce a three-ring structure in the circumstellar space of the supernova (SN) 1987A observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. When a star develops from a red supergiant (RSG) to a blue supergiant (BSG) just before the SN explosion, a wind-wind interaction occurs between the slow stellar wind from the RSG and the subsequent fast stellar wind from the B...

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was used in combination with bulked segregant analysis (BSA) to identify molecular markers linked to two cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) genes conferring resistance to Striga gesnerioides race 1. After AFLP analysis of an F2 population derived from a cross between the resistant cultivar Gorom and the susceptible cultivar Tvx 3236, sev...