Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are exposed to hemodynamic forces, which modulate EC functions and vascular biology/pathobiology in health and disease. The flow patterns and hemodynamic forces are not uniform in the vascular system. In straight parts of the arterial tree, blood flow is generally laminar and wall shear stress is high and directed; in branches and curvatures, blood flow is distu...

Laminar shear stress (SS) induces an antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory endothelial phenotype and increases Klf2 expression. We altered the diameter of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in the mouse model to determine whether increased fistula diameter produces disturbed SS in vivo and if acutely increased disturbed SS results in decreased Klf2 expression. The mouse aortocaval fistula model w...

Disturbed flow can eliminate the alignment of endothelial cells in the direction of laminar flow, and significantly impacts on atherosclerosis in collateral arteries near the bifurcation and high curvature regions. While shear stress induced Rac polarity has been shown to play crucial roles in cell polarity and migration, little is known about the spatiotemporal map of Rac under disturbed flow,...

The study was conducted to assess the native and alien plant species in one of the highly disturbed forest (S1) and less disturbed forest (S2) in Mt. Manunggal, Cebu Island, Philippines. Twenty-four quadrats with a size of 20mx20 m were established using a quadrat sampling technique to identify and record all plant species. Diversity indices were utilized to determine species abundance, richnes...

Logging and hunting are two key direct threats to the survival of wildlife in the tropics, and also disrupt important ecosystem processes. We investigated the impacts of these two factors on the different stages of the seed dispersal cycle, including abundance of plants and their dispersers and dispersal of seeds and recruitment, in a tropical forest in north-east India. We focused on hornbills...

It is well known that atherosclerosis occurs geographically at branch points where disturbed flow predisposes to the development of plaque via triggering of oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions. In this study, we found that disturbed flow activated anti-oxidative reactions via up-regulating heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in an X-box-binding protein 1 (XBP1) and histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3)-dep...

Movement disorders and motor deficiency is highly represented among patients in Schizophrenia – residual type (DSM IV): 37% of patients examined in our research had psycho-motor disturbances. Dominant disturbances are the following: disturbed tonus among 65% of patients, abnormal postural reactions among 90%, abnormal voluntary movements among 75%, disturbed speech among 85%, disturbed static a...

Organic matter dynamics were studied in five streams at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory. Three of these streams drained logged watersheds, and two drained reference deciduous forest watersheds. Litter inputs to the streams draining disturbed watersheds were significantly lower than to reference streams. Additionally, while undisturbed litterfall consisted primarily of relatively refractory leaf s...

Disturbed fluid flow or modulated shear stress is associated with vascular conditions such as atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and aneurysm. In vitro simulation of the fluid flow around the plaque micro-environment remains a challenging approach. Currently available models have limitations such as complications in protocols, high cost, incompetence of co-culture and not being suitable for massive e...

Net acid extrusion from vascular smooth muscle (VSMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) in the wall of resistance arteries is mediated by the Na(+),HCO(3)(-) cotransporter NBCn1 (SLC4A7) and the Na(+)/H(+) exchanger NHE1 (SLC9A1) and is essential for intracellular pH (pH(i)) control. Experimental evidence suggests that the pH(i) of VSMCs and ECs modulates both vasocontractile and vasodilatory functi...