| 1. |
- Dmytriyeva, Oksana, et al.
(author)
-
Neurotrophic Effects of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor B and Novel Mimetic Peptides on Neurons from the Central Nervous System
- 2020
-
In: ACS Chemical Neuroscience. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7193. ; 11:9, s. 1270-1282
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGFB) is a pleiotropic trophic factor, which in contrast to the closely related VEGFA is known to have a limited effect on angiogenesis. VEGFB improves survival in various tissues including the nervous system, where the effect was observed mainly for peripheral neurons. The neurotrophic effect of VEGFB on central nervous system neurons has been less investigated. Here we demonstrated that VEGFB promotes neurite outgrowth from primary cerebellar granule, hippocampal, and retinal neurons in vitro. VEGFB protected hippocampal and retinal neurons from both oxidative stress and glutamate-induced neuronal death. The VEGF receptor 1 (VEGFR1) is required for VEGFB-induced neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects. Using a structure-based approach, we designed short peptides, termed Vefin1-7, mimicking the binding interface of VEGFB to VEGFR1. Vefins were analyzed for their secondary structure and binding to VEGF receptors and compared with previously described peptides derived from VEGFA, another ligand of VEGFR1. We show that Vefins have neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects on primary hippocampal, cerebellar granule, and retinal neurons in vitro with potencies comparable to VEGFB. Similar to VEGFB, Vefins were not mitogenic for MCF-7 cancer cells. Furthermore, one of the peptides, Vefin7, even dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells in vitro. Unraveling the neurotrophic and neuroprotective potentials of VEGFB, the only nonangiogenic factor of the VEGF family, is promising for the development of neuroprotective peptide-based therapies.
|
|
| 2. |
- Fröbert, Ole, 1964-, et al.
(author)
-
Influenza Vaccination after Myocardial Infarction : A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial
- 2021
-
In: Circulation. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 144:18, s. 1476-1484
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Observational and small randomized studies suggest that influenza vaccine may reduce future cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease.Methods: We conducted an investigator-initiated, randomized, double-blind trial to compare inactivated influenza vaccine with saline placebo administered shortly after myocardial infarction (MI) (99.7% of patients) or high-risk stable coronary heart disease (0.3%). The primary endpoint was the composite of all-cause death, MI, or stent thrombosis at 12 months. A hierarchical testing strategy was used for the key secondary endpoints: all-cause death, cardiovascular death, MI, and stent thrombosis.Results: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the data safety and monitoring board decided to halt the trial before attaining the prespecified sample size. Between October 1, 2016, and March 1, 2020, 2571 participants were randomized at 30 centers across eight countries; 1290 assigned to influenza vaccine and 1281 to placebo. Over the 12-month follow-up, the primary outcome occurred in 67 participants (5.3%) assigned influenza vaccine and 91 participants (7.2%) assigned placebo (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.52 to 0.99; P=0.040). Rates of all-cause death were 2.9% and 4.9% (hazard ratio, 0.59; 0.39 to 0.89; P=0.010), of cardiovascular death 2.7% and 4.5%, (hazard ratio, 0.59; 0.39 to 0.90; P=0.014), and of MI 2.0% and 2.4% (hazard ratio, 0.86; 0.50 to 1.46, P=0.57) in the influenza vaccine and placebo groups, respectively. Conclusions: Influenza vaccination early after an MI or in high-risk coronary heart disease resulted in a lower risk of a composite of all-cause death, MI, or stent thrombosis, as well as a lower risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular death at 12 months compared with placebo.Clinical Trial Registration: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov Unique identifier: NCT02831608.
|
|
| 3. |
- Marquer, Laurent, et al.
(author)
-
Quantifying the effects of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation in Europe
- 2017
-
In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Pergamon Press. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 171, s. 20-37
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Early agriculture can be detected in palaeovegetation records, but quantification of the relative importance of climate and land use in influencing regional vegetation composition since the onset of agriculture is a topic that is rarely addressed. We present a novel approach that combines pollen-based REVEALS estimates of plant cover with climate, anthropogenic land-cover and dynamic vegetation modelling results. This is used to quantify the relative impacts of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation at a sub-continental scale, i.e. northern and western Europe north of the Alps. We use redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to quantify the percentage of variation in vegetation composition explained by the climate and land-use variables, and Monte Carlo permutation tests to assess the statistical significance of each variable. We further use a similarity index to combine pollen based REVEALS estimates with climate-driven dynamic vegetation modelling results. The overall results indicate that climate is the major driver of vegetation when the Holocene is considered as a whole and at the sub-continental scale, although land use is important regionally. Four critical phases of land-use effects on vegetation are identified. The first phase (from 7000 to 6500 BP) corresponds to the early impacts on vegetation of farming and Neolithic forest clearance and to the dominance of climate as a driver of vegetation change. During the second phase (from 4500 to 4000 BP), land use becomes a major control of vegetation. Climate is still the principal driver, although its influence decreases gradually. The third phase (from 2000 to 1500 BP) is characterised by the continued role of climate on vegetation as a consequence of late-Holocene climate shifts and specific climate events that influence vegetation as well as land use. The last phase (from 500 to 350 BP) shows an acceleration of vegetation changes, in particular during the last century, caused by new farming practices and forestry in response to population growth and industrialization. This is a unique signature of anthropogenic impact within the Holocene but European vegetation remains climatically sensitive and thus may continue to respond to ongoing climate change. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
|
|
