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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are major causes of death worldwide. Identification of promising targets for prevention and treatment of CVDs is paramount in the cardiovascular field. Numerous transcription factors regulate cellular function through modulation of specific genes and thereby are involved in the physiological and pathophysiological processes of CVDs. Although Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) have a similar protein structure with a conserved zinc finger domain, they possess distinct tissue and cell distribution patterns as well as biological functions. In the vascular system, KLF activities are regulated at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Growing in vitro, in vivo, and genetic epidemiology studies suggest that specific KLFs play important roles in vascular wall biology, which further affect vascular diseases. KLFs regulate various functional aspects such as cell growth, differentiation, activation, and development through controlling a whole cluster of functionally related genes and modulating various signaling pathways in response to pathological conditions. Therapeutic targeting of selective KLF family members may be desirable to achieve distinct treatment effects in the context of various vascular diseases. Further elucidation of the association of KLFs with human CVDs, their underlying molecular mechanisms, and precise protein structure studies will be essential to define KLFs as promising targets for therapeutic interventions in CVDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews progress in the study of Tibetan Plateau (TP) climate dynamics over the past decade. Several theoretical frameworks, including thermal adaptation and the TP sensible heat (SH) driving air-pump, have been developed to identify the mechanisms responsible for the circulation anomaly produced by thermal forcing of the TP. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the thermal effects of large-scale orography, including the Tibetan and Iranian Plateaus (TIP), are crucial for the formation of the East Asian and South Asian summer monsoons (SASM) because the surface SH of the TIP is the major driver of the water vapor transport required for the genesis of the north branch of the SASM.The large-scale orography of the TP affects the Asian climate through thermal forcing in spring and summer, and mechanical forcing in winter. The TP forcing can also influence the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) onset over the Bay of Bengal (BOB) by enhancing the BOB warm pool at the surface and by modulating the South Asian High (SAH) in the upper troposphere. On intra-seasonal timescales, the TP thermal forcing significantly modulates spring rainfall in southern China and generates the biweekly oscillation of the SAH in summer. Despite climate warming, the atmospheric heat source over the TP, particularly the spring SH, exhibits a clear weakening trend from the 1980s to 2000s. This weakening of the spring SH contributed to the anomalous 'dry in the north' and 'wet in the south' rainfall pattern observed over East China. Also discussed are challenges to further understanding the mechanism of TP forcing on the multi-scale variability of the ASM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]