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Grandparents currently raise 1.35 million children in the United States. These grandparents, while providing a sense of stability and security to the children, do so at emotional, physical, and financial cost to themselves. Article reviews literature on the prevalence and population of grandparents raising grandchildren and the identified problem and treatment areas. (Author/JDM)

Obesity is associated with a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation characterized by abnormal cytokine production and macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue, which may contribute to the development of insulin resistance. [...]

Background: The NR4A3 orphan nuclear hormone receptor, NOR1, functions as a constitutively active transcription factor to regulate inflammation, proliferation, and cell survival during pathological vascular remodeling. Inflammatory processes represent key mechanisms leading to abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation. However, a role of NOR1 in AAA formation has not been investigated previously.Methods: Inflammatory gene expression was analyzed in bone marrow-derived macrophages isolated from NOR1-deficient mice. Low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (LDLr-/-) mice were irradiated and reconstituted with hematopoietic stem cells obtained from NOR1-/- or wild-type littermate mice. Animals were infused with angiotensin II and fed a diet enriched in saturated fat to induce AAA formation. Quantification of AAA formation was performed by ultrasound and ex vivo measurements.Results: Among 184 inflammatory genes that were analyzed, 36 genes were differentially regulated in LPS-treated NOR1-deficient macrophages. Albeit this difference in gene regulation, NOR1-deficiency in hematopoietic stem cells did not affect development of AAA formation in bone marrow-derived stem cell transplanted LDLr-deficient mice.Conclusion: NOR1 deletion induced differential inflammatory gene transcription in macrophages but did not influence AAA formation in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) maintains telomeres and is rate limiting for replicative life span. While most somatic tissues silence TERT transcription resulting in telomere shortening, cells derived from cancer or cardiovascular diseases express TERT and activate telomerase. In the present study, we demonstrate that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition induces TERT transcription and promoter activation. At the protein level in contrast, HDAC inhibition decreases TERT protein abundance through enhanced degradation, which decreases telomerase activity and induces senescence. Finally, we demonstrate that HDAC inhibition decreases TERT expression during vascular remodeling in vivo. These data illustrate a differential regulation of TERT transcription and protein stability by HDAC inhibition and suggest that TERT may constitute an important target for the anti-proliferative efficacy of HDAC inhibitors. J. Cell. Physiol. 231: 1276-1282, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear hormone receptors comprise a large superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors and have emerged as key regulators of glucose metabolism and inflammation in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The neuronderived orphan receptor-1 (NOR1) belongs to the ligand-independent NR4A receptor subfamily which has previously been characterized as important transcriptional regulator of hepatic gluconeogenesis and inflammation. We have recently demonstrated NOR1 expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) of atherosclerotic lesions and outlined a key role for NOR1 to regulate SMC proliferation in vitro. In the present study, we demonstrate that SMC isolated from NOR1-deficient mice exhibit decreased cell proliferation due to a G2/M arrest of the cell cycle. NOR1 -deficiency results in diminished phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein, cyclin D1 and D2 expression and mitogen-induced degradation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27. Using microarray technology we further characterize Skp2, Cul1, and Nedd8, key proteins of the ubiquitin ligase complex required for degradation of p27 through the proteasome pathway, as NOR1 target genes. Finally, using a model of guide-wire induced arterial injury we observed decreased neointima formation in NOR1-deficient mice. These experiments demonstrate that NOR1 functions as a key. transcriptional regulator of SMC proliferation and neointima formation by inducing the expression of genes required for the ubiquitination and degradation of p27. Therefore, NOR1 expression may provide an important link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NR4A orphan nuclear receptors function as early response genes to numerous stimuli. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that overexpression of NR4A3 (NOR-1, MINOR) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes enhances insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. To assess the in vivo effect of NR4A3 on adipocytes, we generated transgenic mice with NR4A3 overexpression driven by the adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (AP2) promoter (AP2-NR4A3 mice). We hypothesized that AP2-NR4A3 mice would display enhanced glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. However, AP2-NR4A3 mice exhibit metabolic impairment, including increased fasting glucose and insulin, impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, decreased serum free fatty acids, and increased low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. AP2-NR4A3 mice also display a significant reduction in serum epinephrine due to increased expression of catecholamine-catabolizing enzymes in adipose tissue, including monoamine oxidase-A. Furthermore, enhanced expression of monoamine oxidase-A is due to direct transcriptional activation by NR4A3. Finally, AP2-NR4A3 mice display cardiac and behavioral alterations consistent with chronically low circulating epinephrine levels. In conclusion, overexpression of NR4A3 in adipocytes produces a complex phenotype characterized by impaired glucose metabolism and low serum catecholamines due to enhanced degradation by adipose tissue.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)alpha, the molecular target for fibrates used to treat dyslipidemia, exerts pleiotropic effects on vascular cells. In vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), we have previously demonstrated that PPARalpha activation suppresses G(1)-->S cell cycle progression by targeting the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16(INK4a) (p16). In the present study, we demonstrate that this inhibition of VSMC proliferation by PPARalpha is mediated through a p16-dependent suppression of telomerase activity, which has been implicated in key cellular functions including proliferation. PPARalpha activation inhibited mitogen-induced telomerase activity by repressing the catalytic subunit telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) through negative cross-talk with an E2F-1-dependent trans-activation of the TERT promoter. This trans-repression involved the recruitment of the retinoblastoma (RB) family proteins p107 and p130 to the TERT promoter resulting in impaired E2F-1 binding, an effect that was dependent on p16. The inhibition of cell proliferation by PPARalpha activation was lost in VSMCs following TERT overexpression or knockdown, pointing to a key role of telomerase as a target for the antiproliferative effects of PPARalpha. Finally, we demonstrate that PPARalpha agonists suppress telomerase activation during the proliferative response following vascular injury, indicating that these findings are applicable in vivo. In concert, these results demonstrate that the antiproliferative effects of PPARalpha in VSMCs depend on the suppression of telomerase activity by targeting the p16/RB/E2F transcriptional cascade.

Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma, the molecular target for insulin sensitizing thiazolidinediones used in patients with type 2 diabetes, inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and prevents atherosclerosis and neointima formation. Emerging evidence indicates that telomerase controls key cellular functions including replicative lifespan, differentiation, and cell proliferation. In the present study, we demonstrate that ligand-induced and constitutive PPARgamma activation inhibits telomerase activity in VSMCs. Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) confers the catalytic activity of telomerase, and PPARgamma ligands inhibit TERT expression through a receptor-dependent suppression of the TERT promoter. 5'-deletion analysis, site-directed mutagenesis, and transactivation studies using overexpression of Ets-1 revealed that suppression of TERT transcription by PPARgamma is mediated through negative cross-talk with Ets-1-dependent transactivation of the TERT promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays further demonstrated that PPARgamma ligands inhibit Ets-1 binding to the TERT promoter, which is mediated at least in part through an inhibition of Ets-1 expression by PPARgamma ligands. In VSMCs overexpressing TERT, the efficacy of PPARgamma ligands to inhibit cell proliferation is lost, indicating that TERT constitutes an important molecular target for the antiproliferative effects of PPARgamma ligands. Finally, we demonstrate that telomerase activation during the proliferative response after vascular injury is effectively inhibited by PPARgamma ligands. These findings provide a previously unrecognized mechanism for the antiproliferative effects of PPARgamma ligands and support the concept that PPARgamma ligands may constitute a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of proliferative cardiovascular diseases.