PFKFB3 activates CAD to enhance de novo pyrimidine synthesis for cell growth.

Aerobic glycolysis, termed the Warburg effect, is one of the aberrant metabolic pathways in highly proliferating cells. Glycolysis provides glycolytic metabolites to support the generation of biomass, such as nucleotides, amino acids, and lipids. Research on the direct interactions between glycolysis and other metabolic pathways is an emerging field that has garnered significant interest.

Six-minute walk test reference values in ambulatory children with myelomeningocele.

Aim: To determine the baseline pediatric reference values of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) distance (6MWD) across spina bifida functional lesion levels, the associations between the 6MWD and the distances of the 1-minute and 2-minute walk tests, and assess the impact of social determinants on the 6MWD.

Method: This prospective cohort study collected the 6MWD of 145 ambulatory children (72 male, 73 female; mean age = 11 years 2 months [range: 6 years 0 months-17 years 11 months]) with mid-lumbar-level (n = 59), low-lumbar-level (n = 28), and sacral-level (n = 58) myelomeningocele at a pediatric hospital. Proxies of social determinants included insurance type and Area Deprivation Index (ADI).

Plasticity of Myelination.

Myelin plasticity, the capacity for dynamic changes in myelination and myelin structure, challenges the long-held view of myelin as a static entity post-development. Emerging evidence highlights its pivotal role in adapting neural circuits during learning, memory, and recovery from injury or disease. This chapter explores the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying myelin plasticity, focusing on activity-dependent and experience-driven myelination mediated by oligodendrocytes, which are potentially modified by astrocytes and microglia.

Loss of neurofibromin induces inflammatory macrophage phenotypic switch and retinal neovascularization via GLUT1 activation.

Persons with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) exhibit enhanced glucose metabolism, which is replicated in Nf1-mutant mice. Inflammatory macrophages invest NF1-associated tumors, and targeting macrophages appears efficacious in NF1 models. Inflammatory macrophages rely on glycolysis to generate ATP; thus, identifying whether neurofibromin, the protein encoded by NF1, controls glucose metabolism in macrophages is therapeutically compelling.

Endothelial ENaC as a repressor of oxidative stress and a guardian of lung capillary barrier function in bacterial and viral pneumonia.

The endothelium represents a crucial regulator of vascular homeostasis. Since endothelial cells mainly rely on glycolysis rather than on oxidative phosphorylation for their ATP generation, this allows capillaries to transport the maximum amount of oxygen to oxygen-starved tissues, where it can be used for energy generation. However, the occasionally high levels of oxygen and of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the blood vessels requires a balancing act between pro- and anti-oxidative mechanisms in the endothelium.