Reducing Granules Without Splicing Restoration Alleviates RBM20 Cardiomyopathy.

Background: RBM20 (RNA binding motif protein 20) cardiomyopathy is a severe form of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Genetic variants in the nuclear localization signal of hinder its nuclear import and promote cytoplasmic pathogenic RNP (ribonucleoprotein) granules. We aimed to investigate whether reducing RNP granules by inhibiting expression could alleviate the DCM phenotype in S639G () knock-in mice.

An ovary-intact postmenopausal HFpEF mouse model; menopause is more than just estrogen deficiency.

The incidence of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in women significantly increases following menopause. This trend cannot solely be attributed to chronological aging, as evidenced by the more gradual increase in prevalence among men, suggesting that menopause is a provocative event for HFpEF. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive and challenging to investigate in human subjects; moreover, an attempt to create HFpEF in ovariectomized (OVX) mice was unsuccessful.

Genetic assessment of a bighorn sheep population expansion in the Silver Bell Mountains, Arizona.

Background: The isolated population of desert bighorn sheep in the Silver Bell Mountains of southern Arizona underwent an unprecedented expansion in merely four years. We hypothesized that immigration from neighboring bighorn sheep populations could have caused the increase in numbers as detected by Arizona Game and Fish Department annual aerial counts.

Methods: We applied a multilocus genetic approach using mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite markers for genetic analyses to find evidence of immigration.