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A long-held tenet in inositol-lipid signaling is that cleavage of membrane phosphoinositides by phospholipase Cβ (PLCβ) isozymes to increase cytosolic Ca 2+ in living cells is exclusive to Gq- and Gi-sensitive G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Here we extend this central tenet and show that Gs-GPCRs also partake in inositol-lipid signaling and thereby increase cytosolic Ca 2+ . By combining CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to delete Gα s , the adenylyl cyclase isoforms 3 and 6, or the PLCβ1-4 isozymes, with pharmacological and genetic inhibition of Gq and G11, we pin down Gs-derived Gβγ as driver of a PLCβ2/3-mediated cytosolic Ca 2+ release module. This module does not require but crosstalks with Gα s -dependent cAMP, demands Gα q to release PLCβ3 autoinhibition, but becomes Gq-independent with mutational disruption of the PLCβ3 autoinhibited state. Our findings uncover the key steps of a previously unappreciated mechanism utilized by mammalian cells to finetune their calcium signaling regulation through Gs-GPCRs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This paper examines how humans judge the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate human attributes, specifically focusing on two key dimensions of human social evaluation: morality and competence. Furthermore, it investigates the impact of exposure to advanced Large Language Models on these perceptions. In three studies (combined N = 200), we tested the hypothesis that people will find it less plausible that AI is capable of judging the morality conveyed by a behavior compared to judging its competence. Participants estimated the plausibility of AI origin for a set of written impressions of positive and negative behaviors related to morality and competence. Studies 1 and 3 supported our hypothesis that people would be more inclined to attribute AI origin to competence-related impressions compared to morality-related ones. In Study 2, we found this effect only for impressions of positive behaviors. Additional exploratory analyses clarified that the differentiation between the AI origin of competence and morality judgments persisted throughout the first half year after the public launch of popular AI chatbot (i.e., ChatGPT) and could not be explained by participants' general attitudes toward AI, or the actual source of the impressions (i.e., AI or human). These findings suggest an enduring belief that AI is less adept at assessing the morality compared to the competence of human behavior, even as AI capabilities continued to advance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are associated with subsequent adverse cardiac remodeling and cardiovascular disease. The role of myocardial microvascular disease among individuals with HDP and left ventricular (LV) remodeling as a potential link to cardiovascular disease is unknown. We aimed to determine whether individuals with HDP history have coronary microvascular dysfunction measured by coronary flow reserve 8 to 10 years after delivery and whether microvascular dysfunction correlates with LV remodeling., Methods: Individuals with pregnancies delivered from 2008 to 2010 underwent burst-replenishment myocardial contrast echocardiography (2017-2020) to quantify myocardial perfusion at rest and during dobutamine stress. Video intensity versus time data were used to derive β, the rate of rise of video intensity, a correlate for myocardial blood flow. Coronary flow reserve was calculated as the ratio of β at peak stress to β at rest, averaged across LV myocardial regions of interest., Results: We studied 91 individuals (aged 38±6 and 9.1±0.9 years postdelivery) and 19 with a history of HDP. Individuals with coronary microvascular dysfunction (coronary flow reserve <2.0; n=13) had a higher proportion of HDP (46.2% versus 16.7%; P =0.026) and higher prepregnancy body mass index, baseline heart rate, and hemoglobin A1c compared with those without microvascular dysfunction. The association of coronary flow reserve and HDP was attenuated after adjusting for cardiometabolic factors ( P =0.133). In exploratory subgroup analyses, individuals with both LV remodeling (relative wall thickness >0.42) and HDP (n=12) had the highest proportion of microvascular dysfunction (41.7% versus +HDP-LV remodeling [n=7] 14.3%; -HDP+LV remodeling [n=26] 7.7%; P =0.0498)., Conclusions: In this small study, HDP history is associated with coronary microvascular dysfunction 1 decade after delivery, findings that may, in part, be driven by metabolic factors including obesity and diabetes. Microvascular dysfunction may contribute to cardiovascular disease among individuals with a history of HDP., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Straub is a consultant and a stockholder in Creegh Pharmaceuticals. The other authors report no conflicts.

Competing Interests: Competing interests: AMS and JR are board members of the not-for-profit Metro Mapping Foundation (no honorarium involved). JB is managing director of Design Studio Panton Deventer, who provide consultation in the use of Metro Mapping. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: Virus infections drive COPD exacerbations and progression. Antiviral immunity centres on the activation of virus-specific CD8 + T-cells by viral epitopes presented on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules of infected cells. These epitopes are generated by the immunoproteasome, a specialised intracellular protein degradation machine, which is induced by antiviral cytokines in infected cells., Methods: We analysed the effects of cigarette smoke on cytokine- and virus-mediated induction of the immunoproteasome in vitro , ex vivo and in vivo using RNA and Western blot analyses. CD8 + T-cell activation was determined in co-culture assays with cigarette smoke-exposed influenza A virus (IAV)-infected cells. Mass-spectrometry-based analysis of MHC class I-bound peptides uncovered the effects of cigarette smoke on inflammatory antigen presentation in lung cells. IAV-specific CD8 + T-cell numbers were determined in patients' peripheral blood using tetramer technology., Results: Cigarette smoke impaired the induction of the immunoproteasome by cytokine signalling and viral infection in lung cells in vitro , ex vivo and in vivo . In addition, cigarette smoke altered the peptide repertoire of antigens presented on MHC class I molecules under inflammatory conditions. Importantly, MHC class I-mediated activation of IAV-specific CD8 + T-cells was dampened by cigarette smoke. COPD patients exhibited reduced numbers of circulating IAV-specific CD8 + T-cells compared to healthy controls and asthmatics., Conclusion: Our data indicate that cigarette smoke interferes with MHC class I antigen generation and presentation and thereby contributes to impaired activation of CD8 + T-cells upon virus infection. This adds important mechanistic insight on how cigarette smoke mediates increased susceptibility of smokers and COPD patients to viral infections., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: H. Ma reports support for the present manuscript from the German Center for Lung Research (DZL). M. Nakayama reports overseas grant from Uehara Memorial Foundation (Japan) and overseas grant from Shiga university of Medical Science, outside the submitted work. A.L. Mora reports support for the present manuscript from NIH (NIH U01 HL1455550-01 and NIH NHLBI R01 HL149825). J.S. Lee reports participation on clinical adjudication committee with Janssen R&D, outside the submitted work. S. Krauss-Etschmann reports support for the present manuscript from the German Center for Lung Research. K. Milger reports consulting fees and lecture honoraria from AstraZeneca, GSK, Janssen, Novartis and Sanofi, outside the submitted work. C.A. Staab-Weijnitz reports support for the present manuscript from Helmholtz Association, German Center for Lung Research (DZL) and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the Research Training Group GRK2338. K.I. Gaede reports support for the present manuscript from Research Center Borstel – Leibniz Lung Center – BioMaterialBank North, Airway Research Center North, German Center for Lung Research (DZL), PopGen 2.0 Network (P2N). K.I. Gaede also holds a leadership role as member of the Board of Directors of the TMF (www.tmf-ev.de), outside the submitted work. I.E. Kammerl reports support for the present manuscript from ERS (Short Term Fellowship). All other authors have no potential conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright ©The authors 2023.)

Type II alveolar epithelial cell (AECII) redox imbalance contributes to the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a deadly disease with limited treatment options. Here, we show that expression of membrane-bound cytochrome B5 reductase 3 (CYB5R3), an enzyme critical for maintaining cellular redox homeostasis and soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) heme iron redox state, is diminished in IPF AECIIs. Deficiency of CYB5R3 in AECIIs led to sustained activation of the pro-fibrotic factor TGF-β1 and increased susceptibility to lung fibrosis. We further show that CYB5R3 is a critical regulator of ERK1/2 phosphorylation and the sGC/cGMP/protein kinase G axis that modulates activation of the TGF-β1 signaling pathway. We demonstrate that sGC agonists (BAY 41-8543 and BAY 54-6544) are effective in reducing the pulmonary fibrotic outcomes of in vivo deficiency of CYB5R3 in AECIIs. Taken together, these results show that CYB5R3 in AECIIs is required to maintain resilience after lung injury and fibrosis and that therapeutic manipulation of the sGC redox state could provide a basis for treating fibrotic conditions in the lung and beyond.

Women with adverse pregnancy outcomes later experience excess hypertension and cardiovascular disease, but how the events are linked is unknown. Examination of the placenta may provide clues to vascular impairments after delivery. Maternal vascular malperfusion lesions (MVMs) were abstracted from clinical reports, validated and characterized using clinical guidelines and severity score. A total of 492 women (170 with MVMs and 322 without MVMs) participated in a study visit 8 to 10 years after delivery to assess blood pressure, cardiometabolic factors, and sublingual microvascular features using sidestream dark field imaging. Covariates included age, race, adverse pregnancy outcomes (preeclampsia, small for gestational age, and preterm birth), and health behaviors. Women with versus without MVM had a distinct sublingual microvascular profile comprised of (1) lower microvascular density (-410 μm/mm 2 , P =0.015), (2) higher red blood cell filling as a marker of perfusion (2%, P =0.004), and (3) smaller perfused boundary region (-0.07 µm, P =0.025) as a measure of glycocalyx integrity, adjusted for covariates including adverse pregnancy outcomes. Women with MVM also had higher adjusted diastolic blood pressure (+2.6 mm Hg, P =0.021), total and LDL (low-density lipoprotein)-cholesterol (+11.2 mg/dL, P =0.016; +8.7 mg/dL, P =0.031). MVM associations with subsequent cardiovascular measures did not vary by type of adverse pregnancy outcome, except among women with preterm births where blood pressure was higher only among those with MVM. Results were similar when evaluated as MVM severity. A decade after delivery, women with placental vascular lesions had an adverse cardiovascular profile comprised of microvascular rarefaction, higher blood pressure and more atherogenic lipids. Placental histopathology may reveal a woman's early trajectory toward subsequent vascular disease.