Resistin gene expression in visceral adipose tissue of postmenopausal women and its association with insulin resistance

Aim: The present study evaluates resistin mRNA expression in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and its correlation with insulin resistance (homeostatic model assessment) in postmenopausal obese women. Materials & methods: A total of 68 (nonobese = 34 and obese = 34) age-matched (49-70 years) postmenopausal women were recruited for the study. Fasting blood samples were collected at admission and abdominal VAT were obtained during surgery for gall bladder stones or hysterectomy. Physical parameters (age, height, weight and BMI) were measured. Biochemical parameters (plasma insulin, plasma glucose and serum resistin) were estimated by enzymatic methods. The VAT resistin mRNA expression was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results: The relative mean (± standard deviation) VAT resistin mRNA expression in postmenopausal obese women lowered significantly by 20.4% compared with postmenopausal nonobese women (0.029 ± 0.011 vs 0.023 ± 0.013; p = 0.047). Furthermore, VAT resistin mRNA expression in postmenopausal obese women was downregulated by 0.69-fold when compared with age-matched postmenopausal nonobese women. Furthermore, the relative VAT resistin mRNA expression in postmenopausal obese women showed significant inverse association with insulin resistance (r = -0.48; p < 0.01) and serum resistin (r = -0.84; p < 0.001), while in postmenopausal nonobese women it did not show any association with both insulin resistance (r = 0.03; p > 0.05) and serum resistin (r = -0.03; p > 0.05). Conclusion: The VAT resistin mRNA expression in postmenopausal obese women is associated to insulin resistance.     

Placebo-controlled trial of prednisone in advanced HIV-1 infection

OBJECTIVE: To examine the safety and the immunologic and virologic consequences of corticosteroid use in HIV-1 infection. METHODS: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of corticosteroid administration in 41 patients with advanced HIV-1 infection. Patients had a baseline median CD4 cell count of 131 x 10(6) cells/l at enrollment and 85% had a history of opportunistic infection. All but one of the patients had been taking stable antiretroviral regimen, including a protease inhibitor in 36, for a median duration of 158 days. Patients were randomized to 8 weeks of prednisone 0.5 mg/kg daily or placebo. RESULTS: No AIDS-defining events occurred; two patients in each group developed oral candidiasis, and two patients on prednisone developed mild herpes simplex flares. None who developed oral candidiasis or herpes simplex was receiving prophylaxis and each responded promptly to therapy. In the prednisone group, two patients developed hyperglycemia and one diabetic increased insulin requirements. CD4 cell counts and plasma HIV-1 RNA levels did not change, but plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha levels and CD38+ CD8+ cells decreased significantly in those taking prednisone. CONCLUSION: Short-term prednisone administration is well tolerated and reasonably safe in advanced HIV-1 disease and decreases immune activation without effects on HIV-1 RNA levels or CD4 cell counts. These results suggest that, in stable HIV-1 disease, these immune activation markers are more likely consequences of but not inducers of HIV-1 replication.     

Immune responses to hepatitis C and non-hepatitis C antigens in hepatitis C virus infected and HIV-1 coinfected patients

OBJECTIVE: To characterize immune phenotype and function in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the presence and absence of HIV-1 infection. DESIGN: Cross-sectional comparison among controls (group A), patients with HCV infection (group B), HCV-HIV-1 coinfected patients (group C), coinfected patients receiving treatment for HIV-1 (group D), and untreated HIV-1 infected patients (group E). METHODS: Flow cytometric analysis for lymphocyte phenotypes, lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production by ELISPOT. Results: HCV infected patients tended to have an increased percentage of activated (CD38, HLA-DR) CD8 cells (group A, 2+/-1.4%; group B, 6+/-3.9%; P=0.08). Proliferative responses to non-HCV antigens were comparable in group A and group B subjects. A greater proportion of group B patients had stimulation indices (SI) > 3 to the HCV protein NS3 compared to group C and D patients (67%, 0%, and 11% respectively; P < 0.003), but only two patients in group B had SI > or = 5. The SI to NS3 was significantly higher in group B patients [median, 4; interquartile range (IQR), 3-9) than in group C (median, 2; IQR, 1-3; P < 0.04) or group D (median, 1; IQR, 1-4; P < 0.009) patients. Plasma HCV RNA levels correlated directly with alanine aminotransferase levels (p, 0.52; P < 0.05) and inversely with the number of CD4 lymphocytes (rho, -0.55; P < 0.009) and proliferation to NS3 (p, -0.55; P < 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Lymphocytes of HCV infected patients show weak proliferative responses to HCV antigens while responses to other antigens are preserved. Infection with HIV-1 potentiates this deficiency. Poor CD4 T cell responses to HCV are associated with and may determine the failure to control HCV propagation.     

Mediastinal lymphangioma

Mediastinal lymphangioma is an uncommon benign tumor accounting for 0.7 to 4.5% of all mediastinal masses. Lymphangiomas consist of dilated cystic lymph spaces lined by single layers of endothelium and do not undergo malignant change. Most mediastinal lymphangiomas are asymptomatic. There are no specific radiological findings. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice and the prognosis is excellent.     

Synthese und Pharmakologie von substituierten N-Benzyliden-Derivaten

Synthesis and Pharmacology of N-Benzylidene Derivatives A series of new derivatives of N-(benzylidene)anthranilic acid and 4-(benzylideneamino)benzoic acid have been synthesized and tested for their pharmacologic activities in animals. Marked anti-inflammatory, hypotensive and analgesic activities were observed. Some compounds also decrease the motorial activity. An attempt has been made to evaluate structure-activity relationships in this series.     

Stress urinary incontinence: current understanding

Many new concepts were introduced in epidemiology, a etiopathology and treatment of stress urinary incontinence. This review gives a short account of these concepts and compares the results of commonly used treatment options with new ones recently introduced.     

Association of K121Q polymorphism in ENPP1 (PC-1) with BMI in Caucasian and African-American adults

OBJECTIVE: To test for association of the ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) K121Q polymorphism with body mass index (BMI) and diabetes in a large sample of Caucasians and African-Americans by selectively genotyping individuals at the extremes of the phenotypic distribution. SUBJECTS: Subsets comprising the extremes of the BMI distribution (10th-20th and above the 90th BMI percentile for Caucasians and between the 10th-30th and above the 80th percentile for African-Americans) from a group of 10,260 Caucasian and 2268 African-American adults participating in New York Cancer Project were studied. METHODS: Subjects were genotyped for the ENPP1 K121Q polymorphism by pyrosequencing and tested for association with BMI and diabetes by regression analysis. RESULTS: Regression analysis with BMI as the dependent variable demonstrated a significant association (P = 0.02) of genotype at K121Q with BMI, with no significant race-by-genotype interaction (P = 0.30). Compared with Q/Q or Q/K individuals, the K/K individuals had a BMI approximately 1.3 kg/m2 higher, without effects of age, gender or race. By logistic regression analysis, the K121Q alleles had no significant effect on diabetes status (P = 0.37) in obese subjects. CONCLUSION: In both Caucasians and African-Americans, the K121 polymorphism in ENPP1 was associated with increased BMI, but not with diabetes.     

A novel herbal formulation "LiverCare" differentially regulates primary rat hepatocyte and hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation in vitro

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays an important role in hepatocyte proliferation. HGF expression is regulated by various signaling molecules and nuclear receptors. In the present study, LiverCare(?) (LC), a novel polyherbal formulation (The Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore, India), was evaluated for its efficacy, using co-cultures of primary rat hepatocytes-non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) and human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2). The rate of primary hepatocyte co-culture proliferation was significantly and dose-dependently increased by LC as determined by [(3)H]thymidine incorporation into newly synthesized DNA and cell proliferation assay. LC also increased HGF expression in primary hepatocyte co-culture. Albumin and urea content remained constant during proliferation of hepatocyte co-cultures in the presence of LC with decreased activity of alanine aminotransferase. It is interesting that LC inhibited incorporation of [(3)H]thymidine into DNA in HepG2 cells. LC enhanced peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α expression during hepatocyte proliferation, whereas tumor necrosis factor-α expression remained unaffected. In conclusion, our study clearly showed that LC differentially regulates primary rat hepatocytes and human hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation. LC may be a promising candidate for treating degenerative liver diseases by enhancing liver regeneration.