Clinical Rheumatology - Considering the pathologic significance of inflammation and oxidative stress in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as well as the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypolipidemic... 相似文献
Clinical Rheumatology - The clinical benefits of rituximab in systemic sclerosis (SSc) are still contentious. The present meta-analysis aimed to systematically assess rituximab’s safety and... 相似文献
Metabolic Brain Disease - Thymoquinone (Tq), an active compound of Nigella sativa, has been known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective characteristics. The present study is... 相似文献
Lymphangiogenesis is an essential physiological process but also a determining factor in vascular-related pathological conditions. Angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) plays an important role in lymphatic vascular development and function and its upregulation has been reported in several vascular-related diseases, including cancer. Given the established role of the small GTPase RhoA on cytoskeleton-dependent endothelial functions, we investigated the relationship between RhoA and Ang2-induced cellular activities. This study shows that Ang2-driven human dermal lymphatic endothelial cell migration depends on RhoA. We demonstrate that Ang2-induced migration is independent of the Tie receptors, but dependent on β1 integrin-mediated RhoA activation with knockdown, pharmacological approaches, and protein sequencing experiments. Although the key proteins downstream of RhoA, Rho kinase (ROCK) and myosin light chain, were activated, blockade of ROCK did not abrogate the Ang2-driven migratory effect. However, formins, an alternative target of RhoA, were identified as key players, and especially FHOD1. The Ang2-RhoA relationship was explored in vivo, where lymphatic endothelial RhoA deficiency blocked Ang2-induced lymphangiogenesis, highlighting RhoA as an important target for anti-lymphangiogenic treatments.
BACKGROUND: Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) is a solvent and used in a wide range of biomedical applications. Many fatty-acid-based molecules cannot be administered without a solvent in vivo. PEG can be used to dissolve compounds to make them water soluble. However, the effect of PEG on the cardiovascular system has not been studied. In this study, we evaluated the effect of PEG on the cardiovascular system in rat models. METHODS: Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 250-300 g were used in this study. The control group (10 rats) were injected intraperitoneally with 0.5 ml of 5% D/W in normal saline and the second group (10 rats) with PEG 400, 2 ml/kg ip, twice a day for 1 week. After 4 weeks, the rats underwent general anesthesia and a 1.4 French ultra miniature pressure volume catheter (Millar catheter) was placed in the left ventricle via the right carotid artery to measure comprehensive hemodynamic data. The data were analyzed with PVAN pressure-volume analysis software. RESULTS: All the systolic and diastolic parameters were similar in both groups except for the effective arterial elastance (Ea), which was decreased in the PEG group. There were no significant differences in maximum (dp/dt(max)) and minimum (dp/dt(min)) development of pressure stroke work, cardiac output, ejection fraction, end systolic volume (Ves), and end diastolic volume. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that PEG, as a solvent, decreases Ea in rats in comparison to a placebo. Therefore, PEG as a solvent should be used cautiously in the cardiovascular research. 相似文献
Tracheal respiratory sound analysis is a simple and non-invasive way to study the pathophysiology of the upper airway and has recently been used for acoustic estimation of respiratory flow and sleep apnea diagnosis. However in none of the previous studies was the respiratory flow–sound relationship studied in people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), nor during sleep. In this study, we recorded tracheal sound, respiratory flow, and head position from eight non-OSA and 10 OSA individuals during sleep and wakefulness. We compared the flow–sound relationship and variations in model parameters from wakefulness to sleep within and between the two groups. The results show that during both wakefulness and sleep, flow–sound relationship follows a power law but with different parameters. Furthermore, the variations in model parameters may be representative of the OSA pathology. The other objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of respiratory flow estimation algorithms during sleep: we investigated two approaches for calibrating the model parameters using the known data recorded during either wakefulness or sleep. The results show that the acoustical respiratory flow estimation parameters change from wakefulness to sleep. Therefore, if the model is calibrated using wakefulness data, although the estimated respiratory flow follows the relative variations of the real flow, the quantitative flow estimation error would be high during sleep. On the other hand, when the calibration parameters are extracted from tracheal sound and respiratory flow recordings during sleep, the respiratory flow estimation error is less than 10%. 相似文献
Different studies have shown the regulatory effects of vitamin D3 on the immune system and bone metabolism. Regarding the effects of vitamin D on immune cells and the importance of cytokines on bone metabolism, we assessed the association between serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17 and IFN-γ cytokines and bone metabolism markers (Ca, P, PTH, ALP) in female students with vitamin D deficiency compared with control group. A total of 100 subjects with 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 (25-(OH) D3) deficiency were selected as case and 100 subjects with sufficient 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 (25-(OH) D3) were selected as the control group. The serum levels of IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17 and IFN-γ were measured by ELISA method. Ionized Ca, PTH, P, ALP levels were also determined in all participants. The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the levels of ALP with IFN-γ, PTH with IL-17 and a significant negative correlation between P with IL-10 in vitamin D deficient group. The results suggest that IL-17, IFN-γ and IL-10 are important mediators of bone metabolism and vitamin D affect bone metabolism, at least in part, through immune system. In addition, not only vitamin D affect bone metabolism but also modulates immune responses. 相似文献
Snoring sounds vary significantly within and between snorers. In this study, the variation of snoring sounds and its association with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are quantified. Snoring sounds of 42 snorers with different degrees of obstructive sleep apnea and 15 non-OSA snorers were analyzed. The sounds were recorded by a microphone placed over the suprasternal notch of trachea, simultaneously with polysomnography (PSG) data over the entire night. We hypothesize that snoring sounds vary significantly within a subject depending on the level of obstruction, and thus the level of airflow. We also hypothesize that this variability is associated with the severity of OSA. For each individual, we extracted snoring sound segments from the respiratory recordings, and divided them into three classes: non-apneic, hypopneic, and post-apneic using their PSG information. Several features were extracted from the snoring sound segments, and compared using a nonparametric statistical test. The results show significant shift in the median of features among the snoring sound classes (p < 0.00001) of an individual. In contrast to hypopneic and post-apneic classes, the characteristics of snoring sounds did not vary significantly over time in non-apneic class. Therefore, we used the total variation norm of each subject to classify the participants as OSA and non-OSA snorers. The results showed 92.9% sensitivity, 100% specificity and 96.4% accuracy. 相似文献
Several well-established tumour prognostic factors are used to guide the clinical management of patients with breast cancer. Lymphovascular invasion and angiogenesis have also been reported to have some promise as prognostic factors. The aim of the present study was to examine the prognostic value of tumour lymphovascular invasion and microvessel density compared with that of established prognostic factors in invasive ductal breast cancer.
Methods
In addition to hormone receptor status and Ki-67 proliferative activity, lymphovascular invasion and microvessel density and their relationship with survival were examined in patients with invasive ductal breast cancer. Full sections and tissue microarrays (n?=?384 patients) were utilised to assess these factors and were scored by appropriate methods.
Results
On univariate analysis tumour size (P?<?0.05), lymph node involvement (P?<?0.01), lymphovascular invasion (P?<?0.05), microvessel density (P?<?0.05) and local- regional treatment (P?<?0.01) were associated with poorer survival in ER negative tumours. On multivariate analysis in ER negative tumours lymph node involvement (P?<?0.01) and local- regional treatment (P?<?0.05) were independently associated with poorer cancer-specific survival. On univariate analysis tumour grade (P?<?0.05), lymph node involvement (P?<?0.001), HER-2 (P?<?0.05), Ki-67 (P?<?0.01) and lymphovascular invasion (P?<?0.001) were associated with poorer survival in ER positive tumours. On multivariate analysis lymph node involvement (P?<?0.001), Ki-67 (P?<?0.001) and lymphovascular invasion (P?<?0.05) were independently associated with poorer cancer-specific survival in ER positive tumours.
Conclusion
Lymphovascular invasion but not microvessel density was independently associated with poorer survival in patients with ER positive but not ER negative invasive ductal breast cancer.
ObjectiveInterleukin (IL)-38 is a newly discovered member of the IL-1 cytokine family with a proposed anti-inflammatory profile. We studied the probable role of this cytokine in the pathogenesis of two autoimmune diseases: multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic sclerosis (SSc).Subjects and MethodsA total of 87 MS patients and 86 SSc patients (40 new and recently untreated cases and 46 treated cases) were selected for this study. Eighty-seven and 80 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were included as controls for MS and SSc, respectively. Clinical and paraclinical features of the patients were recorded at the time of sampling. Serum IL-38 was measured by ELISA.ResultsLevels of serum IL-38 did not significantly differ between the total MS or SSc patients compared to controls. However, levels of IL-38 were significantly higher in newly diagnosed patients of MS (206.43 ± 38.97 pg/mL, p < 0.0001) than in those previously treated (158.04 ± 39.45 pg/mL). Similarly, new/recently untreated cases of SSc patients showed increased IL-38 levels (185.19 ± 36.27 pg/mL, p = 0.001) compared to treated patients (166.82 ± 33.08 pg/mL). IL-38 levels in newly diagnosed MS patients (p = 0.007) and new/recently untreated SSc patients (p = 0.032) were significantly higher than those in healthy controls.ConclusionThe higher serum levels of IL-38 in new or recently untreated cases of MS and SSc patients than in treated patients and healthy controls suggest the possible role of this cytokine in the development of these diseases or as part of a feedback loop to attenuate the inflammatory conditions in early stages of these diseases. 相似文献