Introduction: Ischemic stroke is becoming a primary cause of disability and death worldwide. To date, therapeutic options remain limited focusing on mechanical thrombolysis or administration of thrombolytic agents. However, these therapies do not promote neuroprotection and neuro-restoration of the ischemic area of the brain.
Areas covered: This review highlights the option of minimal invasive, intra-arterial, administration of biological agents for stroke therapy. The authors provide an update of all available studies, discuss issues that influence outcomes and describe future perspectives which aim to improve clinical outcomes. New therapeutic options based on cellular and molecular interactions following an ischemic brain event, will be highlighted.
Expert opinion: Intra-arterial administration of biological agents during trans-catheter thrombolysis or thrombectomy could limit neuronal cell death and facilitate regeneration or neurogenesis following ischemic brain injury. Despite the initial progress, further meticulous studies are needed in order to establish the clinical use of stem cell-induced neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. 相似文献
Improved embryo culture protocols now render more feasible the possibility
of obtaining human blastocysts after in-vitro fertilization. In this study
we present: (i) results of blastocyst development from supernumerary
embryos after co-culture on green monkey kidney epithelial cells and (ii)
pregnancy rates after transfer of frozen blastocysts. In addition, we have
examined the influence of the day of blastocyst freezing and the day of
transfer after the luteinizing hormone (LH) peak on pregnancy and
implantation rates. Of 423 supernumerary embryos, 200 developed to the
blastocyst stage (47.3%). By days 5 and 6, 67% of the blastocysts had
reached the blastocyst stage, and were frozen, compared to 28.5% by day 7.
When we compared the cases where only blastocysts frozen on days 5 and 6
were transferred compared to those frozen and transferred on or after day 7
the pregnancy rates were 7/18 (38.9%) and 1/16 (6.2%) respectively. In
contrast, when we examined the influence of the day of transfer we found
that pregnancies were established from day 5 up to day 9 post LH peak.
Based on these results, we suggest that every attempt should be made to
increase the development rate of supernumerary embryos to the blastocyst
stage, as it appears that the quality of blastocysts transferred, as shown
in this study by rate of development, plays a more crucial role than the
timing of transfer.
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BACKGROUND: In the present study we investigated the effect of a 6-month aerobic exercise programme on the morphology of the gastrocnemius muscle of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. METHODS: Twenty-four ESRD patients volunteered to participate in the training programme and underwent muscle biopsy before training. Eighteen patients completed the training programme of whom nine agreed to a post-training biopsy (one woman and eight men, mean age 56 +/- 15 years). Data are presented for the nine subjects who were biopsied before (PRE) and after training (POST) and separately for the 15 subjects for whom we only have a biopsy before training (cross-sectional group). RESULTS: There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in fibre type distribution or myosin heavy chain (MyHC) expression between the cross-sectional and PRE/POST groups. The mean cross-section fibre area after training (POST) increased by 46% compared with the PRE training status (P < 0.01). The proportion of atrophic fibres decreased significantly after training in type I, IIa and IIx fibre populations (from 51 to 15%, 58 to 21% and 62 to 32%, respectively). Significant differences were also found in capillary contact per fibre (CC/F), with the muscle having 24% (P < 0.05) more CC/F compared with the PRE training status. No significant differences in cytochrome c oxidase concentration were found between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, exercise appeared to be beneficial in renal rehabilitation by correcting the fibre atrophy, increasing the cross-section fibre area and improving the capillarization in the skeletal muscle of renal failure patients. 相似文献
Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies have been of diagnostic value in Northern European Caucasian patients
with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In these populations, anti-CCP antibodies are associated with the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope.
We assessed the diagnostic value of anti-CCP antibodies in Greek patients with RA where the HLA shared epitope was reported
in a minority of patients. 相似文献
The success of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) warrants further
study on the role of paternal factors in early human embryogenesis. To
investigate whether poor sperm parameters can influence embryo development,
we examined the development of ICSI-fertilized embryos to the blastocyst
stage. We present results of blastocyst development from supernumerary ICSI
embryos after co-culture on monkey kidney epithelial cells. In addition, we
compare the development of supernumerary embryos to the blastocyst stage
after ICSI and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Of 168 supernumerary ICSI
embryos, 45 (26.8%) developed to blastocysts. Sperm concentration and
morphology did not influence blastocyst development. In contrast,
blastocysts arose from spermatozoa that had a significantly higher (P =
0.015) forward progressive motility compared with spermatozoa from those
patients who failed to produce blastocysts (42.7% versus 28.2%,
respectively). Overall the rate of embryo development to the blastocyst
stage after ICSI was lower (26.8%) than that after IVF (47.3%). When the
rate of blastocyst development was calculated for patients with three or
more supernumerary embryos, it remained significantly higher for the IVF
patients than for the ICSI patients (45.6% versus 30.0%). There was no
significant difference in the mean cell number and quality of the
supernumerary embryos between the IVF and ICSI patients. This study
confirms previous reports that have postulated that abnormal spermatozoa
may manifest a negative paternal effect on preimplantation embryo
development.
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In the first part of this report we investigate whether chromatin anomalies in human spermatozoa can influence fertilization after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). We have examined the sperm chromatin packaging quality using the chromomycin A3 (CMA3) fluorochrome and the presence of DNA damage in spermatozoa using in-situ nick translation. When comparing the spermatozoa of patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and ICSI distinct differences are evident in that ICSI males have a higher CMA3 fluorescence, indicating spermatozoa with loosely packed chromatin, and more spermatozoa containing endogenous DNA nicks. When examining the unfertilized oocytes of ICSI patients we found that men who had a high percentage of anomalies in their chromatin, i.e. > 30% CMA3 fluorescence and > 10% nicks, had more than double the number of unfertilized oocytes containing spermatozoa that had remained condensed. The observation that failed fertilized oocytes, injected with spermatozoa from patients with a higher percentage of sperm nuclear anomalies, contain more condensed spermatozoa indicates that a selection process against these spermatozoa may be in place at the time of fertilization. In the second part of the study we show that spare ICSI embryos have significantly lower rates of development to the blastocyst stage compared with those developed after routine IVF. These results show that a greater understanding of the molecular basis of male infertility is therefore needed to broaden our knowledge on the effect that abnormal spermatozoa have on fertilization and embryo development. 相似文献
Controlling the sex of offspring by the separation of X and Y
chromosome-bearing spermatozoa using flow cytometry has been reported as a
clinical technique aiding prevention of X-linked diseases. Although this
technique has resulted in several hundred normal births in animals and at
least one human birth, there is still concern over its genetic safety due
to the involvement of two potentially mutagenic agents: UV light and the
fluorochrome dye, Hoechst 33342 (H33342). Human spermatozoa, particularly
those considered abnormal, may be more likely to suffer DNA damage
following exposure to mutagenic agents, compared with other mammalian
species. The stability of normal fresh and decondensed human spermatozoa
were examined after exposure to a range of levels of UV and H33342
staining, using an assay that detects endogenous nicks in the DNA of
spermatozoa. The stability of abnormal and normal, fresh and frozen-thawed
human spermatozoa was examined following UV laser, H33342 staining and flow
cytometry treatments utilizing the same assay. There was an increase in the
presence of endogenous nicks when spermatozoa were decondensed compared
with fresh spermatozoa. There was no increase in the incidence of nicks in
any group of spermatozoa after UV and fluorochrome exposure compared with
controls without exposure.
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A male factor is implicated in more than 50% of couples treated with IVF. However, neither the routine testing of male fertility potential nor its treatment address the specific mechanisms by which spermatozoal factors may impact upon reproductive outcome. An important function of spermatozoa is to deliver the paternal genome to the oocyte. Recently, a number of acquired spermatozoal nuclear factors that may have implications on reproductive outcome have been described. These include non-specific DNA strand breaks, numerical abnormalities in spermatozoal chromosome content, Y chromosome microdeletions and alterations in the epigenetic regulation of paternal genome. The exact mechanisms by which these factors affect reproduction are unknown and their implications for assisted reproduction technology outcome need to be further investigated. These recent findings point to the need for novel and more personalized approaches to test and treat male factor infertility. 相似文献