N-terminal fragment of B-type natriuretic peptide predicts coexisting subclinical heart and vessel disease.

Background: Identification of preclinical cardiovascular disease represents a challenge. We evaluate N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP) as markers of both cardiac and vascular subclinical disease in a community-based study including asymptomatic middle- aged study participants.

Methods And Results: In total, 807 study participants without previous cardiovascular disease were recruited.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Tong Len Meditation Practice in Cancer Patients: Evaluation of a Distant Psychological Healing Effect.

Context: Tong Len meditation is an important therapeutic tool in the Tibetan medicine, and it can be used for self-healing and/or to heal others. Currently, in the West, there is no scientific study concerning the efficacy of a Tong Len distant healing effect on psychological disorders in cancer patients.

Objectives: To evaluate a distant healing effect of Tong Len meditation on stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and self-perceived quality of life in cancer patients.

N-terminal prob-type natriuretic peptide is a marker of vascular remodelling and subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic hypertensives.

Background: Arterial hypertension is a main determinant of arterial remodelling and atherosclerosis. Coronary artery calcium score and carotid intima-media thickness are recognized indices of vascular remodelling. Established biohumoral markers for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis are still lacking in asymptomatic subjects with hypertension.

Dual roles of hemidesmosomal proteins in the pancreatic epithelium: the phosphoinositide 3-kinase decides.

Given the failure of chemo- and biotherapies to fight advanced pancreatic cancer, one major challenge is to identify critical events that initiate invasion. One priming step in epithelia carcinogenesis is the disruption of epithelial cell anchorage to the basement membrane which can be provided by hemidesmosomes (HDs). However, the existence of HDs in pancreatic ductal epithelium and their role in carcinogenesis remain unexplored.