Vascular calcification and vascular ageing are "silent" diseases but are highly prevalent in patients with end stage renal failure and type 2 diabetes, as well as in the ageing population. Melatonin (MT) has been shown to induce cardiovascular protection effects. However, the role of MT on vascular calcification and ageing has not been well-identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArterial medial calcification is a common disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, end-stage renal disease and hypertension, resulting in high incidence and mortality of cardiovascular event. H19 has been demonstrated to be involved in cardiovascular diseases like aortic valve diseases. However, role of H19 in arterial medial calcification remains largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor microenvironment is considered one of the main players in tumor development and progression. The tumor microenvironment composed of a large number of extracellular matrix proteins is very complex. The continuous accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins has been shown to play a key role in tumor bioregulation, including proliferation, invasion, matrix remodeling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdipose tissue-derived adipokines mediate various kind of crosstalk between adipose tissue and other organs and thus regulate metabolism balance, inflammation state as well as disease progression. In particular, omentin-1, a newly found adipokine, has been reported to exhibit anti-calcification effects and . However, little is known about the function of endogenous adipose tissue-derived omentin-1 in arterial calcification and the detailed mechanism involved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAortic valve calcification (AVC), which used to be recognized as a passive and irreversible process, is now widely accepted as an active and regulated process characterized by osteoblastic differentiation of aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs). Apelin, the endogenous ligand for G-protein-coupled receptor APJ, was found to have protective cardiovascular effects in several studies. However, the effects and mechanisms of apelin on osteoblastic differentiation of AVICs have not been elucidated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRemote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) has been proposed as an effective method to improve both myocardial and vascular protection in human beings. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of RIPC on the flow pattern of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. 18 normal male volunteers were enrolled to this study.
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