The Impact of Highly Selective Thoracic Sympathectomy on the Progression of Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by persistently elevated pulmonary artery pressure and vascular resistance. Sympathetic overactivity in hypertension participates in pulmonary vascular remodeling and heart failure. The present study aims to explore the efficacy of highly selective thoracic sympathectomy (HSTS) on lowering pulmonary artery pressure, reversing pulmonary vascular remodeling, and improving right ventricular function in rats.

Construction of a Nomogram Model to Identify Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: Approximately 50.0% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) experience macrovascular diseases, and nearly 80.0% of them succumb to macrovascular complications.

Overactivation of hepatic mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase complex 1 (mTORC1) is associated with low transcriptional activity of transcription factor EB and lysosomal dysfunction in dairy cows with clinical ketosis.

Ketosis occurs most frequently in the peripartal period and is associated with liver injury and steatosis. Lysosomes serve as the terminal degradative station and contribute to liver homeostasis through their role in the digestion of dysfunctional organelles and lipid droplets. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) has been identified as a master regulator of lysosomal function.

Preparation of a molecularly imprinted test strip for point-of-care detection of thiodiglycol, a sulfur mustard poisoning metabolic marker.

Conventional methods for the detection of the sulfur mustard poisoning metabolic marker, thiodiglycol (TDG), require expensive instruments and reagents as well as professional operators. To address these problems, a novel test strip based on a molecularly imprinted sensitive membrane (MIM) was developed in this work for point-of-care (POC) detection of TDG. The TDG test strip was prepared conveniently by coating molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) on a nitrocellulose membrane.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 activation inhibits the delayed rectifier potassium channels in hippocampal pyramidal neurons: An implication in pathological changes following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus.

Activation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) can increase hippocampal neuronal excitability. TRPV4 has been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. Voltage-gated potassium channels (VGPCs) play an important role in regulating neuronal excitability and abnormal VGPCs expression or function is related to epilepsy.

The Effect of MicroRNA-Mediated Exercise on Delaying Sarcopenia in Elderly Individuals.

Sarcopenia is often regarded as an early sign of weakness and is the core element of muscle weakness in elderly individuals. Sarcopenia is closely related to the reduction of exercise, and elderly individuals often suffer from decreased muscle mass and function due to a lack of exercise. At present, studies have confirmed that resistance and aerobic exercise are related to muscle mass, strength and fiber type and to the activation and proliferation of muscle stem cells (MuSCs).

Catalytic hairpin assembly mediated liposome-encoded magnetic beads for signal amplification of peroxide test strip based point-of-care testing of ricin.

Herein, we propose a new peroxide test strip (PTS) based point-of-care testing (POCT) method to detect ricin B-chain qualitatively and quantitatively by using catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) mediated liposome-encoded magnetic beads for signal amplification. The sensitivity of this PTS based POCT method was improved significantly because it combined CHA signal amplification and liposome-based signal amplification.

DNA nanosheet as an excellent fluorescence anisotropy amplification platform for accurate and sensitive biosensing.

Recently, various inorganic nanomaterials have been used as fluorescence anisotropy (FA) enhancers for biosensing successfully. However, most of them are size-uncontrollable and possess an intensive fluorescence quenching ability, which will seriously reduce the accuracy and sensitivity of FA method. Herein, we report a two-dimensional DNA nanosheet (DNS) without fluorescence quenching effect as a novel FA amplification platform.

Antithrombotic therapy in acute coronary syndrome and stable coronary artery disease patients with atrial fibrillation: a 3-year retrospective cohort study.

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) occur frequently in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the optimal antithrombotic therapy is still debated. We analyzed 976 coronary artery disease patients with AF from 2013 to 2014.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 is involved in the upregulation of connexin expression following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus in mice.

Epilepsy is characterized by spontaneous seizures. Changes in the expression of the connexins (Cxs) have been reported to be involved in epileptogenesis. It has previously been shown that the transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) plays an important role in the modulation of neuronal excitability, and that application of a TRPV4 antagonist blocks hyperthermia-induced seizures.

Photothermal Soft Nanoballs Developed by Loading Plasmonic CuSe Nanocrystals into Liposomes for Photothermal Immunoassay of Aflatoxin B.

Photothermal effects (PTEs) have been greatly concerned with the fast development of new photothermal nanomaterials. Herein we propose a photothermal immunoassay (PTIA) by taking mycotoxins (AFB) as an example based on the PTEs of plasmonic CuSe nanocrystals (NCs). By loading plasmonic CuSe NCs into liposomes to form photothermal soft nanoballs (ptSNBs), on which aptamer of AFB previously assembled, a sandwich structure of AFB could be formed with the aptamer on ptSNBs and capture antibody.

Galectin-3 exacerbates ox-LDL-mediated endothelial injury by inducing inflammation via integrin β1-RhoA-JNK signaling activation.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL)-induced endothelial cell injury plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis (AS). Plasma galectin-3 (Gal-3) is elevated inside and drives diverse systemic inflammatory disorders, including cardiovascular diseases. However, the exact role of Gal-3 in ox-LDL-mediated endothelial injury remains unclear.

Visual detection of cancer cells by using in situ grown functional CuSe/reduced graphene oxide hybrids acting as an efficient nanozyme.

A simple protocol for in situ growth of CuSe nanoparticles on graphene oxide hybrids (CuSe/rGO) acting as an efficient nanozyme is developed and thus a sensitive visual detection method of cancer cells is proposed. The CuSe/rGO heterogeneous nanomaterials have been proven to exhibit high peroxidase-like activity to catalyze the reaction of the peroxidase substrate in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Herein, we used CuSe/rGO as a signal transducer to develop a colorimetric assay for the direct detection of cancer cells and a total of 63 cancer cells (MCF-7) can be distinguished by naked-eye observation.

Microcystin-LR regulates circadian clock and antioxidant gene expression in cultured rat cardiomyocytes.

Background: Microcystins are waterborne environmental toxins that induce oxidative stress and cause injuries in the heart. On the other hand, many physiological processes, including antioxidant defense, are under precise control by the mammalian circadian clock.

Results: In the present study, we evaluated the effect of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) on the rhythmic expression patterns of circadian and antioxidant genes in rat cardiomyocytes using the serum shock technique.

A sensitive and low background fluorescent sensing strategy based on g-CN-MnO sandwich nanocomposite and liposome amplification for ricin detection.

Ricin is an extremely potent ribosome-inactivating protein and serves as a likely food biocontaminant or biological weapon. Thus, simple, sensitive and accurate analytical assays capable of detecting ricin are urgently needed to be established. Herein, we present a novel method for ricin B-chain (RTB) detection by using two materials: (a) a highly efficient hybrid probe that was formed by linking a glucose oxidase (GOD)-encapsulated liposome (GOD-L) to magnetic beads (MBs) through hybridization between an aptamer and a blocker and (b) a new low-background g-C3N4-MnO2 sandwich nanocomposite that exhibits fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the g-C3N4 nanosheet and MnO2.

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 Activation-Induced Increase in Glycine-Activated Current in Mouse Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons.

Background/aims: Glycine plays an important role in regulating hippocampal inhibitory/ excitatory neurotransmission through activating glycine receptors (GlyRs) and acting as a co-agonist of N-methyl-d-aspartate-type glutamate receptors. Activation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) is reported to inhibit hippocampal A-type γ-aminobutyric acid receptor, a ligand-gated chloride ion channel. GlyRs are also ligand-gated chloride ion channels and this paper aimed to explore whether activation of TRPV4 could modulate GlyRs.

Occurrence and treatment efficiency of pharmaceuticals in landfill leachates.

Landfill leachates might contain pharmaceuticals due to the expired or unwanted drugs were disposed of at landfills. These pharmaceuticals might pose a threat to soil and groundwater. Therefore, this study investigated the distributions of pharmaceutical residues and toxicities among four typical municipal landfill leachates.

Vitamin D receptor genetic polymorphism is significantly associated with decreased risk of hypertension in a Chinese Han population.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism and hypertension in a Chinese Han population. The authors genotyped 3 tagSNPs (rs11574129, rs2228570, and rs739837) of the VDR gene using TaqMan assays in a case-control study including 2409 patients with hypertension and 3063 controls. The results showed that rs2228570 presented statistical correlations with decreased risk of male hypertension after adjustment for confounding factors, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of additive, dominant, and recessive models were 0.

ENOS-G894T polymorphism is a risk factor for essential hypertension in China.

Vascular endothelial cells produce nitric oxide (NO), which contributes to the regulation of blood pressure and regional blood flow. Polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene are associated with coronary artery disease; however, associations between polymorphism (G894T) of the eNOS gene and essential hypertension remain unclear. This study was designed to investigate the association between a eNOS-G894T polymorphism and essential hypertension (EH).