Efficacy and safety of corticosteroid therapy in patients with cardiac arrest: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: The clinical benefits of steroid therapy during cardiac arrest (CA) are unclear. Several recent clinical trials have shown that administering corticosteroid therapy during CA may improve patient outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether providing corticosteroids improves outcomes for patients following CA.

Doxazosin attenuates renal matrix remodeling mediated by anti-α-adrenergic receptor antibody in a rat model of diabetes mellitus.

Diabetic nephropathy is a major complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Recent studies suggest that immunological mechanisms have a key role in the pathogenesis of DM, therefore these mechanisms may be important targets for diabetes therapy. The present study evaluated the effects of anti-α-adrenergic receptor antibody (α-R Ab) mediation and doxazosin treatment in a rat model of DM.

Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-kappa B pathway is involved in myocardial injury in a rat chronic stress model.

Chronic stress is considered to predispose to various cardiovascular events such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, and even heart failure. In this study, rats were exposed to stress for 1 day, 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks to establish a chronic stress model. A specific toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist eritoran was used to block the activity of TLR4.

[Medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy against antiangiogenesis of transplanted ovarian cancer in nude mice].

Objective: To investigate the effects of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) on angiogenesis and growth of transplanted human ovarian cancer cells in nude mice.

Methods: Ovarian cancer cell line COCI derived from human ovarian serous adenocarcinoma was transplanted into 30 nude mice, which were then randomized equally into 3 groups consisting of two treatment groups (in which MPA was administered at 60 and 120 mg/kg, respectively, twice a week for 4 weeks) and a control group. Six weeks later, the body mass of the nude mice was recorded and the morphology of tumor cells observed by electron microscope.