Prognosis and risk factors for cardiac valve calcification in Chinese end-stage kidney disease patients on combination therapy with hemodialysis and hemodiafiltration.

Background: Cardiac valve calcification (CVC) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular complications. However, limited data are available concerning the prevalence, clinical features and risk factors for CVC in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. In this study, we aimed to assess these parameters in Chinese ESKD patients receiving combination therapy with hemodialysis and hemodiafiltration.

Hypoxia Exacerbates Inflammatory Acute Lung Injury the Toll-Like Receptor 4 Signaling Pathway.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by non-cardiogenic diffuse alveolar damage and often leads to a lethal consequence, particularly when hypoxia coexists. The treatment of ALI remains a challenge: pulmonary inflammation and hypoxia both contribute to its onset and progression and no effective prevention approach is available. Here, we aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of hypoxia interaction with inflammation in ALI and to evaluate hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α)-the crucial modulator in hypoxia-as a potential therapeutic target against ALI.

The Orphan Nuclear Receptor TLX/NR2E1 in Neural Stem Cells and Diseases.

The human TLX gene encodes an orphan nuclear receptor predominantly expressed in the central nervous system. Tailess and Tlx, the TLX homologues in Drosophila and mouse, play essential roles in body-pattern formation and neurogenesis during early embryogenesis and perform crucial functions in maintaining stemness and controlling the differentiation of adult neural stem cells in the central nervous system, especially the visual system. Multiple target genes and signaling pathways are regulated by TLX and its homologues in specific tissues during various developmental stages.

The role of Nogo-A in neuroregeneration: a review.

Nogo, also known as Reticulon-4, is a protein that is specific to the central nervous system (CNS), and has been identified as an inhibitor of neurite outgrowth. Nogo-A is the largest member of the Nogo family and is responsible for inhibition of CNS regeneration. The structural information and biological functions of Nogo family members are reviewed in this study.

[The role of myeloid differentiation protein-2 in lipopolysaccharide-induced cellular activation of human endothelial cells].

Objective: To investigate the expression of myeloid differentiation protein-2 (MD-2) in the human endothelial cells and its role in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NF-kappaB activation in endothelial cells.

Methods: In vitro cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were employed in the study. The expression of MD-2 mRNA and protein, and the effect of LPS on the expression of its mRNA and protein were assessed with RT-PCR and Western blotting.

Novel multi-probe RNase protection assay set for detection of endotoxin associated receptors gene expression.

Objective: To construct the multi-probe ribonuclease protection assay (RPA) template set to be used for detecting expression patterns of MD-2, TLR4, CD14 mRNAs in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Methods: The designed cDNA fragments of the three genes were generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primers and directionally cloned into EcoR I and Hind III sites of expression plasmid pSP72 containing the T7 promoter, the linearized plasmids was used as template to synthesize anti-sense RNA probes. Then we extracted total RNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and detected the dynamic expression patterns of the three genes with RPA method.