Non-receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors enhances β-cell survival by suppressing the PKCδ signal transduction pathway in streptozotocin-induced β-cell apoptosis.

GNF-2 and GNF-5 are members of a new class of non-receptor tyrosine kinases inhibitors that possess excellent selectivity towards imatinib-resistant mutations found in chronic myeloid leukemia patients. On the other hand recent reports implicate abnormal tyrosine kinase signaling in β-cell death in Type I and Type II diabetes. In this work we determined the effects of GNF-2, GNF-5 on pancreatic β-cell death caused by streptozotocin (STZ).

Practical use of bone scan in patients with an osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture.

Rib fractures are one of main causes of chest or flank pain when related to an osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF). The authors investigated the incidence and risk factors of rib fracture in 284 patients with OVCF using bone scans and evaluated the feasibility as to whether bone scans could be utilized as a useful screening tool. Hot uptake lesions on ribs were found in 122 cases (43.

Sarcopenia is a risk factor for elevated aminotransferase in men independently of body mass index, dietary habits, and physical activity.

Background: Aminotransferase activity is a surrogate marker of liver injury showing strong correlations with obesity and metabolic syndrome. However, elevated aminotransferase activity is not uncommon in non-obese and non-alcoholic patients in clinical practice.

Aim: To examine the relationship between sarcopenia and aminotransferase activity in a large population-based cohort.

Internal pudendal perforator artery-based gull wing flap for vulvovaginal 3D reconstruction after tumour excision: a new flap.

Various skin tumours such as squamous cell carcinoma and extramammary Paget's disease can occur in the vulval area, and reconstruction of the vulval area can be a very challenging task. A retrospective analysis of vulvar reconstruction using the new method 'internal pudendal perforator artery-based gull wing flap' was performed from April 2012 to December 2013. A perforator vessel from the internal pudendal artery was detected with a portable Doppler and marked, and this was the pivot point around which the flap was rotated.

ELAV links paused Pol II to alternative polyadenylation in the Drosophila nervous system.

Alternative polyadenylation (APA) has been implicated in a variety of developmental and disease processes. A particularly dramatic form of APA occurs in the developing nervous system of flies and mammals, whereby various developmental genes undergo coordinate 3' UTR extension. In Drosophila, the RNA-binding protein ELAV inhibits RNA processing at proximal polyadenylation sites, thereby fostering the formation of exceptionally long 3' UTRs.

Cholinergic properties of new 7-methoxytacrine-donepezil derivatives.

Organophosphorus nerve agents inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) which causes the breakdown of the transmitter acetylcholine (ACh) in the synaptic cleft. Overstimulation of cholinergic receptors (muscarinic and nicotinic) by excessive amounts of ACh causes several health problems and may even cause death. Reversible AChE inhibitors play an important role in prophylaxis against nerve agents.

[Investigation on deciduous dental caries among preschool children in Chongqing city].

Objective: To investigate the status of deciduous dental caries among preschool children in Chongqing city and to compare the oral health status of preschoolers from public and private kindergarten.

Methods: According to the criteria recommended by The Third National Oral Health Investigation, the deciduous caries of 5 030 preschool children aged 3 to 6 years old from 40 private kindergartens and 16 public kindergartens in Yuzhong district of Chongqing were examined. The prevalence of dental caries and the mean dmft and filling rate were calculated.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase (PI3K) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK) inhibitors: importance of the morpholine ring.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Ks) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related protein kinases (PIKKs) are two related families of kinases that play key roles in regulation of cell proliferation, metabolism, migration, survival, and responses to diverse stresses including DNA damage. To design novel efficient strategies for treatment of cancer and other diseases, these kinases have been extensively studied. Despite their different nature, these two kinase families have related origin and share very similar kinase domains.

Visceral fat as a useful parameter in the differential diagnosis of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis.

Background/aims: Because of the similarities in the clinical presentations of Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (ITB), differential diagnosis is critical. Mesenteric adipose tissue hypertrophy and creeping fat are characteristic features of CD. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of visceral fat for the differential diagnosis of CD and ITB.

A DNA-directed light-harvesting/reaction center system.

A structurally and compositionally well-defined and spectrally tunable artificial light-harvesting system has been constructed in which multiple organic dyes attached to a three-arm-DNA nanostructure serve as an antenna conjugated to a photosynthetic reaction center isolated from Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1.

Inverse association between visceral obesity and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer.

Background: The relationship between fat distribution and lymph node metastasis has not been well studied. The goal of this study was to determine the impact of visceral obesity on lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: Metastatic lymph node ratio (MLR) was defined as the number of involved nodes by tumor divided by the total number of resected lymph nodes.

The development of ataxia telangiectasia mutated kinase inhibitors.

Radiation and genotoxic drugs are two of the cornerstones of current cancer treatment strategy. However, this type of therapy often suffers from radio- or chemo-resistance caused by DNA repair mechanisms. With the aim of increasing the efficacy of these treatments, there has been great interest in studying DNA damage responses (DDR).

Necroptosis: an emerging type of cell death in liver diseases.

Cell death has been extensively evaluated for decades and it is well recognized that pharmacological interventions directed to inhibit cell death can prevent significant cell loss and can thus improve an organ's physiological function. For long, only apoptosis was considered as a sole form of programmed cell death. Recently necroptosis, a RIP1/RIP3-dependent programmed cell death, has been identified as an apoptotic backup cell death mechanism with necrotic morphology.

Short-term probiotic therapy alleviates small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, but does not improve intestinal permeability in chronic liver disease.

Aim: : Although numerous animal studies suggest that probiotic therapy has beneficial effects in various liver diseases, the evidence for beneficial effects in human liver disease is controversial. This study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of probiotic therapy in alleviating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and permeability in chronic liver disease.

Methods: Fifty-three patients with chronic liver disease were randomized to either probiotic therapy or placebo.

Chemical composition of bioactive alkaloid extracts from some Narcissus species and varieties and their biological activity.

Alkaloid extracts of eight Narcissus (Amaryllidaceae) species and varieties were studied with respect to their acetylcholinesterase (HuAChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE) inhibitory activity and alkaloid patterns. Thirty alkaloids were determined by GC/MS, and twenty-five of them identified from their mass spectra, retention times and retention indexes. Promising HuAChE inhibition activity was demonstrated by six Narcissus taxa and HuBuChE inhibition by N.

Inhibition of JNK2 and JNK3 by JNK inhibitor IX induces prometaphase arrest-dependent apoptotic cell death in human Jurkat T cells.

Exposure of human Jurkat T cells to JNK inhibitor IX (JNKi), targeting JNK2 and JNK3, caused apoptotic DNA fragmentation along with G2/M arrest, phosphorylation of Bcl-2, Mcl-1, and Bim, Δψm loss, and activation of Bak and caspase cascade. These JNKi-induced apoptotic events were abrogated by Bcl-2 overexpression, whereas G2/M arrest, cyclin B1 up-regulation, Cdk1 activation, and phosphorylation of Bcl-2 family proteins were sustained. In the concomitant presence of the G1/S blocking agent aphidicolin and JNKi, the cells underwent G1/S arrest and failed to induce all apoptotic events.

Osthol attenuates hepatic steatosis via decreased triglyceride synthesis not by insulin resistance.

Aim: To evaluate the effects of osthol on intrahepatic fat synthesis, β-oxidation, inflammation, and insulin resistance by multifaceted analysis.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 30) were randomly divided into control, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and osthol groups. NAFLD and osthol groups were fed with a high-fat diet for 14 wk.

Tumor suppressor protein p53 promotes 2-methoxyestradiol-induced activation of Bak and Bax, leading to mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in human colon cancer HCT116 cells.

To examine the effect of tumor suppressor protein p53 on the antitumor activity of 2- methoxyestradiol (2-MeO-E2), 2-MeO-E2-induced cell cycle changes and apoptotic events were compared between the human colon carcinoma cell lines HCT116 (p53(+/+)) and HCT116 (p53(-/-)). When both cell types were exposed to 2-MeO-E2, a reduction in the cell viability and an enhancement in the proportions of G2/M cells and apoptotic sub-G1 cells commonly occurred dose-dependently. These 2-MeO-E2-induced cellular changes, except for G2/M arrest, appeared to be more apparent in the presence of p53.

The development of ataxia telangiectasia mutated kinase inhibitors.

Radiation and genotoxic drugs are two of the cornerstones of current cancer treatment strategy. However, this type of therapy often suffers from radio- or chemo-resistance caused by DNA repair mechanisms. With the aim of increasing the efficacy of these treatments, there has been great interest in studying DNA damage responses (DDR).

Activation of Nrf2 by dimethyl fumarate improves vascular calcification.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) has several pharmacological benefits including immunomodulation and prevention of fibrosis, which are dependent on the NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) antioxidant pathways. Therefore, we hypothesized that DMF could attenuate vascular calcification via Nrf2 activation. Vascular calcification induced by hyperphosphataemia was significantly inhibited by DMF in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in a dose-dependent manner.

Revised NMR data for 9-O-demethylgalanthine: an alkaloid from Zephyranthes robusta (Amaryllidaceae) and its biological activity.

Ongoing studies of Zephyranthes robusta resulted in the isolation of the lycorine-type alkaloid previously called carinatine and 10-O-demethylgalanthine. The NMR data given previously for this compound were revised and completed by two-dimensional 1H-1H and 1H-13C chemical shift correlation experiments. The name of the isolated compound was corrected to 9-O-demethylgalanthine in accordance with the currently used system of numbering of lycorine-type alkaloids.

Deep biopsy via endoscopic submucosal dissection in upper gastrointestinal subepithelial tumors: a prospective study.

Background And Study Aims: Preoperative pathological diagnosis may improve clinical management decisions in patients with upper gastrointestinal subepithelial tumors (SETs). The aims of this study were to evaluate the diagnostic yield of deep biopsy via an endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) technique, the complications associated with the procedure, and the impact on management of patients with upper gastrointestinal SETs.

Patients And Methods: A total of 68 patients with SETs in the stomach or esophagus were voluntarily assigned to two groups.

Expression of liver X receptor correlates with intrahepatic inflammation and fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background: Liver X receptor (LXR) is an oxysterol-activated nuclear receptor involved in the control of major metabolic pathways for cholesterol homeostasis and lipogenesis. Although the role of LXR in hepatic steatosis is well known, its correlation with intrahepatic inflammation and fibrosis has not been thoroughly studied. We investigated the association between LXRα, hepatic inflammation, and fibrosis, as well as its correlation with other intrahepatic lipid transporters in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Uniform polydimethylsiloxane beads coated with polydopamine and their potential biomedical applications.

Based on oil-in-water emulsion, uniform poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) beads were prepared using a simple fluidic device and then modified with polydopamine (PDA) to improve cell attachment. The size of the PDMS beads could be easily tuned by changing the flow rates of the discontinuous and continuous phases, and PDMS concentration in oil phase. The PDA-coated PDMS beads exhibited a dark and rough surface, whereas the pristine PDMS beads had a clear and smooth surface.