Correlation between crowdedness in emergency departments and anxiety in Chinese patients.

Background: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a severe health care concern, while anxiety and depression rates among ED patients have been reported to be substantially higher compared to the general population. We hypothesized that anxiety due to over crowdedness may lead to adverse events in EDs.

Aim: To investigate correlations between crowdedness in EDs and anxiety of patients and nurses, and to identify factors affecting their anxiety.

Targeted inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase impairs cell proliferation, survival, and invasion in colon cancer.

Background: Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, and its metastasis and drug resistance are challenging for its effective treatment. The PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of colon cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the targeting of PI3K in colon cancer cells HT-29 and HCT-116 in vitro.

Eicosapentaenoic acid reduces ischemic ventricular fibrillation via altering monophasic action potential in pigs.

Although high intake of n-3 fatty acids is associated with reduced mortality of patients with ischemic heart disease, especially reduction in sudden cardiac death (SCD), the detailed mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Thus, the present study was designed to examine whether long-term treatment with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a major component of n-3 fatty acids, reduces ischemia-induced ventricular fibrillation (VF) in pigs in vivo, and if so, what molecular mechanisms are involved. Male pigs were treated with either a control chow (control group) or a control chow plus EPA (600 mg/kg/day, PO, EPA group) for 3 weeks and were subjected to myocardial ischemia for 90 min (n=8 each) with measurement of the monophasic action potential (MAP), as a marker of ventricular electrophysiological activities.

Long-term treatment with eicosapentaenoic acid ameliorates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in pigs in vivo. -Involvement of Rho-kinase pathway inhibition-.

Background: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the major n-3 fatty acid in fish oil, exerts cardioprotective effects against ischemic heart disease; however, the detailed mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Rho-kinase plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases including ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Thus, the hypothesis that long-term EPA treatment ameliorates myocardial I/R injury through Rho-kinase pathway inhibition in pigs in vivo was investigated.

Long-term treatment with nifedipine suppresses coronary hyperconstricting responses and inflammatory changes induced by paclitaxel-eluting stent in pigs in vivo: possible involvement of Rho-kinase pathway.

Aims: Accumulating evidence indicates that coronary vasoconstricting responses are enhanced at the edges of coronary segment implanted with a drug-eluting stent (DES) compared with a bare-metal stent (BMS) in humans. We have recently demonstrated that Rho-kinase pathway plays an important role in DES-induced coronary hyperconstricting responses associated with inflammatory changes in pigs in vivo. This study examined whether long-term treatment with calcium channel blocker suppresses DES-induced coronary hyperconstricting responses in pigs in vivo.