Disruption of Vitamin D Signaling Impairs Adaptation of Cerebrocortical Microcirculation to Carotid Artery Occlusion in Hyperandrogenic Female Mice.

Vitamin D deficiency contributes to the pathogenesis of age-related cerebrovascular diseases, including ischemic stroke. Sex hormonal status may also influence the prevalence of these disorders, indicated by a heightened vulnerability among postmenopausal and hyperandrogenic women. To investigate the potential interaction between sex steroids and disrupted vitamin D signaling in the cerebral microcirculation, we examined the cerebrovascular adaptation to unilateral carotid artery occlusion (CAO) in intact, ovariectomized, and hyperandrogenic female mice with normal or functionally inactive vitamin D receptor (VDR).

Elevated miR-33a and miR-224 in steatotic chronic hepatitis C liver biopsies.

Aim: To assess the expression of selected microRNAs (miRNA) in hepatitis C, steatotic hepatitis C, noninfected steatotic and normal liver tissues.

Methods: The relative expression levels of miR-21, miR-33a, miR-96, miR-122, miR-125b, miR-221 and miR-224 were determined in 76 RNA samples isolated from 18 non-steatotic and 28 steatotic chronic hepatitis C (CHC and CHC-Steatosis, respectively) cases, 18 non-infected, steatotic liver biopsies of metabolic origin (Steatosis) and 12 normal formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded liver tissues using TaqMan MicroRNA Assays. All CHC biopsy samples were obtained prior to initiating therapy.

Changes in lipid metabolism in chronic hepatitis C.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between certain biochemical parameters of lipid metabolism in the serum and steatosis in the liver.

Methods: The grade of steatosis (0-3) and histological activity index (HAI, 0-18) in liver biopsy specimens were correlated with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in 142 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CH-C), and 28 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The serum parameters were further correlated with 1,797 age and sex matched control patients without any liver diseases.

Assessment of histological features in chronic hepatitis C.

Background/aims: Hepatitis C virus infection is an important disease with a high chronicity rate (50-80%), leading to end-stage liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, the characteristic histological findings were compared with the epidemiological features of hepatitis C virus infection in liver biopsy material.

Methodology: Liver biopsies were studied from 106 patients (60 males, 46 females, aged 11-81 years, mean: 43) found positive for hepatitis C antibody by a second-generation ELISA method.

Effects of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate on type II pulmonary epithelial cells in vitro.

Dithiocarbamates (DDTC) are chemicals widely used in the form of pesticides, therapeutic and chelating agents, and scavengers. Since DDTC interfere with SH, Cu, and Zn enzymes due to chelating properties, it was of interest to clarify, in primary culture of type II alveolar pneumocytes, the effect of this compound upon enzymes of glutathione cycle, Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase, and the membrane structure of cells. DDTC significantly inhibited the activity of superoxide dismutase and the activity of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, glutathione reductase, and alkaline phosphatase, whereas an increase in the activity of glutathione peroxidase was found.

Decorin and actin expression and distribution in patients with chronic hepatitis C following interferon-alfa-2b treatment.

Background/aims: Chronic hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Interferon-alfa therapy may prevent the progression of the disease. The expressions of decorin and alfa-smooth muscle cell actin of the extracellular matrix play a central role in liver fibrosis.

Histological evaluation of the response to interferon-alpha therapy in chronic hepatitis C.

Background And Aims: The response rate of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), recently introduced in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, is merely 25-50%. The aims of this follow-up study were to compare the efficacy of 6 and 12-month IFN-alpha treatment via liver biopsy scores and to evaluate the correlation with the biochemical response.

Patients And Methods: Twenty chronic hepatitis C patients were studied; 10 received IFN-alpha therapy for 6 months and 10 for 12 months.

[Histological characteristics of chronic hepatitis C in biopsy material].

Background/aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most important diseases with high chronicity rate (50-80%) leading to end-stag cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatic histology shows a characteristic but not diagnostic picture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristic histological findings in correlation with epidemiological features in our liver biopsy material.

Endogenous vasopressin increases acute endotoxin shock-provoked gastrointestinal mucosal injury in the rat.

Administration of a low dose of endotoxin (from Escherichia coli, 3 mg kg(-1), i.v.), which does not affect vascular permeability or blood pressure over 1 h, leads to the release of endogenous vasopressin and damage to the mucosal microvasculature.

[Histo-pathological evaluation of response to 6 and 12 months of interferon alpha therapy].

Background And Aims: Interferon-alfa (IFN-alfa) has recently been introduced for chronic C hepatitis treatment; however, the response rate is merely 25-50%. The aims of this follow-up study were to compare the efficacy of 6 and 12-month IFN-alfa treatment via liver biopsy scores and to evaluate the correlation with the biochemical response.

Patients And Methods: 20 chronic C hepatitis patients were studied.

Aggressive role of vasopressin in development of different gastric lesions in rats.

The effects of endogenous or exogenous vasopressin in models of gastric mucosal injury with a different pathophysiology (ethanol, indomethacin, reserpine, cold-restraint stress and haemorrhagic shock-induced lesions) were investigated in rats. [Mca1,TyrMe2,Arg8]vasopressin, a vasopressin pressor (V1) receptor antagonist, was found to reduce dose dependently the extent of the lesions in all models, and to protect the deeper layer of the mucosa (assessed by histology). Endogenous vasopressin deficiency, as in Brattleboro homozygous rats, had a similar effect.

Reperfusion mucosal damage after complete intestinal ischemia in the dog: the effects of antioxidant and phospholipase A2 inhibitor therapy.

In a recent study, reperfusion mucosal injury was demonstrated in a rat model of total ischemia if venous congestion was avoided. The aims were to examine the possibility of reperfusion damage in a canine model involving 2 hours of complete segmental ischemia and to investigate the effects of antioxidant therapy or pretreatment with nonspecific phospholipase A2 inhibitors on postocclusive mucosal changes. Tissue samples were evaluated histologically in a blind manner, according to a 0 to V grade scale.

[Can gastroesophageal reflux be prevented by inducing a scar tissue ring around the cardia?].

Severe gastroesophageal reflux was accomplished in 18 dogs by circular cardiomyectomy. After this intervention a Vicryl scarf was placed around the cardia in 12 dogs. The Vicryl scarf was absorbed within 6 months and in its place remained a scarred tissue.

Long-term prostacyclin--treatment acts on the DNA and RNA content of rat gastric (antral and fundic) mucosa dose-dependently.

The changes in gastric (antral and fundic) mucosal DNA and RNA contents were investigated in long-term (80 days) treatment of rats with orally administered prostacyclin. Prostacyclin caused a dose-dependent, significant increase of the DNA levels in both parts of the gastric mucosa together with a significant thickening of the fundic mucosa. The observed changes (decrease) of the RNA/DNA ratio in the fundic as well as antral mucosa, are interpreted as a sign of accelerated cell renewal, i.

The role of vasopressin in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced gastric hemorrhagic erosions in rats. Is vasopressin an endogenous aggressor toward the gastric mucosa?

The role of vasopressin in the development of gastric hemorrhagic erosions induced by the oral administration of 1 mL of 75% ethanol in rats was studied. The area of the lesions in homozygous Brattleboro rats, having a defective vasopressin synthesis, was only 20% of that found in Wistar and heterozygous Brattleboro rats, which have normal vasopressin production. It is well known that vasopressin acts via the V1 (pressor) and V2 (antidiuretic) receptors.

Types of atrophic gastritis in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Histological examination of the gastric mucosa was performed in 44 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome with extraglandular symptoms (mean age 51.9, range 22-76). Biopsy specimens were taken from each of three separate regions: the antrum, the corpus, and the transitional zone between the antrum and the corpus.

Primary Sjögren's syndrome with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

The case history of a 43-year-old woman with primary Sjögren's syndrome is presented: in 1970, xerostomia and keratoconjunctivitis sicca; in 1980, arthritis; in 1982, chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis with renal tubular acidosis and vasopressin-resistant hyposthenuria. The renal function gradually deteriorated. Chronic atrophic gastritis with vitamin B12 deficiency and chronic duodenitis with diminished disaccharidase activity in the mucosa were also diagnosed.

A canine model of hyperdynamic sepsis induced by intestinal ischemia.

A hyperdynamic sepsis model was developed in dogs. It is based on a 3-hour clamping of the arteries supplying the middle portion of the jejunum. The ensuing sepsis has a course of several days, during which the animals were studied in the conscious state.

Experience with topical administration of 4-aminosalicylic acid in ulcerative colitis.

4-Aminosalicylic acid was applied topically in a daily dose of 1.4 gm for two weeks in ten patients with ulcerative colitis. After favorable results, the therapeutic effects of 4-aminosalicylic acid and salazopyrin enemas were compared in a two-week cross-over open trial, in 20 patients suffering from recurrent ulcerative colitis involving the rectum and rectosigmoid.

Prostaglandin F2 alpha and prostacyclin tissue levels in early phases of trypsin-induced acute pancreatitis in rats.

Local variations of prostaglandin (PG) I2 and F2 alpha were studied in the pancreatic tissue during the first hour of an acute experimental necrohemorrhagic pancreatitis. The local pancreatitis was induced by trypsin injection into the interstitium of the splenic part of rat pancreas, and a saline injection was given into the interstitium in the duodenal part of the same pancreas as control. PGF2 alpha level was measured by specific radioimmunoassay (RIA), and the stable degradation product of PGI2, the 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, was determined also by RIA as an index of PGI2 level.

Role of oxygen-derived free radicals in hemorrhagic shock-induced gastric lesions of rats.

This study was designed to determine whether oxygen-derived free radicals play a role in the pathogenesis of gastric lesions produced by hemorrhagic shock in the rat. Allopurinol (Zyloric), an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase (responsible for the formation of superoxide radicals) and MTDQ-DA (Kontrad), a synthetic antioxidant of dihydroquinoline type were used. In the anesthetized rat 0.

Effect of the anti-oestrogen tamoxifen on the development of renal cortical necrosis induced by oestrone + vasopressin administration in rats.

Bilateral renal cortical necrosis was observed after vasopressin administration in rats pretreated with oestrone acetate. Histochemical (succinic dehydrogenase, trichrome, periodic acid Schiff) and electronmicroscopic methods were used to examine how the anti-oestrogen, Tamoxifen, influences the development of this renal cortical necrosis. The experiments revealed that in most rats vasopressin did not induce renal tubular necrosis if the anti-oestrogen was administered simultaneously, even during oestrogen pretreatment.