Andrographolide prevents high-fat diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6 mice by suppressing the sterol regulatory element-binding protein pathway.

Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) are major transcription factors regulating the expression of genes involved in biosynthesis of cholesterol, fatty acids, and triglycerides. We investigated the effect of the specific SREBP suppressor andrographolide, a natural compound isolated from Andrographis paniculata, on the regulation of SREBP signaling by use of Western blot, reporter gene assay, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. In addition, the antiobesity effects of andrographolide were evaluated in C57BL/6 mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity.

Membrane lipid peroxidation by the peroxidase-like activity of magnetite nanoparticles.

We report that Fe3O4 nanoparticles are able to catalyse lipid peroxidation in liposomes at acidic but not neutral pH. The oxidation is dependent on either pre-existing lipid peroxides or hydrogen peroxide as a substrate. This is the first evidence for metal oxide nanoparticles as peroxidase mimetics oxidising biomolecules in a relevant environment.

Preoperative neck ultrasound in clinical node-negative differentiated thyroid cancer.

Background: The impact of preoperative neck ultrasound (US) on management of the lateral neck in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer is unclear. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of preoperative neck US on the rate of lateral neck dissection in clinical N0 neck and initial response to therapy.

Methods: An institutional review board-approved retrospective review of 890 patients that had thyroid surgery for differentiated thyroid cancer between 2009 and 2010 was performed at our institution.

Maintenance of Chloroplast Structure and Function by Overexpression of the Rice MONOGALACTOSYLDIACYLGLYCEROL SYNTHASE Gene Leads to Enhanced Salt Tolerance in Tobacco.

In plants, the galactolipids monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactodiacylglycerol (DGDG) are major constituents of photosynthetic membranes in chloroplasts. One of the key enzymes for the biosynthesis of these galactolipids is MGDG synthase (MGD). To investigate the role of MGD in the plant's response to salt stress, we cloned an MGD gene from rice (Oryza sativa) and generated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants overexpressing OsMGD.

Cardiac-specific YAP activation improves cardiac function and survival in an experimental murine MI model.

Rationale: Yes-associated protein (YAP), the terminal effector of the Hippo signaling pathway, is crucial for regulating embryonic cardiomyocyte proliferation.

Objective: We hypothesized that YAP activation after myocardial infarction (MI) would preserve cardiac function and improve survival.

Methods And Results: We used a cardiac-specific, inducible expression system to activate YAP in adult mouse heart.

Complex hemodynamic insult in combination with wall degeneration at the apex of an arterial bifurcation contributes to generation of nascent aneurysms in a canine model.

Background And Purpose: The detailed mechanisms of cerebral aneurysm generation remain unclear. Our aim was to investigate whether specific hemodynamic insult in combination with arterial wall degeneration leads to the development of aneurysms in a canine model.

Materials And Methods: New branch points in the common carotid artery were created in 18 dogs.

Sex differences in trends of incidence and mortality of first-ever stroke in rural Tianjin, China, from 1992 to 2012.

Background And Purpose: Sex differences in secular trends of stroke incidence are rarely reported. We aimed to explore sex differences in incidence and mortality of stroke in rural China from 1992 to 2012.

Methods: In 1992, 14 920 residents were recruited to participate in the Tianjin Brain Study, a population-based study on stroke surveillance.

[Effect of smokers'sera on Porphyromonas gingivalis internalizing KB cells and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1, -9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1].

Objective: To investigate the effects of serum from smoking individuals or non-smoking individuals with periodontitis on Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) internalizing KB cells, and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase(MMP)-1, MMP-9, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in the culture supernatant of KB cells.

Methods: The venous blood of 20 periodontitis patients' (10 smoking and 10 non-smoking) was extracted under the informed consent and centrifuged for serum. The smoking-individual serum (Y group) and non-smoking-individual (N group) serum were added to the model of Pg internalizing KB cells for 12 hours, plated on brain-heart infusion (BHI) and incubated anaerobically at 37 °C for 5 days.

Thyroid hormone inactivation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are resistant to traditional chemotherapy but are responsive to the tyrosine kinase inhibitors imatinib and sunitinib. The use of these agents has improved the outcome for patients but is associated with adverse effects, including hypothyroidism. Multiple mechanisms of this effect have been proposed, including decreased iodine organification and glandular capillary regression.

A prospective, randomized trial of intravenous glucocorticoids therapy with different protocols for patients with graves' ophthalmopathy.

Background: For patients with active moderate-to-severe Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), a course of 4.5 g iv glucocorticoids (GCs) is the recommended therapy. The weekly protocol is preferred because of the potential safety concerns with the daily protocol.

Epigenetic regulation of macrophage polarization by DNA methyltransferase 3b.

Adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) undergo a phenotypic switch from alternatively activated antiinflammatory M2 macrophages in lean individuals to classically activated proinflammatory M1 macrophages in obese subjects. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process remains unclear. In this study we aim to determine whether DNA methyltransferase 3b (DNMT3b) regulates macrophage polarization and inflammation.

Deficiency of ATP-binding cassette transporter B6 in megakaryocyte progenitors accelerates atherosclerosis in mice.

Objective: The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter B6 (ABCB6) is highly expressed in megakaryocyte progenitors, but its role in platelet production and disease has not been elucidated.

Approach And Results: Among various ABC transporters, ABCB6 was highly expressed in megakaryocyte progenitors, exhibiting the same pattern of expression of genes involved in heme synthesis pathway. Transplantation of Abcb6 deficient (Abcb6(-/-)) bone marrow into low density lipoprotein receptor deficient recipient mice resulted in expansion and proliferation of megakaryocyte progenitors, attributable to increased reactive oxygen species production in response to porphyrin loading.

Liver diffusion-weighted MR imaging: reproducibility comparison of ADC measurements obtained with multiple breath-hold, free-breathing, respiratory-triggered, and navigator-triggered techniques.

Purpose: To prospectively compare the reproducibility of normal liver apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements by using different respiratory motion compensation techniques with multiple breath-hold (MBH), free-breathing (FB), respiratory-triggered (RT), and navigator-triggered (NT) diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging and to compare the ADCs at different liver anatomic locations.

Materials And Methods: The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Thirty-nine volunteers underwent liver DW imaging twice.

US-guided percutaneous microwave ablation versus open radical nephrectomy for small renal cell carcinoma: intermediate-term results.

Purpose: To review intermediate-term clinical outcomes of microwave ablation (MWA) compared with open radial nephrectomy (ORN) in small renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients and to identify prognostic factors associated with two techniques.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study was institutional review board-approved. A total of 163 patients (127 men and 36 women) with small RCC (≤4 cm) were included from April 2006 to March 2012.

Remodelling at the calyx of Held-MNTB synapse in mice developing with unilateral conductive hearing loss.

Structure and function of central synapses are profoundly influenced by experience during developmental sensitive periods. Sensory synapses, which are the indispensable interface for the developing brain to interact with its environment, are particularly plastic. In the auditory system, moderate forms of unilateral hearing loss during development are prevalent but the pre- and postsynaptic modifications that occur when hearing symmetry is perturbed are not well understood.

Transdifferentiation of differentiated ovary into functional testis by long-term treatment of aromatase inhibitor in Nile tilapia.

Females with differentiated ovary of a gonochoristic fish, Nile tilapia, were masculinized by long-term treatment with an aromatase inhibitor (Fadrozole) in the present study. The reversed gonads developed into functional testes with fertile sperm. The longer the fish experienced sex differentiation, the longer treatment time was needed for successful sex reversal.

Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor sitagliptin maintains β-cell function in patients with recent-onset latent autoimmune diabetes in adults: one year prospective study.

Context: Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have been widely used in type 2 diabetes. An important unanswered question concerns the effect of DPP-4 inhibition on β-cell function in patients with autoimmune diabetes.

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of the DPP-4 inhibitor on β-cell function in patients with recent-onset latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA).

ATP-binding cassette transporters, atherosclerosis, and inflammation.

Although recent genome-wide association studies have called into question the causal relationship between high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease, ongoing research in animals and cells has produced increasing evidence that cholesterol efflux pathways mediated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and HDL suppress atherosclerosis. These differing perspectives may be reconciled by a modified HDL theory that emphasizes the antiatherogenic role of cholesterol flux pathways, initiated in cells by ABC transporters. ABCA1 and ABCG1 control the proliferation of hematopoietic stem and multipotential progenitor cells in the bone marrow and hematopoietic stem and multipotential progenitor cell mobilization and extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen.

Aggregate risk of cardiovascular disease among adolescents perinatally infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

Background: Perinatally HIV-infected adolescents may be susceptible to aggregate atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk, as measured by the Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth (PDAY) coronary arteries and abdominal aorta risk scores, as a result of prolonged exposure to HIV and antiretroviral therapy.

Methods And Results: Coronary arteries and abdominal aorta PDAY scores were calculated for 165 perinatally HIV-infected adolescents, using a weighted combination of modifiable risk factors: dyslipidemia, cigarette smoking, hypertension, obesity, and hyperglycemia. Demographic and HIV-specific predictors of scores ≥1 were identified, and trends in scores over time were assessed.

Assessment of thyroid function during first-trimester pregnancy: what is the rational upper limit of serum TSH during the first trimester in Chinese pregnant women?

Context: Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) proposed that the upper limit of the TSH reference range should be 2.5 mIU/L in first trimester, but the reported ranges in China are significantly higher.

Objective: Our objective was to establish a rational reference range of serum TSH for diagnosis of subclinical hypothyroidism in the first trimester of pregnant women in China.

CYP2J2-derived epoxyeicosatrienoic acids suppress endoplasmic reticulum stress in heart failure.

Prolonged endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress causes apoptosis and is associated with heart failure. Whether CYP2J2 and its arachidonic acid metabolites [epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs)] have a protective influence on ER stress and heart failure has not been studied. Assays of myocardial samples from patients with end-stage heart failure showed evidence of ER stress.

Improvement in the quality of heterotopic allotransplanted mouse ovarian tissues with basic fibroblast growth factor and fibrin hydrogel.

Study Question: Does basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in combination with fibrin hydrogel improve follicle development and revascularization of heterotopically transplanted mouse ovarian tissues?

Summary Answer: Treatment of transplanted ovarian tissues with higher concentrations (75, 100 and 150 μg/ml), but not lower concentrations (25 and 50 μg/ml), of bFGF significantly improved primordial follicle survival and angiogenesis, while apoptosis of follicles and stromal cells was significantly decreased.

What Is Known Already: Use of transplanted ovarian tissues in female fertility preservation is limited by the massive loss of follicles and ischemia-reperfusion injury due to the expected delay in revascularization.

Study Design, Size And Duration: Ovarian tissues from 18-day-old ICR mice were encapsulated in fibrin hydrogel mixed with different concentrations of bFGF, then transplanted under the skin of adult female mice for 1 week.

Effect of Y-27632 on the cultured retinal neurocytes of rats.

Aim: To investigate the effect of Y-27632 on the survival and neurite outgrowth of the cultured retinal neurocytes.

Methods: After the postnatal day 2-3, Sprague-Dawley retinal neurocytes were cultured for 48 hours, the culture media was replaced with serum-free media (control group) and serum-free media contained 30µmol/L Y-27632 (Y-27632 group), and the cells were continually cultured another 48 hours. The cultured retinal neurocytes were identified with anti-neuron specific enolase (NSE) immunocytochemistry.

Interference of Y-27632 on the signal transduction of transforming growth factor beta type 1 in ocular Tenon capsule fibroblasts.

Aim: To investigate the interfering effect of Y-27632, a ROCK-I selective inhibitor, on the signal transduction pathway of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in ocular Tenon capsule fibroblasts (OTFS) in vitro.

Methods: After OTFS from passages 4 to 6 in vitro were induced by TGF-β1 and then treated by Y-27632, the changes of the OTFS cell cycles were analyzed via flow cytometry, and the proteins expression of the α-smooth muscular actin (α-SMA), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), collagen I were calculated by Western blot. After OTFS treated by the different concentrations of Y-27632, the expression levels of the α-SMA, CTGF and collagen I mRNA were assayed by RT-PCR.

Positive diversifying selection on Plasmodium vivax RON2 protein.

Plasmodium rhoptry neck protein 2 (RON2), which is released from the neck portion of the merozoite rhoptries and interacts with the microneme protein Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1), plays a crucial role in erythrocyte invasion. In this study, we sequenced the Plasmodium vivax RON2 gene from 19 P. vivax isolates collected in central China in order to establish whether this protein is under positive diversifying selection, which may occur as a result of protective host immune pressure†.