Ginsenoside Rb1 directly scavenges hydroxyl radical and hypochlorous acid.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in a variety of inflammatory diseases including cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, autism, cataracts and aging. When endogenous mechanisms for the maintenance of redox homeostasis are overwhelmed, dietary intake of antioxidants contributes substantially to balancing the body's oxidant/antioxidant status. Ginsenosides are thought to be primarily responsible for the pharmacological effect of P.

Ginkgolic acid inhibits HIV protease activity and HIV infection in vitro.

Background: Several HIV protease mutations, which are resistant to clinical HIV protease inhibitors (PIs), have been identified. There is a great need for second-generation PIs with different chemical structures and/or with an alternative mode of inhibition. Ginkgolic acid is a natural herbal substance and a major component of the lipid fraction in the nutshells of the Ginkgo biloba tree.

Clinical outcome of staged versus combined treatment approach of hybrid repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm with visceral vessel debranching and aortic endograft exclusion.

Although visceral vessel debranching and endovascular aneurysm exclusion represents a hybrid treatment approach in patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm, the effect of timing with regard to the visceral debranching procedure and endovascular aneurysm exclusion in this treatment strategy remains unclear. In this study, the authors analyzed their recent institutional experience of visceral debranching and aneurysm stent-grafting procedures. Specifically, the authors compared the effect of staged (n = 27) versus combined (n = 31) hybrid treatment in patients with complex aortic aneurysms.

Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) inhibits ritonavir-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries.

Background: HIV infection and treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) including HIV protease inhibitor ritonavir (RTV) have been associated with endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease including pulmonary arterial hypertension. The objective of this study was to determine if nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), a natural herbal antioxidant found in the creosote bush Larrea tridentate, can protect vascular tissues against RTV-induced vascular injury.

Material/methods: Fresh porcine pulmonary artery (PA) rings were treated with a clinically relevant concentration of RTV (15 µmol/L) with or without NDGA for 24 hours, and then subjected to myograph analysis for vasomotor reactivity.

Complications of tunneled cuffed hemodialysis catheters in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Purpose: Although increased infectious and thrombotic complications have been reported in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), little is known regarding hemodialysis catheter-related complications in HIV patients. In this report, we reviewed our experience and complication rates for tunneled cuffed catheters (TCCs) in HIV patients requiring hemodialysis.

Methods: A total of 85 patients with HIV infection underwent TCC placement for hemodialysis between 1996 and 2009.

Natural antioxidant dihydroxybenzyl alcohol blocks ritonavir-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries and human endothelial cells.

Background: Patients with HIV have an increased incidence of pulmonary artery hypertension. This study was designed to determine if the naturally occurring antioxidant dihydroxybenzyl alcohol (DHBA) could counteract the deleterious effects of ritonavir (RTV), an HIV-protease inhibitor known to impair endothelial function and increase oxidative stress.

Material/methods: Antioxidant assays were performed on DHBA in a cell free system.

Cyclophilin A enhances cell proliferation and tumor growth of liver fluke-associated cholangiocarcinoma.

Background: Cyclophilin A (CypA) expression is associated with malignant phenotypes in many cancers. However, the role and mechanisms of CypA in liver fluke-associated cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) are not presently known. In this study, we investigated the expression of CypA in CCA tumor tissues and CCA cell lines as well as regulation mechanisms of CypA in tumor growth using CCA cell lines.

Ginkgolide A-gold nanoparticles inhibit vascular smooth muscle proliferation and migration in vitro and reduce neointimal hyperplasia in a mouse model.

Background: Neointimal formation is mediated by phenotypic changes in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) and is an important mediator of restenosis following arterial reconstruction. We conjugated antioxidant ginkgolide A (GA) to gold nanoparticles (GNP) to determine the effect of GA delivery on neointimal formation.

Materials And Methods: GA was conjugated to 80 nm GNP in an overnight incubation.

Resistin: functional roles and therapeutic considerations for cardiovascular disease.

Unlabelled: Resistin, originally described as an adipocyte-specific hormone, has been suggested to be an important link between obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes. Although its expression was initially defined in adipocytes, significant levels of resistin expression in humans are mainly found in mononuclear leukocytes, macrophages, spleen and bone marrow cells. Increasing evidence indicates that resistin plays important regulatory roles apart from its role in insulin resistance and diabetes in a variety of biological processes: atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune disease, malignancy, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic kidney disease.

Transforming growth factor-beta increases the expression of vascular smooth muscle cell markers in human multi-lineage progenitor cells.

Background: Vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation is an essential component of vascular repair and tissue engineering. However, currently used cell models for the study of SMC differentiation have several limitations. Multi-lineage progenitor cells (MLPCs) originate from human umbilical cord blood and are cloned from a single cell.

Roles and mechanisms of microRNAs in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor survival. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) has provided a new opportunity to study the disease. Thus far, altered expression of miRNAs has been reported in a wide range of malignancies, including PC, and some miRNAs are associated with PC cell proliferation, invasion, chemoresistance, and patient survival.

Expression and function of a large non-coding RNA gene XIST in human cancer.

Background: X inactive-specific transcript (XIST) RNA is involved in X chromosome silencing in female cells and allows X chromosome equilibration with males. X inactive-specific transcript expression has been found to be dysregulated in a variety of human cancers when compared to normal cells; meanwhile, the inactivated X chromosome has been noted to be conspicuously absent in human cancer specimens, whereas X chromosome duplications are widely noted. The specific pathways whereby changes in X chromosome status and XIST expression occur in cancer remain incompletely described.

miRNAs: roles and clinical applications in vascular disease.

miRNAs are small, endogenously expressed noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression, mainly at the post-transcriptional level, via degradation or translational inhibition of their target mRNAs. Functionally, an individual miRNA can regulate the expression of multiple target genes. The study of miRNAs is rapidly growing and recent studies have revealed a significant role of miRNAs in vascular biology and disease.

MicroRNA-196: critical roles and clinical applications in development and cancer.

The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) represents one of the most significant advances in biological and medical sciences in the last decade. Hundreds of miRNAs have been identified in plants, viruses, animals and human beings, and these tiny, non-coding RNA transcripts have been found to play crucial roles in important biological processes involved in human health and disease. Recently, many studies have demonstrated that miR-196 plays critical roles in normal development and in the pathogenesis of human disease processes such as cancer.

How to interpret data from the superficial femoral artery stenting trials and registries.

Recent advances in endovascular technologies have made catheter-based interventions a preferred treatment strategy in patients with intermittent claudication or ischemic rest pain of the lower extremity. Although the current body of literature is inundated with clinical reports favoring countless endovascular devices and treatment techniques for femoropopliteal occlusive disease, analysis of available clinical reports regarding femoropopliteal lesions can be an overwhelming undertaking. In this report, we examine various challenges associated with data interpretation of clinical literature on endovascular treatment of femoropopliteal occlusive disease.

Molecular mechanisms and clinical applications of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) and its derivatives: an update.

Creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, is known as chaparral or greasewood in the United States and as gobernadora or hediondilla in Mexico. Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), the main metabolite of the creosote bush, has been shown to have promising applications in the treatment of multiple diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders and cancers. Creosote bush is a promising agent of North American herbal medicine, and it has extensive pharmacological effects and specific mechanisms of actions.

Arterial baroreceptors in the management of systemic hypertension.

Hypertension is a multifactorial disease associated with significant morbidity. Increased sympathetic nervous system activity has been noted as an important etiologic factor and is, in part, regulated by afferent input arising from arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreceptors, activation of which causes inhibition of sympathetic output. It was thought for many years that baroreceptors control only short-term blood pressure changes, a conclusion stemming from observations in sinoaortic denervation (SAD) animal models and the phenomenon of rapid baroreceptor resetting, also seen in animal models.

The soybean isoflavonoid equol blocks ritonavir-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries and human pulmonary artery endothelial cells.

HIV protease inhibitor (PI) ritonavir (RTV) may cause vascular injury through oxidative stress. Our purpose in this study was to determine whether equol, a soy isoflavone, could prevent RTV-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries and in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC). Fresh porcine pulmonary artery rings were treated with 15 micromol/L of RTV and/or equol in concentrations of 0.

Comparison of percutaneous ultrasound-accelerated thrombolysis versus catheter-directed thrombolysis in patients with acute massive pulmonary embolism.

Acute massive pulmonary embolism (PE) is a life-threatening condition that requires prompt and aggressive interventions, including anticoagulation, catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT), mechanical thrombectomy, or surgical thromboembolectomy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcome in patients with massive PE who were treated with either ultrasound-accelerated thrombolysis using the EkoSonic Endovascular System (EKOS) or CDT intervention. During a recent 10-year period, the clinical records of all patients with massive PE undergoing catheter-directed interventions were evaluated.

Percutaneous treatment of varicocele with microcoil embolization: comparison of treatment outcome with laparoscopic varicocelectomy.

Successful treatment of a testicular varicocele, which can result in scrotal pain and swelling as well as male subfertility, can be accomplished via operative ligation of the varicocele or interventional treatment with coil embolization of the testicular vein. This study compared the treatment outcome of percutaneous embolization treatment versus laparoscopic varicocelectomy in patients with symptomatic varicoceles. Patients with varicoceles undergoing either laparoscopic varicocelectomy or percutaneous coil embolization of the testicular vein during a recent 5-year period were analyzed.