Surgical Management of Pulmonary Artery Sling in a Pediatric Patient.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary artery sling (PAS) is an anatomical vascular anomaly due to the origin of the left pulmonary artery from the right pulmonary artery, which runs posteriorly between the esophagus and trachea, resulting in compression of adjacent structures. Accurate evaluation for malformation of the pulmonary artery and severity of airway obstruction is essential to surgical strategy. This report presents the diagnosis and surgical management of pulmonary artery sling in a 12-year-old boy.

A rare association of invasive infective endocarditis due to Abiotrophia defectiva with ventricular septal defect and recurrent Henoch-Schonlein purpura in a child.

Background: Henoch-Schonlein purpura is the most common vasculitis in childhood, usually triggered by an upper respiratory tract infection and rarely observed in infective endocarditis patients. Abiotrophia defectiva is a rare causative agent of infective endocarditis associated with pre-existing heart disease, immunocompromised and prosthetic valves. Dental procedures are also a common predisposing factor.

Tetramethylpyrazine Improves Monocrotaline-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension through the ROS/iNOS/PKG-1 Axis.

Background: Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), a potent anti-free radical and anti-inflammations substance, has been demonstrated to possess a direct vessel relaxation property. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of TMP treatment in pulmonary hypertension (PH) and test the hypothesis that TMP prevents or reverses the process of PH.

Methods: Rats ( = 36) injected with 50 mg/kg of monocrotaline (MCT) subcutaneously 4 weeks to develop PH were then randomized to TMP (5 mg/kg per day) for another 4 weeks.

Effects of sodium hyaluronate combined with rhEGF eye drops in patients with dry eye.

To analyze the effects of sodium hyaluronate combined with recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) eye drops in patients with dry eye. Totally 97 patients who suffered dry eye after cataract surgery in our hospital from March 2018 to June 2020 were selected and randomly assigned into control group (n=57, sodium hyaluronate eye drops) and intervention group (n=63, sodium hyaluronate combined with rhEGF eye drops). The clinical efficacy, Break Up Time (BUT), schirmer I test (SLt), fluorescent test (FL) and ocular surface disease index (OSDI), the scale of quality of life for disease with visual impairment (SQOL-DVI), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-a) level of the two groups were compared.

Corrigendum to " Improves Chronic Kidney Disease by Affecting TLR4/NF-B Redox Signaling Pathway".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2019/7850863.].

Effect of aquaporin 1 on mouse peritoneal mesothelial cells after a long-term peritoneal dialysis.

Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) is one member of the aquaporin family, also the deeply studied one. It is widely located on the endothelial cells, but the effect of AQP1 on the peritoneal mesothelial cells (PMCs) after long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) has not been reported before. We divided normal mice into two groups, control group and dialysis group, to confirm the fibrotic changes and expression of APQ1 on peritoneal mesothelial cells.

WWP2 ameliorates acute kidney injury by mediating p53 ubiquitylation and degradation.

E3 ubiquitin ligase gene, WWP2, is associated with acute kidney injury (AKI). This research was conducted to explore the role of WWP2 in AKI. AKI cell model was produced in human renal proximal tubular epithelial cell line (HK-2) by ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury.

Improves Chronic Kidney Disease by Affecting TLR4/NF-B Redox Signaling Pathway.

may show good promise in protecting against chronic kidney disease (CKD) but the molecular mechanism remains unclear. CKD risk is associated with the Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-kappa B (TLR4/NF-B) signaling pathway. Cordycepin is the main component of and may affect the TLR4/NF-B pathway.

Protective effects of IFN-γ on the kidney of type- 2 diabetic KKAy mice.

Background: Development of novel therapeutic strategies that specifically target diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is urgently needed.

Methods: Male KKAy mice were divided randomly into three equal groups - KK, KI, and KF; Male C57BL/6 mice were the control group. All KKAy mice were fed a high-fat diet.

Grouped Gene Selection of Cancer via Adaptive Sparse Group Lasso Based on Conditional Mutual Information.

This paper deals with the problems of cancer classification and grouped gene selection. The weighted gene co-expression network on cancer microarray data is employed to identify modules corresponding to biological pathways, based on which a strategy of dividing genes into groups is presented. Using the conditional mutual information within each divided group, an integrated criterion is proposed and the data-driven weights are constructed.

Sodium butyrate activates NRF2 to ameliorate diabetic nephropathy possibly via inhibition of HDAC.

Oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) plays a key role in cellular defense against oxidative stress. NRF2 activators have shown promising preventive effects on DN.

Tetrandrine prevents monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension in rats through regulation of the protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase type 1.

Objective: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease characterized by a persistent elevation of pulmonary artery pressure and ventricular hypertrophy. Tetrandrine is a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid that can decrease blood pressure, inhibit the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells, and block cardiac hypertrophy, but whether it has a therapeutic effect on PAH remains poorly defined. This study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of tetrandrine on PAH.

[Protective effects of high-dose ulinastatin on vital organs in patients receiving total arch replacement for type A aortic dissection].

Objective: To investigate the protective effects of high-dose ulinastatin on the vital organs in patients undergoing total arch replacement for type A aortic dissection.

Methods: Between September 2014 and March 2016, 66 patients with type A aortic dissection underwent total arch replacement at our center. Thirty-six of the patients received ulinastatin treatment at 300 000 U/8 h from admission to 3 days postoperatively and at 300 000 U/2 h during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery (UTI group), and the other 30 patients did not receive perioperative ulinastatin treatment (control group).

Validation of an instrument to assess visual ability in children with visual impairment in China.

Objective: To validate a visual ability instrument for school-aged children with visual impairment in China by translating, culturally adopting and Rasch scaling the Cardiff Visual Ability Questionnaire for Children (CVAQC).

Methods: The 25-item CVAQC was translated into Mandarin using a standard protocol. The translated version (CVAQC-CN) was subjected to cognitive testing to ensure a proper cultural adaptation of its content.

Vitamin E confers cytoprotective effects on cardiomyocytes under conditions of heat stress by increasing the expression of metallothionein.

Heat stress (HS) is commonly used to refer to the heat load that an individual is subjected to due to either metabolic heat, or environmental factors, including high temperatures and high humidity levels. HS has been reported to affect and even damage the functioning of various organs; overexposure to high temperatures and high humidity may lead to accidental deaths. It has been suggested that the cardiovascular system is primarily targeted by exposure to HS conditions; the HS-induced dysfunction of cardiomyocytes, which is characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction, may result in the development of cardiovascular diseases.

Review of Herbal Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most serious chronic complications of diabetes; 20-40% of diabetic patients develop into end stage renal disease (ESRD). However, exact pathogenesis of DN is not fully clear and we have great difficulties in curing DN; poor treatment of DN led to high chances of mortality worldwide. A lot of western medicines such as ACEI and ARB have been demonstrated to protect renal function of DN but are not enough to delay or retard the progression of DN; therefore, exploring exact and feasible drug is current research hotspot in medicine.

Xuebijing attenuates hypotension through the upregulation of angiotensin II type 1 receptor-associated protein 1 in rats suffering from heat stroke.

In our previous study, we demonstrated that Xuebijing (XBJ), a traditional Chinese medicine, attenuates hypotension in rats suffering from heatstroke (HS). However, the underlying mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. Thus, the current study was carried out to investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of XBJ on hypotension n rats suffering from HS.

Down-regulated miR-15a mediates the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in renal tubular epithelial cells promoted by high glucose.

High glucose (HG) has been reported to be associated with renal dysfunction. And one potential mechanism underlining the dysfunction is the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells. Present study showed that EMT was induced in the HG-treated renal tubular epithelial cells by promoting the expression of mesenchymal phenotype molecules, such as α-SMA and collagen I, and down-regulating the expression of epithelial phenotype molecule E-cadherin.

Humid heat exposure induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes through the angiotensin II signaling pathway.

Exposure to humid heat stress leads to the initiation of serious physiological dysfunction that may result in heat-related diseases, including heat stroke, heat cramp, heat exhaustion, and even death. Increasing evidences have shown that the humid heat stress-induced dysfunction of the cardiovascular system was accompanied with severe cardiomyocyte injury; however, the precise mechanism of heat stress-induced injury of cardiomyocyte remains unknown. In the present study, we hypothesized that humid heat stress promoted oxidative stress through the activation of angiotensin II (Ang II) in cardiomyocytes.

Induction of heat-shock protein 70 expression by geranylgeranylacetone shows cytoprotective effects in cardiomyocytes of mice under humid heat stress.

Background: Increasing evidence has revealed that humid heat stress (HHS) causes considerable damage to human health. The cardiovascular system has been suggested to be the primary target of heat stress, which results in serious cardiovascular diseases. However, there is still a lack of effective approaches for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases induced by HHS.

Inhibitory effects of resveratrol on foam cell formation are mediated through monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and lipid metabolism-related proteins.

Resveratrol has been shown to exert anti-atherosclerotic effects. 5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) play key roles in foam cell formation, which is considered as the initiation of atherosclerosis. Thus, in this study, we investigated whether resveratrol inhibits foam cell formation by regulating lipid accumulation and inflammation.

CCN4 regulates vascular smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation.

The migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are essential elements during the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis. An increasing number of studies have reported that extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, including the CCN protein family, play a significant role in VSMC migration and proliferation. CCN4 is a member of the CCN protein family, which controls cell development and survival in multiple systems of the body.

Resveratrol ameliorates subacute intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Background: Resveratrol has been shown to attenuate reactive oxygen species formation and protect against ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the effects of resveratrol against subacute intestinal I/R injury are not clearly elucidated. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects and possible protective mechanisms of resveratrol on subacute intestinal I/R injury in mice.

Protective effects of osthole against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Osthole, a bioactive simple coumarin derivative extracted from a number of medicinal plants, such as Cnidium monnieri and Angelica pubescens, has been shown to exert a variety of pharmacological activities and is considered to have potential therapeutic applications. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of osthole against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 groups: the sham-oeprated control group (control), the vehicle group (vehicle), and 3 treatment groups, which were treated with osthole at the concentration of 1, 10 or 50 mg/kg (intraperitoneally), respectively, upon the initiation of myocardial ischemia.

Protective effects of osthole, a natural derivative of coumarin, against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice.

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is considered to be associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Osthole, a natural derivative of coumarin, has been shown to exert a variety of pharmacological and therapeutic effects under physiological and pathological conditions. In the present study, to investigate the protective effects of osthole against intestinal I/R injury, various doses of osthole (5, 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg) were pre-administered to mice subjected to intestinal I/R injury.