FPR1 gene silencing suppresses cardiomyocyte apoptosis and ventricular remodeling in rats with ischemia/reperfusion injury through the inhibition of MAPK signaling pathway.

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, one of the leading health problems in the world, is defined as a cause of cardiomyocytes death. In the present study, we investigate the role of formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1) in cardiomyocyte apoptosis and ventricular remodeling of I/R injury rats and the underlying mechanism involving mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. The important differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in I/R injury were screened out and downstream pathways affected by DEGs were predicted.

Noninvasive Swansea criteria are valuable alternatives for diagnosing acute fatty liver of pregnancy in a Chinese population.

Background: This study aims to assess the diagnostic and prognostic value of Swansea criteria in diagnosing acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) in a Chinese population.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 52 Chinese women diagnosed with AFLP. All selected cases were reassessed using the Swansea criteria with special focus on the noninvasive criteria, since performing a liver biopsy for this indication is rare in a Chinese population.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of patterned copper nanostructure electrolessly plated on arrayed nanoporous silicon pillars.

A new synthesized composite structure, a patterned copper/silicon nanoporous pillar array (Cu/Si-NPA) made by depositing Cu on Si-NPA using an immersion plating method, can be used as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. Its surface component and morphology were analyzed by x-ray diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy, respectively. It was found that the surface was Cu with two kinds of crystal structures: a continuous film composed of Cu nanocrystallites covering the Si-NPA, and a quasi-regular, interconnected network composed of loop-chains of Cu crystallites, with the size in the range of several tens of nanometer to 300 nm, surrounding the porous Si pillars.