The role of lactoferrin in bone remodeling: evaluation of its potential in targeted delivery and treatment of metabolic bone diseases and orthopedic conditions.

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a multifunctional protein that is synthesized endogenously and has various biological roles including immunological regulation, antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer properties. Recently, research has uncovered Lf's critical functions in bone remodeling, where it regulates the function of osteoblasts, chondrocytes, osteoclasts, and mesenchymal stem cells. The signaling pathways involved in Lf's signaling in osteoblasts include (low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein - 1 (LRP-1), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), and insulin-like growth factor - 1 (IGF-1), which activate downstream pathways such as ERK, PI3K/Akt, and NF-κB.

Inflammation in Hernia and the epigenetic control.

Inflammation is much more intrinsic to hernia then is what is generally appreciated. The occurrence of hernias is associated with swelling, stress and inflammation. Surgery remains an important intervention to treat hernias and for many years, post-surgical levels of inflammatory cytokines have been evaluated to compare the different strategies for their comparative advantages.

Chemokines in colon cancer progression.

Colon cancer is a major human cancer accounting for about a tenth of all cancer cases thus making it among the top three cancers in terms of incidence as well as mortality. Metastasis to distant organs, particularly to liver, is the primary reason for associated mortality. Chemokines, the chemo-attractants for various immune cells, have increasingly been reported to be involved in cancer initiation and progression, including in colon cancer.

Screening of characteristic genes in ulcerative colitis by integrating gene expression profiles.

Background: This study aimed to screen the feature modules and characteristic genes related to ulcerative colitis (UC) and construct a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to distinguish UC patients.

Methods: Four datasets that contained UC and control samples were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with consistency were screened via the MetaDE method.

Evaluation of serum retinol-binding protein-4 levels as a biomarker of poor short-term prognosis in ischemic stroke.

The aim was to investigate the relationship between retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) levels and short-term functional outcome, and to determine its possible role in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). In a prospective observational study, 299 first-ever AIS who were admitted to our hospital were included. Serum levels of RBP4 were assayed and severity of stroke was evaluated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission.

Fatty acid binding protein 4 is associated with stroke risk and severity in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Objective: The role of fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) in atherosclerosis has been investigated. The aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis that higher levels of serum FABP4 could be a biomarker for stroke and associated with stroke severity in Chinese patients with ischemic stroke.

Methods: All consecutive patients with first-ever acute ischemic stroke from September 2015 to August 2016 were recruited to participate in the study.