Comparison between three molecular methods for detection of blood melanoma tyrosinase mRNA. Correlation with melanoma stages and S100B, LDH, NSE biochemical markers.

Background: The molecular monitoring of circulating tumor cells by reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) for patients with melanoma, is still under debate. It may be affected by: a) pre-analytical variability, b) frequency of melanoma-associated gene transcripts and c) the reliability of the methods employed. Few commercial methods are available for the detection of tyrosinase mRNA in blood.

Pre-ischemic administration of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors reduced germ cell apoptosis after spermatic vessel ligation in the rat testis.

Introduction: The Fowler-Stephens maneuver, a mode of spermatic vessel ligation, is a method of choice in the management of high testes. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of pre-ischemic administration of N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) inhibitor, in preventing testicular ischemic damage and germ cell-specific apoptosis in rats.

Materials And Methods: 30 min before ligation of the spermatic vessels, L-NAME was administered intraperitoneally to a group of rats and saline was given to another group of rats (controls).

Functional analysis of MRG-1: the ortholog of human MRG15 in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Mortality Factor on Chromosome 4 (MORF4) induces senescence in several immortal human cell lines. MORF-related gene on chromosome 15 (MRG15), another expressed family member, is highly conserved and expressed in yeast to humans. To determine the biological functions of human MRG15 (hMRG15) we used RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) to silence mrg-1, the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog, and its closest homolog Y37D8A.

Effects of menopause and tibolone on antioxidants in postmenopausal women.

Background: Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ageing and menopause, and can arise through the increased production of lipid peroxides and/or a deficiency of antioxidant defence.

Aim: To investigate the effects of the menopause and tibolone treatment (2.5 mg/day for six months) on plasma antioxidants and lipid peroxidation.

The effects of topotecan on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme levels in rabbit liver tissue.

Background: To evaluate the possible influence of topotecan therapy on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in rabbit liver tissue, the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT) were investigated.

Methods: A total of 24 adult, healthy New Zealand rabbits were divided into three groups (n = 8). Topotecan was administered intravenously via the ear vein for 3 days at 0.

The oxidant and antioxidant effects of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in liver, kidney and heart tissues of diabetic rats.

Previous studies have implicated protective effects of vitamin D on insulin secretion and pancreas beta cell function. The goal of the present study is to determine if a combination therapy of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and insulin had any advantage over insulin therapy alone on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activity in the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat. The lipid peroxidation product, thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances (TBARS), was measured to assess free radical activity in the heart, kidney and liver tissues.

Thymosin alpha 1 attenuates lipid peroxidation and improves fructose-induced steatohepatitis in rats.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of thymosin alpha(1) (Talpha(1)) in rats having fructose-induced steatosis. Fructose leads to experimental steatosis in the liver by exerting its effect on some components of the oxidant/antioxidant system, and on several cytokines (interleukin-1beta, -2, and -6) in blood.

Methods: Twenty-four rats at random were divided into three groups (each group containing eight animals); the control group (C), which received a purified diet; the high-fructose-fed group (F); and the high-fructose-fed and Talpha(1) injected group (F + T).

Serum paraoxonase 1 activity and malondialdehyde levels in patients with ulcerative colitis.

This study was designed to evaluate the oxidative and antioxidative status in patients with ulcerative colitis by detecting antioxidant enzyme paraoxonase 1 activity together with the level of a well-known marker of oxidative stress, malondialdehyde. Serum paraoxonase 1 activity and malondialdehyde levels were analysed in 30 patients with ulcerative colitis and 30 controls using a spectrophotometric method; correlation analysis was made between these variables. Serum malondialdehyde levels were higher in the ulcerative colitis group (median: 2.

A comparison of leptin and ghrelin levels in plasma and saliva of young healthy subjects.

In the last 10 years, saliva has been increasingly used as a diagnostic fluid and in predictions of disease progression. Leptin and ghrelin are synthesized in several tissues including the salivary glands. The action of ghrelin is antagonistic to that of leptin.

State of the art of new data on the role of magnesium in brain injury: clinical interest of measurements of total and ionized magnesium.

Despite many research studies on traumatic brain injury, few markers have been applicable to diagnose trauma at tissue concentration. Today, the importance of the magnesium ion in posttraumatic homeostasis of brain is a well-known reality. Magnesium concentration affects a number of secondary injury factors including neurotransmitter release, ion changes, oxidative stress, protein synthesis, and energy metabolism.

Peripheral blood telomerase activity in non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein, stabilizing chromosomes by adding telomeric repeats to their ends, is highly expressed in most neoplastic cells and has a critical role in cellular immortalization. In this study, telomerase activity was measured in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). A total of 18 patients with B-cell NHL and 12 healthy volunteers were included in the study.

Elevated urine neopterin levels in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to relate urine levels of neopterin, a marker of activation of the cellular immune system, with grading and staging of NASH.

Design And Methods: Urine concentrations of neopterin, routine tests, insulin and C-peptide levels were assessed in 50 patients with NASH, 25 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (CVH), and in 26 healthy controls.

Results: Urine neopterin levels were found elevated in the NASH and CVH groups compared with controls.

Chromium and manganese levels in the scalp hair of normals and patients with breast cancer.

The adverse health effects linked with chromium and manganese and the diverse cellular and molecular effects of chromium and manganese make the study of chromium and manganese carcinogenesis and toxicology very interesting and complex. Quantitative elemental analysis of scalp hair of breast cancer patients (stage III) (n=26) and controls (n=27) were used to study to find correlation and possible changes between breast cancer and healthy controls. The graphite furnace atomic absorption analysis of quantitative method was used for the determination of chromium and manganese element levels.

Serum nitric oxide metabolite levels and the effect of antipsychotic therapy in schizophrenia.

Background: Recently it was proposed that nitric oxide metabolites (NO) may have a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and major depressive disorders. The present study was performed to assess changes in serum nitric oxide metabolite levels in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy controls. Our secondary aim was to further evaluate the impact of psychopharmacologic treatment on circulating NO levels not assessed previously.

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester improves oxidative organ damage in rat model of thermal trauma.

Severe burn injuries cause functional impairment in distant internal organs. Although this mechanism is not clear, it is possible that free radical toxicity plays an important role. Research in animals and clinical studies have shown that there is a close relationship between a lipid peroxidative reaction and secondary pathological changes following thermal injury.

Recreational and master athletic activity does not affect free and total prostate-specific antigen levels but lowers the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen ratio.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and the ratio of free-to-total PSA are widely used tumour markers, but the effect of exercise on these parameters is unclear. We aimed to determine whether long-term physical training was associated with changes in serum PSA by comparing PSA concentrations in middle-aged master athletes (n = 12), recreational athletes (n = 12) and sedentary controls (n = 12). Serum total PSA and free PSA concentrations were assessed using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay; there were no significant differences among the groups.

Declines in serum free and bound choline concentrations in humans after three different types of major surgery.

We examined the changes in circulating choline status in humans in response to major surgery by measuring serum free and phospholipid-bound choline concentrations before, during and 1-72 h after total abdominal hysterectomy, off-pump coronary artery graft surgery or brain tumor surgery. Preoperatively, the mean serum free and phospholipid-bound choline concentrations in patients scheduled for abdominal hysterectomy (n = 26), off-pump coronary artery grafting surgery (n = 34) or brain tumor surgery (n = 24) were 12.3 +/- 0.

Pyrimidine 5'nucleotidase I and II activities in acute leukaemias.

Background And Objective: Pyrimidine 5'nucleotidase I and II activities of peripheral mononuclear cells were studied to evaluate their role in diagnosis, assessment of therapy and follow up of remission in acute leukaemias.

Design And Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 40 untreated patients with acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukaemia and 40 healthy controls, before the therapy and after remission. The correlation between the activity of the enzymes and the efficacy of therapy were established.

The long-term effect of mesh bioprosthesis in inguinal hernia repair on testicular nitric oxide metabolism and apoptosis in rat testis.

Polypropylene mesh is the most widely used material in inguinal hernia repair. Although polypropylene mesh is known as an inert material, it is experimentally proven that mesh generates a chronic inflammatory tissue reaction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term effects of polypropylene mesh material used in inguinal hernia operations on testicular function, testicular nitric oxide (NO) metabolism and germ cell-specific apoptosis in rats.

Zinc-deficient sprouting blight potatoes and their possible relation with neural tube defects.

Maternal nutritional zinc deficiency is blamed in the pathogenesis of neural tube defects. In animal and plant domains zinc is required for growth and development. The objective of the present study was to show that sprouting blighted potato tuber is zinc deficient.

The effect of prostate cancer and antiandrogenic therapy on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant systems.

In living organism, excessive free radicals or oxidative damage which occur as a result of deficient antioxidant defensive mechanisms by the effect of endogenous and exogenous factors, influences especially developmental steps of chemically induced cancers. In our study, plasma malondialdehyde level (MDA) as an indicator of lipid peroxidation, erythrocyte glutathione (GSH) level as an indicator of antioxidant state, glutathione reductase (GSH-Red), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) as an antioxidant enzymes and plasma vitamin E level were detected in patients with prostate cancer (21 males; age, 69.4 +/- 4.

Functional significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor (receptor-1) in various lung cancer types.

Objectives: VEGF is one of the key factors in tumor angiogenesis that may be involved in tumor growth and metastasis. VEGF receptor, a naturally occurring soluble form of the VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1. flt-1), is produced by endothelial cells by differential splicing of the flt-1 gene, and is a negative counterpart of the VEGF signaling pathway.

Erdosteine improves oxidative damage in a rat model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of erdosteine, a new antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, on lipid peroxidation, neutrophil infiltration, and antioxidant enzyme activities in a rat model of renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Twenty-eight rats were divided into three groups: sham operation, I/R, and I/R plus erdosteine groups. After the experimental procedure, rats were sacrificed and kidneys were removed and prepared for malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, myeloperoxidase (MPO), xanthine oxidase (XO), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities.

The role of RBC destruction in vascular regions with high turbulence on atherosclerosis.

After intravascular red blood cell (RBC) destruction, released hemoglobin exceeding the binding capacities of haptoglobin and hemopexin would contribute, as free hemoglobin and/or hemin and/or methemalbumin, to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Especially in some regions of vasculature with a high turbulence strong enough to destruct fragile or old RBCs, free hemoglobin concentrations can exceed locally the binding capacities of haptoglobin and hemopexin although their measured venous concentrations are normal. As a very simple model of this possible very local event we analysed free hemoglobin and methemalbumin levels after blood collection into evacuated tubes, and found that the increase of methemalbumin is more significant than free hemoglobin.