Hypoxia induced changes of SePP1 expression in rat preadipocytes and its impact on vascular fibroblasts.

Human adipose tissues secret a lot of cytokines involved in physiological and pathological activities. Inflammation around blood vessels is positively related to the severity of atherosclerosis. This study was to investigate the impact of adipokine SePP1 on vascular fibroblasts (VF) under a hypoxia condition might provide new evidence and methods for treatment of atherosclerosis.

AMPK activity is down-regulated in endothelial cells of GHS-R(-/-) mice.

Ghrelin/GHS-R axis is known as its role in stimulating growth hormone release. Besides, it is also implicated in the regulation of atherosclerosis (AS), a chronic vascular disease that has been recognized as the main cause of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. It has been reported that both Ghrelin and AMPK play protective roles in AS by inhibiting the inflammatory response as well as cell proliferation.

Epidemiological study of colorectal adenoma and cancer in symptomatic patients in China between 1990 and 2009.

Objective: The best cure for colorectal cancer (CRC) lies on its early diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to provide the epidemiological features of advanced colorectal adenoma (A-CRA) and CRC in symptomatic patients and to determine whether the incidences of A-CRA and CRC increased simultaneously in China between 1990 and 2009.

Methods: A total of 157,943 patients who had undergone a colonoscopy from 1990 to 2009 were enrolled, of which 6,777 patients had A-CRA and 3,503 had CRC.

The role of HIF-1, angiopoietin-2, Dll4 and Notch1 in bleeding gastrointestinal vascular malformations and thalidomide-associated actions: a pilot in vivo study.

Objective: To investigate plasma levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), Delta-like ligand 4 (Dll4) and Notch1 in patients with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding due to gastrointestinal vascular malformation (GIVM) with or without thalidomide treatment.

Methods: Ten eligible patients with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding due to GIVM, who received thalidomide 100 mg/d for 4 months, were followed up for 1 year. The effective response was the proportions of patients with yearly bleeding episodes reduced by ≥50% at 1 year after treatment.

Meta-analysis: circulating adiponectin levels and risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma.

Objective: To provide a systematic review with a meta-analysis for addressing the association between circulating adiponectin levels and the risk of colorectal cancer and adenoma.

Methods: Multiple electronic sources including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Science Citation Index Expanded databases were searched to identify relevant studies for this systematic review. All existing observational studies that examined the relationship between circulating adiponectin and colorectal cancer or adenoma were included.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide attenuates concanavalin A-mediated liver injury.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is well characterized as an endogenous anti-inflammatory neuropeptide and has a brand range of biological functions. In this study, we found increased endogenous VIP expression in mice with concanavalin A-induced hepatitis, a widely used experimental model of immune-mediated liver injury. We investigated further the effect of VIP administration on concanavalin A-induced liver injury.

[Cloning, expression and purification of human nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (hNASP) and preparation of its polyclonal antibody].

Objective: To acquire the purified human nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (hNASP) and its polyclonal antibody for investigating the possible functions of hNASP involved in fertilization.

Methods: The coding sequence of hNASP gene was amplified from human testis RNA with specific primers, and the PCR product was cloned first into pMD-18T and then into pET-28a ( + ) after restriction digestion with BamH I and Hind III. The fusion protein was expressed in E.