Regulation of SREBPs by Sphingomyelin in Adipocytes via a Caveolin and Ras-ERK-MAPK-CREB Signaling Pathway.

Sterol response element binding protein (SREBP) is a key transcription factor in insulin and glucose metabolism. We previously demonstrated that elevated levels of membrane sphingomyelin (SM) were related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), which is a known target gene of SREBP-1 in adipocytes. However, the role of SM in SREBP expression in adipocytes remains unknown.

Development of an algorithm incorporating pharmacokinetics of adalimumab in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Objectives: Several decision algorithms based on the measurement of infliximab (IFX) trough levels and antibodies to IFX have been proposed. Whether such algorithms can be extrapolated to the pharmacokinetics of adalimumab (ADA) has yet to be determined.

Methods: A prospective study included all consecutive patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) having a disease flare while being on ADA 40 mg every 2 weeks were included.

Association between pharmacokinetics of adalimumab and mucosal healing in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the association between pharmacokinetic features of adalimumab and mucosal healing in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 40 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) who received adalimumab maintenance therapy and underwent endoscopic evaluation of disease activity and pharmacokinetic analysis (measurements of trough levels and antibodies against adalimumab). Patients in clinical remission were identified based on CD activity index scores less than 150 or Mayo scores less than 3 (for those with UC).

Meta-analysis: hyperhomocysteinaemia in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Background: The magnitude of association between homocysteine metabolism and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) remains unknown, whereas the association between hyperhomocysteinaemia and thrombosis remains controversial in IBD.

Aim: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine these issues.

Methods: The literature search was conducted using MEDLINE database and international conference abstracts from January 1966 to April 2011 and included all studies that evaluated plasma homocysteine level in IBD.

The use of azathioprine in Crohn's disease during pregnancy and in the post-operative setting: a worldwide survey of experts.

Background: Although thiopurines are considered safe in humans, they are still pregnancy FDA category D drugs. Prevention of post-operative recurrence is a challenge in clinical practice in Crohn's disease. The European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation consensus states that thiopurines should be considered in high-risk patients.

Magnesium, calcium and cancer.

Magnesium ion (Mg(2+)) and calcium ion (Ca(2+)) control a diverse and important range of cellular processes, such as gene transcription, cell proliferation, neoplastic transformation, immune response and therapeutic treatment. Their characteristic biologic antagonism makes it important to treat the most important aspects of that competitive behavior together. This synopsis aims to be a useful means of promoting further research on the relationship between both cations and human health affected by environmental conditions.

Epigenetics: methylation-associated repression of heparan sulfate 3-O-sulfotransferase gene expression contributes to the invasive phenotype of H-EMC-SS chondrosarcoma cells.

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), strategically located at the cell-tissue-organ interface, regulate major biological processes, including cell proliferation, migration, and adhesion. These vital functions are compromised in tumors, due, in part, to alterations in heparan sulfate (HS) expression and structure. How these modifications occur is largely unknown.

The practice of physical and sporting activity in teenagers with idiopathic scoliosis is related to the curve type.

Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is correlated with a muscular disequilibrium of the spine and an alteration of balance control, efficient performance of the latter being necessary for physical and sporting activities (PSA). However, the type of the IS curve has different effects on muscle and on balance control according to the primary curve location. This study aimed to determine the relationships between IS type and PSA practice.

Effects of a new perfluorocarbon emulsion on human plasma and whole-blood viscosity in the presence of albumin, hydroxyethyl starch, or modified fluid gelatin: an in vitro rheologic approach.

Background: Artificial oxygen carriers such as perfluorocarbon (PFC) emulsions have reached Phase III clinical trials as alternatives to homologous blood, but their rheologic effects have not been characterized. In this study, the rheologic effects of PFC emulsion in the presence of clinically used volume expanders were investigated.

Study Design And Methods: The effects of a new PFC emulsion (small droplet size with narrow size distribution) at two PFC concentrations (4 and 8 g/dL) on plasma and whole-blood viscosity in the presence of human albumin solution (HAS), hydroxyethyl starch (HES), or modified fluid gelatin (MFG) were investigated.

Multiple biosynthetic and uptake systems mediate siderophore-dependent iron acquisition in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Streptomyces ambofaciens ATCC 23877.

Siderophore-mediated iron acquisition has been well studied in many bacterial pathogens because it contributes to virulence. In contrast, siderophore-mediated iron acquisition by saprophytic bacteria has received relatively little attention. The independent identification of the des and cch gene clusters that direct production of the tris-hydroxamate ferric iron-chelators desferrioxamine E and coelichelin, respectively, which could potentially act as siderophores in the saprophyte Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), has recently been reported.

Posturography and risk of recurrent falls in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Background: A poor postural stability in older people is associated with an increased risk of falling. The posturographic tool has widely been used to assess balance control; however, its value in predicting falls remains unclear.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to determine the predictive value of posturography in the estimation of the risk of recurrent falls, including a comparison with standard clinical balance tests, in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Age-related part taken by attentional cognitive processes in standing postural control in a dual-task context.

The aim of this work was to determine the effects of ageing on the possible mobilisation of cognitive processes in orthostatic postural balance. Seventy-nine individuals of three different age groups were placed in dual-task situations that combined standing postural control with three different cognitive tasks. Two of these three tasks, auditory-verbal and visual-verbal ones, required external information acquisition whereas the third, a mental counting task, did not require such information.

Sensorimotor postural rearrangement after unilateral vestibular deafferentation in patients with acoustic neuroma.

Unilateral vestibular lesion, as acoustic neuroma and its surgical removal, leads to impaired balance control. After initial vertigo and postural instability corresponding to unilateral vestibular deafferentation, improvement in symptoms and global balance functions occurs by a process called vestibular compensation. In this respect, this prospective study aimed to assess the differential contribution of sensory inputs to the regulation of posture during the recovery process after acoustic neuroma removal.

Effect of sporting activity practice on susceptibility to motion sickness.

The theory of visuo-vestibular conflict is the most commonly accepted to explain motion sickness. Visual, vestibular and proprioceptive afferences are involved in balance control and this function can be improved by physical and sporting activities (PSA). The purpose of the present survey was to investigate the relationships between motion sickness susceptibility (MSS) in adulthood and PSA, and especially proprioceptive PSA.

Determinants of accident proneness: a case-control study in railway workers.

Background: Accident proneness or workers who have more frequent occupational injuries is common but the role of occupational and individual factors has rarely been studied.

Aim: To assess the relationships of certain occupational and individual characteristics with frequency of occupational injuries.

Method: This case-control study included 1305 male workers with occupational injuries during 1999-2000 and 1305 controls from a railway company.

The human semaphorin 6B gene is down regulated by PPARs.

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand-inducible transcription factors and belong to the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. They form heterodimers with the retinoid X receptor and bind to specific peroxisome proliferator-response elements. The latter are direct repeat elements of two hexanucleotides with the consensus sequence TG(A/T)CCT separated by a single nucleotide spacer.

Electrodes modified with monoolein cubic phases hosting laccases for the catalytic reduction of dioxygen.

An enzyme-catalyzed process has been used for dioxygen monitoring. The enzymes were two different laccases (p-diphenol:dioxygen oxidoreductases), chosen as catalysts for dioxygen reduction. The laccases were immobilized in a liquid crystalline cubic phase formed with monoolein.

Developmental biology of urodele amphibians in microgravity conditions.

Among the urodele amphibians, only Cynops pyrrhogaster and Pleurodeles waltl, two species of the Salamandridae family, were used in space experiments. The advantages for using urodeles reside (i) in reproduction: a few months after natural breeding, females can lay eggs in absence of males after a hormonal treatment, because spermatozoa were preserved in the cloacal pelvic glands of matted females, (ii) in the rate of development which is slower in Cynops and Pleurodeles than in the anuran Xenopus, (iii) in their physiological properties: they can live in a closed water container or in a moisturized environment, and they can fast during several days. Moreover, urodeles have an important phylogenetic interest.

Postoperative myalgia after succinylcholine: no evidence for an inflammatory origin.

Unlabelled: A common side effect associated with succinylcholine is postoperative myalgia. The pathogenesis of this myalgia is still unclear; inflammation has been suggested but without convincing evidence. We designed the present study to investigate whether an inflammatory reaction contributes to this myalgia.

Hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers do not alter platelet functions: study of three chemically modified hemoglobin solutions.

Objective: Chemically modified hemoglobins are being developed as potential oxygen-carrying blood substitutes (HBOCs). Clinical and preclinical data demonstrate the vasoactive properties of HBOCs by trapping of nitric oxide, which is also known to have platelet inhibitory activities properties. This study evaluated the effects of three structurally different HBOCs (Hb-Dex-BTC, alphaalpha-Hb, and o-raffinose-poly-Hb) on platelet functions in vitro to compare to those elicited by plasma substitutes, such as hydroxyethylstarch.

Erythrocytes as targets for gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase initiated pro-oxidant reaction.

Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) is a well known cell plasma membrane and serum circulating enzyme. In clinical chemistry, GGT is used as a marker of alcohol consumption and drug uptake. Serum GGT activity varies in hepatobiliary diseases and cancer.

Judo, better than dance, develops sensorimotor adaptabilities involved in balance control.

Objectives: Training allows sportsmen to acquire new balance control abilities, possibly differing according to the discipline practised. We compared, by means of static and dynamic posturographic tests, the postural skills of high-level judoists, professional dancers and controls, in order to determine whether these sports improved postural control.

Results: With eyes open, judoists and dancers performed better than controls, indicating a positive effect of training on sensorimotor adaptabilities.

Measurement of blood volume after haemodilution with haemoglobin-based oxygen carriers by a radiolabelled-albumin method.

Recent studies have shown that the use of haemoglobin-based oxygen-carrying solutions (HBOCs) for perioperative haemodilution could significantly reduce the need for packed red blood cells in clinical practice. Though the effects of HBOCs on plasma volume have been characterized in experimental models of volume resuscitation from hypovolaemic shock, little is known about their action in normovolaemic haemodilution conditions. We therefore applied a radiolabelled serumalbumin method to determine blood volume after haemodilution with crosslinked or conjugated haemoglobin, in comparison with a reference solution of hydroxyethyl starch (HES).