Cocoa flavanols: effects on vascular nitric oxide and blood pressure.

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been associated with benefits for human health. Those effects have been partially ascribed to their content in flavonoids, compounds that are present in many edible plants and its derived foods. In humans, a significant number of studies has been developed analyzing the effect of foods and beverages rich in flavonoids on the presence and progression of risk factors associated to cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension.

Apotransferrin-induced recovery after hypoxic/ischaemic injury on myelination.

We have previously demonstrated that aTf (apotransferrin) accelerates maturation of OLs (oligodendrocytes) in vitro as well as in vivo. The purpose of this study is to determine whether aTf plays a functional role in a model of H/I (hypoxia/ischaemia) in the neonatal brain. Twenty-four hours after H/I insult, neonatal rats were intracranially injected with aTf and the effects of this treatment were evaluated in the CC (corpus callosum) as well as the SVZ (subventricular zone) at different time points.

Variable number tandem repeats in the promoter region of prostacyclin synthase gene in choline deficient rats.

Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on a choline-deficient diet with hydrogenated vegetable oil and corn oil as lipids develop acute renal failure. Pathogenesis of the latter is controversial and an ischemic mechanism has been proposed. Arachidonic acid derivatives are involved in the regulation of vascular tonus.

Basic biochemical mechanisms behind the health benefits of polyphenols.

Polyphenols and consequently many flavonoids have several beneficial actions on human health. However, the actual molecular interactions of polyphenols with biological systems remain mostly speculative. This review addresses the potential mechanisms of action that have been so far identified, as well as the feasibility that they could occur in vivo.

Antioxidant actions of flavonoids: thermodynamic and kinetic analysis.

The benefits of flavonoids on human health are very often ascribed to their potential ability to act diminishing free radical steady state concentration in biological systems providing antioxidant protection. This is an assumption based on the chemical structures of flavonoids that support their capacity to scavenge free radicals and chelate redox-active metals. In this paper we will use thermodynamic and kinetic approaches to analyze the interactions of flavonoids with biological material and from there, extrapolate the physiological relevance of their antioxidant actions.

Coronary intimal thickening in newborn babies and

We performed a morphological characterization of intimal thickenings in coronary arteries in the very early stages of life to obtain insights into initial coronary atherogenesis. We examined specimens from 67 infants who had died of noncardiac causes within their first year of life. Serially cut sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Azan, Alcian blue, acetic orceine, and immunotypified for CD68, CD34, and alpha-smooth muscle (SM) actin.

Are kinking and coiling of carotid artery congenital or acquired?

Dolichoarteriopathies consist of tortuosity, kinking, or coiling of the extracranial carotid arteries. Some authors consider these alterations a consequence of atherosclerotic vessel remodeling, while others ascribe them to anatomical variations of embryological origin. The objective was to establish whether carotid dolichoarteriopathies belonged to a congenital origin or to acquired conditions.

A nonsynonymous gene variant in the adiponutrin gene is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease severity.

We explored the role of the adiponutrin (PNPLA3) nonsynonymous-rs738409 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in genetic susceptibility to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and whether this SNP contributes to the severity of histological disease. Two hundred sixty-six individuals were evaluated in a case-control association study, which included 172 patients with features of NAFLD and 94 control subjects. The rs738409 G allele was significantly associated with NAFLD (P < 0.

Gene prioritization based on biological plausibility over genome wide association studies renders new loci associated with type 2 diabetes.

Purpose: We present an approach to prioritize single nucleotide polymorphisms for further follow-up in genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes.

Method: The proposed method combines both the use of open data access from two type 2 diabetes-genome-wide association studies (granted by the Diabetes Genetics Initiative and the Welcome Trust Case Control Consortium) and the comprehensive analysis of candidate regions generated by the freely accessible ENDEAVOUR software.

Results: The algorithm prioritized all genes of the whole genome in relation to type 2 diabetes.

Cardiac mitochondrial function and tissue remodelling are improved by a non-antihypertensive dose of enalapril in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Renal and cardiac benefits of renin-angiotensin system inhibition exceed blood pressure (BP) reduction and seem to involve mitochondrial function. It has been shown that RAS inhibition prevented mitochondrial dysfunction in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) kidneys. Here, it is investigated whether a non-antihypertensive enalapril dose protects cardiac tissue and mitochondria function.

Losartan reduces liver expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in a high fat-induced rat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease model.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of losartan-an angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) antagonist- and telmisartan-an AT1R blocker with insulin-sensitizing properties-, on the hepatic expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in a rat model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods: Rats were given a high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks and after this period were randomly divided into 3 groups. For 12 weeks along with the same access to HFD, one group (9 rats) received losartan and another group received telmisartan (10 rats), both at 10mg/kg intraperitoneally (ip) every 24h.

Maternal pregestational BMI is associated with methylation of the PPARGC1A promoter in newborns.

We explored peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma co-activator 1alpha gene (PPARGC1A), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma gene (PPARG), and transcription factor A mitochondrial gene (Tfam) promoter DNA methylation in newborns between both extremes of abnormal fetal growth: Small (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) in relation to the mother's characteristics. We further sought for the association of rs9930506 variant at FTO gene and the promoter patterns of DNA methylation in the aforementioned genes, in relation to the offspring's birth weight. In a cross-sectional study, 88 healthy pregnant women and their babies were included.

Fyn kinase is involved in oligodendroglial cell differentiation induced by apotransferrin.

Mechanisms that regulate oligodendroglial cell (OLGc) differentiation are the focus of intensive research in the field of cellular and molecular neurobiology. We have previously shown that the addition of apotransferrin (aTf) to primary OLGc cultures accelerates their differentiation and induces an increase in the expression of different components of the myelin cytoskeleton (CSK) such as actin, tubulin, and some of the microtubule-associated proteins, particularly the stable tubulin only peptide (STOP). Fyn protein-tyrosine kinase (Fyn kinase), a member of the Src family, participates in signalling pathways that regulate OLGs/myelin cytoskeletal reorganization.

A diagnostic model to differentiate simple steatosis from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis based on the likelihood ratio form of Bayes theorem.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a diagnostic model based on a composite index using clinical and laboratory data, including cardiovascular biomarkers, to help practitioners to differentiate patients with simple steatosis from those with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Design And Methods: 101 patients with biopsy proven features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease were included. We investigated the usefulness of 9 biomarkers in predicting the histological disease severity, including routine biochemical tests, C-reactive protein, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and anthropometric evaluation.

Polymorphisms of MRP2 (ABCC2) are associated with susceptibility to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aims: We hypothesized that ABCC2 gene variants may contribute to susceptibility to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Additionally, we tested the hypothesis of a relation between gene variants and disease severity.

Patients And Methods: The study involved 167 individuals: 109 consecutively presenting unrelated patients with features of NAFLD and different stages of disease severity, and a group of 58 healthy individuals.

Genetic variants in STAT3 are associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aims: To investigate the role of gene variants and derived haplotypes of the STAT3 transcription factor in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and their relation with the clinical disease severity.

Patients And Methods: 108 patients with NAFLD and different stages of clinical disease severity, and a group of 55 healthy individuals were included in a Hospital-based study. We selected 3 tagSNPs showing a minor allele frequency >10% (rs2293152 C/G, rs6503695 C/T, and rs9891119 A/C) encompassing 68.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is strongly associated with carotid atherosclerosis: a systematic review.

Background/aims: To perform a systematic review of the studies addressing the association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT).

Methods: Literature searches identified seven studies that met inclusion criteria: population-based or hospital-based case-control studies about the relation between NAFLD and carotid IMT, in which information on number of subjects in controls and NAFLD patients, and data to evaluate carotid IMT and carotid plaques (measured by carotid ultrasound) could be extracted.

Results: From a total of 3497 subjects (1427 patients and 2070 controls), we found a significant association between NAFLD and carotid IMT either in fixed (D: 0.

Study of genetic variation in the STAT3 on obesity and insulin resistance in male adults.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) plays an important role in hepatic glucose homeostasis and carbohydrate metabolism and has been implicated in the leptin-mediated energy homeostasis. We explored whether STAT3 gene variants are associated with obesity and insulin resistance in a well-characterized sample of 984 adult men (aged 34.4+/-8.

A decreased mitochondrial DNA content is related to insulin resistance in adolescents.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content is associated with insulin resistance (IR) in a sample of adolescents with features of metabolic syndrome. We further studied the link between polymorphisms in three genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and the presence of deleted mtDNA and mtDNA content. Data and blood samples were collected from 175 adolescents out of a cross-sectional, population-based study of 934 high school students.

Perinatal and infant early atherosclerotic coronary lesions.

Objective: Because the fetal origin of coronary artery lesions is controversial, early atherosclerotic coronary artery lesions in late fetal stillborns and infants, as well as the possible atherogenic role of maternal cigarette smoking, were studied.

Methods: Twenty-two fetal death and 36 sudden infant death syndrome victims were examined by autopsy. In 28 of 58 cases, the mothers were smokers.

Contribution of the functional 5-HTTLPR variant of the SLC6A4 gene to obesity risk in male adults.

Background: A polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) gene SLC6A4 shows functionally important 44-bp insertion/deletion alleles: long (L) and short (S). We have previously found that the S allele is a genetic risk factor for obesity in adolescents.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the S/L variant of the SLC6A4 gene is associated with BMI as a continuous trait and also with obesity in a large sample of adult men of European ancestry included in a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Harm reduction policies in Argentina: a critical view.

The concept of 'harm' underpinning current drug harm reduction policies is most often limited to viral infections and other health consequences for drug users. This paper analyses harm reduction policies in Argentina, with the purpose of challenging and extending this narrow conception of harm to encompass all harms inflicted on drug users, in a context of criminalization of drug use and poverty. Faced with a steep rise in poverty, rapid changes in drug use practices, the quality and prices of drugs, and patterns of morbidity and mortality, Argentina has implemented harm reduction policies specifically for drug users who mostly live in the Greater Buenos Aires impoverished areas.

Mitochondrial oxidative and structural damage in ischemia-reperfusion in human myocardium. Current knowledge and future directions.

The sequence of events in heart ischemia-reperfusion has been clearly documented in experimental animal models but not in cardiac surgery patients. The evidence in human studies had not been gathered in a systematic and comprehensive fashion, so as to provide an encompassing picture of the phenomenon. This limits our ability to devise appropriate strategies for optimal perioperative myocardial protection.

Presence of alpha-globin mRNA and migration of bone marrow cells after sciatic nerve injury suggests their participation in the degeneration/regeneration process.

We have previously reported that in the distal stump of ligated sciatic nerves, there is a change in the distribution of myelin basic protein (MBP) and P0 protein immunoreactivities. These results agreed with the studies of myelin isolated from the distal stump of animals submitted to ligation of the sciatic nerve, showing a gradual increase in a 14 kDa band with an electrophoretic mobility similar to that of an MBP isoform, among other changes. This band, which was resolved into two bands of 14 and 15 kDa using a 16% gel, was found to contain a mixture of MBP fragments and peptides with great homology with alpha- and beta-globins.