Selenium Downregulates RAGE and NFκB Expression in Diabetic Rats

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in developed and developing countries. Oxidative stress has been proposed to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular complications. In recent years, selenium has been shown to mediate a number of insulinlike actions in a dose-dependent fashion both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, the effect of selenium as sodium selenite was investigated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats at the dose of 1?μg sodium selenite/kg body weight. Selenium supplementation restored the streptozotocin-induced alterations in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, decreased the serum glucose level, glycated hemoglobin content as well as the levels of lipid peroxidation products, and downregulated the expressions of both NFkB and RAGE. The histopathological studies also reinforce our findings. Hence, selenium has a protective role in streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus.     

Diet fat alters the structure and function of the nuclear envelope: modulation of membrane fatty acid composition, NTPase activity and binding of triiodothyronine

Mice were fed a diet either high or low in P/S ratio to determine the effect of altering dietary lipid on the fatty acid composition of liver nuclear envelopes and thereby on functions of the nuclear envelope. Mice fed the high P/S diet exhibited higher levels of C18:2 omega 6 and unsaturates in liver nuclear envelopes, higher specific activity of NTPase and specific binding for L-triiodothyronine at 15 degrees C and 22 degrees C compared with the low P/S diet fed group. These observations indicate that diet-induced differences in the fatty acid composition of nuclear envelope lipid affects functions of the nuclear envelope.     

Comparison of properties of tests for assessing tumor clonality

SUMMARY: In a recent article Begg et al. (2007, Biometrics 63, 522-530) proposed a statistical test to determine whether or not a diagnosed second primary tumor is biologically independent of the original primary tumor, by comparing patterns of allelic losses at candidate genetic loci. The proposed concordant mutations test is a conditional test, an adaptation of Fisher's exact test, that requires no knowledge of the marginal mutation probabilities. The test was shown to have generally good properties, but is susceptible to anticonservative bias if there is wide variation in mutation probabilities between loci, or if the individual mutation probabilities of the parental alleles for individual patients differ substantially from each other. In this article, a likelihood ratio test is derived in an effort to address these validity issues. This test requires prespecification of the marginal mutation probabilities at each locus, parameters for which some information will typically be available in the literature. In simulations this test is shown to be valid, but to be considerably less efficient than the concordant mutations test for sample sizes (numbers of informative loci) typical of this problem. Much of the efficiency deficit can be recovered, however, by restricting the allelic imbalance parameter estimate to a prespecified range, assuming that this parameter is in the prespecified range.     

A Biodegradable,Sustained-Released,Prednisolone Acetate Microfilm Drug Delivery System Effectively Prolongs Corneal Allograft Survival in the Rat Keratoplasty Model

Frequent and long-term use of topical corticosteroids after corneal transplantation is necessary to prevent graft rejection. However, it relies heavily on patient compliance, and sustained therapeutic drug levels are often not achieved with administration of topical eye drops. A biodegradable drug delivery system with a controlled and sustained drug release may circumvent these limitations. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a prednisolone acetate (PA)-loaded poly (d,l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLC) microfilm drug delivery system on promoting the survival of allogeneic grafts after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) using a rat model. The drug release profiles of the microfilms were characterized (group 1). Subsequently, forty-eight PK were performed in four experimental groups: syngeneic control grafts (group 2), allogeneic control grafts (group 3), allogeneic grafts with subconjunctivally-implanted PA microfilm (group 4), and allogeneic grafts with PA eye drops (group 5; n = 12 in each). PA-loaded microfilm achieved a sustained and steady release at a rate of 0.006–0.009 mg/day, with a consistent aqueous drug concentration of 207–209 ng/ml. The mean survival days was >28 days in group 2, 9.9±0.8 days in group 3, 26.8±2.7 days in group 4, and 26.4±3.4 days in group 5 (P = 0.023 and P = 0.027 compared with group 3). Statistically significant decrease in CD4+, CD163+, CD 25+, and CD54+ cell infiltration was observed in group 4 and group 5 compared with group 3 (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the mean survival and immunohistochemical analysis between group 4 and group 5. These results showed that sustained PA-loaded microfilm effectively prolongs corneal allograft survival. It is as effective as conventional PA eye drops, providing a promising clinically applicable alternative for patients undergoing corneal transplantation.     

Prediction of stenosis behaviour in artery by neural network and multiple linear regressions

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Blood flow analysis in the artery is a paramount study in the field of arterial stenosis evaluation. Studies conducted so far have reported the...