Ankerkromann1671

We hypothesized that some molecular pathways might interact to initiate the process of nervous tissue destruction, promoting cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in the course of diabetes type 1 (T1D). The study group consisted of 60 T1D patients (58.33% women/41.67% men), on standard therapy. The control group consisted of twenty healthy volunteers recruited in accordance with age, gender and body weight. The presence of CAN was documented by the Ewing test method (ProSciCard apparatus). A microarray data analysis was performed using Gene Spring version 13. The microarray results for selected genes were confirmed by real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), using specific TaqMan Gene Expression Assays. Plasma IL-6 content was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The p  less then  0.05 value was considered as statistically significant. The microarray analysis, confirmed by qRTPCR, showed significant up-regulation of autophagy, quantity of mitochondria, quality regulatory genes (mTOR, GABARAPL2) apoptosis, ER-stress and inflammation (NFKB1, IL1b, IL1R1, SOD1), in T1D when compared to the control group. A significantly higher IL-6 protein level was observed in T1D patients, in comparison to the control group. We concluded that the observed changes in gene expression and activation of intracellular pathways give a coherent picture of the important role of oxidative stress in inflammation and the activation of apoptosis in the pathomechanism of DM. The significance of the inflammatory process, confirmed by the increased level of the inflammation biomarker IL-6 in the pathomechanisms of CAN was shown even in patients with properly treated T1D.High serum adiponectin is noted in several conditions of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is a predictor for end stage renal disease. However, the relationship between adiponectin level and renal disease progression is not well established. This study aimed to determine the relationship between serum adiponectin levels and CKD progression. This prospective longitudinal study included 2238 patients from the Korean Cohort Study for Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. Patients were divided into quartiles according to their serum adiponectin level. Composite renal outcome was defined as one or more of the following initiation of dialysis or transplantation, a two-fold increase in baseline serum creatinine levels, or a 50% decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) during the follow-up period. A cox proportional hazard ratio model was applied to analyze the relationship between composite renal outcome and serum adiponectin levels. Serum adiponectin level was inversely associated with eGFR (p  less then  0.001) and positively correlated with urine albumin-creatinine ratio. The highest quartile of serum adiponectin was associated with an increased risk of adverse renal outomes (HR, 1.39; 95%CI, 1.05-1.84; p=0.021). On time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, predictive ability of adiponectin for renal outcomes disappeared after adjusting for eGFR. Therefore, serum adiponectin may be a biomarker of renal dysfunction rather than a true risk factor in CKD progression.Despite being relatively rare, anti-tuberculosis drug-induced liver injury (ATDILI) is a leading cause of acute liver failure and a major reason for treatment discontinuation, because of no specific and selective markers for ATDILI. Herein, this study aimed to investigate whether telomere length, a biological indicator of age-related diseases, is associated with ATDILI outcomes and could serve as an early ATDILI biomarker. Relative telomere length (RTL) in blood leukocyte of 100 age- and gender-matched healthy controls, 49 tuberculosis patients with ATDILI, and 53 tuberculosis patients with non-ATDILI was quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Both tuberculosis patients with and without ATDILI had significantly shorter RTL than healthy controls. Compared with tuberculosis patients with non-ATDILI, RTL in those with ATDILI was significantly increased. Longer RTL was found to be significantly associated with increased susceptibility to ATDILI. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that an increment in RTL was independently correlated with elevated values of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase assessed within 60 days after anti-tuberculosis treatment. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis demonstrated that longer RTL was associated with elevated rates of hepatotoxicity in tuberculosis patients. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis unveiled a diagnostic accuracy of RTL as a novel indicator for ATDILI progression (AUC = 0.73), which yielded more sensitive and specific values than traditional liver biomarkers including serum enzyme activities of aminotransferases measured within 7 days after treatment with anti-tuberculosis regimens. Collectively, aberrant RTL in blood leukocyte would reflect hepatotoxicity induced by anti-tuberculosis agents and might have a potential biomarker for early ATDILI progression.Regularly touched surfaces are usually contaminated with microorganisms and might be considered as fomites. The same applies for spectacles, but only little is known about their microbial colonization. Previous cultivation-based analyses from our group revealed a bacterial load strongly dominated by staphylococci. To better account for aerotolerant anaerobes, slow growing and yet-uncultivated bacteria, we performed an optimized 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach targeting the V1-V3 region. 30 spectacles were swab-sampled at three sites, each (nosepads, glasses and earclips). We detected 5232 OTUs affiliated with 19 bacterial phyla and 665 genera. Actinobacteria (64%), Proteobacteria (22%), Firmicutes (7%) and Bacteroidetes (5%) were relatively most abundant. At genus level, 13 genera accounted for 84% of the total sequences of all spectacles, having a prevalence of more than 1% relative abundance. Propionibacterium (57%), Corynebacterium (5%), Staphylococcus (4%), Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas and Lawsonella (3%, each) were the dominant genera. Interestingly, bacterial diversity on the glasses was significantly higher compared to nosepads and earclips. Our study represents the first cultivation-independent study of the bacteriota of worn spectacles. Dominated by bacteria of mostly human skin and epithelia origin and clearly including potential pathogens, spectacles may play a role as fomites, especially in clinical environments.Metabolic images from Positron Emission Tomography (PET) are used routinely for diagnosis, follow-up or treatment planning purposes of cancer patients. In this study we aimed at determining if radiomic features extracted from 18F-Fluoro Deoxy Glucose (FDG) PET images could mirror tumor transcriptomics. In this study we analyzed 45 patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (H&N) that underwent FDG-PET scans at the time of diagnosis and transcriptome analysis using RNAs from both cancer and healthy tissues on microarrays. Association between PET radiomics and transcriptomics was carried out with the Genomica software and a functional annotation was used to associate PET radiomics, gene expression and altered biological pathways. We identified relationships between PET radiomics and genes involved in cell-cycle, disease, DNA repair, extracellular matrix organization, immune system, metabolism or signal transduction pathways, according to the Reactome classification. Our results suggest that these FDG PET radiomic features could be used to infer tissue gene expression and cellular pathway activity in H&N cancers. These observations strengthen the value of radiomics as a promising approach to personalize treatments through targeting tumor-specific molecular processes.We aimed to investigate the prevalence of true rectocele and obstructed defecation (OD) in patients with pelvic organ prolapse (POP), to investigate the correlation between true rectocele and OD, and to understand the diagnostic value of translabial ultrasound (TLUS) in the diagnosis of true rectocele. The patients who scheduled for POP surgery were enrolled in this study. Patients who had previous reconstructive pelvic surgery or repair of rectocele were excluded. Birmingham Bowel and Urinary symptoms questionnaires and Longo's obstructed defecation syndrome scoring system were used to assess the bowel symptoms of patients. TLUS was used to evaluate anatomical defects. P value less then 0.05 was considered statistically significant, and confidence intervals were set at 95%. 279 patients were included into this study. The prevalence rate of OD was 43%, and the average value of ODS score was 6.67. 17% patients presented straining at stool, 33% presented incomplete emptying, 13% presented digitations, and 12% required laxatives or enema. The prevalence rate of true rectocele was 23%. Defecation symptoms were significantly correlated with age, levator-ani hiatus, levator-ani muscle injury and true rectocele. Logistic regression showed that true rectocele and increased levator-ani hiatus were independent risk factors of OD. True rectocele was significantly correlated with straining at stool, digitation, incomplete emptying and requirement of laxatives or enema.In POP patients, the prevalence rate of true rectocele and OD was 23% and 43%, respectively. True rectocele was related to OD. TLUS was a valuable approach in anatomical evaluation of POP.To extract the confined waveguided light in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), inserting a low refractive index (RI) periodic structure between the anode and organic layer has been widely investigated as a promising technology. However, the periodic-structure-based light extraction applied inside devices has been shown to severely distort spectrum and affect EL characteristics. In this study, a simple light extraction technology using periodic low-RI nanodot array (NDA) as internal light extraction layer has been demonstrated. The NDA was fabricated simply via laser interference lithography (LIL). The structural parameters of periodic pattern, distance, and height were easily controlled by the LIL process. selleck compound From computational analysis using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the NDA with 300 nm pitch and 0.3 coverage ratio per unit cell with 60 nm height showed the highest enhancement with spectral-distortion-minimized characteristics. Through both computational and experimental systematic analysis on the structural parameters of low-RI NDA-embedded OLEDs, highly efficient OLEDs have been fabricated. Finally, as representative indicators, hexagonal and rectangular positioned NDA-embedded OLEDs showed highly improved external quantum efficiencies of 2.44 (+29.55%) and 2.77 (+57.38%), respectively. Furthermore, the disadvantage originating from the nanoscale surface roughness on the transparent conductive oxide was minimized.Water level management is an effective tool for the ecological restoration of shallow lakes. In this study, we developed an ecologically-based approach to estimate the monthly suitable ecological water levels (EWLs). This approach took both the lake topographic features and aquatic plants' growth characteristics into account. The aquatic vegetation coverage was used to characterize the degree of the lake ecological restoration. The relationship between water level and vegetation coverage was established. We chose the Tangxun Lake as a testbed, and the recommended lowest EWL was 16.6 m, as the minimum threshold for water level regulations. The results revealed that the predicted vegetation coverage decreased with the rise of water level during the germination period (February and March). To achieve the vegetation coverage goal of 30% and 50%, the lake's water levels must be lowered to 17.1 m and 16.8 m respectively during germination. The EWLs were recommended to be low in spring and high in summer, which was matched with the natural water level regimes.