Changkristoffersen4914

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) often causes poor long-term neurological outcome after subarachnoidal hemorrhage (SAH). selleck Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) inhibits nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and is associated with DCI after SAH. We studied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the NOS3, DDAH1, DDAH2, PRMT1, and AGXT2 genes that are part of the L-arginine-ADMA-NO pathway, and their association with DCI. We measured L-arginine, ADMA and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 51 SAH patients at admission; follow-up was until 30 days post-discharge. The primary outcome was the incidence of DCI, defined as new infarctions on cranial computed tomography, which occurred in 18 of 51 patients. Clinical scores did not significantly differ in patients with or without DCI. However, DCI patients had higher plasma ADMA and SDMA levels and higher CSF SDMA levels at admission. DDAH1 SNPs were associated with plasma ADMA, whilst AGXT2 SNPs were associated with plasma SDMA. Carriers of the minor allele of DDAH1 rs233112 had a significantly increased relative risk of DCI (Relative Risk = 2.61 (1.25-5.43), p = 0.002). We conclude that the DDAH1 gene is associated with ADMA concentration and the incidence of DCI in SAH patients, suggesting a pathophysiological link between gene, biomarker, and clinical outcome in patients with SAH.Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death in developed countries. The regulation of vascular tone is a major approach to prevent and ameliorate vascular diseases. As part of our ongoing screening for cardioprotective natural compounds, we investigated the vasorelaxant effect of rhizomes from Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. [Boesenbergia pandurata (Roxb.) Schltr.] used as a spice and herbal medicine in Asian countries. The methanol extract of B. rotunda rhizomes (BRE) exhibited significant vasorelaxation effects ex vivo at EC50 values of 13.4 ± 6.1 μg/mL and 40.9 ± 7.9 μg/mL, respectively, with and without endothelium in the porcine coronary artery ring. The intrinsic mechanism was evaluated by treating with specific inhibitors or activators that typically affect vascular reactivity. The results suggested that BRE induced relaxation in the coronary artery rings via an endothelium-dependent pathway involving NO-cGMP, and also via an endothelium-independent pathway involving the blockade of Ca2+ channels. Vasorelaxant principles in BRE were identified by subsequent chromatographic methods, which revealed that flavonoids regulate vasorelaxant activity in BRE. One of the flavonoids was a Diels-Alder type adduct, 4-hydroxypanduratin A, which showed the most potent vasorelaxant effect on porcine coronary artery with an EC50 of 17.8 ± 2.5 μM. Our results suggest that rhizomes of B. rotunda might be of interest as herbal medicine against cardiovascular diseases.Cyberbullying and its consequences is a little-investigated public health issue. We investigated the correlations between cyberbullying involvement, either being a victim or being a preparator, and psychological distress among a group of Chinese adolescents. A representative sample of 4978 students from Jiangsu province covering all types of pre-college schools was surveyed using a stratified sampling method. Both being a victim and being a perpetrator correlated with higher degrees of psychological distress, and the former's effect is stronger. Family cohesion and school cohesion are protective factors of psychological distress, but only family cohesion plays a moderating effect between cyberbullying involvement and distress. Moreover, the positive correlations between cyberbullying involvement and psychological distress become non-significant when the interactions are included in regression models. Last but not least, female students and students in a higher grade or students with worse academic performance have higher degrees of distress. Our study reveals that, instead of school cohesion, family cohesion is more important to mitigate the psychological impact of cyberbullying involvement and eventually heal the trauma.Methyl gallate (MG) and ethyl ferulate (EF) with a benzene ring were separately used as aromatic organic chelating ligands (aOCLs) to prepare two versions of TiO2-ZrO2-aOCL composite sols via hydrolysis and polycondensation reactions with titanium(IV) isopropoxide (Ti(OC3H7)4) and zirconium(IV) butoxide (Zr(OC4H9)4). Thermogravimetric and FT-IR analysis of dry gels revealed that aromatic rings were present in the residual organic matter when the gel was fired under nitrogen at 300 °C. In X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, the TiO2-ZrO2 composite material prepared using these two aOCLs showed an amorphous structure with no crystalline peaks for TiO2 and ZrO2. In N2 adsorption/desorption measurements at 77 K, the TiO2-ZrO2 samples using the aOCLs as a template appeared porous with a larger specific surface area than TiO2-ZrO2 without aOCL. TiO2-ZrO2-aOCL composite membranes were prepared by coating and firing TiO2-ZrO2-aOCL sol onto a SiO2 intermediate layer using an α-alumina porous tube as a substrate. Compared with the TiO2-ZrO2 membrane, the TiO2-ZrO2-aOCL membranes had higher gas permselectivity. The TiO2-ZrO2-EF membrane showed a He permeance of 2.69 × 10-6 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 with permeance ratios of He/N2 = 10.6 and He/CF4 = 163, while the TiO2-ZrO2-MG membrane revealed a bit less He permeance at 8.56 × 10-7 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 with greater permeance ratios of He/N2 = 61.7 and He/CF4 = 209 at 200 °C. A microporous TiO2-ZrO2 amorphous structure was obtained by introducing aOCL. The differences in the side chains of each aOCL could possibly account for the differences in the microporous structures of the resultant TiO2-ZrO2-aOCL membranes.Pain in Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a major comorbidity and unique with acute pain due to recurrent and episodic vaso-occlusive crises as well as chronic pain, which can span an individual's entire life. Opioids are the mainstay treatment for pain in SCD. Due to recent health crises raised by adverse effects including deaths from opioid use, pain management in SCD is adversely affected. Cannabis and its products are most widely used for pain in multiple conditions and also by patients with SCD on their own. With the availability of "Medical Cannabis" and approval to use cannabis as medicine across majority of States in the United States as well as over-the-counter preparations, cannabis products are being used increasingly for SCD. The reliability of many of these products remains questionable, which poses a major health risk to the vulnerable individuals seeking pain relief. Therefore, this review provides up to date insights into available categories of cannabis-based treatment strategies, their mechanism of action and pre-clinical and clinical outcomes in SCD.