Mobilization of putative high-proliferative-potential endothelial colony-forming cells during antihypertensive treatment in patients with essential hypertension

Recent studies have shown that in response to vascular damage or ischemia, bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are recruited into the circulation. To investigate whether antihypertensive treatment has an influence on the number of circulating EPCs, patients with essential hypertension were treated either with the angiotensin receptor antagonist telmisartan, the calcium channel blocker nisoldipine, or their combination for 6 weeks. At baseline and after 3 and 6 weeks of treatment, EPCs were identified and quantified by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis and by their capacity to generate colony-forming units of the endothelial lineage (CFU-EC) in a methylcellulose-based assay. During treatment, patients in the nisoldipine groups, but not in the telmisartan group, showed a significant mobilization of EPCs, which in part had the capacity to generate large-sized colonies comprising more than 1,000 cells. Moreover, a remarkable correlation between the number of CFU-EC and the number of circulating CD133(+)/CD34(+)/CD146(+) cells was observed, thereby providing strong evidence that cells with this phenotype represent functional EPCs. No correlation was found between the numbers of CFU-EC and the blood pressure levels at any time point during the treatment. Hence, nisoldipine-induced mobilization of EPCs might represent a novel mechanism by which this antihypertensive compound independently of its blood pressure-lowering effect contributes to vasoprotection in patients with essential hypertension

Public health component in building information modeling

A building information modelling (BIM) conception has established itself as an effective and practical approach to plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure. Analysis of the governance literature has shown that the BIM-developed tools do not take fully into account the growing demands from ecology and health fields. In this connection, it is possible to offer an optimal way of adapting such tools to the necessary consideration of the sanitary and hygienic specifications of materials used in construction industry. It is proposed to do it through the introduction of assessments that meet the requirements of national sanitary standards. This approach was demonstrated in the case study of Revit® program

A randomized multi-center phase II trial of the angiogenesis inhibitor Cilengitide (EMD 121974) and gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine alone in advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND: Anti-angiogenic treatment is believed to have at least cystostatic effects in highly vascularized tumours like pancreatic cancer. In this study, the treatment effects of the angiogenesis inhibitor Cilengitide and gemcitabine were compared with gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer. METHODS: A multi-national, open-label, controlled, randomized, parallel-group, phase II pilot study was conducted in 20 centers in 7 countries. Cilengitide was administered at 600 mg/m(2 )twice weekly for 4 weeks per cycle and gemcitabine at 1000 mg/m(2 )for 3 weeks followed by a week of rest per cycle. The planned treatment period was 6 four-week cycles. The primary endpoint of the study was overall survival and the secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), response rate, quality of life (QoL), effects on biological markers of disease (CA 19.9) and angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor), and safety. An ancillary study investigated the pharmacokinetics of both drugs in a subset of patients. RESULTS: Eighty-nine patients were randomized. The median overall survival was 6.7 months for Cilengitide and gemcitabine and 7.7 months for gemcitabine alone. The median PFS times were 3.6 months and 3.8 months, respectively. The overall response rates were 17% and 14%, and the tumor growth control rates were 54% and 56%, respectively. Changes in the levels of CA 19.9 went in line with the clinical course of the disease, but no apparent relationships were seen with the biological markers of angiogenesis. QoL and safety evaluations were comparable between treatment groups. Pharmacokinetic studies showed no influence of gemcitabine on the pharmacokinetic parameters of Cilengitide and vice versa. CONCLUSION: There were no clinically important differences observed regarding efficacy, safety and QoL between the groups. The observations lay in the range of other clinical studies in this setting. The combination regimen was well tolerated with no adverse effects on the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of either agent

Mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells in patients with liver cirrhosis

AIM: To test the hypothesis that liver cirrhosis is associated with mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells