C-reactive protein, sodium azide, and endothelial connexin43 gap junctions

We investigated the effect of C-reactive protein (CRP) and sodium azide (NaN(3)) on endothelial Cx43 gap junctions. Human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were treated with (a) detoxified CRP, (b) detoxified dialyzed CRP, (c) detoxified dialyzed CRP plus NaN(3), (d) NaN(3), or (e) dialyzed NaN(3). The concentration of CRP in all preparations was fixed to 25 mu g/ml and that of NaN(3) in the preparations of (c) to (e) was equivalent to that contained in the 25 mu g/ml CRP purchased commercially. The results showed that both the expression of Cx43 protein and gap junctional communication function post-48-h incubation were reduced and inhibited by the detoxified CRP, NaN(3), or detoxified dialyzed CRP plus NaN(3), but not by the detoxified dialyzed CRP or dialyzed NaN(3). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of cells treated for 72 h also showed a pattern of transcriptional regulation essentially the same as that for the proteins. We concluded that CRP does not have a significant effect on Cx43 gap junctions of HAEC, but NaN(3) inhibited the viability of cells and downregulate their junctions

Urban-rural disparity of preventive healthcare utilisation among children under the universal health insurance coverage in Taiwan: a national birth cohort analysis

Objective: In the context of universal health insurance coverage, this study aimed to determine whether urbanerural inequality still exists in preventive health care (PHC) amongst children in Taiwan. Study design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: A total of 184,117 mothers and their children born in 2009 were identified as the study cohort. The number of children born in urban, satellite and rural areas was 40,176, 57,565 and 86,805, respec-tively. All children were followed for 7 years, before which a total of seven times PHC were provided by Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to associate urbanisation level with the frequency of PHC utilisation. Stratified analyses were further per-formed in accordance with the children's birth weight and the mothers' birthplace. Results: Children from satellite areas had higher utilisation for the first four scheduled PHC visits. Children living in urban areas received more PHC for the fifth and sixth scheduled visits. Compared with those from rural areas, children in satellite areas exhibited a small but significant increase in odds in PHC utilisation, with a covariate-adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 1.04 and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.02 e1.06. By contrast, no significant difference was observed between rural and urban areas (aOR ¼ 1.01). Further stratified analyses suggest more evident urbanerural difference in PHC utilisation amongst children with low birth weight and foreign-born mothers. Conclusions: Given a universal health insurance coverage and embedded mechanisms in increasing the availability of healthcare resources in Taiwan, a slight urbanerural difference is observed in PHC uti-lisation amongst children. Hence, sociodemographic inequality in utilisation of PHC still exists. This issue should be addressed through policy intervention

Thermostatistics of deformed bosons and fermions

Based on the q-deformed oscillator algebra, we study the behavior of the mean occupation number and its analogies with intermediate statistics and we obtain an expression in terms of an infinite continued fraction, thus clarifying successive approximations. In this framework, we study the thermostatistics of q-deformed bosons and fermions and show that thermodynamics can be built on the formalism of q-calculus. The entire structure of thermodynamics is preserved if ordinary derivatives are replaced by the use of an appropriate Jackson derivative and q-integral. Moreover, we derive the most important thermodynamic functions and we study the q-boson and q-fermion ideal gas in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

EGFR L858R Mutation and Polymorphisms of Genes Related to Estrogen Biosynthesis and Metabolism in Never-Smoking Female Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients

Purpose: To assess whether polymorphisms of genes related to estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism are associated with EGFR mutations. Experimental Design: We studied 617 patients with lung adenocarcinoma, including 302 never-smoking women. On the basis of multiple candidate genes approach, the effects of polymorphisms of CYP17, CYP19A1, ER alpha, and COMT in association with the occurrence of EGFR mutations were evaluated using logistic regression analysis. Results: In female never-smokers, significant associations with EGFR L858R mutation were found for the tetranucleotide (TTTA)(n) repeats in CYP19A1 (odds ratio, 2.6; 95%CI, 1.2-5.7 for 1 or 2 alleles with (TTTA)(n) repeats > 7 compared with both alleles with (TTTA) n repeats <= 7), and the rs2234693 in ERa (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.1-4.0 for C/T and C/C genotypes compared with T/T genotype). The C/C genotype (vs. T/T genotype) of ERa was significantly associated with EGFR L858R mutation (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-8.1), in-frame deletion (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.1-7.6) and other mutations (OR, 4.3; 95% CI, 1.3-14.0). The genotype of COMT rs4680 was significantly associated with EGFR L858R mutation in female and male never-smokers showing OR's (95% CI) of 1.8 (1.0-3.2) and 3.6 (1.1-11.3), respectively, for genotypes G/A and G/G compared with genotype A/A. The number of risk alleles of CYP17, CYP19A1, ERa, and COMT was associated with an increasing OR of EGFR L858R mutation in female never-smokers (P = 0.0002 for trend). Conclusions: The L858R mutation of EGFR is associated with polymorphisms of genes related to estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism in never-smoking female lung adenocarcinoma patients. Clin Cancer Res; 17(8); 2149-58. (C) 2011 AACR

A comparative study on q-deformed fermion oscillators

In this paper, the algebras, representations, and thermostatistics of four types of fermionic q-oscillator models, called fermionic Newton (FN), Chaichian-Kulish-Ng (CKN), Parthasarathy-Viswanathan-Chaichian (PVC), Viswanathan-Parthasarathy-Jagannathan-Chaichian (VPJC), are discussed. Similarities and differences among the properties of these models are revealed. Particular emphasis is given to the VPJC-oscillators model so that its Fock space representation is analyzed in detail. Possible physical applications of these models are concisely pointed out.Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Int. J. Theor. Phys. (IJTP

Prunella vulgaris: A comprehensive review of chemical constituents, pharmacological effects and clinical applications.

Prunella vulgaris (PV) is a perennial herb belonging to the Labiate family and is widely distributed in northeastern Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and China. It is reported to display diverse biological activities including anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammation as determined by in vitro or in vivo studies. So far, about 200 compounds have been isolated from PV plant and majority of these have been characterized mainly as triterpenoids, sterols and flavonoids, followed by coumarins, phenylpropanoids, polysaccharides and volatile oils. This review summarizes and analyzes the current knowledge on the chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, mechanisms of action and clinical applications of the PV plant including its potential as a future medicinal plant. Although some of the chemical constituents of the PV plant and their mechanism of action have been investigated the biological activities of many of these remain unknown and further clinical trials are required to further enhance its reputation as a medicinal plant

Epstein-Barr virus: clinical and epidemiological revisits and genetic basis of oncogenesis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the order herpesvirales, family herpesviridae, subfamily gammaherpesvirinae and the genus lymphocytovirus. The virus is an exclusively human pathogen and thus also termed as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV4). It was the first oncogenic virus recognized and has been incriminated in the causation of tumors of both lymphatic and epithelial nature. It was reported in some previous studies that 95% of the population worldwide are serologically positive to the virus. Clinically, EBV primary infection is almost silent, persisting as a life-long asymptomatic latent infection in B cells although it may be responsible for a transient clinical syndrome called infectious mononucleosis. Following reactivation of the virus from latency due to immunocompromised status, EBV was found to be associated with several tumors. EBV linked to oncogenesis as detected in lymphoid tumors such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's disease (HD), post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and T-cell lymphomas (e.g. Peripheral T-cell lymphomas; PTCL and Anaplastic large cell lymphomas; ALCL). It is also linked to epithelial tumors such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), gastric carcinomas and oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). In vitro, EBV many studies have demonstrated its ability to transform B cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). Despite these malignancies showing different clinical and epidemiological patterns when studied, genetic studies have suggested that these EBV- associated transformations were characterized generally by low level of virus gene expression with only the latent virus proteins (LVPs) upregulated in both tumors and LCLs. In this review, we summarize some clinical and epidemiological features of EBV- associated tumors. We also discuss how EBV latent genes may lead to oncogenesis in the different clinical malignancie