Plos One
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Peer review is the mainstay of editorial decision making for medical journals. There is a dearth of evaluations of journal peer review with regard to reliability and validity, particularly in the light of the wide variety of medical journals. Studies carried out so far indicate low agreement among reviewers. We present an analysis of the peer review process at a general medical journal, Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. ⋯ Although our figures are similar to those reported in the literature our conclusion differs from the widely held view that reviewer agreement is low: Based on overall agreement we consider the concordance among reviewers sufficient for the purposes of editorial decision making. We believe that various measures, such as positive and negative agreement or alternative Kappa values are superior to the application of Cohen's or Fleiss' Kappa in the analysis of nominal or ordinal level data regarding reviewer agreement. Also, reviewer recommendations seem to be a poor proxy for citations because, for example, manuscripts will be changed considerably during the revision process.
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This study investigates the role of proinflammatory monocytes recruited from blood circulation and recovered in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in mediating the lung damage in a model of acute cigarette smoke (CS)-induced lung inflammation in two strains of mice with different susceptibility to develop emphysema (susceptible -C57BL/6J and non susceptible -129S2/SvHsd). Exposure to whole-body CS for 3 consecutive research cigarettes in one single day induced acute inflammation in the lung of mice. Analysis of BAL fluid showed more influx of recently migrated monocytes at 72 h after CS-exposition in susceptible compared to non susceptible mice. ⋯ Recently migrated monocytes influx to the lung correlated with an increase in the MMP-12 protein level in the lung tissue, indicating that the increase in proinflammatory monocytes is associated with a major tissue damaging. Therefore our data confirm that the recruitment of proinflammatory recently migrated monocytes from the blood are responsible for the increase in MMP-12 and has an important role in the pathogenesis of lung disease induced by acute lung inflammation. These results could contribute to understanding the different susceptibility to CS of these strains of mice.
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Celiac disease (CD) is a gluten-responsive, chronic inflammatory enteropathy. IL-1 cytokine family members IL-1β and IL-18 have been associated with the inflammatory conditions in CD patients. However, the mechanisms of IL-1 molecule activation in CD have not yet been elucidated. ⋯ Moreover, treatment of human PBMC as well as MyD88(-/-) and Toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor-inducing interferon-β (TRIF)(-/-) BMDC illustrated that prior to the activation of caspase-1, the PDWGF-triggered signal constitutes the activation of the MyD88/TRIF/MAPK/NF-κB pathway. Moreover, our results indicate that the combined action of TLR2 and TLR4 may be required for optimal induction of IL-1β in response to PDWGF. Thus, innate immune pathways, such as TLR2/4/MyD88/TRIF/MAPK/NF-κB and an NLRP3 inflammasome activation are involved in wheat proteins signaling and may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CD.
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Estrogens promote beneficial effects in the cardiovascular system mainly through the estrogen receptor (ER)α and ERβ, which act as ligand-gated transcription factors. Recently, the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) has been implicated in the estrogenic signaling in diverse tissues, including the cardiovascular system. In this study, we demonstrate that left ventricles of male Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) express higher levels of GPER compared to normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. ⋯ Interestingly, G15 and L-NIO prevented the ability of G-1 to down-regulate the expression of both HIF-1α and CTGF, which were found expressed to a higher extent in SHR compared to WKY rat hearts. Collectively, the present study provides novel data into the potential role played by GPER in hypertensive disease on the basis of its involvement in myocardial inotropism and lusitropism as well as the expression of the apoptotic HIF-1α and fibrotic CTGF factors. Hence, GPER may be considered as a useful target in the treatment of some cardiac dysfunctions associated with stressful conditions like the essential hypertension.
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The purpose of this study was to determine how pelvic morphology, body posture, and standing balance variables of scoliotic girls differ from those of able-bodied girls, and to classify neuro-biomechanical variables in terms of a lower number of unobserved variables. Twenty-eight scoliotic and twenty-five non-scoliotic able-bodied girls participated in this study. 3D coordinates of ten anatomic body landmarks were used to describe pelvic morphology and trunk posture using a Flock of Birds system. Standing balance was measured using a force plate to identify the center of pressure (COP), and its anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) displacements. ⋯ Approximately 60% of the variation is supported by 4 factors that can be associated with a set of variables; standing balance variables (factor 1), body posture variables (factor 2), and pelvic morphology variables (factors 3 and 4). Pelvic distortion, body posture asymmetry, and standing imbalance are more pronounced in scoliotic girls, when compared to able-bodied girls. These findings may be beneficial when addressing balance and ankle proprioception exercises for the scoliotic population.