Int J Med Sci
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To perform trend analysis of primary midwife-led delivery care for 'low risk' pregnant women at our hospital. ⋯ The rate of deliveries initially considered 'low risk' decreased over the last 5-year period. Closer cooperation between midwives and obstetricians is important in primary midwife-led delivery care.
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We examined the effects of overexpressed human chymase on survival and activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mice. Human chymase transgenic (Tg) and wild-type C57BL/6 (WT) mice were treated with LPS (0.03, 0.1 and 0.3 mg/day; intraperitoneal) for 2 weeks. Treatment with 0.03 mg LPS did not affect survival in either WT or Tg mice. ⋯ Survival of mice treated with 0.3 mg/day of LPS was 87.5% and 0% in WT and Tg, respectively. LPS-induced increases in chymase activity in the heart and skin were significantly greater in Tg than WT mice. These data suggest a possible contribution of human chymase activation to LPS-induced mortality.
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The 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) animal model is a useful tool to study Parkinson's disease (PD) and was used in the present study to investigate the potential beneficial as well as deleterious effects of systemic bone-marrow mononuclear cell (BMMC) or mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) transplantation. MPTP administration resulted in a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier and motor impairment in the open field test 24 h after surgery. Three and 7 days after receiving the lesion, the injured animals showed remaining motor impairment compared to the sham groups along with a significant loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). ⋯ Instead, BMMC transplantation in MPTP-lesioned rats accelerated dopaminergic neuronal damage and induced motor impairment and immobility behavior. These findings suggest that caution should be taken when considering cell therapy using BMMCs to treat PD. However, systemic BM-MSC transplantation that reaches the injury site and prevents neuronal damage after an MPTP infusion could be considered as a potential treatment for PD during the early stage of disease development.
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miR-126, the miRNA considered to be specially expressed in endothelial cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells, is strongly associated with angiogenesis. The purpose is to evaluate the role of miR-126 in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis and the possible mechanisms. ⋯ miR-126 is down-regulated under hypoxic condition both in vitro and in vivo and may halt the hypoxia-induce neovascularization by suspending the cell cycle progression and inhibiting the expression of VEGF and MMP-9.
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Apolipoprotein M (APOM) has been suggested as a vasculoprotective constituent of high density lipoprotein (HDL), which plays a crucial role behind the mechanism of HDL-mediated anti-atherosclerosis. Previous studies demonstrated that insulin resistance could associate with decreased APOM expressions. In agreement with our previous reports, here, we further confirmed that the insulin sensitivity was also reduced in rats treated with high concentrations of glucose; such effect could be reversed by administration of rosiglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ). ⋯ Two-way ANOVA analysis demonstrated that the interactions between rosiglitazone and infusion of 25% glucose solution on Shp1 (P=0.0054) and Abca1 (4E, P=0.0004) mRNA expression was statistically significant. It is concluded that rosiglitazone could increase Apom expression, of which the detailed mechanism needs to be further investigated. The downregulation of Apom by hyperglycemia might be mainly through decreasing expression of Pparg and followed by inhibiting Lxrb in rats.