Serum vascular endothelial growth factor B is elevated in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and can be decreased with metformin treatment

OBJECTIVE

To determine serum vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) levels in polycystic ovary syndrome, their association with insulin resistance and β-cell dysfunction, and the effect of metformin on serum VEGF-B levels.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional, interventional study.

PATIENTS

We recruited 103 women with polycystic ovary syndrome and 96 age-matched healthy controls. Serum VEGF-B levels were determined in all participants, and 44 polycystic ovary syndrome patients randomly received metformin.

MEASUREMENTS

We measured VEGF-B levels in healthy controls and women with polycystic ovary syndrome before and after metformin treatment.

RESULTS

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome had higher serum VEGF-B levels, which decreased with metformin treatment. In the lean and overweight/obese groups, patients with polycystic ovary syndrome had higher plasma VEGF-B levels than did healthy controls (P < 0·05). VEGF-B levels were correlated with body mass index, body fat percentage, M values, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and β-cell function indices. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that VEGF-B level was associated with M values after adjusting for age, body mass index, serum sex hormones and serum lipids in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum VEGF-B is significantly higher in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and is closely and positively related to insulin resistance. Metformin treatment reduces VEGF-B levels and ameliorates insulin resistance.

Artificial Gauge Field and Topological Phase in a Conventional Two-dimensional Electron Gas with Antidot Lattices

Based on the Born-Oppemheimer approximation, we divide the total electron Hamiltonian in a spin-orbit coupled system into the slow orbital motion and the fast interband transition processes. We find that the fast motion induces a gauge field on the slow orbital motion, perpendicular to the electron momentum, inducing a topological phase. From this general designing principle, we present a theory for generating artificial gauge field and topological phase in a conventional two-dimensional electron gas embedded in parabolically graded GaAs/InxGa1-xAs/GaAs quantum wells with antidot lattices. By tuning the etching depth and period of the antidot lattices, the band folding caused by the antidot potential leads to the formation of minibands and band inversions between neighboring subbands. The intersubband spin-orbit interaction opens considerably large nontrivial minigaps and leads to many pairs of helical edge states in these gaps.

Targeting histone deacetylase 6 mediates a dual anti-melanoma effect: Enhanced antitumor immunity and impaired cell proliferation

The median survival for metastatic melanoma is in the realm of 8-16 months and there are few therapies that offer significant improvement in overall survival. One of the recent advances in cancer treatment focuses on epigenetic modifiers to alter the survivability and immunogenicity of cancer cells. Our group and others have previously demonstrated that pan-HDAC inhibitors induce apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and changes in the immunogenicity of melanoma cells. Here we interrogated specific HDACs which may be responsible for this effect. We found that both genetic abrogation and pharmacologic inhibition of HDAC6 decreases in vitro proliferation and induces G1 arrest of melanoma cell lines without inducing apoptosis. Moreover, targeting this molecule led to an important upregulation in the expression of tumor associated antigens and MHC class I, suggesting a potential improvement in the immunogenicity of these cells. Of note, this anti-melanoma activity was operative regardless of mutational status of the cells. These effects translated into a pronounced delay of in vivo melanoma tumor growth which was, at least in part, dependent on intact immunity as evidenced by the restoration of tumor growth after CD4+ and CD8+ depletion. Given our findings, we provide the initial rationale for the further development of selective HDAC6 inhibitors as potential therapeutic anti-melanoma agents.

[Progress in dedifferentiated fat cells]

When mature adipocytes are subjected to an in vitro dedifferentiation strategy referred to as ceiling culture, these mature adipocytes can revert to dedifferentiated fat (DFAT) cells. DFAT cells have many advantages compared with adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). For example, DFAT cells are homogeneous and could be obtained from donors regardless of their age. Furthermore, DFAT cells also have the same multi-lineage potentials and low immunogenicity as ASCs. As an excellent source of seed cells for tissue engineering and stem cell transplantation, DFAT cells have better prospects in the treatment of many clinical diseases, such as bone defects, neurological diseases, ischemic heart disease and kidney disease. It is necessary to make more intensive studies of DFAT cells. This article summarizes progresses in the immunological characteristics, differentiation ability and potential clinical applications of DFAT cells.

Changes in the Attitude and Practice Toward End-of-Life Care: Perspective of Chinese Physicians in Medical Department

INTRODUCTION

End-of-life care is affected by the attitude and cultural influence of doctors.

METHODS

To investigate the attitudes and practices of doctors on end-of-life care by questionnaire survey in 2004 and 2008.

RESULTS

In 2004, 31.7% of the respondents agreed that they "do not attempt resuscitation" (DNAR) form was useful and it rose to 54.4% in 2008. A higher proportion of respondents in 2008 claimed that they signed the DNAR form for documentation and accepted withholding noninvasive life-sustaining treatment compared to 2004. In 2004, 50% of the respondents regarded their training and education on handling DNAR issue as inadequate.

CONCLUSION

Documentation by DNAR form is gaining wider acceptance. Many doctors are expected to have more training and coaching on communication for handling such sensitive issues.

[Correlation between endothelin receptor type A gene polymorphism and sporadic intracranial aneurysms]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between the 3 polymorphic loci of endothelin receptor type A (EDNRA) gene and intracranial aneurysms.

METHODS

Three EDNRA gene polymorphisms (rs5335, rs6842241, and rs6841581) were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The genotype and allele frequencies were calculated in the patients and the control group to analyze the association between the gene and the size of aneurysms.

RESULTS

No significant difference was found in the distribution of the EDNRA gene genotypes or allele frequencies between the patients and the control subjects. Only GG genotype of rs6841581 was found to significantly correlate with the size of aneurysms.

CONCLUSION

EDNRA gene rs6841581 has significant associations with the size of intracranial aneurysms, indicating a possible role of EDNRA in the genetic mechanisms of intracranial aneurysms and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Comparison of quantum-dots- and fluorescein-isothiocyanate-based technology for detecting prostate-specific antigen expression in human prostate cancer

Quantum dots (QDs) are a new class of fluorescent labelling for biological and biomedical applications. In this study, the authors evaluated the sensitivity and stability of quantum-dots-based immunolabelling, in comparison with the conventional fluorescein-isothiocyanate-based immunolabelling (FITC), for detecting prostate-specific antigen (PSA) expression in human prostate cancer. The authors' data revealed that the two methods had similar sensitivity in differential display of the PSA expression correlated with tumour stage and grade (=0.88, p<0.001). Moreover, the intensity of QDs fluorescence remain stable for 10 days after conjugation to the PSA protein in 97% of the cases and more than 1 month in 92% of the cases, although the FITC fluorescence became undetectable after 6 min for all cases.

Administrative incidence of psychosis assessed in an early intervention service in England: first epidemiological evidence from a diverse, rural and urban setting

BACKGROUND

Early Intervention in Psychosis Services (EIS) for young people in England experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP) were commissioned in 2002, based on an expected incidence of 15 cases per 100 000 person-years, as reported by schizophrenia epidemiology in highly urban settings. Unconfirmed reports from EIS thereafter have suggested higher than anticipated rates. The aim of this study was to compare the observed with the expected incidence and delineate the clinical epidemiology of FEP using epidemiologically complete data from the CAMEO EIS, over a 6-year period in Cambridgeshire, for a mixed rural-urban population.

METHOD

A population-based study of FEP (ICD-10, F10-39) in people aged 17-35 years referred between 2002 and 2007; the denominator was estimated from mid-year census statistics. Sociodemographic variation was explored by Poisson regression. Crude and directly standardized rates (for age, sex and ethnicity) were compared with pre-EIS rates from two major epidemiological FEP studies conducted in urban English settings.

RESULTS

A total of 285 cases met FEP diagnoses in CAMEO, yielding a crude incidence of 50 per 100 000 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI) 44.5-56.2]. Age- and sex-adjusted rates were raised for people from black ethnic groups compared with the white British [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.8]. Rates in our EIS were comparable with pre-EIS rates observed in more urban areas after age, sex and ethnicity standardization.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that the incidence observed in EIS is far higher than originally anticipated and is comparable to rates observed in more urban settings prior to the advent of EIS. Sociodemographic variation due to ethnicity and other factors extend beyond urban populations. Our results have implications for psychosis aetiology and service planning.

Effects of pretreatment with Yisheng injection on renal warm ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice

INTRODUCTION

Due to the organ supply shortage, the donor pool has been expanded to include non-heart-beating donors, where renal warm ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is inevitable. This study was undertaken to determine whether Yisheng injection (YM) could attenuate renal warm I/R injury in mice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into sham, ischemic, and YM-treated groups using 50 minutes of left kidney ischemia. Mice were humanely killed at 4 or 24 hours postreperfusion. We assayed the effects of YM on liver functional injury, neutrophil recruitment, and proinflammatory mediators after renal I/R injury.

RESULTS

Renal I/R produced dramatic injuries in mouse kidneys. Administration of YM reduced liver function (urea nitrogen of untreated vs treated, 4.7 +/- 0.6 vs 26.6 +/- 1.5 mmol/L; P < .01) and histological injury (histological scores of untreated vs treated, 4.12 +/- 0.14 vs 0.98 +/- 0.07; P < .01). YM at doses of 5, 15, or 25 mg/kg reduced the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) by about 32.9%, 55.1%, and 74.5%, respectively. Moreover, YM also suppressed the increase in messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expressions of TNF-alpha and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), as well as abrogated neutrophil recruitment in a dose-dependent manner.

CONCLUSION

YM protects murine kidneys from warm I/R injury, probably via decreasing functional injury, reducing neutrophil infiltration, and suppressing the overexpression of proinflammatory mediators and adhesion molecules.