This study examined the role of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in altering the glomerular permeability to albumin (P(alb)) during hypertension development in Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) rats and whether TGF-beta acts by inhibiting the glomerular production of 20-HETE. The results indicate that the renal expression of TGF-beta doubles in Dahl S rats fed a high-salt diet for 7 days, ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In preclinical stroke models, high-dose human albumin confers robust neuroprotection. We investigated the safety and tolerability of this therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke. METHODS The ALIAS (Albumin in Acute Stroke) Pilot Clinical Trial used a multiple-tier, open-label, dose-escalation design. Subjects with acute ischemic stroke (NIH Stroke Scale [NIHSS] o...

With the growth of broadband networks, the Video-on-Demand (VoD) becomes realistic. Many significant broadcasting schemes are proposed to reduce the bandwidth requirements for stored popular videos, but they cannot be used to support live video broadcast perfectly. Herein, we propose a new broadcasting scheme, called Adaptive Live Broadcasting (ALB) scheme, which supports live video broadcastin...

Bilirubin, when bound to human albumin and at concentrations present in normal human plasma, protects albumin-bound linoleic acid from peroxyl radical-induced oxidation in vitro. Initially, albumin-bound bilirubin (Alb-BR) is oxidized at the same rate as peroxyl radicals are formed and biliverdin is produced stoichiometrically as the oxidation product. On an equimolar basis, Alb-BR successfully...

Background and Objective: Anesthesiologists need to be familiar with perioperative changes in blood volume (BV); however, there is no standard method for repeated evaluation of BV over a short interval of time. We evaluated BV in the operation room using repeatable estimation methods. Method: Eighty-five ASA physical status I-II patients scheduled to undergo endoscopic urosurgery using irrigati...

The relative contribution of, and possible mechanism of interaction between, aflatoxin and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the development of primary hepatocellular carcinoma can be better investigated now that markers of individual exposure to both factors are available. In this study, blood samples were collected over a 1 -month period from 1 1 7 children aged 3 to 4 years, resident in Kuntair or ...

BACKGROUND-Catecholamine-induced apoptosis is mediated by activation of the beta-adrenergic signaling pathway. We tested the hypothesis that beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (AR) subtypes differentially affect apoptosis in adult rat ventricular myocytes in vitro. METHODS AND RESULTS-Myocytes were first exposed to norepinephrine (NE) alone (10 mcmol/L) or NE+atenolol (AT) (10 mcmol/L) fo...

BACKGROUND Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a major burden in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR+, < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and albuminuria (Alb+) are essential for the diagnosis of DKD, but their association with clinical variables and quality of care may be influenced by ageing. METHODS Here we investigated the association of clinical va...

Aim: To evaluate urinary excretion of Neutrophil Gelatinase Associated Lipocalin (NGAL) in type 2 diabetic patients with different stages of nephropathy. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore from Oct 2009 – Oct 2010.Ninety five subjects both males and females were divided into two groups. 75 type 2 diabetic patients (33 males and 42 females) were in...

While Transforming growth factor-βs (Tgf-βs) have been known to play an important role in liver fibrosis through an activation of Hepatic Stellate Cells (HSC), their fibrotic role on hepatocytes in liver damage has not been addressed thoroughly. To shed more light on the hepatocyte-specific role of Tgf-β signaling during liver fibrosis, we generated transgenic mice expressing constitutively act...