multiple sclerosis (ms) is an inflammatory disorder, in which neurons become demyelinated. to date, its etiology has remained unknown. nevertheless, certain features are inspected to provoke ms. for instance, improper function of immune cells is widely believed to be the basis of such disorder. in this concept, ms is stated as an autoimmune disease, which was asserted by major of studies, as cd...

background: family planning is a lifestyle that is selected voluntarily and is based on the knowledge, attitude and responsible decision making by couples in order to promote the health and welfare of the family and the advancement of the society. in this regard, family planning counseling plays an important role in making informed decisions if used properly and in a responsible way. detection ...

Heparanase is an endo-β-glucuronidase that cleaves heparan sulfate side chains, leading to structural modifications that loosen the extracellular matrix barrier and associated with tumor metastasis, inflammation and angiogenesis. In addition, the highly sulfated heparan sulfate proteoglycans are important constituents of the glomerular basement membrane and its permselective properties. Recent ...

Competition for iron is a critical component of successful bacterial infections, but the underlying in vivo mechanisms are poorly understood. We have previously demonstrated that lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is an innate immunity protein that binds to bacterial siderophores and starves them for iron, thus representing a novel host defense mechanism to infection. In the present study we show that LCN2 is ...

Acetylcholine acting on muscarinic M(3) receptors on the detrusor muscle is the principal stimulus for inducing the contractile response for urinary bladder voiding. The urinary bladder expresses, however, all cloned muscarinic receptor subtypes (M(1)-M(5)). In terms of quantity, the M(2) subtype dominates over the M(3) subtype in the detrusor, and its role in contraction seems to be primarily ...

Urothelium that lines almost the entire urinary tract acts as a permeability barrier and is involved in the pathogenesis of major urinary diseases, including urothelial carcinoma, urinary tract infection, and interstitial cystitis. However, investigation of urothelial biology and diseases has been hampered by the lack of tissue-specific approaches. To address this deficiency, we sought to devel...

Proteinuria and increased renal reabsorption of NaCl characterize the nephrotic syndrome. Here, we show that protein-rich urine from nephrotic rats and from patients with nephrotic syndrome activate the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in cultured M-1 mouse collecting duct cells and in Xenopus laevis oocytes heterologously expressing ENaC. The activation depended on urinary serine protease acti...

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephropathy, a major complication of diabetes, is characterized by progressive renal injury and increased cardiovascular mortality. An increased urinary albumin excretion due dysfunction of the glomerular barrier is an early sign of diabetic nephropathy. An increased urinary excretion of higher molecular weight proteins such as IgM appears with progression of glomerular inju...

Isolated kidney preparations (IPK) from male Sprague Dawley rats perfused at constant pressure were used to evaluate the effect of angiotensin II (AII) and platelet-activating factor (PAF) on renal function and urinary protein excretion. Compared with basal, intrarenal infusion of AII at 8 ng/min caused a progressive increase in protein excretion (11 +/- 6 versus 73 +/- 21 micrograms/min) in pa...

Background—A familial defect in intestinal barrier function has been found in Crohn’s disease. Aim—To investigate possible genetic and environmental influences on this barrier defect by studying intestinal permeability in both relatives and spouses of patients with Crohn’s disease. Subjects—The study included 39 patients with Crohn’s disease, 34 healthy first degree relatives, and 22 spouses. T...