BACKGROUND Schizophrenia and affective psychoses share several common biological origins, particularly genetic susceptibility. Kraepelin posited that differing clinical expressions in these disorders reflect different etiopathologies. We tested a neuropsychological component of this hypothesis by evaluating verbal memory and visual memory performance in nonpsychotic youth at familial risk for p...

Scutellarin (SCU) is one of the main components of traditional Chinese medicine plant Erigeron breviscapus (Vant.) Hand.-Mazz. In this paper, we studied the protective effects of SCU on human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (HCMECs) against hypoxia-reoxygenation (HR) injury and its possible target-related proteins. Results of MTT assay showed that pretreatment of SCU at doses of 1, 5, a...

Our objective was to investigate in conscious Sprague-Dawley (6-8 weeks, 250-300 g) female rats (N = 7 in each group) the effects of intracerebroventricularly (icv) injected adrenomedullin (ADM) on blood pressure and heart rate (HR), and to determine if ADM and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptors, peripheral V1 receptors or the central cholinergic system play roles in these cardiov...

The phosphatidylinositol-4, 5-bisphosphate 3-kinase, catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA) gene is frequently mutated in breast cancer (BCa). Sex hormone receptors (HRs), including estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) play pivotal roles in BCa. In this study, we evaluated the association between PIK3CA mutations and ER/PR expression and the prognostic role of PIK3CA mutations in BCa...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) enable colonic epithelial cells to acquire malignant characteristics and metastatic capabilities. Recently, cancer relevant miRNAs deregulated during disease progression have also been identified in tumor-associated stroma.By combining laser-microdissection (LMD) with high-throughput screening and high-sensitivity quantitation techniques, miRNA expression in colorectal cancer...

Homologous recombination (HR) and mismatch repair (MMR) are inextricably linked. HR pairs homologous chromosomes before meiosis I and is ultimately responsible for generating genetic diversity during sexual reproduction. HR is initiated in meiosis by numerous programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs; several hundred in mammals). A characteristic feature of HR is the exchange of DNA strands, wh...

In zebrafish, Rhcg1 was found in apical membranes of skin ionocytes [H⁺-ATPase-rich (HR) cells], which are similar to α-type intercalated cells in mammalian collecting ducts. However, the cellular distribution and role of Rhbg in zebrafish larvae have not been well investigated. In addition, HR cells were hypothesized to excrete ammonia against concentration gradients. In this study, we attempt...