Specific treatment of age-related aortic wall arteriosclerosis and stiffening is lacking. Because ligands for peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor have beneficial effects on the arterial wall in atherosclerosis, via an antiinflammatory mechanism, we investigated whether long-term pioglitazone (Pio) treatment protects against another form of vascular wall disease, arteriosclerosis. We eval...

The role of vitamin D and its derivatives in vascular calcification is complex. It has long been known that in humans, hypervitaminosis D may be associated with extensive arterial calcium phosphate deposits, mostly in the form of apatite crystals. In experimental animals, the administration of pharmacological doses of vitamin D sterols can lead to widespread arterial calcification, especially i...

Out of a total of 21 exencephalic p53-deficient embryonic and newborn mice, 6 (28.6%) possessed fused maxillary incisor teeth. On histological analysis of the 5 examples seen on day 19.5 of gestation and newborn mice, 3 varieties were observed: an example of 'simple' fusion, 3 examples of simple fusion each of which contained a 'dens in dente' ('tooth within a tooth'), and a single example in w...

THE biochemical action of i-ascorbic acid has hitherto been studied principally on the scorbutic guinea-pig. Only recently Harris et al. [1933] investigated the excretion of ascorbic acid in the human subject and found that with a normal intake of vitamin C about 30 mg. of ascorbic acid can be determined by dichlorophenolindophenol titration in the daily output of urine. The excretion is tempor...

Arterial calcification has been known to occur in infancy since the early reports of Durante (1899) and Bryant and White (1901). In many instances arterial lesions have been associated with renal disease, hypervitaminosis-D or congenital anomalies of the heart and great vessels, but more rarely there has been no demonstrable primary disease. About 50 cases of this idiopathic type of arterial ca...

Two siblings, a 6-month-old sexually intact male weighing 2.5 kg (cat 1) and a sexually intact female (cat 2) British Shorthair cat weighing 2.3 kg, were examined because of a 3-week history of polyuria, lethargy and laboured breathing. One year previously, another sibling (cat 3) had been presented because of similar, yet more severe, clinical signs at the age of 5 months. Physical examination...

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Japan and other Westernized countries. Over 50% of the ESRD patients die from cardiovascular events. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) in ESRD patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are implicated in the endothelial dysfunction caused by hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, and in the vascular calcification of i...

Vitamin A plays an essential role in animal biology and has negative effects associated with both hypo- and hypervitaminosis A. Many notable interventions are being done globally to eliminate vitamin A deficiency, including supplementation, fortification, and biofortification. At the same time, it is important to monitor vitamin A status in nations where preformed vitamin A intake is high becau...

Specific treatment of age-related aortic wall arteriosclerosis and stiffening is lacking. Because ligands for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma have beneficial effects on the arterial wall in atherosclerosis, via an antiinflammatory mechanism, we investigated whether long-term pioglitazone (Pio) treatment protects against another form of vascular wall disease, arteriosclerosis. W...

Disorders of calcium metabolism in childhood (except rickets) were regarded as uncommon until the recognition by Lightwood (1952) of the syndrome of 'idiopathic hypercalcaemia of infants with failure to thrive'. Previously there had been occasional reports of children considered to have AlbersSchonberg disease, hypervitaminosis D, primary hyperparathyroidism (Pratt, Geren and Neuhauser, 1947; P...