Extracellular adenosine has been implicated in vascular adaptation to hypoxia. Based on the observation that increases in intracellular adenosine can effectively elevate extracellular adenosine, we studied the contribution of adenosine kinase (AK, intracellular conversion of adenosine to adenosine monophosphate [AMP]) to vascular adenosine responses. Initial in vitro studies of ambient hypoxia ...

Changes in the appearance of actinic keratosis (AK) suggest progression to invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), though some dermatologists and dermatopathologists consider AK to be SCC in situ. Actinic keratosis is an indicator of cumulative UV exposure and the initial lesion in the majority of invasive cutaneous SCCs. The development of SCC on sun-damaged skin is a gradual process; however,...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about long-term outcomes among patients who receive percutaneous angioplasty (PTA) for peripheral artery disease (PAD) then undergo below-knee or above-knee amputations. We sought to determine clinical outcomes associated with below-knee or above-knee amputation, along with possible explanatory factors and treatment strategies. METHODS Using data from Taiwan's Nation...

Australia has the highest prevalence of actinic keratoses (AK) worldwide. Because of the risk of transformation of AK to invasive squamous cell carcinomas, consensus guidelines recommend that AK are removed using appropriate therapies to prevent progression to invasive disease. Daylight photodynamic therapy (PDT) is emerging as an efficacious treatment for AK, particularly for patients who requ...

The statistics of the digits of a continued fraction, also known as partial quotients, have been studied at least since the time of Gauss. The usual measure m on the open interval (0, 1) gives a probability space U . Let ak, k ≥ 1 be integer-valued random variables which take α ∈ (0, 1) to the k partial quotient or digit in the continued fraction expansion α = 1/(a1 + 1/(a2 + · · · )). Let Sr =...

Let (X,≤) be a non-empty strictly inductive poset, that is, a non-empty partially ordered set such that every non-empty chain Y has a least upper bound lub(Y ) ∈ X , a chain being a subset of X totally ordered by ≤. We are interested in sufficient conditions such that, given an element a0 ∈ X and a function f : X → X , there is some ordinal k such that ak+1 = ak, where ak is the transfinite seq...

Alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver steatosis have an indistinguishable spectrum of histological features and liver enzyme elevations. In this study, we investigated the potential of the ethanolic extract of Acanthopanax koreanum Nakai (AK) to protect against experimental alcoholic liver disease in a mouse model that couples diet and daily ethanol bolus gavage. Fifty-six C57BL/6J mice were randoml...

Organ transplant recipient (OTR) subjects are at high risk of skin cancer such as squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. Actinic keratosis (AK) is considered the precursor of these non-melanoma skin cancers. Sun protection is mandatory in subjects with AK and this preventive strategy is very important in OTR. Treatment of the field of cancerization is also crucial to reduce the risk ...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSES Monascin (MS) and ankaflavin (AK) produced by Monascus purpureus NTU 568 were proven to show excellent hypolipidemic effects in our previous studies; however, the mechanism is still unclear. METHODS This study used MS, AK, and monacolin K as test substances and performed tests on rats fed high-fat and high-cholesterol diet for 8 weeks. The lipid levels and the related prot...

Let J be a Jacobi matrix with elements bk on the main diagonal and elements ak on the auxiliary ones. We suppose that J is a compact perturbation of the free Jacobi matrix. In this case the essential spectrum of J coincides with [−2, 2], and its discrete spectrum is a union of two sequences {xj }, x + j > 2, x − j < −2, tending to ±2. We denote sequences {ak+1 − ak} and {ak+1 + ak−1 − 2ak} by ∂...