BACKGROUND Macrophages are highly heterogeneous and plastic cells that are involved in all stages of atherogenesis. They can undergo polarization by shifting between M1 and M2 functional phenotypes. However, the role of macrophage polarization and the molecular mechanism in modulating atherosclerotic plaque stability remain incompletely understood. Our study investigated the role of STAT6 in re...

People with cancer usually experience various distressing symptoms while receiving chemotherapy. Early identification of patients treatment is a crucial step toward providing quality nursing care for patients. This study aimed to assess the frequency, severity and its predictors among who are An Analytical cross-sectional was done 233 people chemotherapy in Cancer Hospital. Convenience sampling...

in this article, we suggested a novel design of polarization splitter based on coupler waveguide on inp substrate at 1.55mm wavelength. photonic crystal structure is consisted of two dimensional (2d) air holes embedded in inp/ingaasp material with an effective refractive index of 3.2634 which is arranged in a hexagonal lattice. the photonic band gap (pbg) of this structure is determined using t...

The goal of this study is to elucidate the effects of 17β-estradiol and TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) on macrophage phenotypes in the endometriotic milieu. Co-culture of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) and U937 cells (macrophage cell line) was performed to simulate the endometriotic milieu and to determine the effects of 17β-estradiol and/or TCDD on IL10, IL12 production and HLA-D...

The polarimetric and photometric variability of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars as caused by clumps in the winds, is revisited. In the model which is improved from Li et al. 2000, the radial expansion of the thickness is accounted for, but we retain the dependence on the β velocity law, stellar occultation effects. We again search for parameters that can yield results consistent with observations in rega...

Background Carotid artery stiffness is associated with cognitive impairment and dementia, however, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. We examined association of carotid cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) markers, impairment, dementia its subtypes, as well performance. Method In this case-control study, 272 subjects from a memory clinic underwent physical medical evaluation along ultras...

Objective: Internet addiction and smartphone are emerging mental health concerns in adolescents. To determine the factors related to these conditions, we investigated their associations with sleep quality, chronotype, patterns, daylight exposure, depression, anxiety.Methods: Self-rated questionnaires, including Addiction Proneness Scale-Short Form, Smartphone Scale–short version, Insomnia Sever...

Most studies of sex hormones and insulin resistance (IR) have focused on androgens; few have examined the association of endogenous estrogens and IR. We determined the cross-sectional association of endogenous levels of total and bioavailable testosterone and estradiol and SHBG with IR among 845 healthy, postmenopausal women aged 45-65 yr. Women were within 10 yr of menopause and not using horm...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the association between free IGF-I levels and bone mineral density (BMD). DESIGN A cross-sectional study of 218 healthy subjects (103 men, 115 women, age 55-80 years) was carried out. METHODS Fasting serum free IGF-I, total IGF-I, estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels were measured. The ratio of estradiol to SHBG was used as an index of fre...