Lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) is one of the most common spinal disorders in elderly people, with the number of LSCS patients increasing due to the aging of the population. The ligamentum flavum (LF) is a spinal ligament located in the interior of the vertebral canal, and hypertrophy of the LF, which causes the direct compression of the nerve roots and/or cauda equine, is a major cause of ...

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a negative regulator of myelopoiesis which operates by suppressing the release from mononuclear phagocytes of GM colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or monokines which can then induce the release of GM-CSA from accessory cells. In this study, endotoxin-depleted, purified iron-saturated human Lf was assessed for its effect on the production of interleukin-1 by cultured monocyt...

Lethal factor (LF), a major toxic element of Bacillus anthracis combined with its protective antigen (PA), enters the cells through the cytomembrane receptors and causes damage to the host cells, thereby leading to septicemia, toxemia, and meningitis with high mortality. LF has been identified as a potential biotech-weapon, which can impede cancer growth in vascular endothelial cells because of...

Hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum (LF) contributes to lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) and is caused mainly by fibrosis. Recent data indicate that miR-155 plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of different fibrotic diseases. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that miR-155 exerts effects on LF thickness by regulating collagen expression. We found that LF thickness and the expression of collag...

The role of the autonomic nervous system in spontaneous hypertension during each stage of the sleep-wake cycle remains unclear. The present study attempted to evaluate the differences in cardiac autonomic modulations among spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), and Sprague-Dawley rats (SD) across sleep-wake cycles. Continuous power spectral analysis of elec...

Recent studies suggest that salivary lysozyme (Lz), lactoferrin (Lf), peroxidase (Spx), and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) may interact in a common antimicrobial system. A multiple protein approach therefore may be needed to determine the role of this system in oral health and ecology. In the present study we investigate the relationships between levels of Lz, Lf, Spx, and sIgA (adjusted for...

In this study, we sought to identify factors responsible for the positive modulation of lactoferrin (LF), a neutrophil-specific, secondary-granule protein gene. Initial reporter gene transfection assays indicated that the first 89 base pairs of the LF promoter are capable of directing myeloid-specific LF gene expression. The presence of a C/EBP site flanked by 2 Sp1 sites within this segment of...

OBJECTIVES Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron binding protein and stored in the specific granules of granulocytes. It is released by degranulation following granulocyte activation. A positive correlation was previously reported between periodontitis and LF titers of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and blood. The purpose of this study was to examine alterations of GCF and blood levels of LF (LF-GCF and...