Abstract Aims Heart failure (HF) remains a major therapeutic and diagnostic challenge. In this study we aimed to analyze the predictive potential of four novel cardiovascular biomarkers – soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), vascular cell adhesion molecule (CAM-1), heart-type fatty acid binding Protein (H-FABP) growth/differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) in detecting car...

Methods. Chemotaxis of endothelial cells toward vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was examined using a modified Boyden chamber assay. Endothelial cells placed in the upper chamber were allowed to migrate through a polycarbonate membrane with 8 pm pores toward VEGF or bFGF present in the lower chamber. Next, the ability of TIMP-3 to inhibit chemo...

background portugal has a strong tradition of conventional western healthcare. so it provides a natural case study for the relationship between complementary/alternative medicine (cam) and western medicine (wm). this work aims to test the relationship between cam and wm users in the diagnosis and treatment stages and to estimate the determinants of cam choice.   methods the forth portuguese nat...

cam (complementary and alternative medicine) therapies have become increasingly  popular in pediatric populations. phytotherapy are the most common cam used in children. yet, little is known about children’s preferences for cam. but it is expected to become more widely integrated into the modern medical system, including the medical curriculum.the aim of this study is to introduce the prevalenc...

Macrolide antibiotics are known to be effective for the treatment of chronic inflammatory airway diseases including diffuse panbronchiolitis, chronic bronchitis, and bronchial asthma. Other than having antimicrobial activities, macrolides have antiinflammatory effects, such as the inhibition of cytokine production. In the present study we investigated the effects of clarithromycin (CAM) on inte...

BACKGROUND Endocrine gland-related vascular endothelial growth factor (EG-VEGF), is an angiogenic factor specifically targeting endothelial cells derived from endocrine tissues. The inhibition of the EG-VEGF/prokineticin receptor pathway could represent a selective antiangiogenic and anticancer strategy. AIM to evaluate the impact of an antibody to EG-VEGF on the rapidly growing capillary ple...

The angiogenic properties of natural rubber were evaluated in this work. We have used the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay (CAM) as a model to investigate the influence of the heating on biological activity in rubber membranes and in non rubber fraction as well. Results showed that natural rubber membranes can induce vascularization. It was observed that angiogenesis activity was maximum wh...

The recombinant Kv7.2 calmodulin (CaM) binding site (Q2AB CaMBD) shows a high tendency to aggregate, thus complicating biochemical and structural studies. To facilitate these studies we have conceived bis-PEG-peptide CaMBD-mimetics linking helices A and B in single, easy to handle molecules. Short PEG chains were selected as spacers between the two peptide molecules, and a Cu(i)-catalyzed cyclo...

Tissue engineering, defined as using a combination of cultured cells and biodegradable scaffolds to repair tissue damaged by injury or disease, represents a booming sector of biomedical research. Animal experimentation is routinely performed prior to clinical trials. The presented study tries to translate the aspect of the 3Rs to tissue engineering research: Cell culture protocols were adapted ...

To discover new anti-cancer agents with multi-effect and low toxicity, a series of ligustrazine derivatives were synthesized using several effective anti-tumor ingredients of Shiquandabu Wan as starting materials. Our idea was enlightened by the "combination principle" in drug discovery. The ligustrazine derivatives' anti-tumor activities were evaluated on the HCT-8, Bel-7402, BGC-823, A-549 an...