2. The biology of the oocyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 2.1. Oogenesis and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 2.2. Bioelectrical properties of the oocyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 2.3. The oocyte at work...

OBJECTIVE To study the association and possible relationship of prostate inflammation with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and prostate cancer. METHODS The medical records and pathological findings of all Saudi patients who underwent transrectal ultrasound guided prostatic needle biopsies in King Abdulaziz University Medical City, Jeddah,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from June 2003 to June 2008...

Norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated form of cantharidin, has been used as a routine anticancer drug in China. In this study, the effect and mechanism of NCTD on anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was examined. In vivo antitumor activity was investigated in hepatoma-bearing mice by intraperitoneal injection of different concentration of NCTD. The levels of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNA were det...

MicroRNAs are known to regulate developmental processes but their mechanism of regulation remains largely uncharacterized. We show the transcription factor Twist-1 drives the expression of a 7.9-kb noncoding RNA transcript (from the Dynamin-3 gene intron) that encodes a miR-199a and miR-214 cluster. We also show that knocking down Twist-1 with shRNAs decreased miR-199a/214 levels and that Twist...

It has been reported that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 9 (Ubc9), the unique enzyme2 in the sumoylation pathway, is up-regulated in many cancers. However, the expression and regulation of UBC9 in glioma remains unknown. In this study, we found that Ubc9 was up-regulated in glioma tissues and cell lines compared to a normal control. UBC9 knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) affected cell pr...

A hallmark of liver fibrosis is the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC), which results in their production of fibrotic molecules, a process that is largely regulated by connective tissue growth factor (CCN2). CCN2 is increasingly expressed during HSC activation because of diminished expression of microRNA-214 (miR-214), a product of dynamin 3 opposite strand (DNM3os) that directly suppre...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the number of vessels disease has an impact on clinical outcomes as well as on therapeutic results accordingly to medical, percutaneous, or surgery treatment in chronic coronary artery disease. METHODS We evaluated 825 individuals enrolled in MASS study, a randomized study to compare treatment options for single or multivessel coronary artery disease with preserv...

PURPOSE HMN-214 is an oral prodrug of HMN-176, a stilbene derivative that interferes with the subcellular spatial location of polo-like kinase-1, a serine/threonine kinase that regulates critical mitotic events. We conducted a dose escalation study of HMN-214 in patients with advanced cancer to assess the safety profile and pharmacokinetics of HMN-214 and to establish the maximum tolerated dose...