In order to determine the effect of endometrial injury (EI) on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes in women with unexplained subfertility and explore the relationship between EI and endometrial inflammatory cytokines, 66 women with unexplained subfertility undergoing IVF treatment were recruited. 38 patients in the EI group underwent EI in the mid-luteal phase of the cycle and 28 patients in ...

PURPOSE To assess the impact of refractive surgery on quality of life using the National Eye Institute Refractive Error Quality of Life instrument (NEI-RQL) and to evaluate the responsiveness of our Portuguese version of the NEI-RQL instrument to surgical correction of refractive error. METHODS In this prospective study, the NEI-RQL, a 42-item questionnaire with 13 scales, was self-administer...

BACKGROUND Sivelestat is a neutrophil elastase inhibitor (NEI) with positive impact on the respiratory complications in thoracic surgery. Based on the findings of a recent study, NEI may have a good response for avoiding ischemia reperfusion injury in liver resection. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to examine the impact of NEI on the postoperative outcomes after liver resection. PATIENT...

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic neuropeptide, with a major role in stimulation of feeding behavior in mammals. MCH signals in the brain occur via two seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, namely MCH1 (SLC-1, MCH(1), MCH-R1, or MCH-1R) and MCH2 (SLT, MCH(2), MCH-R2, or MCH-2R). In this study, we demonstrate that the pro-MCH(131-165) peptide neuropeptide-glutamic acid-i...

OBJECTIVES To describe the vision-targeted, health-related quality of life, measured with the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ), in patients with age-related macular degeneration, cataract, or reduced visual acuity; to determine the relationship between the NEI-VFQ subscale scores and clinical measures of visual function; and to assess the internal consistency and r...

Escherichia coli endonuclease VIII (Nei) excises oxidized pyrimidines from DNA. It shares significant sequence homology and similar mechanism with Fpg, a bacterial 8-oxoguanine glycosylase. The structure of a covalent Nei-DNA complex has been recently determined, revealing critical amino acid residues which are important for DNA binding and catalysis. Several Fpg structures have also been repor...

This study was to determine the correlation between endothelial function and neuro-endocrine-immune (NEI) network through observing the changes of NEI network under the different endothelial dysfunction models. Three endothelial dysfunction models were established in male Wistar rats after exposure to homocysteine (Hcy), high fat diet (HFD) and Hcy+HFD. The results showed that there was endothe...

Escherichia coli possesses two DNA glycosylase/apurinic lyase activities with overlapping substrate specificities, endonuclease III and endonuclease VIII, that recognize and remove oxidized pyrimidines from DNA. Endonuclease III is encoded by the nth gene. Endonuclease VIII has now been purified to apparent homogeneity, and the gene, nei, has been cloned by using reverse genetics. The gene nei ...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the relative contributions of central vision loss and general health to vision-targeted quality of life as measured by the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). METHODS Data on quality of life (NEI-VFQ and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey [SF-36]) and visual acuity were collected as part of the Submacular Surgery Trials Pilot Study. Informat...

PURPOSE To evaluate the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients undergoing vitrectomy for epiretinal membrane (ERM) removal and to investigate the relationship between VR-QOL and the severity of pre/postoperative metamorphopsia. DESIGN Prospective, interventional, consecutive, comparative case series. METHODS The 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI ...