Eclipta prostrata (EP) is often prescribed in combination with glucocorticoid to treat glomerular nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and IgA nephropathy in clinical practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Previous studies from our laboratory revealed that coadministration of EP significantly increased the plasma concentration of prednisolone while decreased the level of cotreated prednisone in ra...

Hallervorden-Spatz disease (HSD) is a rare autosomal-recessive hereditary disorder characterized by the early onset of progressive movement alterations, including dystonia, rigidity, choreoathetosis, and mental deterioration. HSD is also associated with a variety of psychiatric symptoms, primarily depression and mental deterioration. However, psychosis has rarely been reported as a major sympto...

Background: Hypertonic saline/dextran (HSD) fluid resuscitation has been demonstrated to be effective in alleviating the adverse effects of hemorrhagic hypotension. The optimal dose of HSD has not been defined. Methods: The comparative effectiveness of various dosages of HSD for the treatment of severe hemorrhage was investigated in conscious swine bled 46 mL/kg over 15 minutes, a lethal proced...

Chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) is one of the most common otorhinolaryngologic diseases worldwide. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the expression of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) was quantitatively evaluated in patients with CRSsNP (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20). The mRNA levels of GSK-3α and GSK-3β were examined by qPCR, the i...

This aim of this study was to investigate whether progesterone (PROG) alleviates the neuronal apoptosis in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain damage through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) signaling pathway. A total of 96 newborn Wistar rats aged 7 days were randomly divided into four groups: sham surgery, HI, drug prevention (PROG) ...

Development of innovative more effective therapy is required for refractory osteosarcoma patients. We previously established that glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK- 3β) is a therapeutic target in various cancer types. In the present study, we explored the therapeutic efficacy of GSK-3β inhibition against osteosarcoma and the underlying molecular mechanisms in an orthotopic mouse model. Expressio...

BACKGROUND To determine the effects of high sucrose diets on vascular reactivity. We hypothesized that similar to high fat diets (HFD), HSD feeding would lead to increased adiposity resulting in inflammation and oxidative stress-mediated impairment of vasodilation. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed control chow (Chow), HSD or HFD diets for 6 weeks. The role of inflammation and oxidati...

BACKGROUND Estradiol (E(2)) is an important promoter of the growth of both eutopic and ectopic endometrium. The findings with regard to the expression and activity of steroidogenic enzymes in endometrium of controls, in endometrium of endometriosis patients and in endometriotic lesions are not consistent. METHODS In this study, we have looked at the mRNA expression and protein levels of a ran...

Fluid resuscitation can often exacerbate injury sustained during hemorrhagic shock and is associated with altered immuno-inflammatory events. Early monocyte dysregulation and excessive proinflammatory cytokine production are thought to play a key role in the development of post-traumatic multiorgan dysfunction in resuscitated trauma patients. Compared with standard isotonic crystalloid resuscit...

BACKGROUND Glioma accounts for the majority of primary malignant brain tumors in adults. METHODS Glioma specimens and normal brain tissues were analyzed for the expression levels of GSK-3β and p-GSK-3β (Ser9) by tissue microarray analysis (TMA) and Western blotting. Glioma cells over-expressing GSK-3β were used to analyze biological functions both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS The levels of...