BACKGROUND We investigated the relationship among serum cardiac biomarkers including N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), cardiac troponin T (cTnT), uric acid and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and noninvasive predictors of atherosclerosis including carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), aortic stiffness (pulse wave velocity (PWV)) and transthoracic coronary flow re...

AIMS Atrial fibrillation is associated with the activation of inflammatory processes [e.g. higher concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP)], as well as a pro-thrombotic state [e.g. increased concentration of serum pro-thrombotic markers P-selectin and CD40 ligand (CD40L)]. The aim of the present study was to establish, whether successful epicar...

OBJECTIVE Hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease and the main risk factor for stroke, peripheral arterial disease, arterial aneurysms and kidney disease. It has been reported recently that hypertensive patients and animals are characterized by decreased density of arterioles and capillaries in the tissues, called rarefaction. Rarefaction significantly increases peripheral resist...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology, but it is now clear that pro-inflammatory cytokines play a central role in its pathogenesis. Ellagic acid (EA) has a variety of biological activities including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential effect of ellagic acid on the preve...

This study was performed to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of procyanidin on growth performance, blood characteristics, and immune function in growing pigs. In experiment 1 (Exp. 1), thirty-two crossbred pigs with an initial BW of 19.2±0.3 kg were allocated into 4 treatments for an 8-wk experiment: i) CON (basal diet), ii) MOS 0.1 (basal diet+0.1% mannanoligosaccharide), iii) P...

BACKGROUND An inducible release of soluble junctional adhesion molecule-A (sJAM-A) under pro-inflammatory conditions was described in cultured non-CNS endothelial cells (EC) and increased sJAM-A serum levels were found to indicate inflammation in non-CNS vascular beds. Here we studied the regulation of JAM-A expression in cultured brain EC and evaluated sJAM-A as a serum biomarker of blood-brai...

STUDY DESIGN Cohort study. PURPOSE This study primarily aimed to evaluate the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-4 in patients with lumbar radiculopathy 1 and 12 months after microdiscectomy. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Lumbar radiculopathy is possibly caused by inflammatory changes in the nerve root. The intraneural application of pro-inflammatory cytokines...

BACKGROUND This researcher previously found that serum levels of some inflammatory cytokines are elevated in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Hence, this study investigated the relationship between circulating levels of pro-anti-inflammatory cytokines, T-cell activation marker and carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA 125) for the first time in obese Egyptian patients with heart failure (HF)....

background and objective: hyperemesis gravidarum (hg) is defined as vomiting sufficiently severe to produce weight loss, dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities. interleukin-6 (il-6), a pro-inflammatory and trophoblast-derived cytokine has ability to induce trophoblasts to secrete human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg). the purpose of our study was to assay the level of il-6 and β-hcg in serum of pr...