Portal hypertension (PH) is a common complication and a leading cause of death in patients with chronic liver diseases. PH is underlined by structural and functional derangement of liver sinusoid vessels and its fenestrated endothelium. Because in most clinical settings PH is accompanied by parenchymal injury, it has been difficult to determine the precise role of microvascular perturbations in...

Diabetes alters microvascular structure and function and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. In diabetic skeletal muscle, impaired angiogenesis and reduced VEGF-A expression have been observed, whereas in healthy muscle exercise is known to have opposite effects. We studied the effects of type 1 diabetes and combined exercise training on angiogenic mRNA expression and capillariz...

Although the design of DNA tiles has been optimised for efficient and specific self-assembly, assembly errors occur so often that applications for molecular computation remain limited. We propose the use of an enveloped tile consisting of a DXbase tile that carries a protector tile to suppress erroneous tile assembly. The design of the enveloped tile promotes the dissociation of the protector t...

Critical roles for liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) in liver fibrosis have been demonstrated, while little is known regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms of drugs delivered to the LSECs. Our previous study revealed that plumbagin plays an antifibrotic role in liver fibrosis. In this study, we investigated whether plumbagin alleviates capillarization of hepatic sinusoids by dow...

Tibialis anterior muscle biopsies from moderately active men and women (21-30 yr; n = 30) were examined to determine potential gender differences in capillarization. The fiber type proportions [type I (T1) approximately 73%] were unaffected by gender. The men (M) had significantly (P < 0.001) larger fibers than the women (W), with a greater gender effect for type II (T2) fibers (P < 0.001). The...

AIM Ageing is one of many factors altering skeletal muscle. Conflicting results from previous studies guided this review to identify what has been found to date regarding microvascular adaptations in skeletal muscle as the result of ageing or inactivity, and endurance or resistance training interventions. Additionally, this review attempts to identify the variety of parameters for determining c...

BACKGROUND Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy contributes to about 12% of maternal deaths in Malaysia and similarly worldwide. Early detection and adequate management are preventable strategies. Biochemical markers of abnormal angiogenesis would be more specific in early detection than routine blood pressure and proteinuria measurements. The aim of this study was to estimate maternal plasma Pl...

The aim of this review was to examine the mechanisms by which physical activity and inactivity modify muscle fatigue. It is well known that acute or chronic increases in physical activity result in structural, metabolic, hormonal, neural, and molecular adaptations that increase the level of force or power that can be sustained by a muscle. These adaptations depend on the type, intensity, and vo...

Aim The stromal invasion has been regarded as the most valuable clue to distinguish high-grade dysplastic nodules (HGDNs) and well-differentiated small hepatocellular carcinomas (WD-SHCCs). The purposes of this study are to explore the stromal morphological changes for the differential diagnosis of these two equivocal lesions. Results Based on the systemic studies of histological characterist...