BACKGROUND Angiogenesis has been recently described as a novel component of inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis. The level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been found increased in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis mucosa. To question whether a pro-inflammatory Escherichia coli could regulate the expression of VEGF in human intestinal epithelial cells, we examine the res...

background: coronary artery disease (cad) is the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. the aim of this study was to explore the effect of resveratrol (res) on canonical β-catenin/wnt and forkhead box o (foxo) pathways in cad patients.method: we performed this study on 10 metabolic syndrome patients with three-vessel cad and 10 sex-aged matched healthy subjects. the effects of res on...

traumatic brain injury (tbi) results from a sudden and external physical impact to the head, and often leads to motor and cognitive impairment. using tissue engineering strategies, we aimed to review aspects of extra cellular matrix (ecm) based scaffold that could be delivered to the injured brain. the ecm is produced intracellularly and secreted to form a dense network of proteins and glycans,...

Mature vasculature contains an endothelial cell lining with a surrounding sheath of pericytes/vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Tumor vessels are immature and lack a pericyte sheath. Colocalization of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) and platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGF-Rβ) reduces pericyte ensheathment of tumor vessels. We found that a 30% dietary r...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of new-onset blindness in working-age individuals in the USA and represents a growing worldwide epidemic. Classic risk factors for onset or progression of DR include poor glycemic control, hypertension and hyperlipidemia; however, these factors account for only a small proportion of the risk of DR. New systemic risk factors are emerging, which may ...

A cost of reproduction, where lifespan and fecundity are negatively correlated, is of widespread occurrence. Mutations in insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) pathways and dietary restriction (DR) can extend lifespan in model organisms but do not always reduce fecundity, suggesting that the link between lifespan and fecundity is not inevitable. Understanding the molecular basis of the cost of reproducti...

Autophagy is an important homeostatic cellular process encompassing a number of consecutive steps indispensable for degrading and recycling cytoplasmic materials. Basically autophagy is an adaptive response that under stressful conditions guarantees the physiological turnover of senescent and impaired organelles and, thus, controls cell fate by various cross-talk signals. Diabetic retinopathy (...

We have recently demonstrated that the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) shared epitope (SE) acts as a ligand that triggers nitric oxide (NO) signaling in opposite cells. Given the known pro-oxidative effect of NO and the proposed role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of RA, this study explores whether SE-triggered signaling can increase cellular oxidative stress. cAMP levels, adenylyl cyclase a...

Dietary restriction (DR) improves health, delays tissue aging, and elongates survival in flies and worms. However, studies on laboratory mice and nonhuman primates revealed ambiguous effects of DR on lifespan despite improvements in health parameters. In this study, we analyzed consequences of adult-onset DR (24 h to 1 yr) on hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function. DR ameliorated HSC aging phen...

BLOOD VESSEL DISEASES Blood vessels have a primary function of nourishing various organs and tissues of the body by supplying them with blood. Vascular diseases are manifested clinically through three mechanisms that are reflected through the diseased vessel (s) as 1. Progressive narrowing of the lumen associated with progressive ischemia of the relevant tissues. 2. Thrombosis associated with p...