• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.4503-4508
• /
• 2015

Background: The aims of this study were compare the serum visfatin and resistin levels between endometrial cancer (EC) patients and controls and evaluate their power to predict prognosis. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted between March 2013 to June 2014 on the Gynecologic Oncology Department of the University of Selcuk, Konya, Turkey. A total of 42 EC patients and 42 controls were included and assessed for differences in serum visfatin and resistin levels, along with prognostic factors. Results: Endometrial cancer patients had significantly higher visfatin levels than control s (p: 0.011), associated with deep myometrial invasion (p: 0.019). In contrast the serum level of resistin did not significantly differ between EC patients and controls (p: 0.362). However, high resistin level in EC patients was associated with increase lymph node metastasis (p: 0.009). On logistic regression analysis, we found that serum visfatin elevation was associated with risk of myometrial invasion (OR: 1,091; 95%CI: 1.021-1.166; p: 0.010) and serum resistin with risk of lymph node metastasis (OR: 1.018; 95%CI: 1.000-1.035; p: 0.046). For myometrial invasion prediction, a serum visfatin level greater than 26.8 ng/mL demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 66.6 % and 96.4%, respectively. For lymph node metastasis prediction, the best cut-off for serum resistin level was 599ng/mL. A serum resistin level greater than this demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 77.1%, respectively. Conclusions: Our data suggest that serum visfatin is elevated in patients with EC and serum visfatin and resistin levels could be used to predict the risk of advance stage lesions.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.30-32
• /
• 1974

Hemoglobinemia is found in hemolytic anemia, paroxysmal nocturnal hemolobinuria and paroxysmal hemoglobinuria. Recently increasing use of extracorporeal circulation in cardiac surgery has stimulated the development of more precise methods for rapidly evaluating the formation and clearance of extracoporeal hemoglobin. A spectrophotometric method of analysis seemed to offer the best solution to the requirements. The method presented is on the basis of hemoglobin derivatives converted to cyanmethemoglobin, and the absorbance is measured in a spectrophotometer at 540 and 680 nm. The blank value ismeasured at 680 nm while the absorbance at 540 nm measures the hemoglobin derivatives. This method estimates all the hemoglobin derivatives such as oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, sulfhemoglobin and hemialbumin. The method was tested in recovery experiments, which is given table 1. A good degree of correlation was obtained in a comparision with the method described by Crosby and Furth for non-hemolyzed serum. The spectrophotometric technique described offers many advantages in speed and simplicity over the chemical procedure.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2006

The effects of intravenous administration of high concentration of taurocholic acid (TCA) on monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B activities in rat liver mitochondria and microsomes were studied. These liver subcellular organelles and serum MAO activities were determined from the experimental rats with choledocho-caval shunt (CCS). The Michaelis-Menten constants in these hepatic enzymes were also measured. The activities of mitochondrial MAO A and B, and microsomal MAO B as well as their $V_{max}$ values were found to be decreased significantly in CCS plus TCA injected group then in the control group, such as CCS alone groups. However their $K_m$ values in the experimental groups did not vary. MAO of serum appeared in the CCS plus TCA injected groups only. The above results suggest that TCA represses biosynthesis of the MAO in the liver. The MAO of serum is believed to be caused by the increment of membrane permeability of hepatocytes upon TCA mediated liver cell necrosis.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.160-166
• /
• 2005

The present study was carried out to investigate the hypoglycemic effect of a polyherbal aqueous extract (Curcuma longa Linn., Emblica officinalis Gaertn., Trigonella foenum-graecum Linn., Enicostemma littorale Blume) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Short term experiments showed a decrease in blood glucose levels at $2^{nd}\;hr$ of administration of the aqueous extract in alloxan-induced diabetic rats with increase in serum insulin levels. The extract did not show any effect on blood glucose or serum insulin levels in normoglycaemic rats. Treatment with the extract (1.5 g dry plant equivalent extarct/100 g body weight/day) for 20 days in diabetic rats showed a significant decrease in blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin levels and an increase in serum insulin levels. The aqueous extract also showed an enhanced glucose-induced insulin release at 11.1 mM glucose from isolated rat pancreatic islets. The extract did not show any toxicity at the particular dose used.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.413-424
• /
• 2013

Korean Red Ginseng extract (KRGE) is a traditional herbal medicine utilized to prevent endothelium dysfunction in the cardiovascular system; however, its underlying mechanism has not been clearly elucidated. We here examined the pharmacological effect and molecular mechanism of KRGE on apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in a serum-deprived apoptosis model. KRGE protected HUVECs from serum-deprived apoptosis by inhibiting mitochondrial cytochrome c release and caspase-9/-3 activation. This protective effect was significantly higher than that of American ginseng extract. KRGE treatment increased antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-$X_L$ protein expression and Akt-dependent Bad phosphorylation. Moreover, KRGE prevented serum deprivation-induced subcellular redistribution of these proteins between the mitochondrion and the cytosol, resulting in suppression of mitochondrial cytochrome c release. In addition, KRGE increased nitric oxide (NO) production via Akt-dependent activation of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), as well as inhibited caspase-9/-3 activities. These increases were reversed by co-treatment of cells with inhibitors of eNOS and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and pre-incubation of cell lysates in dithiothreitol, indicating KRGE induces NO-mediated caspase modification. Indeed, KRGE inhibited caspase-3 activity via S-nitrosylation. These findings suggest that KRGE prevents serum deprivation-induced HUVEC apoptosis via increased Bcl-2 and Bcl-$X_L$ protein expression, PI3K/Akt-dependent Bad phosphorylation, and eNOS/NO-mediated S-nitrosylation of caspases. The cytoprotective property of KRGE may be valuable for developing new pharmaceutical means that limit endothelial cell death induced during the pathogenesis of vascular diseases.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 2004

Changes of thiol methyltransferase (TMT) activity in cholestatic rat liver were studied. Hepatic subcellular and serum TMT activities were determined in cholestatic rat induced by common bile duct (CBD) ligation over a period 28 days. The mitochondrial and microsomal TMT activities in cholestatic rat liver were found to be significantly increased between the 1st and the 28th day after CBD ligation. The TMT activity in serum was significantly increased throughout the experiments. The Vmax values of the above hepatic TMT in cholestatic rat were significantly increased at the 7th day after CBD ligation. However, the Km values of the above hepatic enzymes did not vary in all the experimental groups. Therefore, the results indicate that the biosynthesis of TMT was increased in cholestatic rat liver. The elevated serum TMT activity is most likely caused by increased hepatocytes membrane permeability due to cholestasis mediated liver cell necrosis.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.203-209
• /
• 2002

Serum $\alpha$-D-mannosidase isozyme activities were measured in rats with ethanol intoxication combined with extrahepatic cholestasis induced by common bile duct ligation for the manifestation of the biochemical background of drinking hazards under the hepatobiliary disease. When chronic ethanol intoxication was combine with extraheparlc cholestasis, the activities of the rat's serum cytosolic, Iysosomal and Golgi $\alpha$-D-mannosidase isozymes increased at a more significant rate than those of the cholestasis alone. However, when acute ethanol intoxication was combined with extrahepatic cholestasis, the activities of the above isozymes were seen in the cholestasis alone. The results suggested that the elevated activities of these isozymes in chronic ethanol intoxication with cholestasis rather than in cholestasis alone were indications of increased hepatic damages, which caused these isozymes to leak into the blood in great quantity. Accordingly, the resulting data supported the fact that alcoholic drinks were enzymologically harmful to the hepatobiliary disease.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.1262-1266
• /
• 2009

Thermodynamics of the interaction between Cerium (III) chloride, $Ce^{3+}$, with Human Serum Albumin, HSA, was investigated at pH 7.0 and $27\;{^{\circ}C}$ in phosphate buffer by isothermal titration calorimetry. Our recently solvation model was used to reproduce the enthalpies of HSA interaction by $Ce^{3+}$. The solvation parameters recovered from our new model, attributed to the structural change of HSA and its biological activity. The interaction of HSA with $Ce^{3+}$ showed a set of two binding sites with negative cooperativity. $Ce^{3+}$ interacts with multiple sites on HSA affecting its biochemical and biophysical properties.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.323-333
• /
• 2016

Background: Ovarian cancer remains a major worldwide health care issue due to the lack of satisfactory diagnostic methods for early detection of the disease. Prior studies on the role of serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in detecting ovarian cancer presented conflicting results. New tools to improve the accuracy of identifying malignancy are urgently needed. We here aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of tissue CA125 and HE4 gene expression in comparison to serum CA125 and HE4 in discriminating benign from malignant pelvic masses. Materials and Methods: One-hundred Egyptian women were enrolled in this study, including 60 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients and 20 benign ovarian tumor patients, as well as 20 apparently healthy women. Preoperative serum levels of CA125 and HE4 were measured by immunoassays. Tissue expression levels of genes encoding CA125 and HE4 were determined by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The diagnostic performance of CA125 and HE4, measured either as mRNA or protein levels, was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The serum CA125+HE4 combination and serum HE4, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.935 and 0.932, respectively, performed significantly better than serum CA125 (AUC=0.592; P<0.001). Tissue CA125 and HE4 (AUC=1) performed significantly better than serum CA125 (P<0.001), serum HE4 (P=0.016) and the serum CA125+HE4 combination (P=0.018). Conclusions: Measurement of tissue CA125 and HE4 gene expression not only improves discriminatory performance, but also broadens the range of differential diagnostic possibilities in distinguishing EOC from benign ovarian tumors.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.676-685
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the single oral toxicity of Peucedani Radix (PR) ethanol extracts. PR is one of the important herbs for removal of phlegm, the viscous turbid pathological product that can accumulate in the body and cause a variety of diseases. However, research on the pharmacologic toxicity of PR is lacking. Methods: In this study, PR was orally administered to 5-week-old male ICR mice at an oral dose of 2,000, 3,000, or 5,000 mg/kg. After a single-dose administration, the mortality and behavioral changes were observed daily and body weights were measured every two days. After 14 days, the organ weight, organ index, macroscopy, hematological analysis, and serum biochemistry analysis were determined. Results: No mortality, body weight changes, abnormal behavioral changes, or anatomical signs of toxicity were found. The organ weight, organ index, hematological analysis, and serum biochemistry analysis were also within the normal ranges. Conclusions: These results suggest that the 50% lethal dose of PR is more than 5,000 mg/kg. This could indicate that PR is a safe drug without acute toxicity and side effects.