bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Caspases: potential targets for regulating cell death
Authors: Philchenkov A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractWhile in multicellular organisms all cells inexorably die, there are several different ways provided for the realization of cell death. One of them, apoptosis, represents a universal energy‐dependent and tightly regulated physiologic process of cell death in both normal and pathologic tissues. The execution of apoptosis appears to be uniformly mediated through consecutive activation of the members of a caspase family. This review briefly summarizes current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of caspase activation and the inhibitory components of caspase cascades. The suitability of caspases as a new potential therapeutic target is discussed next. Particular attention is focused on two broad categories of caspase‐directed compounds: highly specific caspase inhibitors that distinctly block the progress of apoptosis and caspase activators that selectively induce cell death in a variety of in vitro and in vivo systems. These agents promise to be useful clinically, either alone or in combination with more conventional therapeutics.
Dissection of the multiple mechanisms of TNF‐α‐induced apoptosis in liver injury
Authors: Ding Wen‐Xing , Yin Xiao‐Ming 
Published: May 2007

AbstractTumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α‐induced hepatocyte apoptosis is implicated in a wide range of liver diseases including viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, ischemia/reperfusion liver injury, and fulminant hepatic failure. TNF‐α exerts a variety of effects that are mediated mainly by TNF‐receptor 1 (TNF‐R1) in cell death. The activation of TNF‐R1 leads to the activation of multiple apoptotic pathways involving the activation of the pro‐death Bcl‐2 family proteins, reactive oxygen species, C‐Jun NH2‐terminal kinase, cathepsin B, acidic sphingomyelinase and neutral sphingomyelinase. These pathways are closely interlinked and mainly act on mitochondria, which release the apoptogenic factors and other events, resulting in apoptosis. This article reviews the recent progress in the molecular mechanisms of TNF‐α‐induced apoptosis in hepatocytes, and discusses how these molecular findings are shaping our understanding of the pathogenesis of liver diseases and our strategy to develop novel therapeutics.
Embryonic stem cells: a promising tool for cell replacement therapy
Authors: Doss Michael Xavier , Koehler Christoph I. , Gissel C. , Hescheler Jürgen , Sachinidis Agapios 
Published: May 2007

AbstractEmbryonic stem (ES) cells are revolutionizing the field of developmental biology as a potential tool to understand the molecular mechanisms occurring during the process of differentiation from the embryonic stage to the adult phenotype. ES cells harvested from the inner cell mass (ICM) of the early embryo can proliferate indefinitely in vitro while retaining the ability to differentiate into all somatic cells. Emerging results from mice models with ES cells are promising and raising tremendous hope among the scientific community for the ES‐cell based cell replacement therapy (CRT) of various severe diseases. ES cells could potentially revolutionize medicine by providing an unlimited renewable source of cells capable of replacing or repairing tissues that have been damaged in almost all degenerative diseases such as diabetes, myocardial infarction and Parkinson's disease. This review updates the progress of ES cell research in CRT, discusses about the problems encountered in the practical utility of ES cells in CRT and evaluates how far this approach is successful experimentally.
In search of adult renal stem cells
Authors: Anglani F. , Forino M. , Prete D. Del , Tosetto E. , Torregrossa R. , D'Angelo A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe therapeutic potential of adult stem cells in the treatment of chronic degenerative diseases has becoming increasingly evident over the last few years. Significant attention is currently being paid to the development of novel treatments for acute and chronic kidney diseases too. To date, promising sources of stem cells for renal therapies include adult bone marrow stem cells and the kidney precursors present in the early embryo. Both cells have clearly demonstrated their ability to differentiate into the kidney's specialized structures. Adult renal stem cells have yet to be identified, but the papilla is where the stem cell niche is probably located. Now we need to isolate and characterize the fraction of papillary cells that constitute the putative renal stem cells. Our growing understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind kidney regeneration and repair processes ‐ together with a knowledge of the embryonic origin of renal cells ‐ should induce us, however, to bear in mind that in the kidney, as in other mesenchymal tissues, the need for a real stem cell compartment might be less important than the phenotypic flexibility of tubular cells. Thus, by displaying their plasticity during kidney maintenance and repair, terminally differentiated cells may well function as multipotent stem cells despite being at a later stage of maturation than adult stem cells. One of the major tasks of Regenerative Medicine will be to disclose the molecular mechanisms underlying renal tubular plasticity and to exploit its biological and therapeutic potential.
Expression of phospholipase D isozymes in scar and viable tissue in congestive heart failure due to myocardial infarction
Authors: Dent Melissa R. , Singal Tushi , Dhalla Naranjan S. , Tappia Paramjit S. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe phospholipase D (PLD) associated with the cardiac sarcolemmal (SL) membrane hydrolyses phosphatidylcholine to produce phosphatidic acid, an important phospholipid signaling molecule known to influence cardiac function. The present study was undertaken to examine PLD isozyme mRNA expression, protein contents and activities in congestive heart failure (CHF) subsequent to myocardial infarction (MI). MI was induced in rats by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. At 8 weeks after the surgical procedure, hemodynamic assessment revealed that these experimental rats were at a moderate stage of CHF. Semi‐quantitative reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction revealed that PLD1 and PLD2 mRNA amounts were unchanged in viable left ventricular (LV) tissue of the failing heart. Furthermore, this technique demonstrated the presence of PLD1 and PLD2 mRNA in the scar tissue. While SL PLD1 and PLD2 protein contents were elevated in the viable LV tissue of the failing heart, SL PLD1 activity was significantly decreased, whereas SL PLD2 activity was significantly increased. On the other hand, although PLD1 protein was undetectable, PLD2 protein and activity were detected in the scar tissue. Our findings suggest that differential changes in PLD isozymes may contribute to the pathophysiology of CHF and may also be involved in the processes of scar remodeling.
PKCδ requires p53 for suppression of the transformed phenotype in human colon cancer cells
Authors: Perlett Gianpaolo , Marras Emanuela , Osti Daniela , Felici Lara , Zaro Sabrina , de Eguileor Magda 
Published: May 2007

AbstractWe have previously demonstrated that the delta isoform of Protein Kinase C (PKCδ) acts as a tumor suppressor in HCT116 human colon cancer cells, and that p21waf1/cip1 is an essential downstream effector of PCKδ. Our data suf‐fested that p53 might also be involved in the suppression of the neoplastic phenotype induced by PCKδ. Here we show that homozygous knockout of p53 renders the HCT116 cell line unresponsive to PKCδ overexpression. Whereas reconstitution of p53 along did not modify the morphology and growth properties of HCT116/p53null cells, overexpression of both p53 and PKCδ induced a number of alterations indicating suppression of the transformed phe‐notype. Interestingly, PKCδ was ineffective when overexpressed in HT29 cells, a human colon cancer line charac‐terized by the Arg273His dominant‐negative mutation of p53. Thus, our data indicate that wild‐type p53 is an essen‐tial effector of PKCδ in human colon cancer cells.
Issues in stem cell plasticity
Authors: Filip S. , English D. , Mokrý J. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractExperimental biology and medicine work with stem cells more than twenty years. The method discovered for in vitro culture of human embryonal stem cells acquired at abortions or from„surplus” embryos left from in vitro fertilization, evoked immediately ideas on the posibility to aim development and differentiation of these cells at regeneration of damaged tissues. Recently, several surprising observations proved that even tissue‐specific (multipotent) stem cells are capable, under suitable conditions of producing a while spectrum of cell types, regardless, whether these tissues are derived from the same germ layer or not. This ability is frequently called stem cell plasticity but other authors also use different names ‐„non‐orthodox differentiation” or„transdifferentiation”. In this paper we wish to raise several important questions and problems related to this theme. Let us remind some of them: Is it possible to force cells of one‐type tissue to lool and act as cells of another tissue? Are these changes netural? Could these trans‐formations be used to treat diseases? What about the bioethic issue? However, the most serious task “still remains to be soloved ‐ how to detect, harvestand culture stem cells for therapy of certain diseases”.
The Romantic Sonnet Revival: Opening the Sonnet's Crypt
Authors: Raymond Mark 
Published: May 2007

AbstractDiscussions of the sonnet tradition often claim that the sonnet is ‘the most popular, enduring, and widely used poetic form in English.’ At first glance, the Romantic period in English seems to bear out these claims fully. Keats and Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake – the six, standard male authors of the Romantic‐period canon – all wrote sonnets of some type, and undeniably the form achieved extraordinary popularity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. However, after its Elizabethan heyday, the sonnet in English had languished as a neglected and decidedly unfashionable form. Before the rise of Romanticism, the sonnet form in the 18th century appeared to be dead, a defunct and antiquated genre. Romanticism resurrected the sonnet and in doing so invented our notion of its widespread favor and timeless appeal. The sonnet, even a Shakespeare sonnet, only becomes a preeminent poetic genre in the age of Wordsworth and Keats, who wrote some of the most familiar sonnets in British literature. More accurately, however, we should credit the sonnet's revival to an age of Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson and Anna Seward; poets, notably women poets, who, lying now at the margins of the male‐dominated Romantic canon, were essentially responsible for engaging and recuperating the moribund sonnet tradition in English. The question is repeatedly asked: Why did Romantic poets choose to revive such an outmoded form? A recent surge in critical attention to the Romantic sonnet, as part of Romanticist criticism's larger project of reclaiming texts and authors (especially women authors) long neglected and excluded by the standard canon, explores how the compact and demanding form of the sonnet could open up a space outside of the dominant literary authority in which poetic voices, excluded by gender or class, could appropriate for themselves the legitimacy of a cultural tradition that had long been closed. In opening the sonnet's 18th‐century crypt, Romanticism translates the abject relics of a dead poetic structure into a revitalized poetic space in which natural, spontaneous sentiment and diction could find expression.
Surgical Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction After Dermal, Pericardial, and Small Intestinal Submucosal Grafting for Peyronie's Disease
Authors: Kovac Jason R. , Brock Gerald B. 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Peyronie's disease, a localized fibrosis of the tunica albuginea surrounding the penile corpora, results in penile curvature and sexual dysfunction. Surgical management involving grafting to straighten the penis is the treatment of choice in conditions unresponsive to conservative therapy where penile length preservation is important.

Aim
To determine surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction after dermal, pericardial, and small intestinal submucosal grafting for Peyronie's disease.

Main Outcome Measures
The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), postoperative self-reports, patient satisfaction, and clinical characteristics were used to measure outcomes.

Methods
We retrospectively reviewed charts of 36 patients who underwent surgery for Peyronie's disease requiring grafting from 1999 to 2005. Follow-up to subjectively assess outcomes was conducted.

Results
Average patient age at surgery was 55 ± 1 years. Body mass indexes were similar among all groups. Erectile dysfunction risk factors were comparable with 36% reporting hypertension and 22% hypercholesterolemia. Overall patient follow-up time was 673 ± 98 days. Self-reported resolution of penile curvature was noted in 60% of dermal, 100% of Tutoplast, and 76.9% of Stratasis graft recipients. Stratasis patients maintained presurgery length (54%) and rigidity (77%) more so than dermal (30%, 60%) and Tutoplast (23%, 39%) patients. Assessment of erectile dysfunction using the IIEF-5 captured significant improvements in patients receiving Stratasis grafts (preoperative: 10.1 ± 1.1 vs. postoperative: 17 ± 1.6). Overall, 89% of patients reported satisfaction following surgical intervention.

Conclusions
Surgical management of Peyronie's disease results in correction of penile curvatures and high rates of patient satisfaction. Loss of penile length and decreased rigidity occurred to a lesser degree with Stratasis grafts. While detailed informed consent is essential in this patient population, novel materials such as Tutoplast and Stratasis grafts improve outcomes following surgical correction of Peyronie's disease.
Sexual Function After Radical Hysterectomy for Early-Stage Cervical Cancer
Authors: Jongpipan Juntana , Charoenkwan Kittipat 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT

Introduction
For early-stage cervical cancer, treatment with radical surgery appears effective with excellent survival. However, the treatment is associated with significant morbidities. Sexual dysfunction is the leading cause of symptom-induced distress after the treatments for early-stage cervical cancer. There has been no study that evaluates the effect of surgical treatments for cervical cancer on sexual function in the Eastern/Asian patients.

Aim
To examine the effect of radical hysterectomy on postoperative sexual function in women with early-stage cervical cancer.

Main Outcome Measures
The visual analog score on seven aspects of sexual function: overall satisfaction with sexual intercourse, sexual desire, vaginal lubrication, vaginal elasticity, orgasmic satisfaction, patient-perceived partner satisfaction, and associated anxiety.

Methods
Thirty patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB cervical cancer undergoing radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy at the Chiang Mai University Hospital were recruited. All of the patients were interviewed by questionnaire on sexual function at preoperative hospital admission and then at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Relevant clinical and pathologic data were also prospectively collected.

Results
The mean age of the patients was 45.3 ± 6 years (range 28–59). Seven (23%) of the patients were postmenopausal. Almost all (97%) had FIGO stage IB1 disease. Fourteen (46.7%) patients had bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and one (3.3%) patient had unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Squamous-cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were diagnosed in 83% and 17%, respectively. At 3 and 6 months after operation, 63% and 93% of the patients had sexual intercourse, respectively. Considering the overall sexual satisfaction, the patient-rated visual analog score appeared comparable at preoperative and 6-month postoperative assessment (4.2 ± 2.5 vs. 3.6 ± 2.2, P  &gt; 0.05).

Conclusion
Radical hysterectomy using the current technique has a minimal short-term impact on sexual function. A comparative study with long-term follow-up would provide clearer information on permanent effect of radical hysterectomy on sexual function.
Simultaneous Measurement of Pelvic Floor Muscle Activity and Vaginal Blood Flow: A Pilot Study
Authors: Both Stephanie , Laan Ellen 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACTIntroductionDyspareunia, defined as persistent or recurrent genital pain associated with sexual intercourse, is hypothesized to be related to pelvic floor hyperactivity and to diminished sexual arousal. Empirical research to support these hypotheses is scarce and concentrates mostly on the role of either pelvic floor activity or genital arousal in female dyspareunia. Currently, however, there is no measurement device to assess pelvic floor activity and genital response simultaneously.AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the validity of a new device that enables simultaneous measurement of pelvic floor activity and genital response in women.Main Outcome MeasuresGenital arousal measured as vaginal pulse amplitude, and vaginal surface electromyogram (EMG).MethodThirty sexually functional women participated. To investigate the accuracy of genital response measurement with the adapted photoplethysmograph, and the sensitivity of the device for involuntary changes in pelvic floor activity, vaginal pulse amplitude and vaginal surface EMG were monitored during exposure to emotional, including erotic, films. In addition, vaginal surface EMG was monitored during instructed pelvic floor contractions.ResultsThe genital data obtained during emotional films proved accurate measurement of genital response. EMG values during the emotional films indicated limited sensitivity of the device for small, involuntary changes in pelvic floor activity due to emotional state. The EMG measurements during the instructed pelvic floor contractions proved sensitivity of the new probe to voluntary pelvic floor activity.ConclusionIt is concluded that following improvement of the sensitivity of the EMG measurement for small, involuntary changes in pelvic floor activity, the device will be a valuable tool in research on superficial dyspareunia.
Enhanced External Counterpulsation in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease-Associated Erectile Dysfunction. Part I: Effects of Risk Factors
Authors: El-Sakka Ahmed , Morsy Ayman , Fagih Bassam 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Recently it has been demonstrated that enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) could improve erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients with refractory ischemic heart disease (IHD).

Aim
To assess the effect of risk factors on the efficacy and the satisfaction rate of EECP in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)-associated ED.

Main Outcome Measures
To assess the effect of risk factors on EECP efficacy and satisfaction rate, we compared the pre- and post-EECP responses to erectile function domain, Q3, and Q4 in patients with and without risk factors. Overall satisfaction and global efficacy question (GEQ) were also assessed.

Methods
A total of 44 male consecutive patients with intractable angina caused by coronary insufficiency which cannot be controlled by conventional therapy were enrolled in this study. Patients were screened and followed up for ED using erectile function domain of the International Index for Erectile Function. A thorough sexual, medical, and psychosocial history was taken from all patients.

Results
All patients had severe diffuse triple vessels disease. They all had class III or IV angina. They were receiving the maximal antianginal pharmacotherapy. The mean age ± SD was 57.1 ± 5.6 years. Of the patients, 63.9% were below 60 years, and 86.4% were current or ex-smokers. There were significant differences between pre- and post-EECP regarding erectile function domain, Q3, and Q4. The sociodemographic variables were not significantly different among the studies groups and had not affected the GEQ or overall satisfaction. Overall satisfaction and GEQ were negatively influenced by smoking and presence of more than two risk factors. However, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, myocardial infraction, and obesity have not had such effects.

Conclusion
The efficacy and satisfaction rate of EECP in patients with CAD-associated ED were negatively influenced by presence of risk factors; however, the global efficacy and the overall patients' satisfaction were encouraging.
Journey into the Realm of Requests for Help Presented to Sexual Medicine Specialists: Introducing Male Sexual Distress
Authors: Pescatori Edoardo S. , Giammusso Bruno , Piubello Giorgio , Gentile Vincenzo , Farina Furio Pirozzi 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT

Introduction
The recent availability of noninvasive pharmacological remedies for male sexual function triggered an exponential increase in the number of men requesting help in the sexuality area.

Aim
The Italian Society of Andrology explored requests for help, not included in formerly established clinical categories of sexual medicine.

Methods
A central board of 67 andrologists identified new areas of requests for help, instrumental for a web-based questionnaire, forwarded to 912 members of the Italian Society of Andrology. Results were submitted to an independent consensus development panel.

Main Outcome Measures
A questionnaire response rate of 30.8% was considered acceptable according to standard response rates of medical specialist samples.

Results
The Central Board interaction identified two new domains of requests for help: sexual distress and unconventional requests for pro-erectile medications. Web-based questionnaire results suggested that such domains account for 29% and 9% respectively of all requests for help already presented by male patients at sexual medicine clinics. The Independent Consensus Development Panel issued a final consensus document; herewith, the statement defining male sexual distress: A non-transitory condition and/or feeling of inadequacy such as to impair “sexual health” (WHO working definition). Inadequacy can originate both from physiological modifications of male sexual functions, and from diseases, dysfunctions, dysfunctional symptoms and dysmorphisms, both of andrological and non-andrological origin, which do not relate to “erectile dysfunction” (NIH Consensus Development Panel definition), but that might also induce erectile dysfunction. Sexual Distress can lead to a request for help which needs to be acknowledged.

Conclusion
The Italian Society of Andrology identified two new areas of requests for help concerning male sexual issues: sexual distress and unconventional requests for pro-erectile medications. These domains, which do not represent new diseases, nonetheless induce the sufferers to seek help and, accordingly, need to be acknowledged.
Public Religious Sentiment and Personal Piety in the Ancient Near Eastern City of Emar during the Late Bronze Age
Authors: Cohen Yoram 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe textual finds from the Late Bronze Age city of Emar on the Euphrates River are one of the significant archaeological discoveries in ancient Syria. They provide an almost unparalleled source of information regarding an urban community that preserved the customs and religious beliefs of its semi‐nomadic origins. As part of the Hittite empire, it accepted some of the imperial cultic practices, but on the whole, held on to its traditional rituals and cultic practices. This article surveys the rituals of the city that were concerned with the installation of the city's priestesses and the celebration of the festivals in honour of its major gods. A discussion of personal piety as manifest in the ephemeral documents and the private names of the citizens of the city follows.