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With the lack of regional differences and the well-standardized status of test results, the RIs derived from this nationwide study can be used for the entire Turkish population.

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The presented data confirms hypercholesterolemia as a risk factor in the development of glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) and suggests that increased circulating cholesterol may exacerbate disease progression by inducing NOS-2 expression and elevating oxidant tissue injury.

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Aim: Considerable efforts have been made to find and/or eliminate the underyling causes of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury, but many points are still unclear. Pentoxifylline-related cytoprotection is one of these unclear points. Our study tests the effects of pentoxifylline on the hepatic cytoprotective process in an experimental model. Materials and Methods: The animals were divided into two groups: (1) placebo-pretreated rats and (2) pentoxifylline-pretreated rats. After pretreatment, all rats underwent the hepatic ischemia-reperfusion procedure which was performed by clamping the hepatoduodenal ligament. To evaluate the liver injury, serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), and liver tissue levels of prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) were measured before ischemia, immediately after ischemia and immediately after reperfusion. Results: Before ischemia and immediately after ischemia, there were no significant differences between ALT and AST levels of groups 1 and 2 (p >0.05). However, at the end of reperfusion, ALT and AST levels of group 2 were significantly decreased when compared with group 1 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). Additionally, tissue levels of PGE₂ that were obtained before ischemia, immediately after ischemia and immediately after reperfusion in group 2 were significantly higher than those of group 1 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Pentoxifylline reduces reperfusion injury of the liver through significantly decreased transaminase levels, and contributes to hepatic cytoprotection by increasing tissue levels of PGE₂ significantly. These effects reflect the role of tissue PGE₂ in pentoxifylline-related hepatoprotection against ischemia-reperfusion injury of the liver.