Patients with unstable angina have an increased expression of granulocyte and monocyte CD11b/CD18 adhesion receptors, indicating that an inflammatory reaction takes place within their coronary tree. Activation of these leukocytes may induce coronary vasoconstriction, favor thrombotic processes, and further activate platelets, thus having potential implications on the pathogenesis of unstable coronary artery disease.

These results provide in vivo evidence that peripheral CD4+CD25+ T cells may represent an important regulatory subset in lung transplantation.

Our results demonstrate that cyclosporine exhibits an antiproliferative effect on endothelial and epithelial cells. This effect is associated with induction of apoptosis probably via nitric oxide up-regulation in epithelial cell cultures. Cyclosporine treatment induces ECM accumulation by increasing collagen synthesis in endothelial and epithelial cells and reducing its degradation by up-regulating TIMP-1 expression in fibroblasts. We conclude that cyclosporine affects cell types differently and that the disruption of organ architecture is the result of multiple effects at the cell level.

Summary:Purpose: The management of epilepsy during pregnancy entails a number of concerns. While seizures may affect adversely maternal and fetal outcome, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may increase the incidence of congenital abnormalities and possibly affect postnatal cognitive development in the offspring. Experimental animal studies can aid in assessing teratogenic features associated with individual AEDs and/or with seizures, and to identify the mechanisms involved. The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences of prenatal exposure to (a) different AEDs and (b) maternal seizures on brain maturational processes in rats.Methods: Pregnant rats received from embryonic days 14 to 19 intraperitoneal injections of carbamazepine (20 mg/kg/day), vigabatrin (200 mgkg/day), and valproate (100 mg/kg/day) at doses not widely different from those used clinically. Pups exposed to AEDs in utero were analyzed postnatally. Animals born to "kindled" pregnant animals that had experienced one generalized convulsive seizure per day during the same gestational period were analyzed in parallel.Results: Prenatal exposure to vigabatrin and valproate, which act on GABA signaling, induced hippocampal and cortical dysplasias, which were likely to result from a neuronal migration defect and neuronal death. By contrast, offspring of rats exposed to carbamazepine (which at the dose used produced low plasma concentrations) or to generalized convulsive seizures showed no clear-cut evidence of dysplasias.Conclusions: We suggest that AEDs that increase the extracellular concentration of GABA might induce severe neuronal migration disorders. Drugs acting through other molecular targets would also perturb cortical maturation. The potential clinical relevance of these results should be a subject of future research.

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Inflammation plays a key role in atherosclerosis. Galectin-3 is a macrophage- and endothelium-derived mediator actively involved in the regulation of many aspects of inflammatory cell behaviour. The aim of this study is to quantify plasma Galectin-3 in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and different clinical manifestation at the moment of observation in order to verify whether Galectin-3 could be a useful biomarker of atherosclerotic state. We enrolled 125 patients affected by CAD, angiographically documented (70 stable, 55 unstable). They underwent accurate examinations and anamnestic data was collected. The most important traditional risk factors, such as age, hypertension, and body mass index, were reported. Plasma Galectin-3 was quantified using an ELISA kit. Unstable patients (n = 55) had a higher plasma Galectin-3 levels in respect to the stable subjects (27.75 ng/mL (19.27–39.09) vs 6.48 ng/ml (4.88–8.83), p<0.001. A trend in correlation between plasma Galectin-3 levels and number of vessels compromised seems to be present: CAD patients with three-vessel disease had higher levels of Galectin-3 than patients with one-or two-vessel disease (17.39 ng/ml (10.75–29.82) vs 9.18 ng/ml (5.56–23.22), p= 0.058. The significantly higher plasma Galectin-3 levels in patients with unstable angina in respect to the stable angina confirm the involvement of Galectin-3 in promoting macrophage activation and monocyte attraction. Despite the distribution of CAD in patients with acute and chronic coronary disease being similar, we may hypothesize that Galectin-3 could be a useful biomarker of atherosclerotic plaque and in particular of its destabilization.

Summary:Purpose: To determine potential changes in the plasma concentrations of oxcarbazepine (OXC) and its metabolites during pregnancy and puerperium.Methods: Five women receiving OXC monotherapy were followed prospectively during pregnancy and the puerperium. Four women were enrolled in the first trimester, and one woman, 2 weeks before delivery. Steady-state concentrations of OXC, its active R-(-)-and S-(+)-monohydroxy derivatives (MHD), and the additional metabolite carbamazepine-10,11-trans-dihydrodiol (DHD) were measured at regular intervals by an enantioselective HPLC assay.Results. In all samples, S-(+)-MHD was the most abundant compound in plasma and accounted almost entirely for the amount of active moiety (defined as the molar sum of OXC, R-(-)-MHD, and S-(+)-MHD) found in the circulation. The dosenormalized concentrations of active moiety decreased markedly during gestation and, in four of the five patients, increased strikingly after delivery. Plasma concentrations of S-(+)-MHD mirrored closely the levels of the active moiety. Plasma concentrations of the parent drug and other metabolites also tended to decrease during pregnancy and to increase after delivery.Conclusions: During treatment with OXC, S-(+)-MHD is by far the most abundant active compound in plasma. The concentration of this metabolite as well as the active moiety may decrease markedly during pregnancy and may increase severalfold after delivery. Because of these striking pharmacokinetic changes, the clinical response should be monitored closely in OXC-treated women throughout pregnancy and the puerperium.

RDW and gestational age at birth were negatively correlated. High RDW resulted to be an indication of risk for critical newborns. This parameter can be inexpensively and routinely verified and further studies are required to confirm its prognostic role in neonatal pathologies.