No abstract

Asthma is characterised by chronic inflammation of the airways, but the relevance of high-sensitivity assays for C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), which are known to be a sensitive marker of low-grade systemic inflammation, has not been fully studied in asthma. The objective was to examine serum hs-CRP levels in patients with asthma and their relationship to clinical characteristics and degree of airway inflammation. Serum hs-CRP levels were cross-sectionally examined in steroid-naive (n = 22) and steroid-inhaling (n = 23) adult patients with asthma and healthy controls (n = 14). All were nonsmokers. Serum hs-CRP levels were significantly increased in steroid-naive patients (mean+/-sd 1.33+/-1.48 mg.L(-1)) compared with controls (0.21+/-0.30 mg.L(-1)), but not in patients on inhaled corticosteroid. Among steroid-naive patients, serum hs-CRP levels significantly negatively correlated with indices of pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity and forced mid-expiratory flow) and positively with sputum eosinophil count. Among patients on inhaled corticosteroid, hs-CRP levels did not correlate with any indices. In conclusion, an increase in serum C-reactive protein levels measured by high-sensitivity assays may be associated with airflow obstruction and airway inflammation, and may serve as a surrogate marker of airway inflammation in asthma.

Airway wall thickening has been assumed to cause airway hyperresponsiveness, but a protective effect against airway narrowing has also been suggested. We investigated the relationship between airway wall thickness as assessed by helical computed tomography and two components of airway responsiveness, airway sensitivity and reactivity, in patients with stable asthma with (n = 23) and without (n = 22) inhaled steroid treatment. A cross-section of the apical bronchus of the right upper lobe was obtained. Airway wall area corrected by body surface area was measured as an index of wall thickness. Airway sensitivity and reactivity were measured by continuous inhalation of methacholine, on the basis of the methacholine respiratory resistance dose-response curve. The eosinophil count in sputum was determined in 16 patients [steroid (+) group] and 14 patients [steroid (-) group]. In both groups of patients, airway sensitivity was not related to airway reactivity. Airway sensitivity was related to eosinophil count [r = 0.57 in the steroid (+) group and r = 0.49 in the steroid (-) group], but not to airway wall thickness. In contrast, airway reactivity negatively correlated with airway wall thickness [r = -0.56 in the steroid (+) group and r = -0.55 in the steroid (-) group] but not with eosinophil count. Our results suggest that airway wall thickening attenuates airway reactivity in patients with asthma. These findings may have important implications in pathophysiology and in the treatment of airway remodeling.

VATS provides comparable results to open radical oesophagectomy, with less surgical trauma.

Organ-specific stem cells can be identified by the side population (SP) phenotype, which is defined by the property to effectively exclude the Hoechst 33342 dye. The ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCG2/ BCRP1 mediates the SP phenotype. Because hepatic oval cells possess several characteristics of stem cells, we examined whether they have the SP phenotype using the 2-acetylaminofluorene/partial hepatectomy (PH) model. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis showed that a population of non-parenchymal cells containing oval cells, prepared on day 7 after PH, carried a significant number of SP cells, whereas that of non-parenchymal cells without oval cells, prepared on day 0 after PH, did not. Northern blot analysis using total liver RNA obtained on various days after PH showed that the expression of ABCG2/BCRP1 mRNA increased after PH, reaching the highest level on day 7, and then gradually decreased. This pattern of changes in the ABCG2/BCRP1 mRNA level was well correlated to that in the number of oval cells. Hepatocytes proliferate after liver damage such as partial hepatectomy (PH), resulting in regeneration of the liver.

The Arabidopsis gene ZIM encodes a putative transcription factor containing a novel GATA-type zinc-finger domain with a longer spacer between its two sets of conserved cysteine residues (C-X2-C-X20-C-X2-C). In Arabidopsis, ZIM and homologous proteins, ZML1 and ZML2, were identified as GATA factors containing the C-X2-C-X20-C-X2-C motif, a CCT domain, and an uncharacterized conserved domain. Proteins that possess this domain structure were found exclusively in plants, indicating that they belong to a novel family of plant-specific GATA-type transcription factors. When ZIM was overexpressed using a CaMV 35S promoter in Arabidopsis, hypocotyls and petioles were elongated. The elongation phenotype was observed under all wavelengths of light tested and even in the presence of biosynthetic inhibitors of either brassinosteroid or gibberellin. In ZIM-overexpressing plants, XTH33 which is predicted to function in cell wall modification was detected as an up-regulated gene by microarray analysis, and this could account for the elongation phenotype. Genes in ZIM-overexpressing plants were identified that were up-regulated in a tissue-specific manner, which suggests that transcriptional regulation by ZIM and its consequent effects are spatially controlled.

Small airways are an important therapeutic target in asthma.

Neutral (N)-ionic (I) transitions in organic donor (D)/acceptor (A) charge-transfer complexes are intriguing because a 'reservoir of functions' is available. For systematically controlling N-I transitions, tuning the ionization potential of D and the electron affinity of A is extremely important. However, the effect of Coulomb interactions, which likely causes a number of charge-gap states at once in a system bringing about stepwise transitions, is a long-standing mystery. Here, we show definite evidence for stepwise N-I transitions caused by contributions from anisotropic interchain Coulomb interactions in a metal-complex-based covalently bonded DA chain compound, [Ru(2)(2,3,5,6-F(4)PhCO(2))(4)(DMDCNQI)]·2(p-xylene) (1; 2,3,5,6-F(4)PhCO(2)(-) = 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzoate; DMDCNQI = 2,5-dimethyl-N,N'-dicyanoquinonediimine), where the [Ru(2)(II,II)(2,3,5,6-F(4)PhCO(2))(4)] moiety has a paddlewheel diruthenium(II,II) motif with a Ru-Ru bond. An intermediate-temperature phase involving self-organized N and I chains was observed in the temperature range between 210 K (= T(2)) and 270 K (= T(1)) with N phase at T > T(1) and I phase at T < T(2). Accompanying the charge transitions, the spin-ground states as well as the ferrimagnetic ordering in the I phase vary. The stepwise feature of the N-I transition with a highly sensitive magnetic response should bring about new dynamical functionalities associated with charge, spin, and lattice.