Body fluid

Sensorineural losses of hearing and vestibular sensation due to hair cell dysfunction are among the most common disabilities. Recent preclinical research demonstrates that treatment of the inner ear with a variety of compounds, including gene therapy agents, may elicit regeneration and/or repair of hair cells in animals exposed to ototoxic medications or other insults to the inner ear. Delivery of gene therapy may also offer a means for treatment of hereditary hearing loss. However, injection of a fluid volume sufficient to deliver an adequate dose of a pharmacologic agent could, in theory, cause inner ear trauma that compromises functional outcome...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients with refractory ascites (RA) require repeated large volume paracenteses (LVP), which involves frequent hospital visits and is associated with poor quality-of-life. This study assessed safety and efficacy of an automated, low-flow pump (alfapump [AP]) compared with LVP [SoC]. METHODS: Randomized, controlled trial, in 7 centers, with 6M patient observation. Primary outcome was time to first LVP. Secondary outcomes included paracentesis requirement, safety, health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), and survival...

BACKGROUND: Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP) is an uncommon complication of Graves' disease, characterized by the triad of acute hypokalemia without total body potassium deficit, episodic muscle paralysis, and thyrotoxicosis. Graves' encephalopathy is an extremely rare form of encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroid disease (EAATD), characterized by neuropsychiatric symptoms, increased antithyroid antibodies and cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration, nonspecific electroencephalogram abnormalities, and cortico-responsiveness...

Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs has been found in many human cancers, including colorectal cancer that is still the third most prevalent cancer worldwide and related to poor prognosis; along with this, robust testimony has identified that long non-coding RNAs can take charge of tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes. This review summarizes nowadays research achievements on the character of long non-coding RNAs in the prognosis and diagnosis of colorectal cancer. On the basis of the results acquired in the last decade, some long non-coding RNAs are rising as biomarkers of colorectal cancer for prognosis, diagnosis, even prediction of therapeutic result, and have crucial effects in the regulation of colorectal cancer cell functions such as proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, metastasis, and drug resistant ability...

A water-soluble crosslinking agent, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC), has been used as a pretreatment of acid-etched dentin to inactivate matrix-bound endogenous dentin proteases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pH on the inactivation capacity of EDC. Demineralized dentin beams (1 × 2 × 6 mm) were divided into six groups (n = 8 per group). Then, EDC (0.3 M) was solubilized in distilled water with pH of 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, or 11. Control EDC was solubilized in 0.1 M 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid (MES) buffer and its pH was adjusted to 6...

Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is the most common cause of persistent hypoglycemia in infancy. The mainstay of medical management for CHI is diazoxide. Diazoxide inhibits insulin release from the pancreas, but also causes smooth muscle relaxation and fluid retention so it is typically given with chlorothiazide. In July 2015, the FDA issued a drug safety communication warning that pulmonary hypertension (PH) had been reported in 11 infants being treated with diazoxide and that the PH resolved with withdrawal of diazoxide...

MDMA is often taken recreationally with alcohol as combined-use. The objective was to determine MDMA postmortem redistribution (PMR) and corresponding effects in combined-style under different storage conditions. Steps were 20%-mixture of alcohol-water for initial 4 weeks to Group-A&B and intragastric infusions of MDMA (150 mg/kg) to Group-A later; in the same time, drinking pure water to Group-C&D first and then MDMA-fed to Group-C. The sacrificed rats were kept under different conditions for 10-d, during which the body fluids and tissues were collected on 15 continuous time-points and then detected...

The taxane drugs paclitaxel and docetaxel, widely used on cancer chemotherapy, are currently dosed mainly based on body-surface area. This approach is associated with wide interindividual variability in drug exposure, leading to suboptimal dosing for many patients. We reviewed the available evidence supporting dose individualization strategies for paclitaxel and docetaxel, focusing mainly on the application of therapeutic drug monitoring by a priori pharmacogenetic data or a posteriori drug measurements in biological fluids...

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a powerful hallucinogen, active at very low dosages, with, as a direct consequence, potential difficulties to be detected and quantified in a clinical or forensic context, in body fluids and even more in hair. The aim of this work is to review literature data related to hair analysis of LSD with a particular focus on the main issues encountered in LSD detection in hair. Results of LSD investigation in hair remain difficult to interpret regarding the very sparse data available on LSD concentrations in hair (n=10)...

Oxidatively generated damage to nucleic acids may play an important role in the pathophysiological processes of a variety of diseases. 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dGsn) and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine (8-oxo-Gsn) are oxidatively generated products of DNA and RNA, respectively. Our previous studies have suggested that the amounts of 8-oxo-dGsn and 8-oxo-Gsn in urine were considerably higher than other body fluid or tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether 8-oxo-dGsn and 8-oxo-Gsn levels in random urine samples are consistent with those in 24 h urine samples in healthy subjects and patients with renal disease...

BACKGROUND: High stability and disease-specific disarrangements suggest that microRNA molecules (miRNAs) present in body fluids are ideally suited for diagnostic applications, including gastric cancer (GC). However, the actual source of circulating miRNA biomarkers in GC has not been adequately evaluated, particularly in the Western populations that have some distinct characteristics compared with Asian patients. METHODS: Twenty treatment-naive patients with GC along with 20 cancer-free controls were recruited...

Interest in microRNAs (miRNAs) has dramatically increased in recent years not only because they regulate mRNA expression, and thus many physiological or pathophysiological processes, but also because they could serve as biomarkers. Next to analysis of tissue miRNA expression, measurement in body fluids such as blood or urine is attractive because miRNA in microvesicles or bound to protein is very stable. Currently it is unclear whether these circulating miRNAs are tissue and disease specific or represent more general pathologies like inflammation...

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arbovirus of the Flavivirus genus, and it has an envelope and a single RNA molecule. In early 2016, the World Health Organization declared ZIKV infection to be an emerging global health threat. The major transmission route of the virus to humans is Aedes mosquitoes. ZIKV can be transmitted between humans by transplacental, perinatal, and sexual routes and via blood and body fluids. ZIKV infection usually results in a mild and self-limiting disease with low-grade fever, conjunctivitis, and periorbital edema...

Exosomes are small vesicular bodies released by a variety of cells. Exosomes contain miRNAs, mRNAs and proteins with the potential to regulate signaling pathways in recipient cells. Exosomes deliver nucleic acids and proteins to mediate the communication between cancer cells and stroma cells. In this review, we summarize recent progress in our understanding of the role of exosomes in prostate cancer. The tumorigenesis, metastasis and drug resistance of prostate cancer are associated with the cargos of exosomes such as miRNAs, lncRNAs and proteins...

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a relatively well-characterized class of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) molecules, involved in the regulation of various cell processes, including transcription, intracellular trafficking, and chromosome remodeling. Their deregulation has been associated with the development and progression of various cancer types, the fact which makes them suitable as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In recent years, detection of cancer-associated lncRNAs in body fluids of cancer patients has proven itself as an especially valuable method to effectively diagnose cancer...

The major sperm protein domain (MSPd) has an extracellular signaling function implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Secreted MSPds derived from the C. elegans VAPB homolog VPR-1 promote mitochondrial localization to actin-rich I-bands in body wall muscle. Here we show that the nervous system and germ line are key MSPd secretion tissues. MSPd signals are transduced through the CLR-1 Lar-like tyrosine phosphatase receptor. We show that CLR-1 is expressed throughout the muscle plasma membrane, where it is accessible to MSPd within the pseudocoelomic fluid...

Propionate, 3-hydroxypropionate (3HP), methylcitrate, related compounds and ammonium accumulate in body fluids of patients with disorders of propionyl-CoA metabolism, such as propionic acidemia. Although liver transplantation alleviates hyperammonemia, high concentrations of propionate, 3HP and methylcitrate persist in body fluids. We hypothesized that conserved metabolic perturbations occurring in transplanted patients result from the simultaneous presence of propionate and 3HP in body fluids. We investigated the interrelations of propionate and 3HP metabolism in perfused livers from normal rats using metabolomic and stable isotopic technologies...

BACKGROUND: The dialysis practice guideline in Japan sets a limit on the allowed interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) <6%. However, the effects of relative gain of fluid volume to body weight may differ in presence of morbid conditions. Here, we examined whether or not the associations between IDWG and mortality differ by serum albumin (sAlb), a nutritional and illness marker. DESIGN: The study type used was prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS: Patients who participated in the Japan Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Pattern Study (phase 1-4 [1999-2011]) and received thrice-weekly hemodialysis...

Aquaporins (AQPs), a large family of membrane protein channels that facilitate transport of water and other small solutes, play important roles in physiological functions and human diseases. Up till now, 13 types of AQPs, numbered 0 through 12, have been identified in various mammalian tissues. Homologous genes for AQPs in amphibians, insects, and bacteria highlight the evolutionary conservation and, thus, the importance of these membrane channels. Many members of the AQP family are expressed in the eye. AQP1, which is a water-selective channel, is expressed in the anterior chamber (cornea, ciliary body, trabecular meshwork) and posterior chamber (retina and microvessels in choroid), controlling the fluid homeostasis in the eye...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Nutrition and body weight are modifying factors for periodontitis. The purpose of this study was to quantify two molecules (ghrelin and chemerin), released in association with food intake and obesity, in periodontally healthy and diseased individuals with respect to different body mass categories. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The two main groups (patients with chronic periodontitis and periodontally healthy/gingivitis volunteers) were subdivided into groups of subjects with normal weight [body mass index (BMI) <25] and groups of overweight/obese subjects (BMI ≥25)...