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Vascular calcification and hemodynamical abnormalities lead to reduced arterial elasticity in end stage renal disease. Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) predicts cardiovascular mortality in advance stages of renal failure possibly indicating more advanced vascular calcification. The relation of FGF23 to arterial stiffness in chronic kidney disease is currently under investigations. The aim of our cross sectional study was to assess the potential associations between FGF23 and arterial distensibility. FGF23 (ELISA), pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index (AI) and central pulse pressure (CPP) (PulsePen), were measured in patients with different stages of renal insufficiency (n=103, 64.8±13.3 years, 50 males, eGFR 40±21 mL/min/1.73m2). Univariate and multiple linear regression models were used for the statistical analysis. According to our results, logFGF23 showed significant relation with serum phosphate, PTH levels and renal function. There were no significant correlations between FGF23 and PWV or CPP. AI, however, correlated negatively with logFGF23 (r= −0.24, p

ABSTRACT- Interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha activity by E. coli lipopolysaccharide-triggered monocytes were studied in patients with chronic alcoholic liver disease. Monocytes from cirrhotic patients were shown to have a significant reduction in IL-1 and TNF-a activity, compared with that from age- and sex-matched healthy controls. These findings indicate further immunoregulatory disturbances concerning alcoholic liver cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1,4-di-(2-chloro-2-propyl)-benzene (pDCC)/BCl/IB system was investigated in the presence and absence of n-BuNX. The presence of n-BuNX (X=Cl or I) changes the mechanism increasing the living character of the polymerization of isobutylene in both cases. When n-BuNCl is added, BCl is formed and as a common ion in excess it shifts the dissociation equilibrium toward the non-dissociated species. In the case of the addition of n-BuNI, an exchange reaction between the gegenions, i.e., BCl and BClI has been recognised and a possible reaction mechanism is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aldehyde-bisulfite-toluidine blue reaction followed by poststaining stabilization with potassium ferricyanide (ABT) is described as a topo-optical, oriented staining reaction of the vicinal OH groups of complex carbohydrates in biological structures such as polysaccharides, glycoproteins and glycolipids. The birefringence as induced by the oriented dye binding as a result of ABT is indicative of linear order of the vicinal OH groups and, in turn, provides information on the ultrastructural pattern of carbohydrate moieties in biological substances, which pattern is often not demonstrable by other ultrastructural methods. The possibilities of this new approach to the ultrastructural analysis of complex carbohydrates with ABT in a great number of biological substances is demonstrated and its practical value in histopathology discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfation and methylation-sulfation induces proteolytic sensitivity in formolfixed paraffin sections of fibrillary collagen and basement membranes. Other fibrillary elements such as myofibrils, tonofibrils and fibrin as well as the cell elements of connective and parenchymatous tissues are resistant in methylated sulfated sections and remain well preserved after enzyme incubation. Since desulfation of the sulfated sections abolished the sulfation-induced proteolytic sensitivity of collagen and basement membranes it was obvious that the sensitivity was not the result of non-specific structural damage caused by the sulfation procedure. On the analogy of the selective proteolytic sensitivity of acetyl collagen it is assumed that in sulfate-collagen the proteolytic sensitivity depends on the sulfate esterification of the OH groups. Blocking of the vicinal OH groups of carbohydrates by periodic acid did not induce proteolytic sensitivity in collagen or basement membranes. Sulfation-induced selective collagenolysis provides a new insight into many facts of structural organisation of tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]