Denton Cleveland (groundgreek8)
Up-regulation of miR-9 reduced aortic plaque area, the proliferation of collagen fibers, Mac-3-labeled macrophages and levels of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α by suppressing SDC2 and the FAK/ERK signaling pathway, thereby ameliorating atherosclerosis in ACS mice. In conclusion, the current study provides evidence that miR-9 retards atherosclerosis by repressing SDC2 and the FAK/ERK signaling pathway, highlighting a new theoretical basis for the treatment of atherosclerosis.Non-invasive ultrasonic neural modulation (UNM), a non-invasive technique with enhanced spatial focus compared to conventional electrical neural modulation, has attracted much attention in recent decades and might become the mainstream regimen for neurological disorders. However, as ultrasonic bioeffects and its adjustments are still unclear, it remains difficult to be extensively applied for therapeutic purpose, much less in the setting of human skull. Hence to comprehensively understand the way ultrasound exerts bioeffects, we explored UNM from a basic perspective by illustrating the parameter settings and the underlying mechanisms. In addition, although the spatial resolution and precision of UNM are considerable, UNM is relatively non-specific to tissue or cell type and shows very low specificity at the molecular level. Surprisingly, Ibsen et al. (2015) first proposed the concept of sonogenetics, which combined UNM and mechanosensitive (MS) channel protein. This emerging approach is a valuable improvement, as it may markedly increase the precision and spatial resolution of UNM. It seemed to be an inspiring tool with high accuracy and specificity, however, little information about sonogenetics is currently available. Thus, in order to provide an overview of sonogenetics and prompt the researches on UNM, we summarized the potential mechanisms from a molecular level. Myelopathy is the core clinical manifestation of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), which is the most common peroxisomal disorder. Development of therapies requires sensitive and clinically relevant outcome measures. Together with spastic paraparesis, balance disturbance is the main cause of disability from myelopathy in ALD. In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated whether postural body sway - a measure of balance - could serve as a surrogate outcome in clinical trials. Forty-eight male ALD patients and 49 age-matched healthy male controls were included in this study. We compared sway amplitude and sway path of ALD patients to controls. We then correlated the body sway parameters showing the largest between-group differences with clinical measures of severity of myelopathy. To correct for age, we performed multiple linear regression analysis with age and severity of myelopathy as independent variables. All body sway parameters were significantly higher in patients than in controls, with medium to large effect sizes ( = 0.43-0.66, < 0.001). In the subgroup of asymptomatic patients, body sway amplitude was also higher, but the difference with controls was smaller than for symptomatic patients (effect size = 0.38-0.46). We found moderate to strong correlations between body sway amplitude and clinical severity of myelopathy ( = 0.40-0.79, < 0.005). After correction for age, severity of myelopathy was a significant predictor of body sway amplitude in all regression models. These results indicate that postural body sway may serve as a surrogate outcome for myelopathy in ALD. Such outcomes are important to evaluate new therapies in clinical trials. Further longitudinal studies are needed and ongoing in this cohort. These results indicate that postural body sway may serve as a surrogate outcome for myelopathy in ALD. Such outcomes are important to evaluate new therapies in clinical trials. Further longitudinal studies are needed and ongoing in this cohort.The in