Mucin (MUC)1 is a multifunctional mucin expressed by a variety of reproductive tract epithelia. Trophoblast invasion is essential for normal placental development. However, MUC1 expression in the ...human placenta throughout pregnancy and the role of MUC1 in trophoblast-like cell invasion are still unclear. In the present study, results from quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot demonstrated that MUC1 mRNA and MUC1 protein expression, respectively, increased with gestational age of the human placenta. Immunohistochemistry revealed that MUC1 in placental villi was mainly expressed by syncytiotrophoblasts throughout pregnancy and increased with gestational age. Interestingly, we found two populations of extravillous trophoblasts, MUC1-positive and MUC1-negative cells, in decidua. The numbers of MUC1-positive extravillous trophoblasts were increased during placental development. Furthermore, MUC1 overexpression significantly (P < 0.01) suppressed matrigel invasion of trophoblast-like JAR cells by 34.6% ± 4.5% compared with control, which was associated with a decrease in MMP9 activity assessed by gelatin zymography. Our results suggest that MUC1 expression in the human placenta is increased during placental development, and its overexpression suppresses trophoblast-like cell invasion in vitro.
Background: On the basis of scanty information, the effects of a leukocyte filter during cardiac operations in human beings have been examined from the viewpoint of the expression of neutrophil ...adhesion molecules. This study was therefore designed to determine whether leukocyte depletion during cardiopulmonary bypass may interfere with neutrophil adhesion properties. Methods: Twenty-four patients undergoing elective heart operations were randomly allocated to a leukocyte-depletion group or a control group. Blood samples were collected at 7 points: before sternotomy, at 10, 30, and 60 minutes of cardiopulmonary bypass, at termination of cardiopulmonary bypass, 5 minutes after protamine administration, and 2 hours after cardiopulmonary bypass. The expression of the neutrophil surface adhesion molecules L-selectin and β2-integrins was determined by flow cytometric analysis in whole blood. Results: (1) CD11a expression did not change significantly in either group. There were no significant differences between control and leukocyte-depletion groups (P = .63). (2) There was a significantly higher expression of CD11b on the neutrophils during cardiopulmonary bypass in the control group than in the leukocyte-depletion group (P = .01). (3) CD11c expression was initially up-regulated from the onset of cardiopulmonary bypass, reaching a peak at 60 minutes after bypass in the control group (P = .02). The expression of CD11c did not differ significantly between groups (P = .23). (4) L-selectin expression was significantly lower in the leukocyte-depletion group than in the control group (P = .03). Conclusions: The major findings of the present study in human subjects undergoing elective cardiac operations with cardiopulmonary bypass are as follows: (1) bypass was associated with an up-regulation of the adhesion molecules L-selectin, CD11b, and CD11c but with no significant change in CD11a expression, and (2) the clinical use of a leukocyte-depleting filter could down-regulate the expression of CD11b and L-selectin.
Background. Because there is no smooth muscle cell surrounding the capillary endothelial cells, the effect of coronary microcirculation at the capillary level following cardioplegic arrest and ...reperfusion would be much different from that of resistant arterioles. We therefore studied the effect of hypothermic blood cardioplegic arrest and subsequent reperfusion on the myocardial capillaries in cardiac operation patients.
Methods. Twenty-seven patients who underwent cardiac operations were included in this study. Three sequential biopsies (preischemia, ischemia, and reperfusion) were obtained from the right atrium. This study was restricted to blood vessels with a diameter of less than 8 microns. Ten randomly selected capillaries from each biopsy were measured for luminal surface area, endothelial cytoplasmic surface area, and total cross-sectional surface area of capillaries.
Results. From stereologic morphometric studies, the serial changes in total cross-sectional surface area were not statistically significant (
p = 0.152). However, there was a significant swelling of endothelial cytoplasm following ischemia and reperfusion (
p = 0.0007). Meanwhile, changes in luminal surface area of capillaries following ischemia and reperfusion were also remarkable (
p = 0.0008).
Conclusions. The most striking finding of this study was the progressive decrease in capillary lumen during ischemia and after reperfusion. The swelling of endothelial cells is a major determinant of luminal narrowing of capillaries in patients receiving cardioplegic arrest.
The goal of this study is to determine the optimal scope for the navigation map in hypermedia courseware. The influence of the scope of the navigation map on disorientation was compared. One hundred ...and forty-six fifth-grade elementary students from four intact classes participated in this study. A multileveled design was adopted. The independent variable was the scope of navigation map, and the dependent variable was the degree of disorientation measured by the number of browsed pages, number of searching steps, and score of disorientation. The results show that the navigation map scope did impact pupils' performance in terms of searching steps. In particular, a larger field is better, although the field does not necessarily have to be global.
Low temperature microwave annealing (MWA) for IC processing is promising. In this study, using microwave annealing for dopant activation and thermal stability of the high-k/metal gate is ...investigated. Implanted species, such as phosphorus, arsenic, and boron, can also be well-activated and diffusionless in Si after microwave annealing. The flat band voltage shift of metal gate was suppressed due to the low temperature process. The increases in equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of the MOS devices after dopant activation processing can be eliminated by using low temperature MWA. In addition, the short channel effects in n & pMOSFETs annealed by MWA can be also improved due to the suppression of dopant diffusion and stabilization of EOT.
碩士
高雄醫學大學
醫學研究所碩士班
94
According to recent report of the Department of Health, heart and brain vascular disease are the top two and three of the ten major causes of death in Taiwan respectively. ...Previous studies indicated that hyperhomocysteinemia is one of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The main cause of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis which can be referred to as a chronic inflammatory disease. In the initiation of atherosclerosis, endothelial cells of the blood vessel loss function firstly. Previous studies indicated hyperhomoysteinemia actually induced vascular endothelial cell’s injury, however, the detail molecular mechanisms were not well understood. Our recent study showed at pathophysiologic concentrations, homocysteine would activate human monocyte and induce cytokine expression. The present study was designed to explore the effects of homocysteine on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) focusing on the cell viability, cell cycle regulation, and adhesion molecules expres
碩士
逢甲大學
財稅所
94
In the past years, Taiwan and OECD countries are facing the same problem with the pressure of the continuous increase in the health care expenditure. In OECD countries, health care ...expenditure has been growing much more rapidly than GDP. Between 1970 and 2002 real health care expenditure grew 2.01 times faster than real GDP in the U.S., 1.83 times faster than real GDP in Germany, and 1.79 times faster than real GDP. In Taiwan, it grew 2.1 times faster than real GDP between 1980 and 2002. Finding the determinants of the health care expenditure is of great urgency.
The data selected from Taiwan and 17 OECD countries for the period 1980 to 2002, including health expenditure per capita, GDP per capita, number of practicing physicians per thousand persons, the proportion population (proportion of population lower than 15 and proportion of population greater than 65), and medical progress, which is proxied by different variables, like infant mortality, life expectancy, health R&D expenditure and tota
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