Therapeutic Intervention with Anti-Complement Component 5 Antibody Does Not Reduce NASH but Does Attenuate Atherosclerosis and MIF Concentrations in Ldlr-/-.Leiden Mice

Background: Chronic inflammation is an important driver in the progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and atherosclerosis. The complement system, one of the first lines of defense in innate immunity, has been implicated in both diseases. However, the potential therapeutic value of complement inhibition in the ongoing disease remains...

The effectiveness of antibacterial therapeutic clothing based on silver or chitosan as compared with non-antibacterial therapeutic clothing in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (ABC trial): study protocol for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects 10 to 20% of children and between 2 and 15% of the adults in Western Europe. Since 2000, therapeutic clothing or functional textiles based on silver or chitosan as antibacterial agents were introduced for AD. These agents aim to reduce skin colonization with...

Dose-dependent impact of oxytetracycline on the veal calf microbiome and resistome

Background: Antibiotic therapy is commonly used in animal agriculture. Antibiotics excreted by the animals can contaminate farming environments, resulting in long term exposure of animals to sub-inhibitory levels of antibiotics. Little is known on the effect of this exposure on antibiotic resistance. In this study, we aimed to investigate the...

Characterization of the therapeutic properties of Chinese herbal materials by measuring delayed luminescence and dendritic cell-based immunomodulatory response

Based on the traditional Chinese medicine theory, the Chinese pharmacopeia assigns a therapeutic description of “taste” to all herbs; thus, an herb's “taste” is valued in traditional Chinese medicine as a major ethnopharmacological category and reflects the herb's therapeutic properties. These properties guide the practitioner with respect to...

Feasibility of SPECT-CT imaging to study the pharmacokinetics of antisense oligonucleotides in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) are promising candidates for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe and progressive disease resulting in premature death. However, more knowledge on the pharmacokinetics of new AON drug candidates is desired for effective application in the clinic. We assessed the feasibility of using...

Therapeutic validity and effectiveness of supervised physical exercise training on exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Our aim was to determine the effectiveness of supervised physical exercise training on exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease taken into consideration indices such as therapeutic validity of interventions, methodological quality of studies, and exercise volume. Data resources: MEDLINE, Cochrane...

Bioanalytical LC-MS/MS of protein-based biopharmaceuticals

Biotechnology increasingly delivers highly promising protein-based biopharmaceutical candidates to the drug development funnel. For successful biopharmaceutical drug development, reliable bioanalytical methods enabling quantification of drugs in biological fluids (plasma, urine, tissue, etc.) are required to generate toxicokinetic (TK),...

Nonclinical testing of vaccines: Report from a workshop

Vaccine research and development is a heterogeneous and intensely active area, encompassing the development of many different kinds of novel preventive and therapeutic vaccines (eg, against infectious, allergic, and autoimmune diseases, cancer, etc). Included in this is the development of different types of vaccines (eg, DNA vaccines, novel...

Targeting the tetraspanin CD81 blocks monocyte transmigration and ameliorates EAE

Leukocyte infiltration is a key step in the development of demyelinating lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS), and molecules mediating leukocyte-endothelial interactions represent prime candidates for the development of therapeutic strategies. Here we studied the effects of blocking the integrin-associated tetraspanin CD81 in in vitro and in vivo...

Effect of therapeutic ultrasound on endochondral ossification

The effect of therapeutic doses of ultrasound was tested on endochondral ossification of in vitro developing metatarsal long bone rudiments of 16- and 17-day-old fetal mice. Bone growth, calcification and resorption following exposure to several doses of pulse-wave (PW) or continuous-wave (CW) ultrasound were examined. PW was applied at...

Introduction. Minimally invasive therapy in five European countries: Diffusion, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

Minimally invasive therapy (MIT) is a field that has gained a great deal of attention since the mid-1980s. MIT is a new and rapidly growing area of medical treatment based on developments in endoscopy, vascular catheters, imaging devices, and related technologies. Although endoscopes have been in use for more than 100 years, it is relatively new...

The cost-effectiveness of 10 selected applications in minimally invasive therapy

In this article, evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the following procedures is reviewed: (1) laser treatment of bladder tumors; (2) extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy; (3) laparoscopic treatment of endometriosis; (4) laparoscopic removal of ovarian cysts; (5) laparoscopic cholecystectomy; (6)...

Diffusion of minimally invasive therapy in Europe

This paper considers the diffusion of the 10 cases presented in this issue. Most of the cases have diffused relatively slowly. This slow diffusion can be explained by a number of factors, including budgetary restraints, financial incentives, physician conservatism, and lack of appropriate training. A consistent thread in the cases is the...

Implications of minimally invasive therapy

The field of minimally invasive therapy (MIT) raises many important issues for the future of health care. It seems inevitable that MIT will replace much conventional surgery. This trend is good for society and good for patients. The health care system, however, may find the change disruptive. The need for hospital beds will shrink. Day surgery...