[en] Short communication

[en] Radiopharmaceuticals can be utilised to investigate only one metabolic pathway or a series of related metabolic pathways. A brief article discusses ways of achieving specificity including isotopic substitution, isomorphic substitution, biological transport, enzyme binding, receptor binding, antigen-antibody reactions and liposomes. (UK)

[en] A self limiting interaction between heart disease producing factors and genetic factors is postulated. Such an interaction could be responsable for the fall in rate of death from ischemic disease observed in the United States. (Author)

[en] Highlights: • LncRNA GAS5 plays a key role in CFs activation and fibrosis. • GAS5/miR-21/PTEN axis involvement in CFs activation. • GAS5 negative controls miR-21 expression in activated CFs. - Abstract: Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in many diseases including cardiac fibrosis. LncRNA growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) is reported as a significant mediator in the control of cell proliferation and growth; however, the role and function in cardiac fibrosis remain unknown. In this study, we confirmed that GAS5 was lowly expressed in cardiac fibrosis tissues as well as activated cardiac fibroblast. Overexpression of GAS5 inhibited the proliferation of cardiac fibroblast. Moreover, microRNA-21 (miR-21) has been reported to be overexpressed in cardiac fibrosis tissues as well as activated cardiac fibroblast, which is responsible for the progression of cardiac fibrosis. We found that up-regulated GAS5 decreased the expression of miR-21 significantly. Furthermore, GAS5 that upregulated or downregulated the expression of PTEN through miR-21 in cardiac fibroblasts. Taken together, GAS5 plays a suppressive role in cardiac fibrosis via negative regulation of miR-21. These results indicated that GAS5 may be a novel therapeutic target for further research of cardiac fibrosis.

[en] While the introduction of radioactive tracers in the study of metabolic pathways has been well-documented in clinical thyroidology as early as 1924, the widespread utilization in other clinical specialties has been hampered by slow developments in radiation-detecting devices and in the production of appropriate radiopharmaceuticals, in addition to the morbid fear of radiation. In the Philippines, the first radioisotope laboratory was established in 1956. Ten years later, the Philippine Society of Nuclear Medicine was formed. Through the years, challenges were overcome, foundations were laid down, growth was encouraged, friendships with other organizations were built, adjustments were made, and rules were enforced. To date, there are approximately 58 nuclear medicine centers randomly distributed from north to south of the Philippines, 7 accredited nuclear medicine training institutions, 95 board-certified nuclear medicine physicians (a few of whom are also internationally recognized), and a regionally-indexed Philippine Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Qualifying examinations for technologists were also recently instated. International relations are constantly strengthened by sending trainees abroad and accepting foreign trainees here, as well as participating in conferences and other endeavors. While the cost of putting up nuclear medicine centers in the Philippines is still prohibitive, it should not pose too much of a constraint as there are foreign and local parties willing to help. With appropriate instrumentation, targeting radiopharmaceuticals and trained human resources, nuclear medicine can indeed contribute much to health care delivery

[en] The tritiation of benzo[a]pyrene and phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate is described. (author)

[en] In 2002, Al-Tassan and co-workers described for the first time a recessive form of inherited polyposis associated with germline mutations of MUTYH, a gene encoding a base excision repair (BER) protein that counteracts the DNA damage induced by the oxidative stress. MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) is now a well-defined cancer susceptibility syndrome, showing peculiar molecular features that characterize disease progression. However, some aspects of MAP, including diagnostic criteria, genotype-phenotype correlations, pathogenicity of variants, as well as relationships between BER and other DNA repair pathways, are still poorly understood. A deeper knowledge of the MUTYH expression pattern is likely to refine our understanding of the protein role and, finally, to improve guidances for identifying and handling MAP patients.

No abstract available

[en] The present study was carried out in order to determine whether the response of MAP kinases in mouse lymphocytes differs following in vivo and ex vivo irradiation with ⁶⁰Co γ-rays. The signaling parameters studied were p44/42 MAPK, p38 MAPK and SAPK/JNK, which are components of the three major MAPK pathways

No abstract available