The preoperative OPNI can be used as a simple prognostic indicator in colorectal carcinoma.

Background-Renarrowing of dilated arterial sites (restenosis) hampers the clinical benefits of coronary angioplasty.Infiltration and activation of monocytes in the arterial wall mediated by monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) might be a major cause of restenosis after angioplasty. However, there is no direct evidence to support a definite role of MCP-1 in the development of restenosis. Methods and Results-We recently devised a new strategy for anti-MCP-1 gene therapy by transfecting an N-terminal deletion mutant of the MCP-1 gene into skeletal muscles. We used this strategy to investigate the role of MCP-1 in the development of restenotic changes after balloon injury in the carotid artery in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Intramuscular transfection of the mutant MCP-1 gene suppressed monocyte infiltration/activation in the injured arterial wall and thus attenuated the development of neointimal hyperplasia and negative remodeling. Conclusions-MCP-1-mediated monocyte infiltration is necessary in the development of restenotic changes to balloon injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. This strategy may be a useful and practical form of gene therapy against human restenosis.

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Hydrogen peroxide is produced commercially by the sequential hydrogenation and oxidation of anthraquinone (AQ) and tetrahydroanthraquinone (THAQ). The hydrogenation of AQ and THAQ on the Pd(111) surface is investigated with periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations in this work. Dihydrogen is preferentially adsorbed on the top of a Pd atom, and the produced hydrogen atoms are on two neighboring 3-fold hollow fcc positions. The three benzene rings of AQ are located at bridge sites on the Pd(111) surface. The two carbonyl oxygen atoms of AQ and THAQ successively abstract the surface hydrogen atoms to produce anthrahydroquinone (AHQ) and tetrahydroanthrahydroquinone (THAHQ), respectively. The formation of unwanted byproducts, anthrone (AN), tetrahydroanthrone (THAN), oxanthrone (OAN), and tetrahydro-oxanthrone (THOAN), in the hydrogenation step of the AQ process is also studied to consider the suppression of these byproducts.

We found the preoperative elevation of serum CRP to be an independent prognostic indicator of CRC.