chronic steroid use and vascular morphology

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a progressive and chronic lung disease characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and fibroblast proliferation. Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) serves as a source of fibroblasts and contributes to PF progression. Ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3), a steroidal saponin extracted from ginseng, is known to have pharmacological effects on vascular diseases. We have previously demonstrated that Rg3 inhibits EndMT and prevents endothelial dysfunction. Thus, we hypothesized that Rg3 may be a potential therapeutic agent for PF-targeting EndMT...

BACKGROUND: To assess the efficacy and safety of supra-choroidal (SC) Iluvien in the management of chronic diabetic macular edema (DME). METHODS: A retrospective interventional non-comparative consecutive case series including patients with chronic DME who received an SC Iluvien implant. All patients had persistent central macular thickness (CMT) ≥ 300µ after previous treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents or laser photocoagulation...

Diabetic maculopathy is the result of multifactorial and complex alterations of the retinal capillaries in association with diabetes mellitus and is divided into two forms, ischemic maculopathy and diabetic macular edema. Diabetic macular edema is the leading cause of blindness among people of working age. The functional and morphological results of intravitreal pharmacotherapy in cases of fovea-involving macular edema using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors such as ranibizumab and aflibercept obtained in large randomized clinical trials are excellent and are superior to results obtained with focal or grid laser coagulation alone...

The membrane-associated drug transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays an essential role in drug efflux from the brain. Induction of this protein at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) could further affect the ability of a drug to enter the brain. At present, P-gp induction mediated by antiretroviral drugs at the BBB has not been fully investigated. Since P-gp expression is regulated by ligand-activated nuclear receptors, i.e., human pregnane X receptor (hPXR) and human constitutive androstane receptor (hCAR), these receptors could represent potential pathways involved in P-gp induction by antiretroviral drugs...

Facial hemangiomas are benign vascular neoplasms of infancy and childhood. Although most hemangiomas do not result in significant complications, some result in pain, ulceration, infection, and structural abnormalities and can interfere with respiration, vision, and hearing. A 5-month-old infant presented to the author's wound center with a necrotic wound within a large, segmental hemangioma of mixed superficial and deep morphology; her vision was obstructed. The patient's discomfort was indicated by poor feeding and irritability...

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to review the morphologic patterns of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) in 100 Iranian patients using light microscopy (LM) and electron microscopy (EM), and to compare the treatment and outcome in 13 patients with two biopsies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of 713 kidney biopsies of Iranian patients received between 1981 to 1994 was carried out. Of the 713 kidney biopsies, MPGN (n=106) and membranous glomerulopathy (n=112) made up the highest numbers of cases...

The liver is morphologically and functionally modulated by sex hormones. Long-term use of oral contraceptives (OCs) and anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) can induce both benign (hemangioma, adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia [FNH]) and malignant (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]) hepatocellular tumors. Hepatic adenomas (HAs) are rare, benign neoplasms usually occurring in young women, the development and the complications of which have been related to the strength of OCs and the duration of their use. HA incidence has fallen since the introduction of pills containing smaller amounts of estrogens...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that is characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells and remodeling, a term used to define complex morphological changes involving all the structures of the bronchial wall (e.g., goblet cell hyperplasia of the epithelium, thickening of reticular basement membrane, increases of airway smooth muscle[ASM], and blood vessels). An important factor in the pathophysiology of asthma is the recognition that airway inflammation and airway remodeling are linked, as they are in other chronic inflammatory diseases...

Hypervascularity in the bronchial wall is part of airway remodeling, but has remained an ill-defined process in asthma pathogenesis. Previous morphologic assessment has been limited to biopsy specimens, and therefore a high-magnification bronchovideoscope (side-viewing type) was developed for less invasive examination of subepithelial vessels. We evaluated vascularity in the lower trachea, using this novel scope in 12 normal control subjects, 13 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 24 subjects with stable asthma; 8 were steroid naive with newly diagnosed asthma (Group A) and 16 had been treated with inhaled corticosteroids for more than 5 years (Group B)...

UNLABELLED: Since the introduction of kidney transplantation, the short-term patient and graft survival have been progressively improving, but the long-term graft survival and half-life of transplants have not. Beyond doubt, chronic rejection (CR) remains the major cause of chronic graft failure and is responsible for the loss over 10 years of 50% of grafts. (1-4). CR is characterized clinically by proteinuria, hypertension and declining renal function, and pathologically by arteriosclerosis, glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis...

The morphologic measurement of bone volume was made by using the lower lumbar vertebrae of 905 cases which were selected from 1,200 consecutive autopsy cases. The tendency and the degree of bone loss, under various pathological conditions and for aging, were compared and examined. Microscopic specimens of the lumbar vertebrae without bone marrow were used as source material and the dimensional ratios of the trabecular bone were calculated by video image processor (VIP). It is already well known that disappearance of transverse trabeculae first occurs in the progress of osteoporotic change, but in this study no clear difference appeared in the comparison of the dimensional ratios between the transverse and vertical trabeculae...