Articles: disease.
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The liver is an essential organ that is primarily responsible for digestion and eliminating toxic substances from the body. After the industrial revolution, Western diet and lifestyle changes have increased the incidence of several liver diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). NAFLD and NASH are mostly asymptomatic at early stages, and the disease progression from NAFLD to life-threatening HCC remains not fully understood. ⋯ CDR1 and circ_0067934 can facilitate the invasion and metastasis of HCC, while circMTO1 negatively regulates the progression of HCC. Although several research works have been conducted, the whole picture of circRNA-related underlying mechanisms is unclear. Future works using high-throughput bioinformatic approaches will be needed to delineate the role of circRNAs in liver diseases and to further develop novel diagnostics and therapeutics.
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Dear editors: We propose novel strategies to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, that are aimed at high-risk groups and might reduce the progression to severe forms of COVID and thus decrease the very high case fatality rate. Following the first reports of the outbreak of several cases of acute respiratory distress syndrome in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December 2019, a novel beta coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) as the main causative agent was identified while the disease associated with was named by WHO as COVID-19 (1, 2). The outbreak has rapidly spread globally with more than 150.000 cases detected in over 100 countries as of March 13, 2020. ⋯ Given the alarming global situation and rapidly evolving large scale pandemics, there is an urgent need for effective strategies to prevent the spread of the disease and decrease its high CFR. The gravity of the situation requires to consider even novel unorthodox strategies to control the outbreak and high lethality of COVID-19. (Tab. 2, Ref. 21). Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, distress syndrome, lopinavir/ritonavir, ribavirin, chloroquine, interferons.
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Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the area of Wuhan, China, has evolved rapidly into a public health crisis and has spread exponentially to other parts of the world. There is strong evidence that this novel coronavirus is similar to coronavirus species found in bats and potentially pangolins, confirming the zoonotic nature of this new cross-species virus-mediated disease. ⋯ They proceed in accordance with the current guidelines of the government of each country as well as with the valid standards and preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for COVID-19. This article mainly focuses on the recommended methods in dental medicine designed to protect patients and healthcare professionals (Tab. 2, Ref. 29). Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, dental strategies, dental treatment recommendations.
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Fabry disease (FD) is a rare disease associated with sphingolipid accumulation. Sphingolipids are components of plasma membranes that are important in podocyte function and accumulate in various glomerular diseases such as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Both FD and FSGS can cause podocyte damage and are classified as podocytopathies. In this respect, FD and FSGS share the same pathophysiologic pathways. Previous screening studies have shown that a significant proportion of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) have unsuspected FD, and the prevalence of low alpha-galactosidase A (αGLA) enzyme activity in these patients is higher than that in the normal population. We aimed to compare αGLA enzyme activity in patients with biopsy-proven FSGS and ESRD receiving HD. ⋯ We found that αGAL activity in patients with FSGS is lower than that in patients undergoing HD. The low enzyme activity in patients with FSGS may be explained by considering the similar pathogenesis of FSGS and FD, which may also lead to sphingolipid deposition and podocyte injury.