Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (Cyp7a1) and sterol 12α‐hydroxylase (Cyp8b1) partly through inducing small heterodimer partner, leading to reduced bile acid pool size and al

Despite extensive investigations, an effective treatment for sepsis remains elusive and a better understanding of the inflammatory response to infection is required to identify potential new targets for therapy. In this study we have used RNAi technology to show, for the first time, that the inducible lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 2 (LPCAT2) plays a key role in macrophage inflammatory gene expression in response to stimulation with bacterial ligands. Using siRNA- or shRNA-mediated knockdown, we demonstrate that, in contrast to the constitutive LPCAT1, LPCAT2 is required for macrophage cytokine gene expression and release in response to TLR4 and TLR2 ligand stimulation but not for TLR-independent stimuli. In addition, cells transfe

The natural ventilation in buildings is one of effective strategies for achieving energy efficiency in buildings by employing methods and ways of passive design, as well as its efficiency in providing high ranges of thermal comfort for occupants in buildings and raises their productivity. Because the concept of natural ventilation for many people confined to achieve through the windows and openings only, become necessary to provide this research to demonstrate the various passive design strategies for natural ventilation. Then, research problem: Insufficient knowledge about the importance and mechanism of the application of passive design strategies for natural ventilation in buildings. The research objective is: Analysis of passive desi

Translation is a dynamic and living process that cannot be considered equal to the original text and requires the appropriate structure, language, thought and culture of the target language, and the translator's intellectual, linguistic and cultural influences inadvertently penetrate into the translated text. It causes heterogeneity of the destination text with the source text.

Admiral's theory is trying to help by providing components and suggested approaches to resolve these inconsistencies. In the meantime, in addition to the mission of putting words together, the translator must sometimes sit in the position of the reader and judge and evaluate the translated text in order to understand its shortcomings and try to correct it a

Abstract Throughout this paper R represents commutative ring with identity and M is a unitary left R-module, the purpose of this paper is to study a new concept, (up to our knowledge), named St-closed submodules. It is stronger than the concept of closed submodules, where a submodule N of an R-module M is called St-closed (briefly N ≤Stc M) in M, if it has no proper semi-essential extensions in M, i.e if there exists a submodule K of M such that N is a semi-essential submodule of K then N = K. An ideal I of R is called St-closed if I is an St-closed R-submodule. Various properties of St-closed submodules are considered.

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.

Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s