Proteoglycan (PG) expression was studied in primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). RT-PCR analyses showed that the expression of the PG serglycin core protein was much higher than that of the extracellular matrix PG decorin and the cell surface PG syndecan-1. PG biosynthesis was further studied by biosynthetic [³⁵S]sulfate labeling of polarized HUVEC. Interestingly, ...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a common cause of viral hepatitis in humans. In developing countries, HEV-infections seem to be mainly associated with pigs, but other animal species may be involved in viral transmission. Recently, anti-HEV antibodies were detected in Norwegian wild reindeer. Here, we investigated anti-HEV seroprevalence in Norwegian semi-domesticated reindeer, animals in closer contact ...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of acute viral hepatitis in many parts of the world but only a few cases have been diagnosed in Norway. To investigate the HEV exposure rate in a presumed low-risk area, we have conducted a population-based study of anti-HEV IgG seroprevalence in Northern Norway. A total of 1800 serum samples from 900 women and 900 men, age 40–79 years, were randomly selected ...

Objectives. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is one of the key pathogenic mechanisms in the development of epilepsy. There is therefore an increasing need to identify BBB biomarkers as these will have prognostic and therapeutic implications. The purpose of this study was to assess the levels of the BBB permeability markers, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron-specific enolase ...

MicroRNA-371a-3p (miR371) has been suggested as a sensitive biomarker in testicular germ cell cancer (TGCC). We aimed to compare miR371 with the classical biomarkers α-fetoprotein (AFP) and β-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG_β). Overall, 180 patients were prospectively enrolled in the study, with serum samples collected before and after orchiectomy. We compared the use of digital droplet ...

<p><i>Background</i>: Serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) is elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and increases with decreasing renal function. However, there are limited data regarding the association between OPG and renal function in the general population. The aim of the present study was to explore the relation between serum OPG and renal function in subjects recruited from the general ...

<i>Objective</i>: In addition to its skeletal effects, vitamin D may also be important for health in general. It is uncertain what level of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), marker of vitamin D status, is sufficient for these effects. With decreasing serum 25(OH)D levels there is an increase in serum PTH. The point at which this occurs has been considered as a threshold for vitamin D sufficiency. ...

Background - Hypercalcemia of malignancy is relatively common in several cancers. However, in colorectal cancer, paraneoplastic phenomena that cause hypercalcemia is uncommon. In the few cases that are reported, secretion of parathyroid hormone-related peptide mediates the effect. We describe the first case of severe hypercalcemia mediated by intact parathyroid hormone secretion from a bone metastasis ...

There is strong evidence that sex chromosomes and sex hormones influence blood pressure (BP) regulation, distribution of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and co-morbidities differentially in females and males with essential arterial hypertension. The risk for CV disease increases at a lower BP level in females than in males, suggesting that sex-specific thresholds for diagnosis of hypertension may ...