Plasma creatine as a marker of mitochondrial dysfunction
Mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) is a complex pathophysiological phenomenon, linked with many inherited and acquired diseases. A clinical evaluation of MD requires rather extensive approach, while no gold-standard circulating biomarker has been established so far. Partly produced in mitochondria, creatine thus might be considered as a sensible compound of mitochondrial bioenergetics. Increased plasma creatine perhaps is linked with MD, illustrating disturbances in its utilization in the stressed organelle. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 21, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Sergej M. Ostojic Source Type: research
Potential role of lipoic acid as a chelator in prevention and treatment of gadolinium brain retention
Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) improve diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a wide range of diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). Gadolinium retention in the brain is a new safety concern regarding the use of GBCAs to enhance MR images [1]. The evidence, and the hypothetical consequences, of long-term retention of gadolinium in the brain after multiple GBCA administrations, particularly with use of linear GBCAs, are controversial [2]. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 21, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Ashkan Heshmatzadeh Behzadi, Ajay Gupta, Martin R. Prince Source Type: research
Preoperative gastric lavage in gastric cancer patients undergoing surgical, endoscopic or minimally invasive treatment: an oncological measure preventing peritoneal spillage of intragastric cancer cells and development of related metastases
In addition to classical metastatic pathways, recently gastric cancer was described having an alternative route called “endoluminal exfoliation”. Provisional analyses demonstrated, in fact, this kind of shedding is associated with several clinico-pathological features indicative of aggressive behavior and resulted to be an independent prognostic factor entailing poor prognosis. Compared with non-sowing counterpa rts, in fact, patients affected with exfoliating early and advanced gastric carcinomas met with shorter overall survival, disease free survival, progression free survival and time to tumor progression. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 21, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Edoardo Virgilio, Genoveffa Balducci, Paolo Mercantini, Enrico Giarnieri, Maria Rosaria Giovagnoli, Monica Montagnini, Antonella Proietti, Rosaria D'Urso, Marco Cavallini Source Type: research
The role of trophoblastic epigenetic reprogrammation in benign tumor cells on malignant progression: a mollecular hypothesis
Cancer tissues and placental ones share many properties such as invasiveness, metastasis and local immunosuppressive effects. The goal of the present article is to hypothesize a theory about cancer origin that links placental and cancerous tissues at mollecular level. This hypothesis explain that cancer origin could be due to low hypoxic conditions in the peripheral zones of benign tumors which might up-regulate the expression of IGF2, and, consequently, trophoblastic genes. In fact, many phenotypic characteristics and molecular markers are shared between these two cell types (cancerous and trophoblastics ones), providing ...
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 20, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Kevin Doello Source Type: research
Male Pattern Hair Loss: Taking one for the team: The Selfless Gene
Male-pattern hair loss (MPHL) is exceedingly common. It is characterised by onset in early adulthood and progression with age. It has a strong heritable component. The reason for its existence remains unexplained. Given that MPHL is progressive and has its earliest manifestations in young adults it may be a barometer of age. Here we suggest that MPHL may have atavistically allowed women in our species and ancestor species to select younger (but not necessarily the youngest) adult mates. Evidence suggests that conceptions by younger fathers are more likely to lead to live births and less likely to result in miscarriage. (So...
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chika Edward Uzoigwe, Luis Carlos Sanchez Franco, Ignacio Gascon Conde Dip, Adrian Sanchez Campoy Source Type: research
Validation of RUNX1 as a potential target for treating circadian clock-induced obesity through preventing migration of group 3 innate lymphoid cells into intestine
The impact of unrhythmic circadian clock on obesity has started to be increasingly appreciated nowadays. Recently it was discovered that interaction between intestinal microbiota and unrhythmic circadian clock plays a key role in such a process. It involves relaying signals from microbiota through dendritic cells to group 3 innate lymphoid cells in the intestine and in the end impacting some of the key transcription factors of circadian clock. Breaking such a signal relay may prove to be an effective way reducing unrhythmic circadian clock-induced obesity. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Fangjia Lu, Qingyang Liu Source Type: research
ERCP induced and non-ERCP-induced acute pancreatitis: two distinct clinical entities?
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common gastrointestinal disease of varied etiology; however, the most common causes of AP are gallstones and alcohol abuse. AP has emerged as the most frequent complication after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Post-ERCP pancreatitis is generally a clinically irrelevant condition; however, it can be severe or even fatal in up to 0.8% of cases. Different clinical courses and outcomes have been observed between mild and severe AP of different etiologies (i.e., non-ERCP AP and post-ERCP AP), which opens the discussion as to whether they are the same or distinct clinical enti...
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Ivana Zitinic, Ivana Plavsic, Goran Poropat, Goran Hauser Source Type: research
Perceived Fatigue and Energy are Independent Unipolar States: Supporting Evidence
Persistent fatigue is a common problem ( ∼20-45% of U.S. population), with higher prevalence and severity in people with medical conditions such as cancer, depression, fibromyalgia, heart failure, sleep apnea and multiple sclerosis. There are few FDA-approved treatments for fatigue and great disagreement on how to measure fatigue, with o ver 250 instruments used in research. Many instruments define fatigue as “a lack of energy”, thus viewing energy and fatigue states as opposites on a single bipolar continuum. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Bryan D. Loy, Michelle H. Cameron, Patrick J. O'Connor Source Type: research
Could ryanodine receptor dysfunction be linked to PKR brain accumulations in Alzheimer ’s disease?
The dysfunction of ryanodine receptor (RyR) in Alzheimer ’s disease (AD) has been underlined previously and is part of the Calcium hypothesis at the origin of some abnormal cellular metabolisms leading to AD brains lesions. A recent report has contributed to this hypothesis [1]. They have demonstrated that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium leak could r esult in calcium dependent abnormal signaling pathways participating in AD abnormal lesions. They nicely show that calcium accumulation could result in calpain and CaMKK2 activation contributing to Aβ production and tau phosphorylation. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Jacques Hugon, Claire Paquet Source Type: research
Menstrual chest pain, spontaneous coronary dissection, and takotsubo syndrome: Any connections?
The pathophysiology of spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and takotsubo syndrome (TTS) are unknown, and currently hotly debated [1 –5]. Notably both SCAD and TTS affect primarily women, younger in the former, and older in the latter, although there are cases of SCAD occurring in middle-aged and elderly women [1–5]. TTS is amply discussed as triggered by emotional and physical stresses [2–5], and SCAD was precipitated by e motional stressors in 48.3% and physical stressors in 28.1% of affected patients [1]. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 19, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: John E. Madias Source Type: research
A new model for chronic diseases
Chronic diseases are defined diseases whose symptoms last for at least six months and tend to worsen over time. In Europe, they cause at least 86% of deaths.In this speculative unifying model I set a new hypothesis for the etiology of the majority of chronic diseases. The main aim is to put order and observe our organism in a systemic way, connecting pathologies we now see as disconnected phenomena, with the conceptual frameworks of complex systems and network medicine.Chronic diseases could be caused by a first unsolved acute infection. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 15, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: S.D. Sara Diani Source Type: research
Molecular hypotheses to explain the shared pathways and underlying pathobiological causes in catatonia and in catatonic presentations in neuropychistric disorders
The pathobiological causes, the shared cellular and molecular pathways in catatonia and in catatonic presentation in neuropsychiatric disorders are yet to be determined. The hypotheses in this paper have been deduced from the latest scientific research findings and clinical observations of patients with genetic disorders, behavioral phenotypes and other family members suffering mental disorders. The first hypothesis postulates that catatonia and the heterogeneity of catatonic signs and symptoms involve nucleolar dysfunction arising from abnormalities of the brain-specific, non-coding micro-RNA, SNORD115 genes (either dupli...
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 15, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: E.M. Peter-Ross Source Type: research
Ammonia: A novel target for the treatment of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of liver diseases ranging from steatosis, through non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to cirrhosis. The development of fibrosis is the most important factor contributing to NASH-associated morbidity and mortality. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are responsible for extracellular matrix deposition in conditions of frank hepatocellular injury and are key cells involved in the development of fibrosis. In experimental models and patients with NASH, urea cycle enzyme gene and protein expression is reduced resulting in functional reduction in the in vivo capacity for ureagen...
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 15, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Karen Louise Thomsen, Francesco De Chiara, Krista Rombouts, Hendrik Vilstrup, Fausto Andreola, Rajeshwar P. Mookerjee, Rajiv Jalan Source Type: research
Editorial Board
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Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 13, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Source Type: research
Optical Illusions and Life-Threatening Traffic Crashes: A Perspective on Aerial Perspective
Aerial perspective illusion is a feature of visual perception where landscapes appear relatively close in clear light and distant in dim light. We hypothesized that bright sunlight might cause drivers to perceive distant terrain as relatively close and misinterpret the approach speed of surrounding landscape as unduly slow. This hypothesis would mean, in turn, that drivers in bright sunlight may underestimate their progress on the road, compensate by traveling at a faster baseline speed, and ultimately increase the prevailing risk of a life-threatening traffic crash. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)
Source: Medical Hypotheses - February 12, 2018 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Donald A. Redelmeier, Sheharyar Raza Source Type: research
