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Aims: To identify and characterize the top-cited articles in the field of islet transplantation. Methods: We used the Science Citation Index Expanded database to identify the most frequently cited articles published after 1900. Articles were evaluated using the following characteristics: citation number, publication year, study design, references, country and institution of origin, authorship, and journal. Keyword analysis and citation networks were used to analyze research trends. Results: The most frequently cited articles received between 146 and 2988 citations; the median was 291. All of the most frequently cited articles were published between 1972 and 2012, and 85 articles were published after 1990. The most popular study design involved basic science (75 articles). The leading countries were the United States (US) and Canada, and the leading institutions were the University of Alberta, Canada, and the University of Minnesota, in the US. Journals specializing in diabetes or transplantation published more than half of the articles (n = 53, 52%), with the journal Diabetes publishing the largest number (n = 30). No association was found between a journal's impact factor and the number of top-cited articles it published. There was no correlation between the number of citations and the number of years since publication, authors, participating institutions, or countries involved. Top-cited articles focused on 2 themes: the use of antirejection immunotherapy or biocompatible encapsulations to prolong graft survival, and assessments of the efficacy of islet transplants, in particular, islet allografts. Conclusions: Our study can help researchers to identify and decipher the characteristics of top-cited articles in the field of islet transplantation. Just as clinically successful allografts are carried out using the Edmonton protocol, autografts and xenografts should be similarly strengthened to solve problems relating to immune rejection and islet sources, respectively.

Increasing evidence has recently demonstrated that soluble heparan sulfate (HS), a degradation product of extracellular matrix produced by elastase, plays a key role in the aggravation of acute pancreatitis (AP) and associated lung injury. However little is known about the detailed mechanism underlying HS-induced inflammatory cascade. Our previous work has provided a valuable clue that a large-conductance K + channel (MaxiK) was involved in the HS-stimulated activation of murine macrophages. Here we attempted to ask whether pharmacological inhibition of the MaxiK channel will exert beneficial effects on the treatment of AP and secondary lung injury. The protective effects of paxilline, a specific blocker of MaxiK, on rats against sodium taurocholate induced AP were evaluated. Our data showed that paxilline substantially attenuated AP and resultant lung injury, mainly by limiting the burst of inflammatory responses, as proven by decreased plasma concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α and macrophage inflammatory protein-2, together with unimpaired pancreatic enzyme activities in rats suffering from AP. Compared with the therapeutic administration, pre-treatment of paxilline showed superior potential to slow down the progress of AP. Furthermore, AP rats received paxilline exhibited improved histopathologic alterations both in the pancreas and the lungs, and even lower lung MPO activity. Taken together, our study provides evidence that MaxiK is involved in the spread of inflammatory responses and the following lung injury during the attack of AP, indicating that this ion channel is a promising candidate as a therapeutic target for AP.

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) -mediated systemic inflammatory response syndrome accompanied by multiple organ failure, is one of the most common causes of death in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. Recent reports have revealed that heparan sulphate (HS) proteoglycan, a component of extracellular matrices, potentiates the activation of intracellular pro-inflammatory responses via TLR4, contributing to the aggravation of acute pancreatitis. However, little is known about the participants in the HS/TLR4-mediated inflammatory cascades. Our previous work provided a clue that a membrane potassium channel (MaxiK) is responsible for HS-induced production of inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, in this report we attempted to reveal the roles of MaxiK in the activation of macrophages stimulated by HS. Our results showed that incubation of RAW264.7 cells with HS up-regulated MaxiK and TLR4 expression levels. HS could also activate MaxiK channels to promote the efflux of potassium ions from cells, as measured by the elevated activity of caspase-1, whereas this was significantly abolished by treatment with paxilline, a specific blocker of the MaxiK channel. Moreover, it was found that paxilline substantially inhibited HS-induced activation of several different transcription factors in macrophages, including nuclear factor-κB, p38 and interferon regulatory factor-3, followed by decreased production of tumour necrosis factor-α and interferon-β. Taken together, our investigation provides evidence that the HS/TLR4-mediated intracellular inflammatory cascade depends on the activation of MaxiK, which may offer an important opportunity for a new approach in therapeutic strategies of severe acute pancreatitis.

In this study, we combined the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor sitagliptin with the antidiabetic drug mangiferin to examine the effects on active glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Active GLP-1 levels were measured by an ELISA kit. Insulin levels were measured by an RIA kit. Islet morphology was determined by double immunolabeling. Sitagliptin (1 mg/kg) or mangiferin (20 mg/kg) single treatment improved glucose tolerance during an oral glucose tolerance test. In addition, the combination therapy improved glucose tolerance with an increase in plasma insulin level and active GLP-1 levels. Islets from combination-treated diabetic rats had markedly increased β-cell/islet area ratio compared with islets from the diabetic or single-treatment rats. In conclusion, these results indicate that the combination therapy is useful as a therapeutic agent for impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes.

Between June 2010 and June 2011, 176 patients were divided into 2 groups: a group with spinal metastasis of solid tumors (n=157) and a group with multiple myeloma (n=19). Both groups were further divided into 2 subgroups: a group receiving zoledronic acid before surgery and a control group. The zoledronic acid subgroup of the solid tumors group was group A (n=81), the control subgroup of the solid tumors group was group B (n=76), the zoledronic acid subgroup of the multiple myeloma group was group C (n=10), and the control subgroup of the multiple myeloma group was group D (n=9). The average intraoperative blood loss during spinal surgery was as follows:1311±691 mL in group A and1752±740 mL in group B (P=0.000) and1994±810 mL in group C and3134±795 mL in group D (P=0.000). Patients receiving zoledronic acid before surgery had significantly less intraoperative bleeding than those who did not receive it. Preoperative use of zoledronic acid can effectively reduce intraoperative bleeding during surgery for the treatment of spinal tumors.

To investigate the action mechanism of a novel chemical structural aminotetralin derivate, 2-Amino-Nonyl-6-Methoxyl-Tetralin Muriate (10b), against Candida albicans (C albicans) in the ergosterol biosynthetic pathway.Antifungal susceptibility test of 10b was carried out using broth microdilution method, the action mechanism of 10b against C albicans was investigated by GC-MS spectrometry and real-time RT-PCR assay, and cytotoxicity of 10b in vitro was assessed by MTS/PMS reduction assay.10b reduced the ergosterol content markedly, and the 50% ergosterol content inhibitory concentration (ECIC(50) value) was 0.08 microg/mL. Although the sterol composition of 10b-grown cells was completely identical with that of erg24 strain, the content of ergosta-8,14,22-trienol in 10b-grown cells was much higher than that in erg24 strain. Real-time RT-PCR assay revealed a global upregulation of sterol metabolism genes. In addition, the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50) value) of 10b was 11.30 microg/mL for murine embryonic fibroblasts and 35.70 microg/mL for human normal liver cells.10b possessed a mode of action different from that of azoles and morpholines, whose targets were sterol C-14 reductase (encoded by ERG24 gene) and sterol C-5 desaturase (encoded by ERG3) related enzyme. Although 10b seemed to reduce MTS/PMS reduction in a dose dependent manner, IC(50) value for mammalian cells was much higher than 50% minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC(50)) value for C albicans. This indicates that the formulation is preliminarily safe and warrants further study for possible human applications.