25/11-15). “
“Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder [1], is characterized by the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in the medial temporal lobe and cortical areas of the brain [2] and senile plaques [3]. The brains of patients with AD show losses of choline acetyltransferase activity or basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, which are correlated with cognitive impairments [4], [5] and [6]. The current mainstay of treatment for cognitive loss associated with AD has been muscarinic Selleck Raf inhibitor or

nicotinic receptor ligands and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors [7], drugs which also show unwanted side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, sedation and bradycardia [8]. Ginseng (the root of Panax ginseng Meyer) is frequently used in Asian countries as a traditional medicine. The major components of ginseng are ginsenosides; a diverse

group of steroidal saponins [9] and [10] capable of exerting many beneficial BKM120 manufacturer effects including enhancement of memory and cognitive functions. Acceleration of memory acquisition and improved cognition has been reported with treatment of ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg1 in animal models [11] and [12]. For instance, Rg1 exerted ameliorative effects on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats in a radial arm maze task [13], while Rb1 improved Abeta ( [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34] and [35]) induced memory dysfunction, axonal hypertrophy, and synaptic loss in a mouse model of AD [14]. Both ginsenosides enhanced cholinergic function [15], conferred neuroprotection [16], and promoted neurite outgrowth in cultured neurons [17]. These Low-density-lipoprotein receptor kinase mechanisms are thought to explain the memory-enhancing activities of these ginsenosides. Rg3, another type of ginsenoside, has also been shown to protect against scopolamine-induced memory deficit in mice [18], [19] and [20]. Scopolamine is an antimuscarinic agent that decreases central cholinergic activity and causes impairment of learning and memory [21]. Moreover, the

neuroprotective effects of Rg3 have also been demonstrated in many studies [15], [22], [23], [24] and [25]. In fact, Rg3 was the most effective ginsenoside in inhibiting N-methyl-d-aspartic-acid-induced neurotoxicity in hippocampal neurons [26]. Rg3 was also observed to produce the most significant reduction of accumulation of the Alzheimer’s amyloid β peptide in a cell-based model system, as well as in a mouse model of AD [27]. Altogether, these studies indicate the potentiality of Rg3 in the treatment of AD. Despite the attractive features of ginsenosides as potential nutraceuticals for AD, their use has been limited for several reasons, including high production cost and poor bioavailability. In particular, the process of extracting pure Rg3 from ginseng is laborious and expensive [28]. Furthermore, conventional manufacturing processes produce only minimal amounts of Rg3.

, 2003). In view of the weak antiviral activity of protease inhibitors, further studies should be done to ascertain whether

AZD6244 concentration the clinical benefit could be attributed to their anti-apoptotic rather than their antiviral activity ( Matarrese et al., 2003). In the early phase of the SARS epidemic, before the identification of the causative agent, histopathological changes in open lung biopsy specimens suggested the possibility of immunopathological damage (Nicholls et al., 2003). Immunomodulators including corticosteroid, convalescent plasma, and pentaglobulin were therefore empirically used as initial and rescue treatment. As initial therapy, a corticosteroid without antiviral therapy was initiated in 417 (16.4%) of 2546 patients (Chen et al., 2006, Loutfy et al., 2003 and Wang et al., 2004a), while recombinant interferon-alpha was given Raf inhibition to 30 (1.2%) (Zhao et al., 2003) and a combination of corticosteroid and interferon was given in 114 (4.5%) (Loutfy et al., 2003 and Zhao et al., 2003). In a preliminary uncontrolled study of 24 patients in Toronto, 13 patients were treated with corticosteroid alone and 9 patients were treated with corticosteroid and interferon alfacon-1. Among the corticosteroid group,

5 (38.5%) required intensive care, 3 required mechanical ventilation, and one died, while there was no mortality among the corticosteroid plus interferon alfacon-1 group and only 3 and 1 patient required intensive care and mechanical ventilation respectively. In addition, the combination of corticosteroid and interferon Thiamet G alfacon-1 appeared to result in improvements in oxygenation requirement and faster resolution of chest radiograph abnormalities

(Loutfy et al., 2003). However, in vitro susceptibility testing of interferons against SARS-CoV showed inconsistent results for interferon-ß1a and interferon-α2b ( Cinatl et al., 2003, Hensley et al., 2004 and Stroher et al., 2004), although inhibition of cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV in culture was observed for interferon-ß, interferon-αn1, interferon-αn3, and leukocytic interferon-α ( Tan et al., 2004). Treatment with both interferon-ß and interferon-γ synergistically inhibited SARS-CoV plaque formation by 30-fold and replication by 3000-fold at 24 h, and by more than 105-fold at 48 and 72 h post-infection in Vero E6 cells ( Sainz et al., 2004). Prophylactic treatment of SARS-CoV-infected macaques with pegylated interferon-alpha reduced viral replication and excretion, and viral antigen expression by type 1 pneumocytes ( Haagmans et al., 2004). Before the longitudinal serial viral load profile of SARS-CoV during the course of infection was known, corticosteroid therapy was often used together with ribavirin.

Further experiments are needed to investigate the role RO4929097 solubility dmso of vesicular pH in HCV cell-to-cell transmission, as these results may indicate that p7 activity may be dispensable for this mode of infection. However the studies presented here focus on

existing compounds that specifically target the function of p7 as a viroporin, and do not take into account roles that p7 may play in mediating capsid assembly and envelopment (Gentzsch et al., 2013), HCV assembly complex formation (Shanmugam and Yi, 2013) or other aspects of the viral life cycle. This study has important implications for the therapeutic design and evaluation of agents targeting HCV p7, or other assembly inhibitors, that may inhibit the secretion of virus detected in the periphery but have minimal effect on viral spread within the liver, limiting their therapeutic value. L.W.M. designed experiments, acquired the data and co-wrote the manuscript. N.Z. supplied reagents and

contributed to experimental design. J.A.M. provided check details study supervision and co-wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council, NIHR Centre for Liver Research and The Wellcome Trust. “
“The acyclic nucleotide analogue cidofovir (CDV), 1-[(S)-3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonylmethoxy)-propyl]cytosine, HPMPC, displays potent activity against a broad spectrum of DNA viruses. The intravenous formulation of CDV has been formerly licensed for the treatment of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) retinitis in AIDS patients in 1996. However, this compound is mostly used off-label

for the treatment of severe Exoribonuclease infections caused by various DNA viruses other than HCMV ( De Clercq, 2007 and De Clercq, 2011). Different formulations of CDV have been employed for the management of acyclovir resistant and/or foscavir resistant herpes simplex virus infections, poxvirus-associated diseases including molluscum contagiosum virus and orf virus, life-threatening adenovirus and human polyomavirus (PyV) infections as well as human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated hyperproliferative diseases. A summary of the applications of CDV as an antiviral and antiproliferative agent in the treatment of human diseases is presented in Table 1. CDV belongs to the class of acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs), which are well-known for their antiviral properties. In addition to CDV, two other ANPs got approval for the treatment of viral infections (De Clercq and Holy, 2005, De Clercq, 2007 and De Clercq, 2006). Tenofovir PMPA, (R)-9-[2-(phosphonylmethoxy)propyl]adenine and adefovir PMEA, 9-[(2-phosphonylmethoxy)ethyl]adenine are active against retro- and hepadnaviruses, their oral prodrugs forms being licensed for the therapy of human immune deficiency virus (HIV) (tenofovir) and of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections (tenofovir and adefovir).

This is particularly evident during ILB, that is, a situation requiring a significant rise in inspiratory muscle pressure (Meyer et al., 2001). It is important to note that decreased lower rib cage displacement in CHF patients is not associated to reduced overall chest wall volume variations. This suggests CCI-779 manufacturer the presence of compensatory mechanisms in the upper rib cage and abdominal compartments

Aliverti et al. (1997) observed that, during exercise, abdominal and rib cage muscles play a double role of preventing costly rib cage distortions and unloading the diaphragm so that it acts as a flow generator. Furthermore, the rib cage and abdominal muscles assume the task of developing the pressures selleck screening library required to move the rib cage and abdomen, respectively. This mechanism could be the base of similar compensatory mechanisms observed in the CHF group. Another original finding in the present study was that in both compartments submitted to the action of the diaphragm, namely the lower rib cage and the abdomen, during ILB displacement of the left side was significantly lower than the right in CHF patients, but not among controls. A possible explanation is that cardiomegaly would limit effective diaphragmatic displacement on the left side, where a heart with increased

volume might represent a mechanical load for the diaphragm, altering its normal return to its relaxed position. This hypothesis is supported by Olson et al. (2006) who studied the relationship between cardiac and pulmonary volume in the thoracic cavity of 44 individuals with CHF compared to healthy individuals via radiographic analysis. These authors observed a strong correlation between heart size and pulmonary volume reduction Leukocyte receptor tyrosine kinase for CHF patients. They also suggest that increased cardiac volume and reduced pulmonary volume could contribute to the rapid and shallow breathing frequently observed in this population, particularly during exercise. In another study, the same group (Olson et al.,

2007) evaluated pulmonary function in CHF patients with cardiomegaly and observed lower values of FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and FEF 25–75%. More recently, Olson and Johnson (2011) studied the influence of cardiomegaly on respiratory disorder during exercise in patients with CHF and showed a strong correlation between cardiac volume in tidal volume changes and respiratory frequency during exercise. A limitation of this study is the absence of an additional group for comparison, composed of patients with cardiomegaly related CHF without inspiratory muscle weakness, enabling effects for each of these variables to be evsluated in separadely. However, our data can be extrapolated for patients with CHF associated with muscle weakness, elements commonly found in patients with CHF functional class II or III (NYHA).

As in China, warfare was one of the key instruments that the Korean and Japanese elites used to manage and profit from economic growth and to contend with one another for land and political advantage (Kang, 2000, Rhee et al., 2007, Rhee and Choi, 1992, Shin et al., 2012, Tsude, 1987, Tsude, 1989a, Tsude, 1989b and Tsude, LDN-193189 molecular weight 1990). As had previously happened in China, the new socio-political/economic regime that emerged in

Japan and Korea had profound effects on the natural landscapes of both countries. In both Korea and Japan major anthropogenic landscape change over large areas was fostered by the clearing and irrigating of thousands of square kilometers of new agricultural land in

formerly wooded valley basins. By about a thousand years ago, paddy-field rice agriculture in the lowlands and dryland cropping Selleck LBH589 of cereals and vegetables on higher terrain had come to dominate every suitable valley and river delta of the entire Korean Peninsula and Japanese Archipelago, and densely occupied towns and cities were thickly distributed. Within about 1000–1500 years after the initial Korean flux into Japan, vast landscapes had been reshaped into irrigated field systems laboriously created and maintained by many small and densely occupied peasant farming communities working under the dominion of local lords. The low-lying coastal plain of Kawachi, now dominated by metropolitan Osaka, was made into vast paddy fields by these peasants, who also constructed the elite leadership’s villas, roads, mountain fortresses, and swarms of burial mounds around major centers. The same was true in the Kanto Plain in which metropolitan Tokyo is situated. In both Korea and Japan, many of these elite burial mounds were impressively large, varying in size according

to the wealth of the personage or personages buried in them. The grandest of all burial mounds in Japan or Korea, the Osaka area Kofun attributed to Emperor Nintoku, is 486 meters long and ringed Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II by three moats (Tsude, 1989a). Another aspect of this growth process is seen in the fact that both countries’ formerly dominant woodlands were catastrophically reduced by agricultural clearing and voracious cutting to obtain construction lumber and industrial charcoal. Now it is only in rugged mountain terrain, and long-protected precincts around ancient temples and landmarks, that remnants of Japan’s original woodlands remain (Barnes, 2012, Totman, 1989, Tsude, 1989a and Tsude, 1989b). Coming forward into modern historical times, the ultimate impact of all these anthropogenic forces is powerfully evoked by a few poetic passages in Trewartha’s classic Japan: A Geography (1965, p.

In Northern Eurasia and Beringia (including Siberia and Alaska), 9 genera (35%) of megafauna (Table 3) went extinct in two pulses (Koch and Barnosky, 2006:219). Warm weather adapted megafauna such as straight-tusked elephants, hippos, hemionid horses, and short-faced bears went extinct between 48,000 and 23,000 cal BP and cold-adapted

megafauna such as mammoths went extinct between 14,000 and 11,500 cal BP. In central North America, approximately 34 genera (72%) of large mammals went extinct between about 13,000 and 10,500 years ago, including mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, horses, tapirs, camels, bears, saber-tooth cats, and a variety of Metformin cost other animals (Alroy, 1999, Grayson, 1991 and Grayson, 2007). Selleckchem Alpelisib Large mammals were most heavily affected, but some small mammals, including a skunk and rabbit, also went extinct. South America lost an even larger number and percentage, with 50 megafauna genera (83%) becoming extinct at about the same time. In Australia, some 21 genera (83%) of large marsupials, birds, and reptiles went extinct (Flannery and

Roberts, 1999) approximately 46,000 years ago, including giant kangaroos, wombats, and snakes (Roberts et al., 2001). In the Americas, Eurasia, and Australia, the larger bodied animals with slow reproductive rates were especially prone to extinction (Burney and Flannery, 2005 and Lyons et al., 2004), a pattern that seems to be unique to late Pleistocene extinctions.

According to statistical analyses by Alroy (1999), this late Quaternary extinction episode is more selective for large-bodied animals than any other extinction interval in the last 65 million years. Current evidence suggests that the initial human Pregnenolone colonization of Australia and the Americas at about 50,000 and 15,000 years ago, respectively, and the appearance of AMH in Northern Eurasia beginning about 50,000 years ago coincided with the extinction of these animals, although the influence of humans is still debated (e.g., Brook and Bowman, 2002, Brook and Bowman, 2004, Grayson, 2001, Roberts et al., 2001, Surovell et al., 2005 and Wroe et al., 2004). Many scholars have implicated climate change as the prime mover in megafaunal extinctions (see Wroe et al., 2006). There are a number of variations on the climate change theme, but the most popular implicates rapid changes in climate and vegetation communities as the prime driver of extinctions (Grayson, 2007, Guthrie, 1984 and Owen-Smith, 1988). Extinctions, then, are seen as the result of habitat loss (King and Saunders, 1984), reduced carrying capacity for herbivores (Guthrie, 1984), increased patchiness and resource fragmentation (MacArthur and Pianka, 1966), or disruptions in the co-evolutionary balance between plants, herbivores, and carnivores (Graham and Lundelius, 1984).

The most politically unstable countries today are also places where environmental degradation undermines food production and human suffering is high. Historically and economically

important linkages with these countries serve to destabilize global economic networks. Both conflict and cooperation are used to shore-up these networks and mitigate these negative effects. buy Docetaxel In the Maya case, the proliferation of war for political and economic gain created a sociopolitical and environmental “risk spiral” (Dunning et al., 2012) that ultimately resulted in the widespread fragmentation and asynchronous collapse of polities and ultimately the Classic Period socioeconomic network. The more stable political systems that favored all the trappings of Maya civilization (art, architecture, writing, science) were reduced and reorganized. In forging the links with this human past, the modern world will require creative and adaptive leadership, informed by the success and failure of our predecessors, to provide

a way forward as we confront the unprecedented magnitude of environmental change in the Anthropocene. Funding for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation (HSD-0827305 GSK1210151A purchase [Kennett], BCS-0940744 [Kennett]). We thank Jon Erlandson and Todd Braje for inviting us to participate in this landmark special issue and for editing our manuscript. We also thank David Webster, Keith Prufer, James Kennett, Valorie diglyceride Aquino and two anonymous reviewers for valuable conversations, comments and information that have helped us improve the manuscript. “
“When did humans first begin to exert significant influences over the Earth’s environment? In the decade since Crutzen, 2002a and Crutzen, 2002b first began to address this question, most scientists have supported a short chronology (two centuries or less) for the commencement of the Anthropocene, typically

beginning with the Industrial Revolution (ca. AD 1800) or the commencement of open air atomic weapons testing in the 1960s that unleashed a globally identifiable signal of radioactive isotopes (Steffen et al., 2011 and Zalasiewicz et al., 2011). In contrast, a few other scholars, including the authors in this special issue of the Anthropocene, propose a long chronology for when human domination of the globe started (e.g., Braje and Rick, 2011, Jackson et al., 2001, Rick and Erlandson, 2008, Ruddiman, 2003 and Smith and Zelder, 2013). In employing the great time depth of archeological and paleoecological research, they argue that humans have altered the globe’s ecosystems in important and far-reaching ways for millennia. We are tasked with assessing the degree to which anthropogenic transformations took place in early historic times with the dawn of globalization, particularly European colonialism in the Americas from about 1500 to the early 1800s.

3). Combining the three catchments allows us to get a complete picture of the potential impact of anthropogenic disturbances in land cover for the Ecuadorian Andes. Three sites were selected for this study (Table 1). The Llavircay catchment (24 km2), the first site, is located in the Eastern Ecuadorian Cordillera. The two other study sites, the Virgen Yacu and Panza catchments (respectively 11 and 30 km2) are located within the Pangor catchment (283 km3) in the Western Cordillera

(Fig. 4). Topography is rather similar in the three sites. Elevation varies from 1438 m to 4427 m in Pangor and from 2017 m to 3736 m in Llavircay. Rivers are deeply incised and slope gradients are very steep (Fig. 4) with half of the slopes having check details slope gradients above 25° in Pangor and with one third MLN8237 of the Llavircay slopes above the mean angle of internal friction (estimated at 30° according to Basabe, 1998). The bedrock geology is composed of meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks; with andesite, rhyolite, limestone, conglomerate and chert in Pangor and phyllite, shale and quartzite in Llavircay. The Pangor catchment is exposed to the Pacific Ocean and influenced by El Niño. The climate can be described as equatorial mesothermic semi-humid to humid ( Pourrut, 1994). Mean annual precipitation is about 1400 mm but there is a high inter-annual

variability, with annual precipitation ranging between 475 mm (2002) and 3700 mm (1994) ( INAMHI, 2009). On the other hand, the Llavircay catchment is subjected to a warm and humid tropical climate ( Winckell PI3K inhibitor et al., 1997) with mean annual precipitation of about 1330 mm and few inter-annual variability ( INAMHI, 2009). Detailed land cover maps of the three sites were constructed from aerial photographs, field surveys and a very high resolution image (for Pangor only). Aerial photographs at a 1:60,000 scale were available from the Instituto Geografico Militar for the years 1963, 1977 and 1989 (for Pangor) and 1963, 1973,

1983 and 1995 (for Llavircay). The very high resolution WorldviewII image was taken the 10th of September 2010 and has a spatial resolution of 2 m for multi-spectral bands and 0.5 m for panchromatic band. Field trips were realised in 2008, 2010 and 2011 to complete and validate the detailed land cover mapping. The land cover classification on aerial photographs was performed manually using a WILD stereoscope following Vanacker et al. (2000). The Worldview image was classified using visual interpretation of different false colour composite (band compositing) in ArcGIS. Spectral response patterns, texture analysis of the photographs (Lillesand and Keifer, 1994 and Gagnmon, 1974) and field validation allowed to distinguish eight land cover classes (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig.

strigosum colonizes the stomach with a preference for the fundus compared to the antrum [22] and [24]. We previously showed that rabbits single infected with T. retortaeformis mounted a mixed IFN-γ/IL-4 mucosal immune response where IFN-γ appeared to be associated to tissue damage and microflora infiltration during larval establishment, while IL-4 was directed at controlling

parasite abundance NVP-BEZ235 purchase [22]. Hosts were unable to clear T. retortaeformis when single infected but did so successfully when co-infected with B. bronchiseptica [19] and [22]. Single infections of rabbits with G. strigosum showed a strong mucosal IL-4 but low IL-10 response with parasite persistence throughout the infection [22]. Based on these observations, we predicted strong bystander

effects of B. bronchiseptica on cytokine expression against the helminths and this would have been more apparent for T. retortaeformis, which induces a mixed type1/type2 response, than G. strigosum, which elicits a strong type 2 reaction [18], [19] and [22]. We also predicted the helminths to affect IFN-γ but not IL-10 against the bacterium. Cytokines were measured at the sites of infection, as indicative of a local response, and in the lymph nodes, spleen as well as uninfected stomach and small intestine (depending on the type of infection) to describe systemic effects. Our results are discussed in relation to patterns of bacteria–helminth immune-mediated interactions across infection types and the role of cytokines in maintaining local immune homeostasis. JAK inhibitor The general experimental design and procedures were performed as outlined in Pathak et al. [18] and Murphy et al. [22]. All listed animal protocols were pre-approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of The Pennsylvania State University (USA) and the Home Farnesyltransferase Office of the University of Glasgow (UK). Briefly, 60-day old, male New Zealand White rabbits were challenged with either a primary single infection (B. bronchiseptica or T. retortaeformis), a simultaneous primary

infection with two (B. bronchiseptica+T. retortaeformis, B. bronchiseptica+G. strigosum, T. retortaeformis+G. strigosum) or three pathogens (B. bronchiseptica+T. retortaeformis+G. strigosum). A total of 6 experiments were performed. Rabbits were intranasally inoculated with 20,000 CFUs of B. bronchiseptica RB50 in 1 ml of sterile PBS solution (gift of Dr. Eric Harvill, The Pennsylvania State University) and/or infected with helminths by oral gavage of 3 ml mineral water solution containing 5500 L3 T. retortaeformis and/or 670 L3 G. strigosum (larvae were collected from pure cultures maintained at PSU). Control individuals were sham-inoculated with sterile PBS or mineral water. For each experiment we used 4 infected and 2 control animals. Individuals were euthanized at 7 DPI with 1 ml of Euthasol (Mid-West Scientific, PA, USA).

The activation time was 7 min, followed by a 7 min ligand injection. Deactivation of the remaining active esters was performed by a 7 min injection of ethanolamine/hydrochloride [pH 8.5]. A flow rate of 5 μL/min was used during immobilization and measurement procedures. HSPG (≥400 μg/mL protein and 400 μg/mL glycosaminoglycan) was diluted in a ratio of 1:10 in 10 mM acetate buffer [pH 4.5] below the isoelectric point of the protein, thus enhancing the electrostatic interactions between the dextran matrix and the ligand. The contact time was 7 min, which resulted in immobilization levels around 15,000 response units (RU). Serum samples were diluted in a ratio of

1:20 in PBS [pH 7.4] (Apoteket AB, Umeå, Sweden). An equal mixture of 1 M NaCl and 10 mM glycine [pH 2] followed by one injection of borate [pH 8.5] FRAX597 datasheet was used as a regeneration buffer. A positive and a negative control were included at the beginning and at the end of each run to confirm the reliability of the surfaces. The data were normally distributed after logarithmation and analyzed by repeated measures of ANOVA followed by Neuman–Keuls

Post Hoc test, Trichostatin A mouse using Statistica Software and/or Graph Pad Prism. P-values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant and results are expressed as mean±SD. The periodontal status was distributed as following: gingivitis n=12, moderate periodontitis n=14, severe periodontitis n=10. 14 (39%) of the patients were positive for P. gingivalis and 22 (61%) negative ( Table 1). Periodontal conditions are shown in Table 2. Prior to the PCI intervention, the mean Resminostat HGF concentration in the patient group was significantly higher (P<0.001) than in the age-matched healthy control group, and the HGF concentration did not significantly differ between sampling times ( Table 1). Additionally,

there were no differences in HGF levels between the groups with different periodontal status ( Fig. 1A), neither between groups negative or positive for P. gingivalis in periodontal pockets ( Fig. 1C) ( Table 1). The HGF serum concentration fluctuated adversely to the binding affinity to HSPG (which indicates the biological activity of HGF); the mean HGF concentration increased 24 h after the PCI intervention in patients without periodontitis (patients with gingivitis), while the binding affinity to HSPG at the same time decreased. After one month the HGF concentration showed the lowest level, while the affinity to HSPG reached the highest peak at the same time (P<0.05; binding affinity to HSPG 24 h vs. one month in patients with gingivitis) ( Fig. 1). As observed in previous studies of chronic inflammatory diseases [13], we demonstrate in this study significantly higher serum concentration of HGF in patients with CAD, compared to an age/sex-matched control group.