Therefore, it is essential to define in a specialized comprehensi

Therefore, it is essential to define in a specialized comprehensive care setting when and which prophylaxis should be given. Introduction  Rare bleeding disorders include the inherited deficiencies of fibrinogen, FII, FV, FV+VIII, FVII, FX, FXI, FXIII and combined deficiency of vitamin-K dependent factors. Recent issues of Haemophilia (November 2008) and Seminars of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (June 2009) have covered the main available treatments

for RBDs. The personal and familial history of each patient needs to be taken into account before choosing the most appropriate therapeutic approach. Tigecycline price Dosages and frequency of treatments depend on the minimal haemostatic level of the deficient factor (a matter of controversy), its plasma half-life (which varies with age and even in individuals with the same age and the same level of factor)

and the type of bleeding episode [6]. Replacement therapy is effective in treating bleeding episodes in RBDs. Depending on their availability, patients receive fresh frozen plasma (FFP), cryoprecipitate or factor concentrates. The latter is the treatment of choice because RXDX-106 datasheet it is safer than FFP or cryoprecipitate (decreased risk of blood-borne pathogen transmission), there is no fluid overload and more precise dosing can be accomplished. If the evidence for the optimal use of products in case of replacement therapy in RBDs is already limited, it is almost non-existent for prophylaxis (FXIII being an exception). Discussion  The conventional treatment (treatment on demand) for most RBD is episodic treatment administered as soon as possible after onset of bleeding. The other approach (prophylaxis) consists of giving either products from an early age to prevent bleeding and, in case of surgery or pregnancy, to prevent bleeding and/or miscarriage (primary prophylaxis) or after bleeding to prevent recurrences (secondary prophylaxis). The UK guidelines on therapeutic products for coagulation disorders provide recommendations about the best treatment options (dosage, management of bleeding, surgery and pregnancy as well as prophylaxis)

for RBDs [7]. In theory, prophylactic administration of factors is the best option for patients with severe RBDs. However, this option has Mirabegron to be counter-balanced by the possible transmission of infectious agents, allergic reactions, venous access problems, development of inhibitors, risk of thrombotic complications, Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury due to cytotoxic antibodies contained in the infused plasma, and cost. Furthermore, even for some severe RBDs, patients can bleed less than severe haemophiliacs and long asymptomatic periods are not uncommon. For example, in a retrospective survey on patients with afibrinogenaemia (or severe hypofibrinogenaemia), the mean annual incidence of bleeding episodes in patients treated on demand was 0.7 (0–16.5) whereas it was 0.5 (0–2.

We recorded 1,232 boat visits during 2012 and 2013 Subadult male

We recorded 1,232 boat visits during 2012 and 2013. Subadult males were the age/sex class most affected in the breeding site, followed by adult females at the nonbreeding site. More disturbing conduct by tourists, longer visitation time, and vessels closer to the colony caused greater responses by sea lions. The established minimum distance from the colony is not enforced, generating an adverse response by sea lions. We recommend the development of management plans with the local coastal communities to decrease the impact of ecotourism on the species and enhance

the sustainability of this industry. “
“This book is an encyclopedic summary of the history and biology of the three Australian species of eared seals (otariids), namely the Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus), the New Zealand fur seal (Arctophoca australis forsteri), and the Australian sea

lion (Neophoca cinerea). It includes selleck a thorough summary of the research conducted on these species to date. The book is well written and edited, logical in its organization, and comprehensive. The writing style uses comfortable, short explanatory sentences while avoiding or at least defining technical terms. The book begins by describing the bathymetric and oceanographic environment in which the local species breed, and forecasting possible redistributions selleck screening library that could result from ongoing ocean warming. Some background in science is required to appreciate Astemizole the complexity of how these environmental factors interact. The book then proceeds to chapters on evolution and recent history, anatomy, and physiology related to aquatic life, a highly detailed description of the three species and the various islands on which they breed, reproductive biology, foraging behavior,

population biology, and conservation and management. Altogether the chapters lay out most of what the nonscientist audience would want to know about Australian fur seals and sea lions, and much of what the research community would like to know when they compare these three species with eared seals elsewhere. Otariid researchers will be pleased to find in this book all past census records, results, and methods for Australian eared seals in one place. In the past, the older fur seal and sea lion data from Australia were published in sources that were generally not available to researchers outside the country. The book also gives a good summary of present population sizes and trends, as well as the diseases and pathologies that act as population factors. Three analyses were particularly interesting. Figure 7.1 in the book shows clearly the ability of eared seal populations to recover when seal harvesting ends. Figure 8.5 is an excellent schematic of the marine food web involving the three local otariid species. And, Chapter 8 analyzes seal/fisheries interactions with a clarity that fishermen elsewhere should heed.


“Our goal was to determine whether single-nucleotide polym


“Our goal was to determine whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of telomere maintenance genes influence the development and clinical outcomes of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated 20 SNPs of five telomere maintenance genes in 702 patients with HCC and 351

hepatitis B virus surface antigen-positive controls without HCC. Significant SNPs were then validated in an independent cohort of selleck kinase inhibitor 857 HCC patients and 429 controls. We assessed the association of each SNP with the development of HCC and overall survival through a multivariate Cox proportional analysis. A significantly increased risk of HCC development was identified for the telomerase-associated protein 1 (TEP1) rs1713449 SNP in both the discovery and replication phases (combined

odds ratio = 1.42, P = 9.378 × 10−5). In addition, the TEP1 rs1713449, TEP1 rs872072, protection of telomeres 1 homolog rs7784168, telomerase Protease Inhibitor Library purchase reverse transcriptase rs13167280, and telomeric repeat binding factor 1 rs2306494 SNPs had a significant effect on the overall survival, and a similar survival effect was validated in the replication cohort. Moreover, there was a significant dose-dependent association between the number of putatively high-risk genotypes of the five aforementioned SNPs and overall survival. The median survival time was significantly prolonged for patients with HCC with two or fewer putatively high-risk genotypes versus those with three or more high-risk genotypes (85 versus 44 months, log-rank P = 4.483 × 10−5), and this was demonstrated in the replication cohort (52 versus 37 months, log-rank P = 0.026). Conclusion: These observations suggest that the SNPs of telomere maintenance genes play a potential role in the development of HCC and the survival of HCC patients with chronic HBV infections. (Hepatology 2014;59:1912–1920) “
“Cardiac

glands (CG), along with oxyntocardiac glands, in a normal human constitute cardiac mucosa (CM) that is positioned in the proximal stomach with a length of 10–30 mm, according to traditional teaching. This doctrine has been recently challenged. GNA12 On the basis of studies on autopsy and biopsy materials in the esophagogastric junction region, some investigators have reported the presence of CG in only 50% of the general US population. They believed that CG were an acquired, metaplastic lesion as a result of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Subsequent recent study results from other research groups showed the presence of CG in the proximal stomach in embryos, fetuses, pediatric, and adult patients in most Europeans and Americans, and almost all Japanese and Chinese patients.

O estimulador

do gânglio esfenopalatino é aprovado na Eur

O estimulador

do gânglio esfenopalatino é aprovado na Europa para uso em cefaleia em salvas crônica. Estudos sobre estimulação não invasiva do nervo vago, uso do estimulador do gânglio esfenopalatino e estimulação do nervo occipital serão realizados nos EUA em 2014. Até o momento nenhum desses dispositivos para neuromodulação foi aprovação pelo FDA para uso nos EUA. Para encontrar mais recursos visite The American Obeticholic Acid Migraine Foundation (http://kaywa.me/ir2eb) “
“The practice of headache medicine is challenging, and excluding secondary causes of headaches is essential for proper diagnosis and treatment. The evaluation of secondary headaches often leads to investigations involving organ systems other than the nervous system. As such, headache, which is typically thought to be neurologic in origin, can be a manifestation of cardiac pathology in the form of cardiac cephalalgia. Conversely, chest pain, which is typically thought compound screening assay to be cardiac in origin, could be a manifestation of a neurologic disease process in the form of atypical migraine aura. In the presented cases, we demonstrate headaches that involve cardiac and neurologic pathology with atypical presentations. “
“Though thyroid growths are considered to be a frequent cause of Horner’s

syndrome, concurrent headache attacks are not commonly seen. A 63-year-old woman presented with severe, daily occurring, unilateral headache attacks with ipsilateral Horner’s

syndrome. Magnetic resonance imaging arteriography showed a multinodular goiter displacing the left common carotid artery. This case exemplifies the combination of headache attacks and Horner’s syndrome due to mechanical pressure of an enlarged thyroid, mimicking the symptoms both of carotid dissection as well as trigeminal autonomic cephalgias like paroxysmal hemicrania. “
“The International Classification of Headache Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase Disorders, 3rd Edition (ICHD-3) beta version defines migrainous infarction as 1 or more otherwise typical aura symptoms that persist beyond 1 hour with neuroimaging confirmation of an ischemic infarction in the affected territory.[1] Here we describe a woman with migraine with brainstem aura, who experienced acute-onset left sensorimotor deficits in addition to her typical aura symptoms in the midst of a prolonged, but otherwise typical attack. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed a pontine lesion consistent with an ischemic stroke. Our case illustrates potential limitations of the ICHD-3 beta definition of migrainous infarction. Our patient developed episodic headaches that fulfilled ICHD-3 beta criteria for episodic migraine without aura in her adolescence.[1] At the age of 30, she began to experience episodes of transient neurological symptoms antecedent to her typical headache attacks.

We thus analyzed whether TCR-L/IFNα could increase the effect of

We thus analyzed whether TCR-L/IFNα could increase the effect of HBV-specific CD8T cell recognition. We utilized HepG2 cells as target cells and HBV-specific CD8T cells as effectors and tested the effect of TCR-L/IFNα on CD8T activation (IFNγ production) as well as the effect on target cells (secretion IFNγ inducible chemokines CXCL-9 and CXCL-10). To avoid competition between

TCR-L/IFNα and HBV-specific CD8T cells for the identical HLA-class I/HBV peptide complexes, we tested the effect of cTCR-L/IFNα (specific for HBc18-27/A*02:01) on HBs183-91-specific CD8T cells by using HepG2 cells pulsed with both HBs183-91 SP600125 nmr and HBc18-27 peptides. Figure 6C shows that the CD8T cell function was neither affected by the presence of cTCR-L/IFNα nor by an IgG1/IFNα control (Fig. 6C, CD8) This is consistent with the minor effect of cTCR-L/IFNα on HLA-class I expression in HepG2. However, by measuring the concentration of chemokines Ribociclib molecular weight present in the supernatants under different experimental conditions, we could demonstrate that TCR-L/IFNα induces specific alteration of target cell responsiveness. Despite identical HBV-specific CD8T activation, chemokine production by target was increased specifically by cTCR-L/IFNα but not by control IgG1/IFNα (Fig. 6C). Importantly, the fusion proteins did not activate chemokine production without concomitant CD8T cell activation.

The ability of TCR-L/IFNα RVX-208 to increase chemokine production on specific target cells was further investigated by incubating IFNγ-treated HepG2 cells with sTCR-L/IFNα and analyzing their CXCL-10 production. Only HBs183-91 pulsed cells incubated with sTCR-L/IFNα displayed an increase in CXCL-10 production (Supporting Fig. 3). In this work we demonstrate that TCR-L antibodies can be used to deliver a cytokine selectively to HBV-infected cells. IFNα was chosen as a proof-of-concept

therapeutic molecule for a number of reasons. IFNα has been used for many years for the treatment of patients with various cancers or viral diseases. In addition, IFNα has demonstrated efficacy in clearing HBV infection with evidence for both direct antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. We found that genetic fusion of IFNα to TCR-L altered the biological activity of IFNα, resulting in a molecule that maintains its full IFNα activity only on cells expressing the correct HBV-peptide HLA-complex. Linking IFNα to other molecules (like Peg or albumin) has been previously described to reduce its biological activity substantially, which might be due to steric hindrance that prevents the binding of the cytokine to its receptor.18, 19 Our data are consistent with previous reports of conjugation impact on intrinsic IFNα activity but also show that specific binding of TCR-L/IFNα to target cells through recognition of the cognate HBV peptide/HLA complex can unmask the full biological activity of the IFNα on the target cells.

We thus analyzed whether TCR-L/IFNα could increase the effect of

We thus analyzed whether TCR-L/IFNα could increase the effect of HBV-specific CD8T cell recognition. We utilized HepG2 cells as target cells and HBV-specific CD8T cells as effectors and tested the effect of TCR-L/IFNα on CD8T activation (IFNγ production) as well as the effect on target cells (secretion IFNγ inducible chemokines CXCL-9 and CXCL-10). To avoid competition between

TCR-L/IFNα and HBV-specific CD8T cells for the identical HLA-class I/HBV peptide complexes, we tested the effect of cTCR-L/IFNα (specific for HBc18-27/A*02:01) on HBs183-91-specific CD8T cells by using HepG2 cells pulsed with both HBs183-91 PLX-4720 molecular weight and HBc18-27 peptides. Figure 6C shows that the CD8T cell function was neither affected by the presence of cTCR-L/IFNα nor by an IgG1/IFNα control (Fig. 6C, CD8) This is consistent with the minor effect of cTCR-L/IFNα on HLA-class I expression in HepG2. However, by measuring the concentration of chemokines PF-562271 mw present in the supernatants under different experimental conditions, we could demonstrate that TCR-L/IFNα induces specific alteration of target cell responsiveness. Despite identical HBV-specific CD8T activation, chemokine production by target was increased specifically by cTCR-L/IFNα but not by control IgG1/IFNα (Fig. 6C). Importantly, the fusion proteins did not activate chemokine production without concomitant CD8T cell activation.

The ability of TCR-L/IFNα Sorafenib ic50 to increase chemokine production on specific target cells was further investigated by incubating IFNγ-treated HepG2 cells with sTCR-L/IFNα and analyzing their CXCL-10 production. Only HBs183-91 pulsed cells incubated with sTCR-L/IFNα displayed an increase in CXCL-10 production (Supporting Fig. 3). In this work we demonstrate that TCR-L antibodies can be used to deliver a cytokine selectively to HBV-infected cells. IFNα was chosen as a proof-of-concept

therapeutic molecule for a number of reasons. IFNα has been used for many years for the treatment of patients with various cancers or viral diseases. In addition, IFNα has demonstrated efficacy in clearing HBV infection with evidence for both direct antiviral and immunomodulatory effects. We found that genetic fusion of IFNα to TCR-L altered the biological activity of IFNα, resulting in a molecule that maintains its full IFNα activity only on cells expressing the correct HBV-peptide HLA-complex. Linking IFNα to other molecules (like Peg or albumin) has been previously described to reduce its biological activity substantially, which might be due to steric hindrance that prevents the binding of the cytokine to its receptor.18, 19 Our data are consistent with previous reports of conjugation impact on intrinsic IFNα activity but also show that specific binding of TCR-L/IFNα to target cells through recognition of the cognate HBV peptide/HLA complex can unmask the full biological activity of the IFNα on the target cells.

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations In the curren

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations. In the current version of the ITA.LI.CA database, data regarding tumor recurrence after treatment are not

available, and therefore in this study the influence of alpha-fetoprotein levels on some important composite Navitoclax ic50 endpoints such as recurrence plus death could not be assessed. Furthermore, as expected in our country, hepatitis virus infection was the cause of cirrhosis in most cases, and therefore it remains to be established whether these results can be generalized to HCC patients with other etiologies.48, 49 Lastly, although the ITA.LI.CA database includes more than 3,000 HCC patients, the selection Selleckchem EPZ-6438 criteria for this study were very strict, and therefore the study population was limited to 205 patients. A post-hoc analysis shows that this sample size had a statistical power of 22% to detect a difference between the observed 5-year survival rates of patients with alpha-fetoprotein below (61%) and above (55%) 20 ng/mL. With such survival rates, a sample size

of 2,118 patients with compensated cirrhosis and single, small HCC treated with curative intent, derived from a population of more than 30,000 patients with HCC, would have been needed to achieve a power of 80%. All in all, we feel that even these figures, if framed in the context of clinical practice, confirm the bland prognostic potential of alpha-fetoprotein in the subset of patients we selected. In conclusion, we found that serum alpha-fetoprotein has no prognostic role in compensated cirrhosis patients with a single, small HCC diagnosed during surveillance and treated with curative intent. These findings emphasize the futility of serum alpha-fetoprotein determination in a clinical setting where surveillance for HCC may provide its maximal benefit in terms of amenability to curative treatment and patients survival. New, more accurate markers are therefore needed to improve our current ability

to predict the outcome of patients diagnosed with early HCC. Other members of the ITA.LI.CA group: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Alma Mater Studiorum, Metformin clinical trial Università di Bologna, Italy: Mauro Bernardi, Maurizio Biselli, Romina Cassini, Paolo Caraceni, Marco Domenicali, Virginia Erroi, Marta Frigerio, Annagiulia Gramenzi, Barbara Lenzi. Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, dell’Invecchiamento e Malattie Nefrologiche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Italy: Donatella Magalotti. Divisione di Medicina, Azienda Ospedaliera Bolognini, Seriate, Italy: Claudia Balsamo, Maria Di Marco, Elena Vavassori. Divisione di Medicina, Ospedale Treviglio-Caravaggio, Treviglio, Italy: Lodovico Gilardoni, Mario Mattiello.

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations In the curren

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations. In the current version of the ITA.LI.CA database, data regarding tumor recurrence after treatment are not

available, and therefore in this study the influence of alpha-fetoprotein levels on some important composite selleckchem endpoints such as recurrence plus death could not be assessed. Furthermore, as expected in our country, hepatitis virus infection was the cause of cirrhosis in most cases, and therefore it remains to be established whether these results can be generalized to HCC patients with other etiologies.48, 49 Lastly, although the ITA.LI.CA database includes more than 3,000 HCC patients, the selection Dabrafenib cell line criteria for this study were very strict, and therefore the study population was limited to 205 patients. A post-hoc analysis shows that this sample size had a statistical power of 22% to detect a difference between the observed 5-year survival rates of patients with alpha-fetoprotein below (61%) and above (55%) 20 ng/mL. With such survival rates, a sample size

of 2,118 patients with compensated cirrhosis and single, small HCC treated with curative intent, derived from a population of more than 30,000 patients with HCC, would have been needed to achieve a power of 80%. All in all, we feel that even these figures, if framed in the context of clinical practice, confirm the bland prognostic potential of alpha-fetoprotein in the subset of patients we selected. In conclusion, we found that serum alpha-fetoprotein has no prognostic role in compensated cirrhosis patients with a single, small HCC diagnosed during surveillance and treated with curative intent. These findings emphasize the futility of serum alpha-fetoprotein determination in a clinical setting where surveillance for HCC may provide its maximal benefit in terms of amenability to curative treatment and patients survival. New, more accurate markers are therefore needed to improve our current ability

to predict the outcome of patients diagnosed with early HCC. Other members of the ITA.LI.CA group: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Alma Mater Studiorum, Cediranib (AZD2171) Università di Bologna, Italy: Mauro Bernardi, Maurizio Biselli, Romina Cassini, Paolo Caraceni, Marco Domenicali, Virginia Erroi, Marta Frigerio, Annagiulia Gramenzi, Barbara Lenzi. Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, dell’Invecchiamento e Malattie Nefrologiche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Italy: Donatella Magalotti. Divisione di Medicina, Azienda Ospedaliera Bolognini, Seriate, Italy: Claudia Balsamo, Maria Di Marco, Elena Vavassori. Divisione di Medicina, Ospedale Treviglio-Caravaggio, Treviglio, Italy: Lodovico Gilardoni, Mario Mattiello.

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations In the curren

46, 47 This study undoubtedly has some limitations. In the current version of the ITA.LI.CA database, data regarding tumor recurrence after treatment are not

available, and therefore in this study the influence of alpha-fetoprotein levels on some important composite Z-VAD-FMK supplier endpoints such as recurrence plus death could not be assessed. Furthermore, as expected in our country, hepatitis virus infection was the cause of cirrhosis in most cases, and therefore it remains to be established whether these results can be generalized to HCC patients with other etiologies.48, 49 Lastly, although the ITA.LI.CA database includes more than 3,000 HCC patients, the selection PFT�� price criteria for this study were very strict, and therefore the study population was limited to 205 patients. A post-hoc analysis shows that this sample size had a statistical power of 22% to detect a difference between the observed 5-year survival rates of patients with alpha-fetoprotein below (61%) and above (55%) 20 ng/mL. With such survival rates, a sample size

of 2,118 patients with compensated cirrhosis and single, small HCC treated with curative intent, derived from a population of more than 30,000 patients with HCC, would have been needed to achieve a power of 80%. All in all, we feel that even these figures, if framed in the context of clinical practice, confirm the bland prognostic potential of alpha-fetoprotein in the subset of patients we selected. In conclusion, we found that serum alpha-fetoprotein has no prognostic role in compensated cirrhosis patients with a single, small HCC diagnosed during surveillance and treated with curative intent. These findings emphasize the futility of serum alpha-fetoprotein determination in a clinical setting where surveillance for HCC may provide its maximal benefit in terms of amenability to curative treatment and patients survival. New, more accurate markers are therefore needed to improve our current ability

to predict the outcome of patients diagnosed with early HCC. Other members of the ITA.LI.CA group: Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Alma Mater Studiorum, Urocanase Università di Bologna, Italy: Mauro Bernardi, Maurizio Biselli, Romina Cassini, Paolo Caraceni, Marco Domenicali, Virginia Erroi, Marta Frigerio, Annagiulia Gramenzi, Barbara Lenzi. Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, dell’Invecchiamento e Malattie Nefrologiche, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Italy: Donatella Magalotti. Divisione di Medicina, Azienda Ospedaliera Bolognini, Seriate, Italy: Claudia Balsamo, Maria Di Marco, Elena Vavassori. Divisione di Medicina, Ospedale Treviglio-Caravaggio, Treviglio, Italy: Lodovico Gilardoni, Mario Mattiello.

9 PUMA expression is reduced in melanoma tumor tissue,10 and loss

9 PUMA expression is reduced in melanoma tumor tissue,10 and loss of PUMA dramatically accelerated myc-induced lymphomagenesis in vivo.11 Concomitant loss of PUMA and BIM in respective knockout mice exacerbated hyperplasia of lymphatic organs and promoted spontaneous malignancies.12 Loss Selleck Small molecule library of PUMA- and BAX/BAK-dependent apoptosis also enhanced tumorigenesis in a hypoxia-induced tumor model.13 In the liver, JNK1-dependent PUMA expression induced hepatocyte lipoapoptosis.14 Moreover, BIM and PUMA induction and BAX activation by

palmitate induced apoptosis in hepatocytes.15 BIM and BID are critical contributors in hepatocyte apoptosis caused by TNF-β in vivo.16 TNF-β can cooperate with FasL to induce hepatocyte apoptosis by activating BIM and BID.17 These results demonstrate that PUMA and BIM can function as tumor suppressors in mice. Recent studies have demonstrated that NOX4 as a source of oxidative stress promotes apoptosis in vascular endothelial cells18 and hepatocytes,19 mitochondrial

dysfunction in cardiac myocytes,20, 21 and cellular senescence in hepatocytes.22 To further understand STAT5′s role as a liver-specific tumor suppressor, we identified novel STAT5 target genes in liver and mouse embryonic fibroblasts. This study explores for the first time the link between STAT5 and NOX4 and the apoptotic proteins PUMA and BIM. Stat5f/f;Alb-Cre mice were generated by breeding Stat5f/f mice with Alb-Cre transgenic mice.23Stat5f/f Daporinad in vitro Benzatropine and Alb-Cre transgenic mice were on a mixed background. Only 8- to 68-week-old male mice were used in the experiments unless indicated otherwise. Animals were treated humanely, and experiments and procedures were performed according to the protocol approved by the Animal Use and Care Committee at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Hepatic fibrosis in mice was induced by intraperitoneal injection with 2 mL/kg body weight of 10% CCl4 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) dissolved in olive oil (Sigma, St.

Louis, MO) three times per week for 12 weeks. For growth hormone (GH) stimulation, mice were injected intraperitoneally with GH (2 μg/g body weight) (mouse GH, National Hormone and Peptide Program, NIDDK). Mice were euthanized 4 hours after injection, and livers were harvested for analyses. Mouse hepatocyte AML12 cells were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA) and cultured in a 1:1 mixture of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium and Ham’s F12 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 5 μg/mL insulin, 5 μg/mL transferrin, 5 ng/mL selenium, and 40 ng/mL dexamethasone at 37°C with 5% CO2. In brief, liver tissue was lysed by adding NuPAGE LDS Sample buffer (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Western blotting was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Invitrogen).