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The α1b-adrenergic receptor expression was upregulated by norepinephrine. Interestingly, norepinephrine did not inhibit the expression of IGFBP1 in endometrial stromal cells after silencing α1b-adrenergic receptor, while significantly suppressed the induced decidualization with overexpression of α1b-adrenergic receptor. When α1b-adrenergic receptor was activated, endometrial p-PKC was significantly increased under post-treatment with norepinephrine in vivo and in vitro. In addition, norepinephrine treatment inhibited embryo and fetal development using a normal pregnancy model. Therefore, norepinephrine exposure inhibited endometrial decidualization through the activation of the PKC signaling pathway by upregulating α1b-adrenergic receptor. Our study could explain some female reproductive problems due to stress and provide some novel strategies for this disorder.Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) interacts with its adaptor protein NOS1AP through its PZD domain in the neurons. Previously, we had reported that NOS1AP enhanced hepatic insulin sensitivity through its PZD-binding domain, which suggested that nNOS might mediate the effect of NOS1AP. This study aimed to examine the role and underlying mechanisms of nNOS in regulating hepatic insulin sensitivity. nNOS co-localized with NOS1AP in mouse liver. The overexpression of NOS1AP in mouse liver decreased the level of phosphorylated nNOS (p-nNOS (Ser1417)), the active form of nNOS. Conversely, the liver-specific deletion of NOS1AP increased the level of p-nNOS (Ser1417). The overexpression of nNOS in the liver of high-fat diet-induced obese mice exacerbated glucose intolerance, enhanced intrahepatic lipid accumulation, decreased glycogen storage, and blunted insulin-induced phosphorylation of IRbeta and Akt in the liver. Similarly, nNOS overexpression increased triglyceride production, decreased glucose utilization, and downregulated insulin-induced expression of p-IRbeta, p-Akt, and p-GSK3beta in the HepG2 cells. In contrast, treatment with Nω-propyl-L-arginine (L-NPA), a selective nNOS inhibitor, improved glucose tolerance and upregulated insulin-induced phosphorylation of IRbeta and Akt in the liver of ob/ob mice. Furthermore, overexpression of nNOS increased p38MAPK phosphorylation in the HepG2 cells. In contrast, inhibition of p38MAPK with SB203580 significantly reversed the nNOS-induced inhibition of insulin-signaling activity (all P less then 0.05). This indicated that hepatic nNOS inhibited the insulin-signaling pathway through the activation of p38MAPK. These findings suggest that nNOS is involved in the development of hepatic insulin resistance and that nNOS might be a potential therapeutic target for diabetes.

Pituitary apoplexy is an acute syndrome of haemorrhage or infarction into the pituitary. The condition is relatively well-described. Less well-described is sub-acute presentation of the same condition.

To compare the clinical presentation and natural history of subacute pituitary haemorrhage/infarction with pituitary apoplexy (acute).

Retrospective analysis of a consecutive cohort of 55 patients (33 with pituitary apoplexy, 22 with subacute disease) presenting to University Hospital Plymouth between 1994 and 2019. Comparison of the clinical, endocrinological and radiological features at presentation. Comparison of clinical treatment and subsequent outcomes for the two groups.

There were no significant differences in predisposing factors for the two groups. Acute headache was more frequent in the acute group. Chronic headache was common in both groups prior to presentation. Low sodium was more common at presentation in the acute group (11/26 vs 2/19 P = 0.02) otherwise there were no differences in endocrine deficit at presentation. A significant proportion showed an improvement in endocrine function at follow up (acute 8/31, subacute 5/21 P = 1.0). MRI characteristics were variable at presentation and follow up in both groups. Ring enhancement with contrast was more frequent in acute (14/20 vs 3/11 P = 0.03). This appearance resolved at follow up in the majority.

Pituitary apoplexy has a characteristic and dramatic presentation. Subacute pituitary haemorrhage/infarction shows similar natural history and outcome. These conditions would appear to represent a spectrum of the same condition.

Pituitary apoplexy has a characteristic and dramatic presentation. Subacute pituitary haemorrhage/infarction shows similar natural history and outcome. These conditions would appear to represent a spectrum of the same condition.[This corrects the article DOI 10.2196/18345.].

COVID-19 has thrust video consulting into the limelight, as health care practitioners worldwide shift to delivering care remotely. Evidence suggests that video consulting is acceptable, safe, and effective in selected conditions and settings. However, research to date has mostly focused on initial adoption, with limited consideration of how video consulting can be mainstreamed and sustained.

This study sought to do the following (1) review and synthesize reported opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned in the scale-up, spread, and sustainability of video consultations, and (2) identify transferable insights that can inform policy and practice.

We identified papers through systematic searches in PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science. Included articles reported on synchronous, video-based consultations that had spread to more than one setting beyond an initial pilot or feasibility stage, and were published since 2010. read more We used the Nonadoption, Abandonment, and challenges to the Scale-up, Spread, and Su evidence that can support the spread and scale-up of video consulting. Given the recent pace of change due to COVID-19, a more definitive evidence base is urgently needed to support global efforts and match enthusiasm for extending use.Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) is a non-contact technique for measuring cardiac signals from facial videos. High-quality rPPG pulse signals are urgently demanded in many fields, such as health monitoring and emotion recognition. However, most of the existing rPPG methods can only be used to get average heart rate (HR) values due to the limitation of inaccurate pulse signals. In this paper, a new framework based on generative adversarial network, called PulseGAN, is introduced to generate realistic rPPG pulse signals through denoising the chrominance (CHROM) signals. Considering that the cardiac signal is quasi-periodic and has apparent time-frequency characteristics, the error losses defined in time and spectrum domains are both employed with the adversarial loss to enforce the model generating accurate pulse waveforms as its reference. The proposed framework is tested on three public databases. The results show that the PulseGAN framework can effectively improve the waveform quality, thereby enhancing the accuracy of HR, the interbeat interval (IBI) and the related heart rate variability (HRV) features.