Low Back pain (LBP) is a common health problem that affects different aspects of a person's life. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc is a major cause of LBP. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine. In contrast, interleukin-10 (IL-10) prevents the occurrence of immune over-stimulation by inhibiting inflammation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of these cytokines in LBP patients and in the control group. In a case-control study 87 patients including 59 patients with low back pain and 28 healthy subjects were examined after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approval. After recording demographic data, 5 ml of peripheral blood samples were obtained from the subjects and enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) technique was performed to measure IL-10 and IL-17 in serum samples. SPSS software with significance level of P <0.05 was used to compare the results. The case group consisted of 21 males and 38 females with mean age 49.6 yrs. and control group consisted of 14 males and 14 females with mean age of 36. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.5 in the patients and 25.4 in the control group (P>0.05). Serum levels of inflammatory cytokine IL-17 were significantly higher in patients than in controls (P=0.032). Differences in serum levels of IL-17 and IL-10 in the LBP group compared with healthy group may indicate the role of inflammatory and autoimmune processes in causing disk damage. These findings could potentially be used by future studies to develop new LBP therapeutic strategies.Differences in serum levels of IL-17 and IL-10 in the LBP group compared with healthy group may indicate the role of inflammatory and autoimmune processes in causing disk damage. These findings could potentially be used by future studies to develop new LBP therapeutic strategies. Clopidogrel monotherapy is guideline-recommended in symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD). The advent of new antithrombotic strategies prompts an updated analysis of available evidence on antiplatelet therapy for PAD. We searched MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL through January 2019 for randomised controlled trials and observational studies comparing antiplatelet therapies as monotherapy, dual therapy, or combination with anticoagulants. Efficacy (major adverse cardiovascular events, acute or chronic limb ischaemia, vascular amputation, peripheral revascularisation) and safety (all-cause mortality and overall bleeding) outcomes were evaluated via Bayesian network meta-analyses. We analysed 26 randomised controlled trials. Clopidogrel (hazard ratio, HR, 0.78; 95% credible interval [CrI] 0.65- 0.93) and ticagrelor (HR 0.80; 95%CrI 0.65-0.98) significantly reduced major adverse cardiovascular events risk compared with aspirin. No significant difference was observed for dual antiplatelet therapy with clopiascular events compared with aspirin, without increasing bleeding risk. selleck chemicals Clopidogrel should remain a mainstay of PAD treatment, at least in patients at higher bleeding risk. High blood pressure (BP) is a leading risk factor for coronary artery disease and other major cardiovascular events. Blood pressure variability (BPV), ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) and ankle-brachial index (ABI) have been proposed as indices that can improve risk stratification for an adverse cardiac outcome. However, their utility in the setting of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is unclear. The ACS-BP study is a single-centre observational cohort study designed to investigate the prognostic role of haemodynamic load and arterial stiffness indices for cardio-renal outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). All consecutive patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute AMI with or without ST segment elevation will be screened for inclusion in the study. The management of AMI will follow current guidelines. Data from baseline clinical and laboratory parameters during their hospitalization will be collected. The haemodynamic load of each patient will be determined by clinical BP values as well as 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring. The AASI will be calculated from the raw 24-h BP data and ABI will be measured after the third day of hospitalization using a certified device. Patients will be followed-up for 12 months in order to collect data for hard cardiovascular and renal endpoints. The study results should clarify the role of these non-invasive tools in secondary risk stratification of such patients.The study results should clarify the role of these non-invasive tools in secondary risk stratification of such patients. Bioremediation is a biotechnology field that uses living organisms to remove contaminants from soil and water; therefore, they could be used to treat oil spills from the environment. Herein, we present a new mechanistic approach combining Molecular Docking Simulation and Density Functional Theory to modeling the bioremediation-based nanointeractions of a heterogeneous mixture of oil-derived hydrocarbons by using pristine and oxidized graphene nanostructures and the substrate-specific transport protein (TodX) from Pseudomonas putida. The theoretical evidences pointing that the binding interactions are mainly based on noncovalent bonds characteristic of physical adsorption mechanism mimicking the "Trojan-horse effect". These results open new horizons to improve bioremediation strategies in over-saturation conditions against oil-spills and expanding the use of nanotechnologies in the context of environmental modeling health and safety.These results open new horizons to improve bioremediation strategies in over-saturation conditions against oil-spills and expanding the use of nanotechnologies in the context of environmental modeling health and safety.Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are stem cells (SCs) that can self-renew and differentiate into a myriad of cell types. The process of developing stemness is determined by signaling molecules that drive stem cells to a specific lineage. For example, ESCs can differentiate into mature cells (e.g., cardiomyocytes) and mature cardiomyocytes can be characterized for cell beating, action potential, and ion channel function. A goal of this Perspective is to show how small molecules can be used to differentiate ESCs into cardiomyocytes and how this can reveal novel aspects of SC biology. This approach can also lead to the discovery of new molecules of use in cardiovascular disease. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) afford the ability to produce unlimited numbers of normal human cells. The creation of patient-specific hiPSCs provides an opportunity to study cell models of human disease. The second goal is to show that small molecules can stimulate hiPSC commitment to cardiomyocytes. How iPSCs can be used in an approach to discover new molecules of use in cardiovascular disease will also be shown in this study.