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Article
Open AccessSwitching from TNFα inhibitor to tacrolimus as maintenance therapy in rheumatoid arthritis after achieving low disease activity with TNFα inhibitors and methotrexate: 24-week result from a non-randomized, prospective, active-controlled trial
Tapering or stop** biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs has been proposed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in remission, but it frequently results in high rates of recurrence. This st...
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Article
Open AccessLong-term efficacy, safety and immunogenicity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis continuing on an etanercept biosimilar (LBEC0101) or switching from reference etanercept to LBEC0101: an open-label extension of a phase III multicentre, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group study
To evaluate the long-term efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of continuing LBEC0101; the etanercept (ETN) biosimilar; or switching from the ETN reference product (RP) to LBEC0101 in patients with rheumatoid a...
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Article
Open AccessEndocan as a marker of microvascular inflammation in kidney transplant recipients
Endocan is a water-soluble proteoglycan exclusively secreted by vascular endothelium. Endocan levels may be elevated in kidney transplant recipients experiencing antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR), which is ch...
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Article
Anti-obesity effect of taurine through inhibition of adipogenesis in white fat tissue but not in brown fat tissue in a high-fat diet-induced obese mouse model
This study was conducted to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of long-term taurine supplementation in a mild obese ICR mouse model and to study the mechanism by which taurine induces weight loss. Three groups ...
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Chapter and Conference Paper
Effects of Chronic Intake of a Low Concentration of Taurine on Physical Strength and Body Composition in Mice
Most studies of taurine on athletic performance have been conducted at acute and high doses in rodents. These doses and duration of administration are not reasonable for normal human life. Thus, it is not vali...
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Article
Open AccessPotential therapeutic antibodies targeting specific adiponectin isoforms in rheumatoid arthritis
Different adiponectin isoforms appear to be differentially involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases. The purpose of this study was to generate monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific to different adipone...
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Chapter and Conference Paper
Taurine Ameliorates Hypercholesterolemia But Not Obesity in Rats Fed a Lard-Based, High-Fat Diet
The cholesterol-lowering effect of taurine differs based on species, types of hypercholesterolemia, and, in particular, the presence or absence of cholate in an individual’s diet. In this study, the cholestero...
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Article
Serum level of osteopontin as an inflammatory marker does not indicate disease activity or responsiveness to therapeutic treatments in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Osteopontin (OPN) is known to be significantly involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study aimed to evaluate if the serum concentration of OPN in patients with RA before and after the...
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Article
Open AccessThe role of adiponectin in the production of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF and MMPs in human endothelial cells and osteoblasts: implications for arthritic joints
This study was performed to evaluate the contribution of adiponectin to the production of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-13 in hum...
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Article
Taurine chloramine modulates the expression of adipokines through inhibition of the STAT-3 signaling pathway in differentiated human adipocytes
To examine the possible role of taurine chloramine (TauCl) in modulating the expression of adipokines in adipose tissue associated with obesity, we evaluated the effect of TauCl in human differentiated adipocy...
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Article
Renal involvement in ankylosing spondylitis: prevalence, pathology, response to TNF-a blocker
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily involving the spine and sacroiliac joint and rarely the kidneys. This study aimed to define the clinical and histological features and bi...
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Chapter and Conference Paper
Taurine May Not Alleviate Hyperglycemia-Mediated Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Human Adipocytes
In obesity and diabetes, adipocytes show significant endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Hyperglycemia-induced ER stress has not been studied in adipocyte differentiation and adipokine expression. Taurine has b...
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Chapter and Conference Paper
Effect of Taurine Chloramine on Differentiation of Human Preadipocytes into Adipocytes
We investigated whether taurine chloramine (TauCl), which is endogenously produced by immune cells such as macrophages that infiltrate adipose tissue, affects the differentiation of preadipocytes into adipocy...
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Article
Arthritic disease is more severe in older rats in a kaolin/carrageenan-induced arthritis model
This study examined in an arthritis animal model whether elderly onset rheumatoid arthritis (EORA) is a more severe disease than younger onset rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis was induced by injecting 5% kaolin...
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Article
Open AccessTaurine ameliorates hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia by reducing insulin resistance and leptin level in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats with long-term diabetes
This study aimed to determine whether taurine supplementation improves metabolic disturbances and diabetic complications in an animal model for type 2 diabetes. We investigated whether taurine has therapeutic ...
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Article
Implication of MMP-9 and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in the activation of pro-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13
We examined whether the expression and activation of pro-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 varies from that of pro-MMP-13 in the joint fluid of osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. To do ...
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Article
Association between serum thymosin β4 levels of rheumatoid arthritis patients and disease activity and response to therapy
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether thymosin β4 (Tβ4) levels are increased in the serum of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and if this increase is associated with RA disease activity and resistan...
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Article
Open AccessSynergy between adiponectin and interleukin-1β on the expression of interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and cyclooxygenase-2 in fibroblast-like synoviocytes
To determine whether adiponectin may have synergistic effects in combination with the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β regarding the production of proinflammatory mediators during arthritic joint i...
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Article
Increased expression of IL-1 receptors in response to IL-1β may produce more IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, and PGE2 in senescent synovial cells induced in vitro than in presenescent cells
Primary synovial cells with high passage number demonstrate increased production of proinflammatory mediators in response to inflammatory stimuli compared with cells with low passage number. This study used sy...
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Article
Expression levels and association of gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 and collagenases MMP-1 and MMP-13 with VEGF in synovial fluid of patients with arthritis
This study was performed to provide evidence, albeit indirectly, as to which matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), among the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 and the collagenases MMP-1 and MMP-13, play a more proactive...
