NRARP and aortic aneurysm: We indeed evaluated the gene expression levels of all Notch receptors (1–4), Notch ligands and Notch downstream targets (such as the Hairy and enhancer of split gene family (Hes), the Hes related gene family (Hey) and the Notch-regulated ankyrin repeat protein (NRARP)) in portions of normal aorta and portions of aortic aneurysm harvested from patients underwent elective surgical repair.