The bone mass benefits of antiresorbers in postmenopausal osteoporosis are limited by the rapid coupling of decreasing bone resorption with bone formation. Wnt signaling is involved in this coupling process during treatment with bisphosphonates, whereas its role during treatment with the anti-receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) antibody denosumab is ...

Continuous evaluation of child survival is needed in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV prevalence among women of reproductive age continues to be high. We examined mortality levels and trends over a period of ∼20 years among HIV-unexposed and -exposed children in Blantyre, Malawi. Data from 5 prospective cohort studies conducted at ...

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. Identifying women at risk of cardiovascular disease has tremendous public health importance. Early menopause is associated with increased cardiovascular disease events in some predominantly white populations, but not consistently. Our objective was to determine if self-reported early menopause (menopause at an ...

The associations of acute HIV infection (AHI) and other predictors with transmitted drug resistance (TDR) prevalence were assessed in a cohort of HIV-infected, antiretroviral-naïve patients. AHI was defined as being seronegative with detectable HIV RNA. Binomial regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals for associations with ...

Sexual dimorphism in various bone phenotypes, including bone mineral density (BMD), is widely observed; however, the extent to which genes explain these sex differences is unclear. To identify variants with different effects by sex, we examined gene-by-sex autosomal interactions genome-wide, and performed expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis and bioinformatics ...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) most often causes severe respiratory disease in the very young and the elderly. Acute disease can also cause exacerbations of asthma in any age group. Recent findings provide insight into how the innate and adaptive immune systems respond to RSV infection and provide preliminary evidence that ...

To investigate whether time on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with improvements in food security and nutritional status, and the extent to which associations are mediated by improved physical health status. The Uganda AIDS Rural Treatment Outcomes study, a prospective cohort of HIV-infected adults newly initiating ART in Mbarara, Uganda. ...

sGC (soluble guanylate cyclase) is the main mediator of NO signalling. Biochemical and physiological studies suggest that, besides NO, in vivo regulation of sGC involves direct interaction with other proteins. Using yeast two-hybrid screening, we identified that the multidomain LGN (Leu-Gly-Asn repeat-enriched protein) interacts with both α1 and β1 sGC ...

The new incretin-based therapies, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors and glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP1) receptor agonists are widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes because of their glucose-lowering capacity with low risk of hypoglycemia. As they are weight neutral or induce weight loss in this mostly overweight population, ...

The selective 5-HT₁ receptor agonist sumatriptan is an effective therapeutic for migraine pain yet the antimigraine mechanisms of action remain controversial. Pain-responsive fibres containing calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) densely innervating the cranial dura mater are widely believed to be an essential anatomical substrate for the development of migraine pain. 5-HT₁ ...

The serum and glucocorticoid regulated kinase (SGK) family of protein kinases shares similar biochemical and hormonal signaling properties; however, the SGK kinases also exhibit distinct differences in regulating renal sodium (Na(+)) transport. This review will highlight recent advances in our understanding of the specificity of SGK kinase signaling and regulation ...

Hysterectomy, with or without oophorectomy, is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk due, in part, to an adverse CVD risk factor profile. Large artery stiffening, a biomarker of vascular aging, increases the risk for CVD. We determined whether hysterectomy with or without bilateral oophorectomy (BLO) is associated with arterial ...

Claudins play a major role in the regulation of paracellular electrolyte reabsorption in the kidney. This review describes the recent findings of the physiological function of claudins underlying the paracellular transport mechanisms for Cl(-) reabsorption in the collecting duct. There are two parallel mechanisms for transepithelial Cl(-) reabsorption in the ...

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is an enzyme that is gaining prominence as a critical signaling molecule in the epithelial cells of renal tubules. This review will focus on recent findings exploring the role of GSK3 in renal collecting ducts, especially its role in urine concentration involving vasopressin signaling. Recent studies ...

KFase (kynurenine formamidase), also known as arylformamidase and formylkynurenine formamidase, efficiently catalyses the hydrolysis of NFK (N-formyl-L-kynurenine) to kynurenine. KFase is the second enzyme in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism. A number of intermediates formed in the kynurenine pathway are biologically active and implicated in an assortment of medical ...

Low back pain is a leading health problem in the United States, which is most often resulted from nucleus pulposus (NP) degeneration. To date, the replacement of degenerated NP relies entirely on mechanical devices. However, a biological NP replacement implant is more desirable. Here, we report the regeneration of NP ...

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine is metabolized in the liver into its active metabolite norketamine. No human data are available on the relative contribution of norketamine to ketamine-induced analgesia and side effects. One approach to assess the ketamine and norketamine contributions is by measuring the ketamine effect at varying ketamine ...

Increasing radiology studies has led to the emergence of new requirements for management medical information, mainly affecting the storage of digital images. Today, it is a necessary interaction between workflow management and legal rules that govern it, to allow an efficient control of medical technology and associated costs. Another important ...

The aims of this study were to establish the reproducibility of estimates of differential renal function (DRF) obtained using the software supplied by different vendors, assess the effects of age, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and degree of asymmetry of renal function on reproducibility and ascertain whether the software gives the ...

The amino acid substitution or post-translational modification of a cytosolic protein can cause unpredictable changes to its electrophoretic mobility during SDS-PAGE. This type of "gel shifting" has perplexed biochemists and biologists for decades. We identify a mechanism for "gel shifting" that predominates among a set of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) ...

Abnormal cardiac repolarization, indicated by a prolongation of the QT interval, increases the risk for torsades de pointes, a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia. Many perioperatively administered drugs and conditions prolong the QT interval. Despite several reports of perioperative torsades de pointes, systematic evidence regarding perioperative QT interval prolongation is limited. Serial ...

Recent years have witnessed the discoveries of several genes causing neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) and subsequently their novel classification scheme was suggested. The first results of treatments with modern chelating drugs are also being published. Most recently, mutations in the c19orf12 gene encoding a mitochondrial protein of unknown ...

This review summarizes the recent data pertaining to the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing brain and spinal cord involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS). Using MRI as a tool, investigators have made progress recently in understanding the substrate and mechanisms underlying the development and evolution of focal lesions ...

This review discusses the latest approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with strongyloidiasis, with an emphasis on infection in the immunocompromised host and the risk for disseminated strongyloidiasis. The differences in acute, chronic, accelerated autoinfection, and disseminated disease in Strongyloides stercoralis infection are explored with particular emphasis on ...

This review examines currently available therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's disease, emphasizing evidence-based data as well as a patient-centered approach to the treatment of motor and nonmotor symptoms. Although clinical trials of disease-modifying approaches have been thus far disappointing, steady advances are being made in the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease. ...

To investigate the effect of autologous peripheral nerve grafting on retinal ganglion cell survival and axonal regeneration after an injury, the optic nerve of adult Sprague-Dawley rats was transected and grafted with an autologous peripheral nerve from the peroneal branch of the left sciatic nerve. The numbers of both surviving ...

The successful use of the laryngeal mask airway in children partly depends on the correct selection of size. Most anaesthesiologists rely on the weight-based table which is often difficult to remember. A simple method allowing an adequate choice of the correct size may be highly desirable. To test the hypothesis ...

Isotopic analysis of biogenic tissues such as teeth of elasmobranchs has been well recognized as an important method to interpret present and past environmental conditions. However, few studies on shark teeth have focused their attention on making trophic inferences or reconstruction of diet. We analyzed the carbon (δ(13) C) and ...

Conventional studies of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) typically require elaborate separation procedures or complicated sample pretreatment processes such as purification by dialysis and lyophilization. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the use of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) as powerful techniques for ...

The development of simplified procedures for isolating high-mass alkanes present in crude oils is described. The new procedures, which bypass the sample recovery step with hot toluene in the conventional alkane-isolation procedure, also provide an effective sample preparation route, prior to analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). Urea-alkane ...

In stable isotope research, the use of accurate, species-specific diet-tissue discrimination factors (i.e., Δ(13) C and Δ(15) N) is central to the estimation of trophic position relative to primary consumers and to the identification of the dietary sources of an individual. Previous research suggested that the diet of fin whales ...

The erythrocyte folate pool is reflective of an individual's long-term folate status; however, comprehensive quantitative determination of the various folate isoforms including polyglutamation (Glu(n) ) status has posed an analytical problem. Factors complicating such analysis are the absence of authentic (isotope-labeled) standards and the large number of potential analytes. The ...

Dorsal white muscle is the standard tissue analysed in fish trophic studies using stable isotope analyses. However, sampling white muscle often implies the sacrifice of fish. Thus, we examined whether the non-lethal sampling of fin tissue can substitute muscle sampling in food web studies. Analysing muscle and fin δ(15) N ...

There are relatively few cross-section measurements for negatively charged ions. Available calibrants provide sufficient cross-section coverage for the 390 Å(2) to 641 Å(2) and 1174 Å(2) to 3395 Å(2) ranges. This is not particularly well suited for determining the collision cross-sections of smaller ions, such as small peptides. Molecular mechanics/molecular ...

Since robust osteogenic differentiation and mineralization are integral to the engineering of bone constructs, understanding the impact of the cellular microenvironments on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSCs) osteogenic differentiation is crucial to optimize bioreactor strategy. Two perfusion flow conditions were utilized in order to understand the impact of the flow ...

Limited data exist on correlates of psychological outcomes after kidney donation. We used a database integrating Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network registrations for 4650 living kidney donors from 1987 to 2007 with administrative data of a U.S. private health insurer (2000-2007 claims) to identify depression diagnoses among prior living donors. ...

Polyomavirus BK (BKV) infection characterized by viruria alone is considered to be of little clinical significance, but this issue has not been systematically studied. We studied 230 patients with sustained viruria from whom multiple samples taken after a median of 877 days (range, 24-2739) showed no progression to viremia or ...

Frizzled and Smoothened are homologous seven-transmembrane proteins functioning in the Wnt and Hedgehog signaling pathways, respectively. They harbor an extracellular cysteine-rich domain (FZ-CRD), a mobile evolutionary unit that has been found in a number of other metazoan proteins and Frizzled-like proteins in Dictyostelium. Domains distantly related to FZ-CRDs, in Hedgehog-interacting ...

How does a folding protein negotiate a vast, featureless conformational landscape and adopt its native structure in biological real time? Motivated by this search problem, we developed a novel algorithm to compare protein structures. Procedures to identify structural analogs are typically conducted in three-dimensional space: the tertiary structure of a ...

The activation of lipases has been postulated to proceed by interfacial activation, temperature switch activation, or aqueous activation. Recently, based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulation experiments, the T1 lipase activation mechanism was proposed to involve aqueous activation in addition to a double-flap mechanism. Because the open conformation structure is still ...

ABSTRACT: Carcinoma showing thymus-like differentiation is a malignant, extremely rare neoplasm that arises in the thyroid gland or neighboring neck soft tissue and closely resembles thymic carcinoma. Long-term survival is possible if the disease is diagnosed early and is completely resected, followed by radical dose radiotherapy. We present the case ...

We sought to characterize the excitability properties of tibialis anterior (TA) and brachioradialis (BR) muscles at rest and during electrically induced muscle activation in normal subjects. Two centers recruited 10 subjects each. Multi-fiber velocity recovery cycles (VRCs) were recorded from TA (both centers) and BR (one center). VRCs were assessed ...

ABSTRACT: Inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT) is a pseudoneoplastic lesion that most commonly involves lung. We report a case of IPT of kidney associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. CT and PET/CT showed the features of renal cell carcinoma. After radical nephrectomy, histologic examination demonstrated acute pyelonephritis associated with papillary necrosis, and IPT involving ...

Prominent lymphocytic periductal inflammation has been previously described in association with diabetes mellitus type I and II, other autoimmune diseases such as lupus, thyroid disease, and connective tissue abnormalities, and even lymphomas. When incidentally detected in a breast biopsy and without evidence of systemic disease in the patient's history, it ...

ABSTRACT: Metastasis of colorectal adenocarcinoma to the larynx is a very rare condition. Here, we report a 72-year-old woman with a history of rectal adenocarcinoma. She was referred for whole-body FDG PET/CT scanning because of an elevating serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen. PET images showed focally increased FDG accumulation in ...

A case of 18F-FDG PET in pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis with bilateral reticulonodular opacities in the middle and lower zones on routine chest roentgenogram and calcification in the peribronchovascular interstitium,peribronchovascular and subpleural intralobular septal regions, and visceral pleura on high-resolution chest CT is presented. 18F-fluoride PET demonstrated intense tracer uptake in ...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a rapidly progressive fatal degenerative disease of motor neurons for which there are few interventions to slow disease progression or improve quality of life. A diaphragm pacing system was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2011 for ALS under a Humanitarian ...

There is a great amount of research on hemispheric lateralisation for processing emotions and on the recognition of emotions across the lifespan. However, few researchers have explored the links between these two measures. This paper highlights how trends in these two research areas inform our understanding of how lateralisation for ...

The purpose of this study was to utilize an invented rule with English language learners (ELLs) in a clinical setting to determine differences based on language and age of the children. The performance was correlated with teacher reports of strong and weak language learning. Using a within-participants design, ELLs of ...

Biomechanical analyses are commonly conducted to investigate how craniofacial form relates to function, particularly in relation to dietary adaptations. However, in the absence of corresponding muscle activation patterns, incomplete muscle data recorded experimentally for different individuals during different feeding tasks are frequently substituted. This study uses finite element analysis (FEA) ...