Arterial tone in muscular conduit arteries may influence pressure wave reflection through changes in diameter and pulse wave velocity. We examined the relative specificity of vasodilator drugs for radial artery and forearm resistance vessels during intrabrachial arterial infusion. The nitric oxide (NO) donors, nitroglycerine and nitroprusside, and brain natriuretic peptide ...

Enhancers are regulatory DNA sequences that activate transcription over long distances. Recent studies revealed a widespread role of distant activation in eukaryotic gene regulation and in development of various human diseases, including cancer. Genomic and gene-targeted studies of enhancer action revealed novel mechanisms of transcriptional activation over a distance. They ...

OBJECTIVE: Pneumoccocal vaccination is important for patients on immunosuppressive medications, but prior studies suggest that most patients do not undergo vaccination. We evaluated the effects of a point-of-care paper reminder form on being up-to-date with pneumococcal vaccination in a rheumatology practice. METHODS: Selected rheumatologists at five ambulatory practice sites received ...

The Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) model was developed to improve the likelihood of translating health promotion intervention research into practice. In their evaluation of grant proposals focusing on the dissemination and implementation, Kessler and colleagues (2012) proposed a method for evaluating the degree to which RE-AIM was "fully ...

Leaf temperatures were lower when light entry at the leaf tip window was prevented through covering the window with reflective tape, relative to leaf temperatures of plants with leaf tip windows covered with transparent tape. This was true when leaf temperatures were measured with an infrared thermometer, but not with ...

Infiltration of bone marrow with fat is a prevalent feature in people with age-related bone loss and osteoporosis, which correlates inversely with bone formation and positively with high expression levels of peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). Inhibition of PPARγ thus represents a potential therapeutic approach for age-related bone loss. In ...

This study explores whether the cognitive advantage associated with bilingualism in executive functioning extends to young immigrant children challenged by poverty and, if it does, which specific processes are most affected. In the study reported here, 40 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilingual children from low-income immigrant families in Luxembourg and 40 matched monolingual ...

Background. Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes (IE) adhere to host cell receptors allowing parasites to sequester in deep vascular beds of various organs. This defining phenomenon of malaria pathogenesis is key to the severe clinical complications associated with cerebral and placental malaria. The principal ligand associated with the binding to chondroitin sulfate A ...

In the search for new molecules with potential antiangiogenic activity, we found that several imidoselenocarbamate derivatives effectively suppressed the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced by hypoxia in NCI-H157 tumor cells. Mechanistic studies indicated that these compounds inhibited STAT3 phosphorylation triggered by hypoxia, suggesting that inhibition of STAT3 ...

OBJECTIVE(S): Treatment credibility and client satisfaction have received relatively little research attention, but extant findings indicate that some clients and therapists differ in their perceptions of what is helpful about therapy, with greater divergence related to poorer outcomes. This study examined relationships between treatment credibility, perceptions of therapy helpfulness, and ...

CFTR function is tightly regulated by many interacting proteins. Intermediate filament protein keratin 18 increases the cell surface expression of CFTR by interacting with the C-terminal hydrophobic patch of CFTR. K18 controls the function of CFTR. These findings offer novel insights into the regulation of CFTR and suggest that K18 ...

The incidence of cerebral aneurysms is higher in women than in men, especially postmenopause. Although hypertension is thought to be associated with a high incidence of stroke, not all patients with unruptured cerebral aneurysms are hypertensive. The possibility of water-free Na(+) storage associated with hypertension has been raised. However, whether ...

SIRT3 is a member of the Sir2 family of NAD(+)-dependent protein deacetylases that promotes longevity in many organisms. The processed short form of SIRT3 is a well-established mitochondrial protein whose deacetylase activity regulates various metabolic processes. However, the presence of full-length (FL) SIRT3 in the nucleus and its functional importance ...

Recent reports have revealed the existence of widespread extensively drug-resistant (XDR) P. aeruginosa high-risk clones in health care settings, but there is still scarce information on their specific chromosomal (mutational) and acquired resistance mechanisms. Up to 20 (10.5%) of 190 bloodstream isolates collected from 10 Spanish hospitals met the XDR ...

Immobilization of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) holds potential for creating surfaces with bactericidal properties. In order to successfully incorporate AMPs into desired materials, increased fundamental understanding of the relationship between AMP immobilization and the efficacy of bound peptides as antibacterial agents is required. In this study, we characterized the relationship between ...

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, most adolescents with mild congenital heart disease (CHD) undergo medical or surgical correction in early childhood for their congenital anomalies. There is a need to examine the determinants of exercise behaviour among adolescents (CHD) who are able to exercise. AIMS: The aims of this study were to examine ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of prenatal mercury exposure and fish intake with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behavior. METHODS For a population-based prospective birth cohort recruited in New Bedford, Massachusetts (1993-1998), we analyzed data for children examined at age 8 years with peripartum maternal hair mercury measures (n = 421) or maternal report ...

Oligonucleotide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were designed and synthesized to be delivery vehicles for the clinically used anticancer drugs doxorubicin (DOX) and actinomycin D (ActD). Each vehicle contains a tailorable number of DNA duplexes, each possessing three high-affinity sequences for the intercalation of either DOX or ActD, thus allowing for control ...

BACKGROUND: Essential tremor is an abnormal movement characterized by postural and/or kinetic tremor. In some essential tremor patients, rest tremor (RT) is observed but it is not clear if this RT is a feature of essential tremor or a symptom of Parkinson's disease. I123-FP-CIT single-photon emission tomography is used to ...

OBJECTIVE To further characterize the demographics, outcomes, and prognostic factors for refractory status epilepticus (RSE). DESIGN Retrospective analysis of all the episodes of RSE treated between January 1, 1999, and August 30, 2011. SETTING Neurointensive care unit within a tertiary referral center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. PATIENTS Refractory status epilepticus ...

This study presents a novel in vitro model of electrode insertion trauma-induced hair cell (HC) damage and loss and its application for testing the efficacy of otoprotective drugs. In the cochlear implant (CI) procedure as a treatment for profound deafness, an electrode array is surgically inserted to provide electrical stimulation ...

BACKGROUND: Cholesterol granuloma (CG) is an expansile, cystic lesion most commonly observed in the temporal bone. CG is rarely encountered in the paranasal sinuses. Given its paucity in this region, the diagnostic and management aspects remain to be elucidated. METHODS: Systematic review of the literature yielded 66 cases reported as ...

Renewed interest in chlamydia vaccination has revealed the need for a greater understanding of the seroprevalence of chlamydial infection in US populations. We used a Chlamydia trachomatis elementary body (EB)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to define the characteristics of the humoral immune response and to determine seroprevalence. Two groups were analyzed: ...

Heterosynaptic long-term depression (hLTD) at untetanized synapses accompanying the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) spatially sharpens the activity-induced synaptic potentiation; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We found that hLTD in the hippocampal CA1 region is caused by stimulation-induced ATP release from astrocytes that suppresses transmitter release from untetanized synaptic ...

PURPOSEThe prognosis of HIV-infected patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era approaches that of the general population when they are treated with the same protocols. We analyzed the outcome of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) in the ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the ability of 28 blind subjects implanted with a 60-electrode Argus II (Second Sight Medical Products Inc) retinal prosthesis system to detect the direction of a moving object. METHODS Blind subjects (bare light perception or worse in both eyes) with retinitis pigmentosa were implanted with the Argus ...

This study aimed to determine the most significant molecular features associated with the liver specificity of the carcinogenicity of N-nitroso compounds (NOCs). Accordingly, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis was performed to extract molecular information from NOCs using a topological sub-structural molecular-descriptor (TOPS-MODE) approach. A linear discriminant analysis (LDA) model of ...

Clostridium difficile, a major cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, triggers disease through the release of two toxins, toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB). These toxins disrupt the cytoskeleton of the intestinal epithelial cell, increasing intestinal permeability and triggering the release of inflammatory mediators resulting in intestinal injury and inflammation. The ...

Objectives: This study describes the prevalence and nature of auditory and otological manifestations in adults with HIV/AIDS through clinical examinations and self-reported symptoms across stages of disease progression. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional group design. Study sample: Two hundred HIV positive adult patients (56.5% male; 43.5% female; mean age: 37.99 ± 6.66 ...

Hypertensive transgenic (mRen2)27 rats with overexpression of the mRen2 gene have impaired baroreflex sensitivity for heart rate control and high nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase and kinase-to-phosphatase signaling activity in medullary tissue compared with normotensive Hannover Sprague-Dawley control rats. They also exhibit insulin resistance at a young age. To determine ...

BACKGROUND: Preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) for distal bile duct obstruction may increase post-operative complications. This study examined the effect of PBD on positive bile culture (PBC) rates and complications after biliary bypass or pancreaticoduodenectomy. Bilirubin levels in the non-PBD cohort were also analysed to determine the impact on outcome. METHODS: ...

Micro-gaps and osseous overload in the implant-abutment connection are the most common causes of peri-implant bone resorption and implant failure. These undesirable events can be visualized on standardized three-dimensional finite element models and by radiographic methods. The present study investigated the influence of 7 available implant systems (Ankylos, Astra, Bego, ...

Resting skeletal muscle fibres have a large membrane Cl(-) conductance (G(Cl)) that dampens their excitability. Recently, however, muscle activity was shown to induce PKC-mediated reduction in G(Cl) in rat muscles of 40-90%. To examine the physiological significance of this PKC-mediated G(Cl) reduction for the function of muscles, this study explored ...

Male and female plants of dioecious species often differ in their resource demands and this has been linked to secondary sexual dimorphism, including sex-specific interactions with other organisms such as herbivores and pollinators. However, little is known about the interaction between dioecious plants and fungal root endophytes. Plants may be ...

We investigate extensive quantitative trait variation (dewlap hue, colour pattern, dorsum hue, body proportions and scalation) in the Martinique anole across eight transects representing nascent parapatric ecological speciation, nascent allopatric speciation and allopatric divergence without sufficient genetic structure to suggest speciation. Quantitative trait divergence can be extremely large between adjacent ...

The effect of individual positively charged residues on the orientation in the membrane was analyzed in three dual topology transporters of the Small Multidrug Resistance (SMR) family: AAVE4701aave of Acidovorax avenae, EMREecol of Escherichia coli and RRUA0272rrub of Rhodospirillum rubrum. It is shown that (i) individual positive charges have different ...

The 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-tris(methylenephosphinic acid) chelators TRAP and NOPO are complexing copper-64 with similar efficiency as 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-triacetic acid (NOTA). The kinetic stability of Cu-64-labelled TRAP-peptides is sufficient for PET imaging at early time points (1-2 h post injection). For labelling of TRAP conjugates, Cu-64 can be recommended as an alternative to Ga-68 ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Treatment of patients with stage pT1 urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) continues to be a challenge due to its unpredictable clinical course. Reliable molecular markers that help to determine appropriate individual treatment are still lacking. Loss of aquaporin (AQP) 3 protein expression has previously been shown in muscle-invasive UBC. ...

United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS reports regularly on estimated levels and trends in HIV/AIDS epidemics, which are evaluated using an epidemiological model within the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP). The relatively simple four-parameter model of HIV incidence used in EPP through the previous round of estimates has encountered challenges when ...

Pain and inflammation are major therapeutic areas for drug discovery. Current drugs for these pathologies have limited efficacy, however, and often cause a number of unwanted side effects. In the present study, we identify the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug carprofen as a multitarget-directed ligand that simultaneously inhibits cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), COX-2, and ...

ATP binding causes the mispair-bound Msh2-Msh6 mismatch recognition complex to slide along the DNA away from the mismatch, and ATP is required for the mispair-dependent interaction between Msh2-Msh6 and Mlh1-Pms1. It has been inferred from these observations that ATP induces conformational changes in Msh2-Msh6; however, the nature of these conformational ...

Treatment for HIV infection requires a lifetime antiretroviral therapy. In order to improve adherence, once daily (OD) is thus a preferred regimen. AREAS COVERED: Evidence-based information and most recent guidelines recommendation, both from resource-rich and resource-limited settings, on antiretroviral regimens that can be administered OD will be reviewed. Sources of ...

Present article reviews solid dispersion (SD) technologies and other patented inventions in the area of pharmaceutical SDs, which provide stable amorphous SDs. AREAS COVERED: The review briefly compiles different techniques for preparing SDs, their applications, characterization of SDs, types of SDs and also elaborates the carriers used to prepare SDs. ...

Noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors can be effective analgesics, finding application in a wide variety of clinical pain settings. Due to a shift toward noradrenergic-mediated pain pathways following nerve injury, they are particularly well suited to the treatment of neuropathic pain. This phenotypic shift makes neuropathic pain difficult to control with opioids ...

Tetomilast is a novel thiazole phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor, which may prove useful in both the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here, the authors review the pharmacology of the drug, and offer critical review of the available data for use of tetomilast in the ...

In spite of new alkylating medication and recently accumulated knowledge about genomics, the prognosis of malignant gliomas remains poor. The introduction of single substances interfering with tumour proliferation dynamics has been disappointing and the lessons learned indicate that a complicated network of proliferation needs time consuming, in-depth analysis in order ...

Cells often perform computations in order to respond to environmental cues. A simple example is the classic problem, first considered by Berg and Purcell, of determining the concentration of a chemical ligand in the surrounding media. On general theoretical grounds, it is expected that such computations require cells to consume ...

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are considered to be the cell of origin of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). However, the genetic alterations that transform NSCs into glioma-initiating cells remain elusive. Using a unique transposon mutagenesis strategy that mutagenizes NSCs in culture, followed by additional rounds of mutagenesis to generate tumors in vivo, ...

Controlled maturation of ovarian follicles is necessary for fertility. Follicles are restrained at an immature stage until stimulated by FSH secreted by pituitary gonadotropes. FSH acts on granulosa cells within the immature follicle to inhibit apoptosis, promote proliferation, stimulate production of steroid and protein hormones, and induce ligand receptors and ...

Membrane protein assembly is a fundamental process in all cells. The membrane-bound Rieske iron-sulfur protein is an essential component of the cytochrome bc(1) and cytochrome b(6)f complexes, and it is exported across the energy-coupling membranes of bacteria and plants in a folded conformation by the twin arginine protein transport pathway ...