ABSTRACT - Purpose. To compare the properties of buccal delivery matrices (wafers) made with dextrin, β-limit dextrin and pre-gelatinised starch. Methods. The constituent α-glucans were tested for their mucoadhesive properties in solution plus their content of crystalline material (differential scanning calorimetry, DSC). Wafers were made by lyophilisation of aqueous solutions/dispersions ...

The intramolecular and intermolecular vibrational energy flow in a polyproline peptide with a total number of nine amino acids in the solvent dimethyl sulfoxide is investigated using time-resolved infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Azobenzene covalently bound to a proline sequence containing nitrophenylalanine as a local sensor for vibrational excess energy serves as ...

Electron and excitation energy transfers (ET and EET) have an important role in biological energy-exchange processes. Proteins are an inhomogeneous and anisotropic medium for ET and EET. The protein structure influences electronic coupling, an important factor for ET and EET. The structure factor may be predicted by obtaining information about ...

The mechanisms of bridge-mediated electron transfer (ET) reactions vary from coherent deep tunneling to thermally activated hopping. This short review focuses on some developments in the study of protein ET mechanisms at the molecular and at the cellular levels. It explains experimental and theoretical work on the influence of electronic-energy ...

The elusive, multiple fully extended (2.0(5) -helix) peptide conformation was searched with a series of C(α,α) -diethylglycine homo-oligomers (n = 1 to 5) functionalized by an electron transfer (ET) donor···acceptor (D···A) pair in acetonitrile and chloroform solutions. In the former solvent, all peptides investigated were shown to populate the 3(10) ...

Intermolecular electron transfer (ET) between hexaamineruthenium(II), a(6) Ru(2+) , and a K73H/K79A variant of iso-1-cytochrome c, iso-1-Cytc, is used to study conformational ET switches mediated by His73-heme ligation and cis to trans isomerization of the Ile75-Pro76 peptidyl-prolyl bond of iso-1-Cytc. The biomolecular rate constant for ET to the native state ...

Development of molecular scale electronics stimulates the search for new functional materials and compounds. One of the promising directions of further growth within this field is bioelectronics, which assumes the use of electron transfer (ET)-mediating properties of bio-related compounds. Because of the structural and functional versatility, peptides and proteins are ...

In this study, we construct photoenergy-conversion systems with chromophores located with molecular precision to facilitate efficient light harvesting and charge transport. 3(10) -Helical peptides carrying a disulfide group at the N-terminal, linearly arranged six naphthyl groups at the side chains, and an energy acceptor (anthryl, pyrenyl, or N-ethylcarbazolyl group) at ...

In this article, the successful preparation of a new series of 3(10) -helical peptides of different length containing two terminal ferrocenyl (Fc) units and based on the strongly foldameric α-aminoisobutyric (Aib) acid is reported. The synthesis of the FcCO(Aib)(n) NHFc (n = 1-5) homo-peptides was performed by solution methods. Moderate ...

Studies of charge transport through proteins bridged between two electrodes have been the subject of intense research in recent years. However, the complex structure of proteins makes it difficult to elucidate transport mechanisms, and the use of simple peptide oligomers may be an over simplified model of the proteins. To ...

The performance of dye-sensitized solar and photoelectrochemical cells is strongly dependent on the electron transfer events at the electrode-sensitizer interface. Surface-bound peptides derivatized with chromophores have not been used in dye-sensitized solar and photoelectrochemical cells, but they have properties for these applications that could be advantageous by exploiting secondary structure ...

In this report, we describe dendritic peptides possessing central fluorescent amino acids with adjacent branched amino acids. These fluorescent-peptide dendrimers were prepared using (9-fluorenyl)methoxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-based solid-phase peptide synthesis and Fmoc-derivative fluorescent and branched amino acids. The branched amino acids featured multiple carboxylic acids in their side chains, making the fluorescent-peptide ...

Bronchoscopy is an important diagnostic method for the tracheobronchial, thoracic, and mediastinal lesions. It is limited by the physical progression of the bronchoscope. This represents a problem when assessing difficult airways, such as a lumen narrowed from any cause. Bronchoscopy can be performed with flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB), which remains ...

The headache attributed to airplane travel, also named "airplane headache", is characterized by the sudden onset of a severe head pain exclusively in relation to airplane flights, mainly during the landing phase. Secondary causes, such as upper respiratory tract infections or acute sinusitis, must be ruled out. Although its cause ...

The autistic impairments in emotional and social competence, imagination and generating ideas predict qualitative differences in expressive drawings by children with autism beyond that accounted by any general learning difficulties. In a sample of 60 5-19-year-olds, happy and sad drawings were requested from 15 participants with non-savant autism and compared ...

Disorders of glycogen metabolism are inborn errors of energy homeostasis affecting primarily skeletal muscle, heart, liver, and, less frequently, the central nervous system. These rare diseases are quite variable in age of onset, symptoms, morbidity, and mortality. This review provides an update on disorders of glycogen metabolism affecting skeletal muscle ...

Continuous electroencephalographic (CEEG) monitoring is used with increasing frequency in critically ill children to provide insight into brain function and to identify electrographic seizures. CEEG monitoring use often impacts clinical management, most often by identifying electrographic seizures and status epilepticus. Most electrographic seizures have no clinical correlate, and thus would ...

Newer hepatobiliary magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents allow the ability to combine the anatomical information from T2-weighted magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography with functional information derived from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance cholangiography for off-label biliary imaging. Potential applications include determination of biliary anatomy, functional assessment of biliary obstruction, and evaluation for acute ...

Sequential segmental approach is an efficient method for complete evaluation of complex congenital heart diseases (CHD). Although echocardiography is the imaging technique of choice, recent advances in computed tomography and cardiac magnetic resonance have given a new dimension to the traditional diagnostic assessment of CHD. CT has advantages of fast ...

Cover Legend Targeted, chromosomal double strand breaks made by zinc-finger and TALE nucleases are highly receptive to incorporation of exogenous transgene DNA when the transgene is cleaved in vivo. (Image courtesy of Dr. Gregory J. Cost.).

Development of spinal canal and its contents occurs in a much regulated fashion. Aberration at any stage of development namely gastrulation, primary neurulation, secondary neurulation, and retrogressive differentiation can result in a specific abnormality. Spinal cord anomalies or spinal dysraphism is a heterogeneous group containing some entities that are obvious ...

Anonymity of donors or recipients in living-donor transplantation is a complex issue and practice varies widely. There are compelling arguments for maintaining anonymity of both parties before unspecified donor transplantation and specified indirect transplantation. After transplantation, there are still good reasons to avoid disclosure of identities. Although anonymity could be ...

MUC1 and other membrane-associated mucins harbor long, up to 1 μm, extended highly glycosylated mucin domains and sea urchin sperm protein, enterokinase and agrin (SEA) domains situated on their extracellular parts. These mucins line luminal tracts and organs, and are anchored to the apical cell membrane by a transmembrane domain. ...

The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of PET/CT in detecting peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with ovarian cancer and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET/CT with that of enhanced abdominal CT. The medical records of 46 consecutive patients with ovarian cancer were reviewed, and the presence of peritoneal ...

ABSTRACT: Herein we report the case of a 45-year-old woman with known history of malignant melanoma, complaining recent onset of bilateral hearing problems initially addressed to acoustic neuroma. Dedicated F-FDG PET/CT and MR imaging documented the presence of 3 areas of pathologic uptake in the V-VII-VIII cranial nerves, other 2 ...

Unlike most small globular proteins, lipocalins lack a compact hydrophobic core. Instead, they present a large central cavity that functions as the primary binding site for hydrophobic molecules. Not surprisingly, these proteins typically exhibit complex structural dynamics in solution, which is intricately modified by intermolecular recognition events. Although many lipocalins ...

Acute neurological symptoms in pregnant and post-partum women could be caused by exacerbation of a pre-existing neurological condition, the initial presentation of a non-pregnancy-related problem, or a new acute-onset neurological problem that is either unique to or occurs with increased frequency during or just after pregnancy. Pregnant and postpartum patients ...

The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of the double-peak responses in digital nerve conduction study in normal and diabetic patients. This was a cross-sectional and correlative study. Sixty healthy subjects (10 people per decade from 20 to 79 yrs of age; 26 men; mean age, 48 ...

The purpose of this preliminary work was to develop a new short tool to assess personal health records (PHRs) self-efficacy. Prior work had found 4 distinct skills related to creating, updating, tracking symptoms, and sharing information with health care providers using PHR. Although PHRs have great promise, their uptake has ...

ABSTRACT: A 65-year-old woman with a complete atrioventricular block was diagnosed as having cardiac sarcoidosis. F-FDG PET/CT imaging without unfractionated heparin loading revealed systemic abnormal uptake indicating sarcoidosis. However, the cardiac lesions were vague because of the physiological FDG uptake. One month later, F-FDG PET/CT using heparin loading was performed ...

To assess the safety, predictability, and stability of a new microwave thermokeratoplasty procedure to correct myopia. Cornea and refractive surgery subspecialty. Prospective clinical trial. Thermokeratoplasty was performed in myopic eyes at a single center in Turkey from June 2009 to June 2010. The attempted corrections ranged from -1.25 to -5.75 ...

ABSTRACT: Friedreich ataxia is an autosomal recessive disorder that affects children and young adults. The mutation consists of a homozygous guanine-adenine-adenine trinucleotide repeat expansion that causes deficiency of frataxin, a small nuclear genome-encoded mitochondrial protein. Low frataxin levels lead to insufficient biosynthesis of iron-sulfur clusters that are required for mitochondrial ...

Background -  In humans, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) plays a central role in the development of allergic inflammation, such as atopic dermatitis (AD), but it is unknown whether it is involved in the pathogenesis of canine AD (CAD). Hypothesis/Objectives -  Our aim was to characterize canine TSLP and to assess its expression ...

Several recent studies have identified a relationship between the natural environment and improved health outcomes. However, for practical reasons, most have been observational, cross-sectional studies. A natural experiment, which provides stronger evidence of causality, was used to test whether a major change to the natural environment-the loss of 100 million ...

The strategy of all retroviral infections is based on establishing an equilibrium between virus replication and proviral latency in the infected host. The human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1), belonging to the subfamily of lentiviridae, adds an additional level of sophistication to this general rule by encoding two regulatory genes (tat ...

Background - It is unproven that all dogs harbour Demodex mites in their skin. In fact, several microscopic studies have failed to demonstrate mites in healthy dogs. Hypothesis/Objectives - Demodex canis is a normal inhabitant of the skin of most, if not all, dogs. This hypothesis was tested using a ...

GPS receivers are becoming increasingly common as an objective measure of spatiotemporal movement in free-living populations; however, research into the effects of the surrounding physical environment on the accuracy of off-the-shelf GPS receivers is limited. The goal of the current study was to (1) determine the static validity of seven ...

ABSTRACT: Hepatoblastoma is a rare carcinoma mostly seen in children. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by resection and adjuvant chemotherapy is the optimal treatment. We present the case of an 18-year-old woman who presented with abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, and fatigue. MRI showed 3 hepatic lesions with high signal intensity on arterial ...

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease primarily characterized by cardinal motor manifestations and CNS pathology. Current drug therapies can often stabilize these cardinal motor symptoms, and attention has shifted to the other motor and nonmotor symptoms of PD that are resistant to drug therapy. Dysphagia in PD is perhaps ...

The chemotherapeutic agents used for the treatment of giardiasis are often associated with adverse side effects and are refractory cases, due to the development of resistant parasites. Therefore the search for new drugs is required. We have previously reported the giardicidal effects of metronidazole (MTZ) and its analogues (MTZ-Ms, MTZ-Br, ...

The increased capacity to rapidly eliminate drugs can have a profound effect on the efficacious exposure of coadministered drugs, especially in today's medical world of polypharmacy. There are numerous drug-drug interactions (DDIs) related to a loss of therapeutic efficacy and many of these are caused by pregnane X receptor (PXR)-mediated ...

A 43-question survey was e-mailed to all resident members of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), ASCRS members in practice for 5 or fewer years, and residency program directors of 118 U.S. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited ophthalmology programs (for distribution to their residents) in June 2010. ...

Background -  Keratinocytes in the hair follicle bulge region have a high proliferative capacity, with characteristics of epithelial stem cells. This cell population might thus be an ideal source for generating the interfollicular epidermis in a canine skin equivalent. Hypothesis/Objectives -  This study was designed to determine the ability of canine hair ...

Background -  Dogs and humans with atopic dermatitis (AD) are predisposed to colonization and recurrent infection with Staphylococcus spp. Studies in humans suggest that staphylococcus-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays a key role in disease pathogenesis. Few such studies have been undertaken in dogs. Hypothesis/Objectives -  The aim of this study was to compare ...

ABSTRACT: A 48-year-old male patient of papillary carcinoma of thyroid, who had received 3.145 GBq of radioiodine (I) 6 months earlier, presented with recurrent headaches and progressively worsening double vision for 2 weeks. Iodine avid and low metabolic parasellar mass was seen on I SPECT/CT and F-FDG PET/CT, respectively. In ...

Adopted orphan nuclear receptor (NR), pregnane X receptor (PXR), plays a central role in the regulation of xeno- and endobiotic metabolism. Since the discovery of the functional role of PXR in 1998, there is evolving evidence for the role of PXR agonists in abrogating metabolic pathophysiology (e.g., cholestasis, hypercholesterolemia, and ...

Background -  The management of atopic dermatitis (AD) in dogs relies mainly on the use of interventions to reduce pruritus and skin lesions. Objectives -  To provide a critical analysis of recent clinical trials reporting the efficacy and safety of interventions for canine AD. Methods -  Systematic review of randomized ...

Recently, suicide exceeded motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury death in the U.S. However, details of this change in suicide methods and the relationship to individual demographics, such as age and societal influences, have not been reported. To determine the characteristics of the changes in suicide rates ...

Skin cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the world today in both humans and our pet population. Advances in molecular techniques are now affording us an opportunity to develop therapeutics targeted at specific cancer-related cellular pathways. However, despite progress in conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and ...

Clovers (genus: Trifolium) have been used in traditional medicine by many cultures, but the biological activity of the most of these plants still remains unknown. The aim of our in vitro study was to assess the antioxidative action of phenolic extracts from aerial parts of Trifolium scabrum and Trifolium pallidum ...