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The once fantastic theoretical concept that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) would receive gene therapy in an attempt to alleviate their symptoms and potentially modify the course of their disease has become a reality. On the basis of positive preclinical data, four different gene therapy approaches are currently in Phase I or Phase II clinical trials. Some approaches are intended to increas
Arterial diameter change is related to distending blood pressure and is used in estimation of arterial stiffness parameters. A common technique to track the arterial walls is by integration of wall velocities estimated by different methods using cross correlation or tissue Doppler. However, because of the high pulse repetition frequency and the need for separate pulsing sequences, the B-mode image
PURPOSE: Overexpression of the receptor tyrosine kinase Axl is implicated in several cancers. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the expression of Axl and its ligand Gas6 in various renal cell carcinoma (RCC) types and in oncocytoma. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR was used to quantify tumor mRNA levels for Axl and Gas6 in a cohort (n = 221) of RC
Newborn infants have pulmonary disorders with abnormal gas distribution, e. g. respiratory distress syndrome. Pulmonary radiography is the clinical routine for diagnosis. Our aim was to investigate a novel non-invasive optical technique for rapid non-radiographic bedside detection of oxygen gas in the lungs of full-term newborn infants.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Recruitment of leukocytes in the tissue microvasculature is considered to be a rate-limiting step in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-induced inflammation. The objective of this study was to examine the role of mast cells in CXC-chemokine- and I/R-provoked leukocyte recruitment in the colon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Balb/c- and mast-cell-deficient mice were challenged with the CXC che
The authors consider the three-dimensional direct and inverse scattering problems for the Schrodinger equation and for the reduced wave equation with variable velocity. The scatterer is probed with either point sources or plane waves of fixed frequency. They ask the question, 'How does the wave field change when the scatterer is truncated?' Simple formulae for the derivative of the wave field with
Serotonin has been postulated to play a role in the transplant-induced involuntary movements that occur following intrastriatal grafts of ventral mesencephalic tissue in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Serotonin innervation of the striatum may be derived from either the donor graft tissue or the normal host projections from the midbrain. In two sets of experiments we study the impact of graf
OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 Responder Index-50 (S2K RI-50) Website (www.s2k-ri-50.com) and to assess satisfaction with its training and examination modules among rheumatologists and rheumatology fellows. METHODS: The development of the Website occurred in 3 phases. The first was a deployment phase that consisted of preparin
OBJECTIVE: Somatostatin analogues are the most commonly used drugs for treatment of acromegaly. Known side effects include gastrointestinal reactions, cholelithiasis, effects on glucose metabolism, and mild reactions at injection sites. We report a patient who developed fat and skin necroses after injections of a depot somatostatin analogue. SUBJECT: A woman with active acromegaly was given deep s
The correlation between infant birthweight and parental birthweight has received substantial interest. However, fewer studies including the birthweight of the father have had access to large sets of population-based data. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of maternal and paternal birthweight on the birthweight of the offspring in the context of other birthweight determinants,
Incretin-based therapy for type 2 diabetes is based on the antidiabetic effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and instituted by GLP-1 receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors targeting the key islet defects of the disease. The treatment is clinically efficient and safe, and associated with a low risk of adverse events. It can be used both in early and late stages of the disease
This study examined emotional influences on the hypothesized event-related potential (ERP) correlates of familiarity and recollection (Experiment 1) and the states of awareness (Experiment 2) accompanying recognition memory for faces differing in facial affect. Participants made gender judgments to positive, negative, and neutral faces at study and were in the test phase instructed to discriminate
We have constructed extensive 18S–28S rDNA dinoflagellate phylogenies (>200 sequences for each marker) using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference to study the evolutionary relationships among marine and freshwater species (43 new sequences). Our results indicated that (a) marine and freshwater species are usually not closely related, (b) several freshwater species cluster into monophyletic gr
Knowledge of the natural emissions of mercury in the Mediterranean basin, which has large cinnabar anomalies, has particular weight as these deposits could be an important source of atmospheric mercury. Data on the degassing rate of mercury from soils sampled both in mineralized areas (Mt. Amiata, Italy and Almaden, Spain) and rural areas are reported. Measurements were carried out 'in situ' using
Microglia are the inflammatory cells of the brain and are activated in neuropathological conditions. To study the biology of microglia, these cells can be isolated from the brain and analyzed in terms of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine production, involvement of intracellular signaling pathways upon inflammatory stimuli, phagocytosis, and several more biological aspects to understand their rol
Polyamine analogue treatment results in growth inhibition and sometimes in cell death. Therefore, polyamine analogues are considered in the treatment of cancer; however, the cellular properties that govern sensitivity are not known. The objective of this study was to elucidate molecular mechanisms behind apoptosis induced by the polyamine analogue N, N-diethylnorspermine (DENSPM). Four different b
Background: Levosimendan and volatile anesthetics have myocardial pre-conditioning effects. beta-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists may inhibit the protective effect of volatile anesthetics. No information exists as to whether this also applies to the pre-conditioning effect of levosimendan. We therefore investigated whether levosimendan added to metoprolol would demonstrate a cardioprotective effe
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: An estimated 150 million people worldwide use cannabis. The effect of cannabis on anaesthetic requirements in humans does not appear to have been studied. METHODS: In this prospective, randomized, single-blinded study, 30 male patients using cannabis more than once per week (group C) and 30 nonusers (group NC), aged 18-50 years, were induced with propofol 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 o
