A randomized controlled trial to compare two techniques for partial digital local anesthetic blocks.

The administration of local anesthetic before surgery to the great toe is often associated with significant difficulties, delaying surgery and increasing risk. Anxious patients can faint, refuse injection, or withdraw the foot while an anesthetic is being delivered. Such events led us to consider whether delivering a small amount of anesthetic throughout the injection site, before the main injection, may reduce pain intensity and duration.

Structure based design of 4-(3-aminomethylphenyl)piperidinyl-1-amides: novel, potent, selective, and orally bioavailable inhibitors of betaII tryptase.

Tryptase is a serine protease found almost exclusively in mast cells. It has trypsin-like specificity, favoring cleavage of substrates with an arginine (or lysine) at the P1 position, and has optimal catalytic activity at neutral pH. Current evidence suggests tryptase beta is the most important form released during mast cell activation in allergic diseases.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography study of quantitative and qualitative variation in tarantula spider venoms.

Animal venoms are important sources of novel pharmacological tools, useful in biochemical characterization of their receptors. Venom quality control, batch-to-batch homogeneity and high reproducibility of venom fractionation and toxin purification are crucial issues for biochemical and pharmacological studies. To address these issues, a study of the variability of tarantula spider venom samples was undertaken.

A comparison of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight and liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry methods for the analysis of crude tarantula venoms in the Pterinochilus group.

The search for novel pharmacological tools in spider venoms involves the need for precise and reproducible species identification methods. As an addition to morphological analysis, we have developed venom fingerprinting by reversed-phase chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) as an efficient and precise venom identification tool. In order to compare the possible use of liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) as an additional venom characterization tool, we have applied both methodologies to the study of several tarantula venom samples in the Pterinochilus murinus group.

Cyclic hydrolase-transfected 3T3 cells have low levels of inositol 1,2-cyclic phosphate and reach confluence at low density.

The cDNA that encodes inositol-1,2-cyclic phosphate 2-phosphohydrolase (cyclic hydrolase), an enzyme that converts inositol 1,2-cyclic phosphate (cIns(1,2)P) to inositol 1-phosphate, was expressed in 3T3 cells to investigate the function of inositol cyclic phosphates. Cells with increased cyclic hydrolase activity had lower levels of cIns(1,2)P and grew to a lower density at confluence than control cells. This relationship was strengthened by the demonstration that several cell types with differences in cyclic hydrolase activity had levels of cIns(1,2)P and saturation densities that also correlated inversely with cyclic hydrolase activity.