Jasminum flexile flower absolute from India--a detailed comparison with three other jasmine absolutes.

Jasminum flexile flower absolute from the south of India and the corresponding vacuum headspace (VHS) sample of the absolute were analyzed using GC and GC-MS. Three other commercially available Indian jasmine absolutes from the species: J. sambac, J.

Immunological and non-immunological mechanisms of proteinuria.

Proteinuria as a general symptom of a broad range of different diseases can result from gene mutations of molecules building up the glomerular sieve, from immune-mediated, haemodynamic or metabolic disturbances of the glomerular filter. This filter is not a static barrier but consists of a highly dynamic interacting podocyte foot process to foot process to glomerular basement membrane complex. Its function is to prevent leakage of macromolecules and blood cells into the urine.

The AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN 1 is required for differential auxin responses mediating root growth.

Background: In plants, the phytohormone auxin is a crucial regulator sustaining growth and development. At the cellular level, auxin is interpreted differentially in a tissue- and dose-dependent manner. Mechanisms of auxin signalling are partially unknown and the contribution of the AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN 1 (ABP1) as an auxin receptor is still a matter of debate.

Structural and functional diversity in the family of small heat shock proteins from the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Small heat shock proteins (sHsps) are ubiquitous molecular chaperones which prevent the nonspecific aggregation of non-native proteins. Five potential sHsps exist in the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. They are located in different intracellular compartments including mitochondria and are differentially expressed during the parasite's life cycle.

Predictors for treatment success and expression of glucocorticoid receptor in giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.

Objective: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) generally respond well to treatment with glucocorticoids (GC). We sought to determine the value of clinical, histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and genetic findings and the expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) for discriminating between patients who achieve complete remission, or partial remission, or who do not improve with glucocorticoid treatment.

Methods: We examined biopsies of the temporal artery from 60 patients, of whom 27 had GCA, 13 PMR, and 20 arteriosclerosis.

Optimal image reconstruction phase at low and high heart rates in dual-source CT coronary angiography.

The purpose of this study was to determine the cardiac phase having the highest coronary sharpness for low and high heart rate patients scanned with dual source CT (DSCT) and to compare coronary image sharpness over different cardiac phases. DSCT coronary CT scans for 30 low heart rate (< or =70 beats per minute- bpm) and 30 high heart rate (>70 bpm) patients were reconstructed into different cardiac phases, starting at 30% and increasing at 5% increments until 70%. A blinded observer graded image sharpness per coronary segment, from which sharpness scores were produced for the right (RCA), left main (LM), left anterior descending (LAD), and circumflex (Cx) coronary arteries.

The eye lens chaperone alpha-crystallin forms defined globular assemblies.

Alpha-crystallins are molecular chaperones that protect vertebrate eye lens proteins from detrimental protein aggregation. alphaB-Crystallin, 1 of the 2 alpha-crystallin isoforms, is also associated with myopathies and neuropathological diseases. Despite the importance of alpha-crystallins in protein homeostasis, only little is known about their quaternary structures because of their seemingly polydisperse nature.

Fibrogenic growth factors in encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis.

Background: Increased local levels of fibrogenic growth hormones contribute substantially to the process of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) in animal models.

Methods: We analyzed probes from patients with normal kidney function (n = 10), with normal kidney function and inflammation (n = 10), on PD without (n = 10) and with EPS (n = 9). We investigated the degree of fibrosis and the number of vessels and vasculopathy.

Strategies for reducing radiation dose in CT.

In recent years, the media has focused on the potential danger of radiation exposure from CT, even though the potential benefit of a medically indicated CT far outweighs the potential risks. This attention has reminded the radiology community that doses must be as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) while maintaining diagnostic image quality. To satisfy the ALARA principle, the dose reduction strategies described in this article must be well understood and properly used.

Efficacy and safety of the single pill combination of amlodipine 10 mg plus valsartan 160 mg in hypertensive patients not controlled by amlodipine 10 mg plus olmesartan 20 mg in free combination.

Background And Objective: For patients with moderate hypertension (grade 2, defined as systolic blood pressure [SBP] 160-179 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure [DBP] 100-109 mmHg), current guidelines recommend initial combination therapy and rapid dose-adjustment to achieve blood pressure goal. In this study we investigated the efficacy and tolerability of the single pill combination of amlodipine 10 mg plus valsartan 160 mg (A 10 + Val 160) in patients not controlled by the free combination of amlodipine 10 mg plus olmesartan 20 mg (A 10 + O 20).

Methods: In this prospective, open-label, non-randomized trial, 257 patients with mean sitting DBP of 100-109 mmHg at trough entered a 4 week treatment phase with A 10 + O 20 in free combination once daily.

Accelerated atherosclerosis is independent of feeding high fat diet in systemic lupus erythematosus-susceptible LDLr(-/-) mice.

Individuals suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are predisposed to accelerate cardiovascular disease. Our laboratory has recently developed an animal model of SLE-accelerated atherosclerosis. We have shown that, following 8 weeks feeding high fat Western diet, radiation chimeras consisting of SLE-derived haematopoietic cells transferred to low-density lipoprotein (LDL)r(-/-) mice (LDLr.

Underutilization of information and knowledge in everyday medical practice: evaluation of a computer-based solution.

Background: The medical history is acknowledged as the sine qua non for quality medical care because recognizing problems is pre-requisite for managing them. Medical histories typically are incomplete and inaccurate, however. We show here that computers are a solution to this issue of information gathering about patients.

Rare earth metals used in biodegradable magnesium-based stents do not interfere with proliferation of smooth muscle cells but do induce the upregulation of inflammatory genes.

Rare earth metals are added to corrodible magnesium-based alloys in low amounts (up to 10%) to improve their mechanical properties and to decrease the degradation rate. Cerium (Ce), neodymium (Nd), yttrium (Y), and ytterbium (Yb) are already used for degradable cardiovascular stents. Little is known about the biocompatibility of rare earth metals released during the degradation process of the implant.

Conditional repression of AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN1 reveals that it coordinates cell division and cell expansion during postembryonic shoot development in Arabidopsis and tobacco.

AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN1 (ABP1) has long been characterized as a potentially important mediator of auxin action in plants. Analysis of the functional requirement for ABP1 during development was hampered because of embryo lethality of the null mutant in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we used conditional repression of ABP1 to investigate its function during vegetative shoot development.

Immunosuppressive treatment for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in adults.

Background: Corticosteroids remain the mainstay of treatment in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, including focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). However, only about 20% of patients with FSGS experience a partial or complete remission of nephrotic syndrome despite treatment.

Objectives: To assess the effects of different immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive regimes in adults with FSGS.

Chronic psychotropic drug treatment causes differential expression of connexin 43 and GFAP in frontal cortex of rats.

Astrocytic markers glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and connexin 43 (CX43) are known to have altered expression in brains of subjects with psychiatric disorders including autism and major depression. The current study investigated whether GFAP and CX43 expressions are affected by several commonly used psychotropic medications (clozapine, fluoxetine, haloperidol, lithium, olanzapine, and valproic acid). Using SDS-PAGE and western blotting technique, we observed that CX43 protein expression in prefrontal cortex was significantly increased following chronic treatment with fluoxetine and clozapine, while it was significantly decreased by haloperidol and lithium.

Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life: findings in healthy children and in common laryngeal disorders.

Objectives: Although several instruments have been validated to assess voice quality, the incidence and degree of impairment in normal, healthy children has not been widely reported. It is hypothesized that healthy children outside a medical setting do not demonstrate impairment as measured by the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life (PVRQOL) instrument; in contrast, patients with vocal fold paralysis (VFP), vocal nodules (VNs), and paradoxical vocal fold dysfunction (PVFD) have significant impairment as compared to control populations.

Methods: The PVRQOL was measured prospectively in children with VFP, VNs, and PVFD.

A capillary electrophoresis method for the characterization of ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (NTPDases) and the analysis of inhibitors by in-capillary enzymatic microreaction.

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the characterization of recombinant NTPDases 1, 2, and 3, and for assaying NTPDase inhibitors has been developed performing the enzymatic reaction within the capillary. After hydrodynamic injection of plugs of substrate solution with or without inhibitor in reaction buffer, followed by a suspension of an enzyme-containing membrane preparation, and subsequent injection of another plug of substrate solution with or without inhibitor, the reaction took place close to the capillary inlet. After 5 min, the electrophoretic separation of the reaction products was initiated by applying a constant current of -60 muA.

Cloning and characterization of the ecto-nucleotidase NTPDase3 from rat brain: Predicted secondary structure and relation to other members of the E-NTPDase family and actin.

The protein family of ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (E-NTPDase family) contains multiple members that hydrolyze nucleoside 5'-triphosphates and nucleoside 5'-diphosphates with varying preference for the individual type of nucleotide. We report the cloning and functional expression of rat NTPDase3. The rat brain-derived cDNA has an open reading frame of 1590 bp encoding 529 amino acid residues, a calculated molecular mass of 59.

Antiprion prophylaxis by gene transfer of a soluble prion antagonist.

Prion diseases are untreatable neurodegenerative disorders characterized by accumulation of PrP(Sc), an aggregated isoform of the normal prion protein PrP(C). Here, we delivered the soluble prion antagonist PrP-Fc(2) to the brains of mice by lentiviral gene transfer. Although naïve mice developed scrapie at 175 +/- 5 days postintracerebral prion inoculation (dpi), gene transfer before inoculation delayed disease onset by 72 +/- 4 days.

Structural dynamics of archaeal small heat shock proteins.

Small heat shock proteins (sHsps) are a widespread and diverse class of molecular chaperones. In vivo, sHsps contribute to thermotolerance. Recent evidence suggests that their function in the cellular chaperone network is to maintain protein homeostasis by complexing a variety of non-native proteins.

The chloroplast Tat pathway transports substrates in the dark.

Photosynthetic electron transport pumps protons into the thylakoid lumen, creating an electrochemical potential called the protonmotive force (PMF). The energy of the thylakoid PMF is utilized by such machinery as the chloroplast F(0)F(1)-ATPase as well as the chloroplast Tat (cpTat) pathway (a protein transporter) to do work. The bulk phase thylakoid PMF decays rapidly after the termination of actinic illumination, and it has been well established via potentiometric measurements that there is no detectable electrical or chemical potential in the thylakoid after a brief time in the dark.

Expression of phosphodiesterase 4 is altered in the brains of subjects with autism.

The cyclic adenosine monophosphate-specific phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) gene family is the target of several potential therapeutic inhibitors and the PDE4B gene has been associated with schizophrenia and depression. Little, however, is known of any connection between this gene family and autism, with limited effective treatment being available for autism. We measured the expression of PDE4A and PDE4B by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting in Brodmann's area 40 (BA40, parietal cortex), BA9 (superior frontal cortex), and cerebellum from subjects with autism and matched controls.

The impact of gender and age on voice related quality of life in children: normative data.

Objectives: Although several instruments are available to measure voice quality in children, their application to a normal population and major demographic subgroups has not been described. It is hypothesized that there is no measurable difference in self-reported voice related quality of life between gender and age groups within a population of normal children as measured by the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life (PVRQOL) instrument.

Methods: The PVRQOL instrument was used to prospectively survey a cohort of children in series at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Clusterin associates with altered elastic fibers in human photoaged skin and prevents elastin from ultraviolet-induced aggregation in vitro.

Clusterin is a secreted glycoprotein with stress-induced expression in various diseased and aged tissues. It shares basic features with small heat shock proteins because it may stabilize proteins in a folding-competent state. Besides its presence in all human body fluids, clusterin associates with altered extracellular matrix proteins, such as beta-amyloid in Alzheimer senile plaques in the brain.