Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships of cognitive and psychomotor effects of intravenous buprenorphine infusion in human volunteers.

The main objective of the present study was to characterize the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) relationship of the effects of buprenorphine on cognitive functioning in healthy volunteers. Twenty-three male volunteers received 0.6 mg buprenorphine as an intravenous infusion over 150 min.

Honokiol suppresses survival signals mediated by Ras-dependent phospholipase D activity in human cancer cells.

Purpose: Elevated phospholipase D (PLD) activity provides a survival signal in several human cancer cell lines and suppresses apoptosis when cells are subjected to the stress of serum withdrawal. Thus, targeting PLD survival signals has potential to suppress survival in cancer cells that depend on PLD for survival. Honokiol is a compound that suppresses tumor growth in mouse models.

Association of a clinical knowledge support system with improved patient safety, reduced complications and shorter length of stay among Medicare beneficiaries in acute care hospitals in the United States.

Background: Electronic clinical knowledge support systems have decreased barriers to answering clinical questions but there is little evidence as to whether they have an impact on health outcomes.

Methods: We compared hospitals with online access to UpToDate with other acute care hospitals included in the Thomson 100 Top Hospitals Database (Thomson database). Metrics used in the Thomson database differentiate hospitals on a variety of performance dimensions such as quality and efficiency.

Statistical mixture modeling for cell subtype identification in flow cytometry.

Statistical mixture modeling provides an opportunity for automated identification and resolution of cell subtypes in flow cytometric data. The configuration of cells as represented by multiple markers simultaneously can be modeled arbitrarily well as a mixture of Gaussian distributions in the dimension of the number of markers. Cellular subtypes may be related to one or multiple components of such mixtures, and fitted mixture models can be evaluated in the full set of markers as an alternative, or adjunct, to traditional subjective gating methods that rely on choosing one or two dimensions.

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of morphine and oxycodone concentrations and analgesic effect in a multimodal experimental pain model.

Analgesia from most opioids is mediated by mu receptors located mainly in the central nervous system. Previous studies have shown a different pharmacological profile of oxycodone in respect to visceral analgesia. This study investigated if morphine and oxycodone have different pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profiles, in particular with respect to delay between opioid blood concentration and analgesia.

Pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and tolerability of fentanyl following intranasal versus intravenous administration in adults undergoing third-molar extraction: a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, two-way, crossover study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetic profile, as well as the efficacy and tolerability, of i.n. and i.

Color constancy: phenomenal or projective?

Naive observers viewed a sequence of colored Mondrian patterns, simulated on a color monitor. Each pattern was presented twice in succession, first under one daylight illuminant with a correlated color temperature of either 16,000 or 4000 K and then under the other, to test for color constancy. The observers compared the central square of the pattern across illuminants, either rating it for sameness of material appearance or sameness of hue and saturation or judging an objective property-that is, whether its change of color originated from a change in material or only from a change in illumination.

Endothelial colony forming cells and mesenchymal stem cells are enriched at different gestational ages in human umbilical cord blood.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are used for angiogenic therapies and as biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. Human umbilical cord blood (UCB) is a rich source of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs), which are EPCs with robust proliferative potential that may be useful for clinical vascular regeneration. Previous studies show that hematopoietic progenitor cells are increased in premature UCB compared with term controls.

Recruiting with care.

Receiving letters of resignation can generate mixed emotions. While filling a vacant post offers opportunities for managerial change or the promotion of valued colleagues, few of us relish the administrative burden of recruitment.

Analysis of airborne and waterborne particles around a taconite ore processing facility.

Since the mid-1970s, samples of airborne and waterborne fibrous particulates have been collected in the area of the Northshore Taconite Ore Processing Facility by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PCA), and the University of Minnesota. Indirect sample preparation has consistently been used although other aspects of the sampling methods and sites have varied and analytical procedures were altered over time as more accurate and precise microscopy methods were developed (i.e.

Estimating the effect of protected lands on the development and conservation of their surroundings.

The fate of private lands is widely seen as key to the fate of biodiversity in much of the world. Organizations that work to protect biodiversity on private lands often hope that conservation actions on one piece of land will leverage the actions of surrounding landowners. Few researchers have, however, examined whether protected lands do in fact encourage land conservation nearby or how protected lands affect development in the surrounding landscape.

Limited sampling strategies to estimate exposure to the green tea polyphenol, epigallocatechin gallate, in fasting and fed conditions.

The objective of this study was to develop an efficient sampling strategy to predict epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) pharmacokinetics after green tea administration. Ten healthy subjects received a single 800-mg oral dose of EGCG administered as Polyphenon E under both fasting and fed conditions. Plasma samples were serially collected over 24 hours and EGCG concentrations were determined.

Suppression of TGF-beta signaling by phospholipase D.

MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells have a survival signal generated by phospholipase D (PLD) that involves the activation of mTOR and MAP kinase. TGF-beta signals that block cell cycle progression in G(1) are suppressed in MDA-MB-231 cells. We report here that the elevated PLD activity in MDA-MB-231 cells suppresses TGF-beta signaling.

Link and subgraph likelihoods in random undirected networks with fixed and partially fixed degree sequences.

The simplest null models for networks, used to distinguish significant features of a particular network from a priori expected features, are random ensembles with the degree sequence fixed by the specific network of interest. These "fixed degree sequence" (FDS) ensembles are, however, famously resistant to analytic attack. In this paper we introduce ensembles with partially-fixed degree sequences (PFDS) and compare analytic results obtained for them with Monte Carlo results for the FDS ensemble.

Phospholipase D provides a survival signal in human cancer cells with activated H-Ras or K-Ras.

Phospholipase D (PLD) is elevated in rodent fibroblasts expressing activated H-Ras mutants. We therefore examined the PLD activity in human cancer cells with activating Ras mutations. T24 bladder carcinoma cells express an activated H-Ras gene and Calu-1 lung carcinoma cells express an activated K-Ras gene.

Population pharmacokinetics of buprenorphine following a two-stage intravenous infusion in healthy volunteers.

Objective: The aim of this investigation was to characterize the pharmacokinetics of buprenorphine following administration of an intravenous (i.v.) infusion.

Cephalexin inhibits N-formylated peptide transport and intestinal hyperpermeability in Caco2 cells.

Purpose: Intestinal barrier integrity is diminished in critical illness and inflammatory bowel disease. Bacterial-derived N-formylated peptides, absorbed by the intestinal oligopeptide transporter, hPEPT1, are involved in the pathogenesis of disease-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction, via stimulation of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) migration. The purpose of this study was to determine if the hPEPT1 substrate, cephalexin, inhibits the absorption of the N-formylated peptide, N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine ("fMLP"), thereby preventing hyperpermeability in Caco2 cells.

Hippocampal theta sequences.

The activity of individual hippocampal principal neurons is spatially localized such that each neuron is active only when the animal occupies an area of the environment known as the cell's place field. Additionally, the activity of hippocampal neurons exhibits a particular temporal relationship to the hippocampal EEG, such that spikes fired by the neuron occur at progressively earlier phases of the co-occurring theta rhythm in the EEG as the animal traverses the place field. This relationship is known as theta precession.

A genital mass due to herpes simplex virus in a renal transplant recipient.

Infection with herpes simplex virus in immunocompromised patients may be atypical in appearance. Large, hypertrophic lesions in the anogenital region suggestive of malignancy have been rarely described, primarily in patients with HIV. We report a case of a large genital mass due to herpes simplex virus in a renal transplant recipient.

Role of xenobiotic efflux transporters in resistance to vincristine.

This study characterized interactions between efflux transporters (P-glycoprotein (MDR1) and multidrug resistance associated proteins (MRPs1-3)) and vincristine (VCR), using cell lines with differential transporter expression, and studied effects of P-glycoprotein inhibition on VCR transport and toxicity. Caco2 (express MDR1, MRPs 1-3), LS174T (express MDR1, MRPs 1, 3), and A549 (express MRPs 1-3) cells were used. To study VCR transport (effective permeability, P(eff)), VCR (1-500 nM) was added to the donor chambers of permeable supports containing Caco2 monolayers, and receiving chamber concentrations were measured.

Goos-Hänchen induced vector eigenmodes in a dome cavity.

We demonstrate numerically calculated electromagnetic eigenmodes of a 3D dome cavity resonator that owe their shape and character entirely to the Goos-Hänchen effect. The V-shaped modes, which have purely TE or TM polarization, are well described by a 2D billiard map with the Goos-Hänchen shift included. A phase space plot of this augmented billiard map reveals a saddle-node bifurcation; the stable periodic orbit that is created in the bifurcation corresponds to the numerically calculated eigenmode, dictating the angle of its 'V.

How temporal cues can aid colour constancy.

Colour constancy assessed by asymmetric simultaneous colour matching usually reveals limited levels of performance in the unadapted eye. Yet observers can readily discriminate illuminant changes on a scene from changes in the spectral reflectances of the surfaces making up the scene. This ability is probably based on judgements of relational colour constancy, in turn based on the physical stability of spatial ratios of cone excitations under illuminant changes.

The lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 receptor costimulates plasma membrane Ras via phospholipase D2.

Ras activation as a consequence of antigen receptor (T-cell receptor; TCR) engagement on T lymphocytes is required for T-cell development, selection and function. Lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) mediates lymphocyte adhesion, stabilization of the immune synapse and bidirectional signalling. Using a fluorescent biosensor we found that TCR activation with or without costimulation of CD28 led to activation of Ras only on the Golgi apparatus, whereas costimulation with LFA-1 induced Ras activation on both the Golgi and the plasma membrane.

The effects of isosteviol against myocardium injury induced by ischaemia-reperfusion in the isolated guinea pig heart.

1. This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of isosteviol against myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury and its effects on mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium channel (mitoK(ATP)) activity in vitro. 2.