Humoral Responses After SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination and Breakthrough Infection in Cancer Patients.

Objective: To evaluate the magnitude of humoral response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines in patients with cancer receiving active therapies.

Patients And Methods: Patients 18 years or older in whom SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody (anti-S Ab) levels were measured after 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines were included. Patients with prior coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection or receiving other immunosuppressive therapy were excluded.

Relative effects of estrogen, age, and visceral fat on pulsatile growth hormone secretion in healthy women.

Growth hormone (GH) secretion is subject to complex regulation. How pre- and postmenopausal age (PRE, POST), estradiol (E(2)) availability, and abdominal visceral fat (AVF) jointly affect peptidyl-secretagogue drive of GH secretion is not known. To this end, healthy PRE (n = 20) and POST (n = 22) women underwent a low- vs.

Twenty-four hour continuous ghrelin infusion augments physiologically pulsatile, nycthemeral, and entropic (feedback-regulated) modes of growth hormone secretion.

Background: Ghrelin is a 28-amino acid acylated peptide that potentiates GHRH stimulation and opposes somatostatin inhibition acutely. Whether prolonged ghrelin administration can sustain physiological patterns of GH secretion remains unknown.

Hypothesis: Continuous delivery of ghrelin will amplify physiological patterns of GH secretion over 24 h.

Evaluation of Orntide microspheres in a rat animal model and correlation to in vitro release profiles.

Orntide acetate, a novel luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) antagonist, was prepared and evaluated in vivo in 30-day and 120-day sustained delivery formulations using a rat animal model. Orntide poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and poly(d,l- lactide) (PLA) microspheres were prepared by a dispersion method and administered subcutaneously in a liquid vehicle to rats at 2.2 mg Orntide/kg of body weight (30-day forms) or 8.

Comparative pulmonary toxicity assessment of single-wall carbon nanotubes in rats.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute lung toxicity of intratracheally instilled single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) in rats. The lungs of rats were instilled either with 1 or 5 mg/kg of the following control or particle types: (1) SWCNT, (2) quartz particles (positive control), (3) carbonyl iron particles (negative control), (4) phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) + 1% Tween 80, or (5) graphite particles (lung tissue studies only). Following exposures, the lungs of PBS and particle-exposed rats were assessed using bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid biomarkers and cell proliferation methods, and by histopathological evaluation of lung tissue at 24 h, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postinstillation.

Treatment effects of intranasal growth hormone releasing peptide-2 in children with short stature.

Growth hormone-releasing peptide (GHRP)-2 is a synthetic six amino acid peptide that is a potent GH secretagogue. Although it shares no structural homology with GH-releasing hormone, in clinical studies its actions on the pituitary release of GH are similar. It is effective when administered orally and intranasally.

Diagnostic studies with intravenous and intranasal growth hormone-releasing peptide-2 in children of short stature.

GH secretion is primarily regulated by the hypothalamic-releasing hormones GHRH and somatostatin. Additionally, several neurotransmitters act at the hypothalamus and pituitary to modulate GH release. The agents commonly used in clinical practice to diagnose GH deficiency, such as arginine, insulin and L-dopa, act through the neural GH network.

Biological activities of thionated thyrotropin-releasing hormone analogs.

Analogs of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Glp-His-Pro-NH2, TRH) have been prepared which contain thioamide moieties in the pyroglutamic acid ring, the carboxyamide proline terminus, and in both positions (dithio). These compounds have been tested for TSH-releasing activities (in vitro and in vivo), and for binding to TRH receptors in rat pituitary and cortex. The monothionated analogs showed no significant differences in TSH-releasing potency from TRH either in vitro or in vivo.

General practitioner outpatient referrals: do good doctors refer more patients to hospital?

Objective: To investigate the relation between general practitioners' referral rates to individual specialties and the individual areas of expertise of the referring doctors.

Design: Data collected on referral patterns in one group practice over nine months.

Setting: General practice in suburban Birmingham consisting of five partners and a trainee.

On the actions of the growth hormone-releasing hexapeptide, GHRP.

GH-releasing peptide (His-DTrp-Ala-Trp-DPhe-Lys-NH2 or GHRP) releases GH by a unique and complementary dual site of action on the hypothalamus and pituitary. These effects are mediated via non-GH-releasing hormone (non-GHRH) and nonopiate receptors in rats. Select types of opiates are known to release GH by a hypothalamic site of action, and thus, the dermorphin heptapeptide and benzomorphan opiate agonist 2549 used in this study presumably act on the hypothalamus to release GH.

Purification and expression of gCap39. An intracellular and secreted Ca2(+)-dependent actin-binding protein enriched in mononuclear phagocytes.

A protein of approximately 40 kDa was the major Ca2(+)-binding protein purified by Ca2(+)-dependent hydrophobic affinity chromatography from the cell lysates and conditioned media of RAW macrophages. Other Ca2(+)-binding proteins, including several annexins (calelectrins), S100-like proteins, and calmodulin, were less abundant and preferentially found in the cell lysates. Amino acid sequences of tryptic fragments from the purified 40-kDa protein revealed its identity to gCap39, an actin-binding protein encoded by a cDNA isolated on the basis of its homology with gelsolin.

Two novel annexins from Drosophila melanogaster. Cloning, characterization, and differential expression in development.

The annexins are a family of homologous Ca2(+)- and phospholipid-binding proteins that until now have only been found in vertebrates. cDNA clones encoding two novel annexins from Drosophila melanogaster were isolated and characterized. RNA blots indicate that the messages for the two Drosophila proteins are differentially expressed in development, with one message being expressed throughout development, while the other is only found in early embryos and adult flies.

Growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide stimulates GH release in normal men and acts synergistically with GH-releasing hormone.

The acute GH release stimulated by the synthetic hexapeptide, His-DTrp-Ala-Trp-DPhe-Lys-NH2 [GH releasing peptide (GHRP)], was determined in 18 normal men and compared with the effects of GH-releasing hormone, GHRH-(1-44)-NH2. Specificity of effect was assessed by measurement of serum PRL, LH, TSH, and cortisol. GHRP was administered at doses of 0.

Human 67-kDa calelectrin contains a duplication of four repeats found in 35-kDa lipocortins.

The 67-kDa calelectrin is the largest member of a family of Ca2+-binding proteins that associate with membranes and phospholipids in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Oligonucleotide probes based on peptide sequences obtained from purified bovine 67-kDa calelectrin were used to screen a human retina cDNA library, and the complete primary structure of human 67-kDa calelectrin was deduced by DNA sequence analysis. The protein consists of eight 68-amino acid repeats separated by linking sequences of variable lengths.

Cigarette smoking-induced coronary vasoconstriction in atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and prevention by calcium antagonists and nitroglycerin.

In patients with coronary artery disease, cigarette smoking increases myocardial oxygen demand but may cause an inappropriate alpha-adrenergically mediated fall in myocardial oxygen supply. This study was performed to determine if smoking-induced coronary vasoconstriction is prevented by nitroglycerin, verapamil or nifedipine treatment. In 25 smokers with coronary artery disease (20 men, 5 women, aged 32 to 65 years), heart rate-systolic arterial pressure double product and coronary sinus blood flow (thermodilution) were measured before and during smoking both before and 30 to 60 minutes after administration of saline solution (n = 5, control subjects); nifedipine, 10 mg sublingually (n = 6); verapamil, 10 mg intravenously (n = 7); or nitroglycerin, 0.

Variables determining the growth hormone response of His-D-Trp-Ala-Trp-D-Phe-Lys-NH2 in the rat.

Previous studies of His-D-Trp-Ala-Trp-D-Phe-Lys-NH2 (GH-RP-6) have shown this synthetic hexapeptide to be a potent and specific stimulator of GH secretion both in vivo and in vitro. In this study the variables determining the in vivo responses were examined in the rat. The magnitude of the GH response to sc GH-RP-6 was dependent on the age and sex of the rat.

Multiple mRNAs for 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase determined by multiple transcription initiation sites and intron splicing sites in the 5'-untranslated region.

The current studies show that mRNAs with 16 different 5'-untranslated regions (varying in length from 68 to 670 nucleotides) are produced from the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase gene in hamster UT-1 cells. This complex pattern of mRNAs results from a combination of multiple transcription initiation sites and multiple 5' splice donor sites for the intron in the 5'-untranslated region of the gene. Analysis of the multiple mRNAs was made possible by a modification of the S1 nuclease technique in which we used a series of progressively truncated uniformly labeled, single-stranded [32P]DNA probes in addition to the usual end-labeled 32P-probes.

HMG CoA reductase: a negatively regulated gene with unusual promoter and 5' untranslated regions.

The rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis, HMG CoA reductase, is controlled by negative feedback regulation of transcription. We have isolated the reductase gene from a bacteriophage lambda genomic library prepared from hamster UT-1 cells. The 25 kilobase gene is split into 20 exons.