Role of coenzyme Q10 in chronic heart failure, angina, and hypertension.

Purpose: Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) has a pathophysiologic role in many disease states. The purpose of this review is to provide recommendations regarding the safety, efficacy, and dosing of CoQ10 in the management of chronic heart failure (CHF), angina, and hypertension.

Data Sources: Literature pertaining to the safety and efficacy of CoQ10 specifically in cardiovascular indications was reviewed.

Results of a community pharmacy-based breast cancer risk-assessment and education program.

We tested the hypothesis that an education program addressing breast cancer screening schedules and modalities coupled with a breast cancer risk assessment provided by community pharmacists can increase women's confidence in performing screening practices endorsed by the American Cancer Society (ACS). This randomized, paired, pre-post study was conducted in six community pharmacies and two health-screening fairs; subjects were 140 women over 18 years of age. The pharmacist-administered program used the Breast Cancer Risk-Assessment Tool (Gail model) software provided by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

Help for housewives: domestic service and the reconstruction of domesticity in Britain, 1940-50.

This article argues that examining the debates over domestic science that took place in the late 1940s can produce insights into the ways in which gender, class and domesticity were inextricably linked and understood. The article focuses on three specific examples: a social survey of domestic service produced privately, a government report on the domestic organization of private households, and a radio debate broadcast by the BBC Home Service.

Evaluation of echinacea for treatment of the common cold.

Considered to have immunostimulating activity, echinacea is a widely used phytomedicinal for treatment of the common cold and upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). We reviewed the literature from the MEDLINE database (January 1966-July 1999), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA) online database, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Biological Sciences online database, Alt-Health Watch online database, EMBase CD-ROM database, and references from published articles, reviews, and letters to evaluate evidence from clinical trials of echinacea's purported efficacy for treating or preventing URTIs. Twelve clinical studies published from 1961-1997 concluded that echinacea was efficacious for treating the common cold, but the results are unclear due to inherent flaws in study design.

Protein synthesis during oxygen conformance and severe hypoxia in the mouse muscle cell line C2C12.

Oxygen conformance can be described as the ability to reduce energy demand, and hence oxygen consumption, in response to a decline in oxygen availability without a decrease in the concentration of ATP. It has been proposed that oxygen conformance may enhance cellular survival at low oxygen concentrations. We demonstrate that non-contracting C2C12 cells, a mouse skeletal muscle cell line, are capable of oxygen conformance.

Null alleles at the Huntington disease locus: implications for diagnostics and CAG repeat instability.

PCR amplification of the CAG repeat in exon 1 of the IT15 gene is routinely undertaken to confirm a clinical diagnosis of Huntington disease (HD) and to provide predictive testing for at-risk relatives of affected individuals. Our studies have detected null alleles on the chromosome carrying the expanded repeat in three of 91 apparently unrelated HD families. Sequence analysis of these alleles has revealed the same mutation event, leading to the juxtaposition of uninterrupted CAG and CCG repeats.

Trainee specialist: meeting the needs of service provision and career development.

A two-year modular training scheme to enable qualified speech and language therapists (SLTs) to become specialists in the field of acquired neurological disorders in adults was set up to address problems of: difficulty recruiting to senior posts; lack of opportunity for inexperienced therapists to gain experience in this field and the need for structured supervision. The paper describes how time was found to devise and implement the modular Nine Box System, the problems encountered, the advantages and disadvantages of the scheme as a whole and future developments. The scheme has potential to meet the needs of managers in creating a pool of experienced specialists to recruit to senior posts.

The effects of lithium on vascular development in the chick area vasculosa.

The effects of lithium on vascular development were examined using the chick embryo area vasculosa in shell-less culture as an experimental model. Embryos were explanted after 48 h in ovo and LiC1 (50, 100, 150 and 200 microg in 10 microl water) was applied to the centre of the blastodisc. Controls were untreated or given equimolar amounts of NaCl.

Toxicity in a water column following the stratification of a cyanobacterial population development in a calm lake.

Cyanobacteria, including the genera Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, Microcystis, and Oscillatoria, are known to release or have the potential to release phycotoxins into the water. Indeed, there are documented cases of both animal and human intoxication. Data obtained from field observations and laboratory experiments demonstrate a correlation between the development of the cyanobacterial population and the level of phycotoxin present in the water, though it should be noted that not all cyanobacterial blooms are toxic.

Allocation of inner cell mass and trophectoderm cells to the preimplantation blastocyst of the domestic ferret, Mustela putorius furo.

The growth of ferret preimplantation blastocysts in vivo, collected between 156 and 240 hr post coitum, was investigated. A technique, combining immunosurgery and differential fluorochrome staining, was used to discriminate between inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cells. Using the stains propidium iodide and bisbenzimide (Hoechst 33342), the ICM was stained blue and the TE was stained pink.

Development of rabbit zygotes into blastocysts in defined protein-free medium and offspring born following culture and embryo transfer.

We report here on an improved, completely defined culture system for producing embryos in vitro which mimics development in vivo. This system avoids the confounding effects of the many unknowns introduced by the multivariate components of the serum or by unknowns attached to bovine serum albumin (BSA). Zygotes were obtained from superovulated rabbits and cultured in modified defined RPMI 1640:Dulbecco's MEM, 1:1 (RD) medium.

The effects of lithium on neurulation stage mouse embryos.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the maternal toxicity and teratogenicity of lithium following intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) with lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) in pregnant CD-1 mice at the developmental stage of neurulation (E8; day of vaginal plug, E0).

Effects of gas atmosphere, platelet-derived growth factor and leukemia inhibitory factor on cell numbers of rabbit embryos cultured in a protein-free medium.

While culture conditions for embryos have improved, development in vitro is not equivalent to in vivo growth. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), mouse (mLIF) or human (hLIF) leukemia inhibitory factor and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) added to protein-free culture medium, as well as two gas atmospheres were evaluated for their effect on rabbit embryo development. Adding PDGF, mLIF or hLIF to the culture medium did not result in detectable differences in total cell number for blastocysts.

Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether effects on health and reproduction in male rabbits.

Male Dutch rabbits were weighed and randomly assigned within each weight group to five groups of six animals each (plus one more in the highest dose group). They received 0, 12.5, 25.

A non-invasive photographic modification for recording early vascular development in the chick.

The chick embryo shell-less culture technique allows continuous observation and access to the developing vessels of the area vasculosa (AV); hence, its value as an angiogenesis assay system. The main drawback of the method is that adequately contrasted photographs cannot be achieved without injection of a contrast medium which kills the embryo making further observation of the same specimen impossible. Furthermore, injection prior to 72 h incubation has a high failure rate.

Isolation, serotypes, and virulence-associated properties of Yersinia enterocolitica from the tonsils of slaughter hogs.

The objectives of this study were to determine the carriage rate of Yersinia enterocolitica in the tonsils of slaughter hogs, and to characterize them with regard to phenotypic and virulence-associated properties. Of 202 pigs examined from an abattoir in Prince Edward Island, 85 were culture positive for Y. enterocolitica.

Nuclear transfer of putative rabbit embryonic stem cells leads to normal blastocyst development.

Rabbit embryonic stem-like cells, characterized by embryoid body formation and differentiation into cell types representative of all three germ layers, were studied for their ability to promote early embryonic development after nuclear transfer. After culture of the reconstructed embryos, 23% (n = 35) developed successfully into morulae or blastocysts, compared with 34% (n = 62) for cloned embryos derived from nuclear transfer with embryonic blastomeres. The cloned embryos from the embryonic stem-like cells appeared normal, with an average of 26% inner cell mass cells, similar to that of control non-manipulated embryos (25%) or cloned embryos from blastomeres (25%).

Rabbit blastocyst: allocation of cells to the inner cell mass and trophectoderm.

The proportion of total cells in the blastocyst allocated to the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) is important for future development and may be sensitive indicator to evaluate culture conditions. The number of cells and their distribution within the two primary cell lineages were determined for the rabbit embryo developing in vivo after superovulation or nonsuperovulation or embryo transfer and compared with embryos developing in vitro. Comparisons were made with cultured embryos or embryos grown in vivo until 3.