Optimal intraoperative somatosensory evoked potential stimulus intensity can be determined by nerve action potential amplitude.

Purpose: Muscle twitch threshold has been used to determine optimal stimulus intensity for somatosensory evoked potentials but neuromuscular blockade precludes the use of muscle twitch during surgery. Accordingly, nerve action potential (NAP) amplitude was investigated as a surrogate to muscle twitch.

Methods: The ulnar and tibial nerves were stimulated at the wrist and ankle, respectively, in 27 patients undergoing spine and brain surgery.

Role of reactive oxygen species in the neural and hormonal regulation of the PNMT gene in PC12 cells.

The stress hormone, epinephrine, is produced predominantly by adrenal chromaffin cells and its biosynthesis is regulated by the enzyme phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT). Studies have demonstrated that PNMT may be regulated hormonally via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and neurally via the stimulation of the splanchnic nerve. Additionally, hypoxia has been shown to play a key role in the regulation of PNMT.

Regulation of the phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase gene in the adrenal gland of the spontaneous hypertensive rat.

The catecholamine epinephrine is physiologically important in cardiac function and blood pressure regulation. Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT) is the terminal enzyme in the catecholamine biosynthetic pathway, responsible for epinephrine biosynthesis, and is primarily localized in the adrenal gland. In hypertensive rats, adrenal PNMT mRNA, protein and enzyme activity are elevated along with elevated levels of epinephrine, suggesting that increased expression of PNMT in the adrenal gland results in the increased adrenergic function associated with hypertension.

RBM6-RBM5 transcription-induced chimeras are differentially expressed in tumours.

Unlabelled: Transcription-induced chimerism, a mechanism involving the transcription and intergenic splicing of two consecutive genes, has recently been estimated to account for approximately 5% of the human transcriptome. Despite this prevalence, the regulation and function of these fused transcripts remains largely uncharacterised.

Results: We identified three novel transcription-induced chimeras resulting from the intergenic splicing of a single RNA transcript incorporating the two neighbouring 3p21.