[Serum adiponectin levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome].

Objective: To explore the changes of serum adiponectin levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).

Methods: Polysomnography was performed in 71 obese OSAHS patients (obese OSAHS group), 21 OSAHS patients without obesity (non-obese OSAHS group), 26 obese controls (obese group) and 22 normal healthy adults (control group). In both the obese OSAHS group and obese group, the body mass index (BMI) was higher than 25 and there was no significant difference in BMI.

Involvement of dynorphin A in the inhibition of morphine physical dependence by N-nitro-L-arginine in rats.

Objective: To investigate the involvement of immunoreactive-dynorphin A in the inhibitory effect of N-nitro-L-arginine on the morphine physical dependence in rats.

Methods: The rats were rendered dependent on morphine by subcutaneous administration of morphine solution three times daily in a manner of dose increment of 5 mg.kg(-1) for 6 days.

Toward a fuller understanding of analytical atomic spectrometry.

Although inductively coupled plasma emission and mass spectrometry have been in widespread use for a long time, there is still a gap in our knowledge concerning how atoms are formed in the ICP, by which mechanisms they are excited, how ionization occurs, and how these factors are influenced by operating parameters of the ICP such as gas flow rates, radiofrequency power, and viewing or sampling position. Furthermore it is still not clear how or whether the sampling cone of the mass-spectrometer interface affects the ICP itself. Although many measurements have been made downstream from the sampling orifice, less is clear about the influence of the interface upstream of the sampling process.