Stimulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase protects against obesity by recruiting brown adipose tissue.

Obesity is characterized by a positive energy balance and expansion of white adipose tissue (WAT). In contrast, brown adipose tissue (BAT) combusts energy to produce heat. Here we show that a small molecule stimulator (BAY 41-8543) of soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), which produces the second messenger cyclic GMP (cGMP), protects against diet-induced weight gain, induces weight loss in established obesity, and also improves the diabetic phenotype.

[Snake charmer NOTES-proctocolectomy in a male patient].

Restricted ability of triangulation, a highly flexible intestine, as well as limited control and overview over the abdominal organs, complicated extensive abdominal interventions in the past. Thus, additional access sites were needed to allow sufficient interoperative control. The newly developed snake charmer NOTES-technique enables the reduction of accesses to the umbilicus and rectum.

Expression of classic cadherins and delta-protocadherins in the developing ferret retina.

Background: Cadherins are a superfamily of calcium-dependent adhesion molecules that play multiple roles in morphogenesis, including proliferation, migration, differentiation and cell-cell recognition. The subgroups of classic cadherins and delta-protocadherins are involved in processes of neural development, such as neurite outgrowth, pathfinding, target recognition, synaptogenesis as well as synaptic plasticity. We mapped the expression of 7 classic cadherins (CDH4, CDH6, CDH7, CDH8, CDH11, CDH14, CDH20) and 8 delta-protocadherins (PCDH1, PCDH7, PCDH8, PCDH9, PCDH10, PCDH11, PCDH17, PCDH18) at representative stages of retinal development and in the mature retina of the ferret by in situ hybridization.

Precision-cut liver slices from rats of different ages: basal cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase activities and inducibility.

The biotransformation capacity - of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system for example - is lower but inducibility is more pronounced in neonates than in adults. On the other hand, both enzyme activities and inducibility decline with senescence. Precision-cut rat liver slices are widely used as an in vitro tool for the examination of drug toxicity, xenobiotic metabolism or enzyme induction.