The therapeutic potential of IGF-I in skeletal muscle repair.

Skeletal muscle loss due to aging, motor-neuron degeneration, cancer, heart failure, and ischemia is a serious condition for which currently there is no effective treatment. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) plays an important role in muscle maintenance and repair. Preclinical studies have shown that IGF-I is involved in increasing muscle mass and strength, reducing degeneration, inhibiting the prolonged and excessive inflammatory process due to toxin injury, and increasing the proliferation potential of satellite cells.

Skeletal muscle molecular alterations precede whole-muscle dysfunction in NYHA Class II heart failure patients.

Background: Heart failure (HF), a debilitating disease in a growing number of adults, exerts structural and neurohormonal changes in both cardiac and skeletal muscles. However, these alterations and their affected molecular pathways remain uncharacterized. Disease progression is known to transform skeletal muscle fiber composition by unknown mechanisms.

Acute blood glucose lowering effects and long-term safety of OpunDia supplementation in pre-diabetic males and females.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute and chronic effects of OpunDia (Opuntia ficus-indica) in obese pre-diabetic men and women.

Materials And Methods: This double-blind placebo controlled study included participants (age range of 20-50 years) randomly assigned to one of the two groups and given a 16-week supply of either the 200 mg OpunDia (n=15), or placebo (n=14). The acute phase of the study consisted of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with a 400 mg bolus of OpunDia given 30 min before orally ingesting a 75 g glucose drink.

Sex difference in the association of the angiotensin converting enzyme I/D polymorphism and body mass index.

Background: Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) catayzes the formation of angiotensin I to angiotensin II. A polymorphism has been identified in intron 16 in which a 287 base-pair alu sequence was found to be present (insertion or I) or absent (deletion or D) in the population. ACE and the components of the renin-angiotensin system are expressed in adipose tissue and therefore the I/D polymorphism within ACE may be associated with obesity.

Age-related changes in relative expression of real-time PCR housekeeping genes in human skeletal muscle.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the expression of three commonly used housekeeping genes -- glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)M), and RNA polymerase 2a (polR2a) -- in elderly (E) compared to young (Y) subjects. Nine young subjects (22.7 +/- 3.

Analysis of one-step and two-step real-time RT-PCR using SuperScript III.

Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a commonly used technique to analyze gene expression. There has been little research conducted to test if SuperScript III quantitative one-step (reverse transcription carried out in the same tube as PCR) and two-step (reverse transcription carried out in a separate reaction) RT-PCR systems provide similar real-time results. In this study, real-time reactions were set up using the housekeeping genes glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), beta2-microglobulin (B2M), and RNA polymerase 2 subunit A (PolR2A).

Body composition and hormonal adaptations associated with forskolin consumption in overweight and obese men.

Objective: This study examined the effect of forskolin on body composition, testosterone, metabolic rate, and blood pressure in overweight and obese (BMI > or = 26 kg/m(2)) men.

Research Methods And Procedure: Thirty subjects (forskolin, n = 15; placebo, n = 15) were studied in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study for 12 weeks.

Results: Forskolin was shown to elicit favorable changes in body composition by significantly decreasing body fat percentage (BF%) and fat mass (FM) as determined by DXA compared with the placebo group (p < or = 0.

Contributions of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and apoptosis to human skeletal muscle wasting with age.

The primary mechanism that contributes to decreasing skeletal muscle strength and size with healthy aging is not presently known. This study examined the contribution of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and apoptosis to skeletal muscle wasting in older adults (n = 21; mean age = 72.76 +/- 8.

The effects of varied rest periods between sets to failure using the bench press in recreationally trained men.

The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of recovery for recreational weight trainers between 2 sets of bench press to volitional exhaustion. Twenty-eight men performed 2 sets of the bench press at 75% of their previously determined 1 repetition maximum (1RM) to volitional exhaustion. Rest periods of 1, 3, or 5 minutes between sets were utilized on the 3 separate testing days.

Oral amino-acid provision does not affect muscle strength or size gains in older men.

Purpose: The intent of this investigation was to examine the effects of a daily oral provision consisting of amino acids (L-lysine, L-leucine, L-valine, L-phenylalanine, L-threonine, L-histidine, L-isoleucine, and L-methionine) in combination with carbohydrates (dextrose, sucrose, and fructose) on whole muscle strength and size characteristics during a 12-wk progressive knee extensor resistance training (PRT) program in older men (>65 yr).

Methods: Seventeen older men were randomly assigned to either the experimental (EX) or control (CN) groups. The EX (N = 8) and CN (N = 9) groups had the following characteristics-EX: 70.