Biochemical liver function test parameter levels in relation to treatment response in liver metastatic colorectal patients treated with FOLFOX4 with or without bevacizumab.

Introduction: Combined use of bevacizumab and conventional anticancer drugs leads to a significant improvement of treatment response in patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Conventional treatment protocols exert undesired effects on the liver tissue. Hepatotoxic effects are manifested as a disturbance of liver function test parameters.

Radiolabeled tirofiban - a potential radiopharmaceutical for detection of deep venous thrombosis.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using technetium (Tc)-labeled tirofiban (a reversible antagonist of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa) for detection of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in rats without causing an antiplatelet effect.

Methods: The ability of in vitro tirofiban to inhibit adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation was evaluated using optical aggregometer. Binding of Tc-tirofiban to platelets was evaluated.

Mechanisms underlying the vasorelaxation of human internal mammary artery induced by (-)-epicatechin.

Evidences have suggested that flavanol compound (-)-epicatechin is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases. One of the mechanisms of its cardioprotective effect is vasodilation. However, the exact mechanisms by which (-)-epicatechin causes vasodilation are not yet clearly defined.

Levetiracetam synergises with common analgesics in producing antinociception in a mouse model of painful diabetic neuropathy.

Painful diabetic neuropathy is difficult to treat. Single analgesics often have insufficient efficacy and poor tolerability. Combination therapy may therefore be of particular benefit, because it might provide optimal analgesia with fewer adverse effects.

Nicorandil directly and cyclic GMP-dependently opens K+ channels in human bypass grafts.

As we previously demonstrated the role of different K(+) channels in the action of nicorandil on human saphenous vein (HSV) and human internal mammary artery (HIMA), this study aimed to analyse the contribution of the cGMP pathway in nicorandil-induced vasorelaxation and to determine the involvement of cGMP in the K(+) channel-activating effect of nicorandil. An inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase (GC), ODQ, significantly inhibited nicorandil-induced relaxation, while ODQ plus glibenclamide, a selective ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP) channel inhibitor, produced a further inhibition of both vessels. In HSV, ODQ in combination with 4-aminopyridine, a blocker of voltage-gated K(+) (KV) channels, did not modify the concentration-response to nicorandil compared with ODQ, whereas in HIMA, ODQ plus iberiotoxin, a selective blocker of large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) (BKCa) channels, produced greater inhibition than ODQ alone.