Arm exercise testing predicts clinical outcome.

Background: Treadmill exercise testing provides prognostic and clinical information that is not available for patients with lower extremity disabilities who undergo pharmacologic stress tests. We sought to determine whether arm ergometer (AXT) exercise capacity in resting metabolic equivalents (METs) and hemodynamic and electrocardiographic responses to AXT are predictors of survival, myocardial infarction (MI), or coronary revascularization, individually or as a composite.

Methods: A prospective cohort of 359 veterans aged 63 +/- 11 (SD) years, who were unable or unwilling to perform treadmill exercise, underwent AXT stress testing for clinical reasons between 1997 and 2002 and were followed for 63 +/- 24 months to an end point of death or December 31, 2006.

Guinea pig mu opioid receptor: brainstem expression in the morphine-exposed neonate.

The mu opioid receptor (MOR) has been characterized in the mouse and rat. The guinea pig has several advantages as a model for in utero exposure to morphine; the placental structure is similar to the human; and the guinea pig metabolizes morphine to its active metabolite, morphine-6-glucuronide, at similar rates as humans. Guinea pig MOR cDNA was sequenced.