Habitat and Respiratory Strategy Effects on Hypoxia Performance in Anuran Tadpoles.

A critical component of animal conservation in a changing world is an understanding of the physiological resilience of animals to different conditions. In many aquatic animals, hypoxia (low environmental oxygen levels) is a regular occurrence, but the likelihood and severity of hypoxia vary across habitats. Fast-flowing, stream-like habitats are never hypoxic, so long as flow is maintained.

Diversification of the African legless skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Family Scincidae).

Cladogenic diversification is often explained by referring to climatic oscillations and geomorphic shifts that cause allopatric speciation. In this regard, southern Africa retains a high level of landscape heterogeneity in vegetation, geology, and rainfall patterns. The legless skink subfamily Acontinae occurs broadly across the southern African subcontinent and therefore provides an ideal model group for investigating biogeographic patterns associated with the region.

Acceptorless Alcohol Dehydrogenation Catalysed by Pd/C.

Although the selective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds is a critical reaction, it is often plagued by several challenges related to sustainability. Here, the continuous, acceptorless dehydrogenation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds over heterogeneous catalysts was demonstrated, in the absence of oxidants, bases or acceptor molecules. In addition to improving selectivity and atom efficiency, the absence of an acceptor resulted in the co-production of molecular H , a clean energy source, and permitted dehydrogenation to proceed at >98 % selectivity at turnover frequency values amongst the highest in the literature.

Translation and cultural adaptation of a specific instrument for measuring asthma control and asthma status: the Asthma Control and Communication Instrument.

Objective: To translate the Asthma Control and Communication Instrument (ACCI) to Portuguese and adapt it for use in Brazil.

Methods: The ACCI was translated to Portuguese and adapted for use in Brazil in accordance with internationally accepted guidelines. The protocol included the following steps: permission and rights of use granted by the original author; translation of the ACCI from English to Portuguese; reconciliation; back-translation; review and harmonization of the back-translation; approval from the original author; review of the Portuguese version of the ACCI by an expert panel; cognitive debriefing (the clarity, understandability, and acceptability of the translated version being tested in a sample of the target population); and reconciliation and preparation of the final version.

Maxillary ridge augmentation with fresh-frozen bone allografts.

Purpose: The present investigation clinically and histologically evaluated the use of fresh-frozen bone in the reconstruction of maxillary alveolar ridges to confirm the effective bone fill and support for the placement of dental implants.

Patients And Methods: Fifteen patients who had atrophic maxillary ridge necessitating bone block grafts prior to implant placement were submitted to maxillary reconstructions performed with human block grafts of tibia fresh-frozen chips. Nine months later the re-entry procedures were carried out and at this time a bone core was removed from the grafts for histological analysis.

Clinical effect of nemifitide, a novel pentapeptide antidepressant, in the treatment of severely depressed refractory patients.

Clinical data were evaluated from an open-label, single-center, pilot study in patients with chronic refractory depression. The primary efficacy criterion was the change from baseline using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. The secondary efficacy criteria were the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement scale.

Comparison of systemic exposure to nemifitide following two methods of subcutaneous administration to healthy volunteers.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of nemifitide, a synthetic antidepressant pentapeptide, following its subcutaneous (s.c.) administration by standard needle injection or by a needle-free (Biojecttrade mark) injection and to compare these two routes of administration for systemic exposure.

Sources of discrepancy in patient and physician global assessments of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity.

Objective: To investigate discrepancy in the perception of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity between patient and physician, and its possible sources.

Methods: Eighty patients with RA rated their level of disease activity on a visual analog scale (VAS). Physician global assessment (MDGA) of disease activity was performed blinded to the patient evaluation except for the results of laboratory tests.

Antidepressant-like effects of a novel pentapeptide, nemifitide, in an animal model of depression.

Background: Nemifitide is a novel peptide analog of melanocyte-inhibiting factor (MIF) that has been reported to relieve depressive symptoms in a very short period.

Objectives: The Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rat, a genetic animal model of depression with innate exaggerated immobility in the forced swim test, was used to obtain more detailed information about the antidepressant-like effects of nemifitide.

Methods: The FSL rats were treated chronically with various doses of nemifitide or reference antidepressants desipramine and fluoxetine for 5 or 14 days and the forced swim test was conducted 22-24 h after the last treatment.

Clinical effectiveness of nemifitide, a novel pentapeptide antidepressant, in depressed outpatients: comparison of follow-up re-treatment with initial treatment.

Data from two Phase 2 clinical studies with nemifitide, a novel pentapeptide antidepressant, were evaluated. The initial double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed on outpatients with DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder. An open-label extension study enrolled subjects either completing or having been discontinued due to lack of efficacy during the follow-up period of the initial study.

Clinical pharmacokinetic studies with INN 00835 (nemifitide), a novel pentapeptide antidepressant.

Nemifitide (4-fluoro-L-phenylalanyl-trans-4-hydroxy-L-prolyl-L-arginylglycyl-L-tryptophanamide ditrifluoroacetate) is a novel antidepressant, currently in phase 2/3 clinical trials. The purpose of our phase 1 clinical trials (conducted over a three year period) was to provide safety and pharmacokinetic data to support its clinical development as an antidepressant drug. Single and multiple doses ranging from 18 to 320 mg were administered subcutaneously to healthy volunteers in five phase 1 studies.

Double-blind, placebo-controlled study of INN 00835 (netamiftide) in the treatment of outpatients with major depression.

This study was designed to determine the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of the antidepressant netamiftide (previously designated name: INN 00835) after 5 or 10 daily doses administered to patients diagnosed with major depression. Netamiftide was administered subcutaneously at a fixed dose of 18 mg/patient per day. Of the 55 enrolled patients, 22 were dosed for 10 days with drug, 11 for 5 days with drug followed by 5 days with placebo and 22 for 10 days with placebo only.

Circadian rhythms of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), cortisol, and melatonin in women with breast cancer.

Background: Circadian rhythms in plasma concentrations of many hormones and cytokines determine their effects on target cells.

Methods: Circadian variations were studied in cortisol, melatonin, cytokines (basic fibroblast growth factor IbFGF], EGF, insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1]), and a cytokine receptor (insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 [IGFBP-3]) in the plasma of 28 patients with metastatic breast cancer. All patients followed a diurnal activity pattern.

Cluster analysis of clinical data to identify subtypes within a study population following treatment with a new pentapeptide antidepressant.

Cluster analysis was used to evaluate the data from a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial with a new pentapeptide antidepressant (INN 00835) in major depression. The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of separating the study population into homogeneous subgroups (clusters) with relatively similar response to treatment within subgroups, and significantly different response between subgroups. The list of variables for cluster analysis was selected only from the efficacy parameters investigated in the study.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetic study of INN 00835, a novel antidepressant peptide, in the treatment of major depression.

Background: INN 00835 is a synthetic pentapeptide with a potential for rapid onset of action as an antidepressant. Its efficacy was investigated in a pilot study in patients diagnosed with major depression.

Methods: Fifty two patients received either active drug - INN 00835 (26 patients) - or placebo (26 patients), subcutaneously at 0.

The effect of treatment with a new antidepressant, INN 00835, on platelet serotonin uptake in depressed patients.

Background: INN 00835 (4-fluoro-L-phenylalanyl-trans-4-hydroxy-L-prolyl-L-arginyl-glycyl-trypt ophanamide ditrifluoroacetate) is a synthetic pentapeptide antidepressant with a potential for rapid onset of action. We were interested to see if such action could be correlated with serotonin uptake by platelets.

Methods: In a phase II clinical trial, unipolar depressed patients were administered active drug, INN 00835 or placebo, subcutaneously, at 0.

Stimulation of the secretion of dehydroepiandrosterone by melatonin in mouse adrenals in vitro.

Adrenals of young adult male mice kept on a LD 12:12 lighting regimen for three weeks prior to study and harvested at four different circadian stages were incubated for 2 hours with 0.4 IU synthetic ACTH in 2 ml Krebs-Ringer buffer (KR), or with 50, 150, and 450 microM of melatonin in KR containing 0.4 IU ACTH.

N-phosphoryl derivatives of bisantrene. Antitumor prodrugs with enhanced solubility and reduced potential for toxicity.

The selective phosphorylation of bisantrene (1) affords bis(phosphonoguanidinic acid) 6, a prodrug with enhanced aqueous solubility (as sodium salt 7) at physiological pH. Unlike 1, in a rat tail vein model, no precipitation was observed when bis(phosphonoguanidinic acid) 6 was injected. While in rats 6 hydrolyzed to monophosphonoguanidinic acid 9 with a half-life of ca.

Chronobiology in laboratory medicine.

A critical amount of information has accumulated over the last decades to allow the application of chronobiology to clinical and laboratory medicine. The tasks faced in laboratory medicine include the quantitative measurement of the multifrequency human time structure in health and disease. For this purpose, it is essential to choose an adequate sample size in order to obtain meaningful results and quantitative endpoints which can be interpreted by inferential statistical techniques.

Iodine-enriched milk in goiter endemics.

Researches carried out at Cîmpulung-Lereşti-Lăicăi from the north of the Argeş County demonstrated an environmental iodine-deficiency that caused thyroid hypofunction in animals and, consequently, a decrease in the iodine level in the products of animal origin. Administration of KI, KIO3 or of sea weeds powder in the cows nutrition corrected the thyroid function, the quantitative increase in milk production and enrichment of milk in iodine.

Chronobiology of pituitary-thyroid functions.

One hundred ninety four children, 11 +/- 1.5 years of age and 166 elderly men and women, 77 +/- 8 years of age were studied over one or (in the case of some of the elderly subjects) over several (up to 4) 24-hours spans. All subjects were diurnally active and rested at night and followed their regular three meal pattern.