Effectiveness of a Community-Based Weight Management Program for Patients Taking Antidepressants and/or Antipsychotics.

Objective: This study aimed to compare weight loss (WL) outcomes for patients taking antidepressants and/or antipsychotics with those not taking psychiatric medication.

Methods: A total of 17,519 adults enrolled in a lifestyle WL intervention at the Wharton Medical Clinics in Ontario, Canada, were analyzed. Sex-stratified multivariable linear regression analysis was used to examine the association of taking antidepressants, antipsychotics, both, or neither with WL when adjusting for age, initial weight, and treatment time.

Efficacy of High-Dose Liraglutide as an Adjunct for Weight Loss in Patients with Prior Bariatric Surgery.

Background: Bariatric surgery is the most effective long-term treatment of severe obesity. Unfortunately, many patients experience inadequate weight loss, weight plateau, or weight recidivism. We sought to determine the efficacy of high-dose liraglutide (3.

Liraglutide Effects on Upper Gastrointestinal Investigations: Implications Prior to Bariatric Surgery.

Liraglutide is a glucagon-like peptide type 1 (GLP-1) analogue that is approved for long-term obesity management in North America. While bariatric surgery remains the gold standard for weight loss, an increasing number of patients are on liraglutide in the setting of ongoing workup for bariatric surgery. The presence of gastrointestinal symptoms prior to bariatric surgery may prompt testing for dysmotility, which affects surgical decision making.

RapidFire Mass Spectrometry with Enhanced Throughput as an Alternative to Liquid-Liquid Salt Assisted Extraction and LC/MS Analysis for Sulfonamides in Honey.

The use of veterinary drugs in honey bees for the prevention of infectious disease is ever increasing due to the spread of colony collapse disorder around the world. The United States Food and Drug Administration is concerned about the presence of these drugs residues in honey as they often lead to health concerns or potential antibiotic resistance. Currently there is a need for a rapid screening method for the detection of veterinary drugs in honey.

Targeting Bacterial Cell Wall Peptidoglycan Synthesis by Inhibition of Glycosyltransferase Activity.

Synthesis of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan requires glycosyltransferase enzymes that transfer the disaccharide-peptide from lipid II onto the growing glycan chain. The polymerization of the glycan chain precedes cross-linking by penicillin-binding proteins and is essential for growth for key bacterial pathogens. As such, bacterial cell wall glycosyltransferases are an attractive target for antibiotic drug discovery.

Measurement of glycolysis reactants by high-throughput solid phase extraction with tandem mass spectrometry: Characterization of pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase as a case study.

Glycolysis is a 10-step metabolic pathway involved in producing cellular energy. Many tumors exhibit accelerated glycolytic rates, and enzymes that participate in this pathway are focal points of cancer research. Here, a novel method for the measurement of glycolysis reactants from in vitro samples is presented.

Unadjusted Plasma Renin Activity as a "First-Look" Test to Decide Upon Further Investigations for Primary Aldosteronism.

The authors sought to define the 95th percentile of plasma renin activity (PRA) in a sample of patients with confirmed primary aldosteronism (PA) prior to adjustment of medications as a practical "first-look" test to identify those with very low ultimate likelihood of having PA. The aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR) was measured without adjustment of antihypertensive medications, with further workup as appropriate. Two groups were defined: patients with surgically "confirmed PA" (n=58) and patients with "high-probability PA" (n=59), defined as having any of the following: computed tomography-confirmed adrenal adenoma plus lateralizing adrenal vein sampling (AVS) without surgery, high ARR and hypokalemia but nonlateralizing AVS, or ARR more than four times the upper limit of normal.

Osmotic activation of phospholipase C triggers structural adaptation in osmosensitive rat supraoptic neurons.

The magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus (MNCs) synthesize and secrete vasopressin or oxytocin. A stretch-inactivated cation current mediated by TRPV1 channels rapidly transduces increases in external osmolality into a depolarization of the MNCs leading to an increase in action potential firing and thus hormone release. Prolonged increases in external osmolality, however, trigger a reversible structural and functional adaptation that may enable the MNCs to sustain high levels of hormone release.

Comparing health behaviours of internal medicine residents and medical students: an observational study.

Purpose: During residency, many physicians find it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle; however, there is little objective data available. In this study, residents' health behaviours and cardiovascular risk status were compared with those of medical students.

Methods: Medical residents (n=55, postgraduate years 1 to 4) were compared with medical students (n=62, years 1-4).

Advances in label-free screening approaches for studying sirtuin-mediated deacetylation.

The sirtuin enzymes, a class of NAD(+)-dependent histone deacetylases, are a focal point of epigenetic research because of their roles in regulating gene expression and cellular differentiation by deacetylating histones and a host of transcription factors, including p53. Here, the authors present two label-free screening methodologies to study sirtuin activity using high-throughput mass spectrometry. The first method involves the detection of native peptides and provides a platform for more detailed mechanistic studies by enabling the concurrent and direct measurement of multiple modification states.

Advances in label-free screening approaches for studying histone acetyltransferases.

Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) catalyze the transfer of an acetyl group from an acetyl-coenzyme A donor molecule to specific lysine residues within proteins. The acetylation state of proteins, particularly histones, is known to modulate their intermolecular binding properties and control various cellular processes, most notably transcriptional activation. In addition, deregulation of HAT activity has been linked to the development of a number of cancers; therefore, compounds that affect these enzymes have strong potential as therapeutic agents.

A bifunctional platinum(II) antitumor agent that forms DNA adducts with affinity for the estrogen receptor.

A strategy is described for the re-design of DNA damaging platinum(II) complexes to afford elevated toxicity towards cancer cells expressing the estrogen receptor (ER). Two platinum-based toxicants are described in which a DNA damaging warhead, [Pt(en)Cl(2)] (en, ethylenediamine), is tethered to either of two functional groups. The first agent, [6-(2-amino-ethylamino)-hexyl]-carbamic acid 2-[6-(7alpha-estra-1,3,5,(10)-triene)-hexylamino]-ethyl ester platinum(II) dichloride ((Est-en)PtCl(2)), terminates in a ligand for the ER.

Mismatch repair proteins collaborate with methyltransferases in the repair of O(6)-methylguanine.

DNA repair is essential for combatting the adverse effects of damage to the genome. One example of base damage is O(6)-methylguanine (O(6)mG), which stably pairs with thymine during replication and thereby creates a promutagenic O(6)mG:T mismatch. This mismatch has also been linked with cellular toxicity.

Virus infection in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring ventilation.

Objectives: We aimed to characterise and quantify the incidence of common infectious agents in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requiring ventilation, with a focus on respiratory viruses.

Design: An epidemiological study conducted over 3 years.

Setting: A 12-bed intensive care unit (ICU).

The relationship between infant airway function, childhood airway responsiveness, and asthma.

The relationship between reduced pulmonary function in early life and persistent wheeze (PW) in school-aged children remains uncertain. In this study, VmaxFRC was assessed at 1 month of age, and the presence of wheeze up to 11 years of age was prospectively identified. At 11 years of age, airway responsiveness (AR) to inhaled histamine and atopy were assessed.

Infants with flow limitation at 4 weeks: outcome at 6 and 11 years.

Within a longitudinal study of lung function in 243 infants, we identified a group of 23 individuals with flow limitation in tidal expiration. In infancy, flow-limited children have reduced lung function and increased airway responsiveness (AR), and at 2 years of age they are diagnosed with asthma more frequently. We hypothesized that these observations would persist throughout childhood.

A rationally designed genotoxin that selectively destroys estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells.

We describe a novel strategy to increase the selective toxicity of genotoxic compounds. The strategy involves the synthesis of bifunctional molecules capable of forming DNA adducts that have high affinity for specific proteins in target cells. It is proposed that the association of such proteins with damaged sites in DNA can compromise protein function and/or DNA repair resulting in increased toxicity.