Novel expression vectors enabling induction of gene expression by small-interfering RNAs and microRNAs.

Small-interfering RNAs and microRNAs are small ∼21-22 nucleotide long RNAs capable of posttranscriptional suppression of gene expression. The synthetic siRNAs are especially designed to target pre-specified genes and are common molecular biology tools. The miRNAs are endogenous regulators of gene expression found in a wide variety of eukaryotes.

Long-term effects of activity status in the elderly on cardiorespiratory capacity, blood pressure, blood lipids, and body composition: a five-year follow-up study.

It is generally recognized that physical activity levels in the elderly do not remain constant over time, and typically there is a marked reduction in physical activities in the elderly. The long-term benefits of regular physical training programs in the elderly are still not fully understood. This is a study of 55 elderly healthy subjects (over 65 years old) and re-evaluated for the effects of different physical activity patterns (sedentary, moderately active, and highly active) on several physiological parameters (pre- and post-training) after a 5-year period (5.

Radical scavengers protect murine lungs from endotoxin-induced hyporesponsiveness to inhaled nitric oxide.

Background: Sepsis is associated with an impaired pulmonary vasodilator response to inhaled nitric oxide (NO). A combination of NO and other inflammatory mediators appears to be responsible for endotoxin-induced pulmonary vascular hyporesponsiveness to inhaled NO. The authors investigated whether scavengers of reactive oxygen species could preserve inhaled NO responsiveness in endotoxin-challenged mice.