Glove Dressing for Initial Management of Hand Burns.

Initial hand dressings for burned hands should be compatible with preservation of skin substitutes and grafts, splinting, and active motion. We have developed a standardized glove dressing directed at these requirements. Early experience with this glove dressing has included feasible clinical application, 7- to 10-minute application time, and 90% preservation of total active range of motion in a normal hand placed in the dressing under test conditions.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of hydroquinone derivatives as novel inhibitors of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase.

Analogues of the compound 2,5-di-tert-butylhydroquinone (BHQ) are capable of inhibiting the enzyme sarco/endoplasmic reticulum ATPase (SERCA) in the low micromolar and submicromolar concentration ranges. Not only are SERCA inhibitors valuable research tools, but they also have potential medicinal value as agents against prostate cancer. This study describes the synthesis of 13 compounds representing several classes of BHQ analogues, such as hydroquinones with a single aromatic substituent, symmetrically and unsymmetrically disubstituted hydroquinones, and hydroquinones with omega-amino acid tethers attached to their hydroxyl groups.

Structure-based virtual screening for novel inhibitors of the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase and their experimental evaluation.

A public compound library with 260,000 compounds was screened virtually by computational docking for novel inhibitors of the transmembrane enzyme sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA). Docking was performed with the program GOLD in conjunction with a high resolution X-ray crystal structure of SERCA. Compounds that were predicted to be active were tested in bioassays.

Assessing adrenal function in primary care settings with a single sample subcutaneous glucagon test.

Objective: To test the efficacy of the low-dose glucagon test in assessing adrenal gland function.

Study Design: Subcutaneous glucagon was used to assess the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal gland (HPA) axis in 215 healthy children. Concordance of this test with the low-dose intravenous ACTH test was established for 42 children.