Exenatide once weekly versus liraglutide once daily in patients with type 2 diabetes (DURATION-6): a randomised, open-label study.

Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists exenatide and liraglutide have been shown to improve glycaemic control and reduce bodyweight in patients with type 2 diabetes. We compared the efficacy and safety of exenatide once weekly with liraglutide once daily in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: We did a 26 week, open-label, randomised, parallel-group study at 105 sites in 19 countries between Jan 11, 2010, and Jan 17, 2011.

Baseline factors associated with glycemic control and weight loss when exenatide twice daily is added to optimized insulin glargine in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To determine variables associated with glycemic and body weight responses when adding exenatide to basal insulin-treated type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Exploratory subgroup analyses based on baseline A1C, disease duration, and BMI of a 30-week study comparing exenatide twice daily to placebo, added to optimized insulin glargine (intent-to-treat analysis: 137 exenatide; 122 placebo).

Results: Exenatide participants had greater A1C reductions compared with optimized insulin glargine alone, irrespective of baseline A1C (P < 0.

AT1 receptor-mediated augmentation of angiotensinogen, oxidative stress, and inflammation in ANG II-salt hypertension.

Augmentation of intrarenal angiotensinogen (AGT) synthesis, secretion, and excretion is associated with the development of hypertension, renal oxidative stress, and tissue injury during ANG II-dependent hypertension. High salt (HS) exacerbates hypertension and kidney injury, but the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we determined the consequences of HS intake alone compared with chronic ANG II infusion and combined HS plus ANG II on the stimulation of urinary AGT (uAGT), renal oxidative stress, and renal injury markers.

Integrin subunits alpha5 and alpha6 regulate cell cycle by modulating the chk1 and Rb/E2F pathways to affect breast cancer metastasis.

Background: Although integrins have been implicated in the progression of breast cancer, the exact mechanism whereby they exert this regulation is clearly not understood. To understand the role of integrins in breast cancer, we examined the expression levels of several integrins in mouse breast cancer cell lines by flow cytometry and the data were validated by Western and RT-PCR analysis. The importance of integrins in cell migration and cell invasion was examined by in vitro assays.

The DURAbility of Basal versus Lispro mix 75/25 insulin Efficacy (DURABLE) trial: comparing the durability of lispro mix 75/25 and glargine.

Objective: This study compared the durability of glycemic control of twice-daily insulin lispro mix 75/25 (LM75/25: 75% insulin lispro protamine suspension/25% lispro) and once-daily insulin glargine, added to oral antihyperglycemic drugs in type 2 diabetes patients.

Research Design And Methods: During the initiation phase, patients were randomized to LM75/25 or glargine. After 6 months, patients with A1C ≤ 7.

Oxidative stress contributes to methamphetamine-induced left ventricular dysfunction.

Aims: Our aim was to test the hypothesis that the repeated, binge administration of methamphetamine would produce oxidative stress in the myocardium leading to structural remodeling and impaired left ventricular function.

Methods And Results: Echocardiography and Millar pressure-volume catheters were used to monitor left ventricular structure and function in rats subjected to four methamphetamine binges (3 mg/kg, iv for 4 days, separated by a 10-day drug-free period). Hearts from treated and control rats were used for histological or proteomic analysis.

MicroRNA function in cancer: oncogene or a tumor suppressor?

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding, double-stranded RNA molecules that can mediate the expression of target genes with complementary sequences. About 5,300 human genes have been implicated as targets for miRNAs, making them one of the most abundant classes of regulatory genes in humans. MiRNAs recognize their target mRNAs based on sequence complementarity and act on them to cause the inhibition of protein translation by degradation of mRNA.

Metabolites of MDMA induce oxidative stress and contractile dysfunction in adult rat left ventricular myocytes.

Repeated administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (ecstasy) produces eccentric left ventricular (LV) dilation and diastolic dysfunction. While the mechanism(s) underlying this toxicity are unknown, oxidative stress plays an important role. MDMA is metabolized into redox cycling metabolites that produce superoxide.

Ecstasy produces left ventricular dysfunction and oxidative stress in rats.

Aims: Our aim was to determine whether the repeated, binge administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy; MDMA) produces structural and/or functional changes in the myocardium that are associated with oxidative stress.

Methods And Results: Echocardiography and pressure-volume conductance catheters were used to assess left ventricular (LV) structure and function in rats subjected to four ecstasy binges (9 mg/kg i.v.

Up-regulation of heme oxygenase provides vascular protection in an animal model of diabetes through its antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects.

Heme oxygenase (HO) plays a critical role in the regulation of cellular oxidative stress. The effects of the reactive oxygen species scavenger ebselen and the HO inducers cobalt protoporphyrin and stannous chloride (SnCl(2)) on HO protein levels and activity, indices of oxidative stress, and the progression of diabetes were examined in the Zucker rat model of type 2 diabetes. The onset of diabetes coincided with an increase in HO-1 protein levels and a paradoxical decrease in HO activity, which was restored by administration of ebselen.

Functional expression of human heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) driven by HO-1 promoter in vitro and in vivo.

We developed a retrovirus-mediated human heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) gene expression system and assessed the impact of heme on the inducibility of the HO-1 gene in rat lung microvessel (RLMV) endothelial cells and in newborn Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Overexpression of the HO-1 gene driven by HO-1 promoter (HOP) resulted in an increase in HO-1 protein and HO activity by 4.8- and 1.