Analgesic efficacy and tolerability of intravenous morphine versus combined intravenous morphine and oxycodone in a 2-center, randomized, double-blind, pilot trial of patients with moderate to severe pain after total hip replacement.

Background: Results from studies with a combination of oral morphine and oxycodone in postsurgical patients demonstrate significant analgesia and a tolerability profile comparable to other pain medications at morphine-equivalent doses. However, an intravenous (IV) combination has not previously been studied.

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of IV morphine versus a combination of IV morphine and IV oxycodone in a 1:1 ratio.

Inhibition of T-cell proliferation by Helicobacter pylori gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase.

Background & Aims: Helicobacter pylori colonizes the human gastric mucosa of >50% of the world's population. Most of the patients have no overt clinical symptoms. However, the infection is invariably associated with the development of active chronic gastritis, leading in some cases to the development of peptic ulcer disease, distal gastric adenocarcinoma, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

VacA-associated inhibition of T-cell function: reviewed and reconsidered.

Chronic Helicobacter pylori infection is characterized by dense infiltration of the mucosa with neutrophilic granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes/macrophages. Among these different cell types, T-lymphocytes are the most intriguing and crucial cells for the elimination of the bacteria. Previous studies have elucidated possible mechanisms on how bacteria could interfere with the human immune response and claimed that especially the secreted vacuolating toxin VacA may be responsible for the chronic persistence of the bacteria.

Multigene family encoding 3',5'-cyclic-GMP-dependent protein kinases in Paramecium tetraurelia cells.

In the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia, 3',5'-cyclic GMP (cGMP) is one of the second messengers involved in several signal transduction pathways. The enzymes for its production and degradation are well established for these cells, whereas less is known about the potential effector proteins. On the basis of a current Paramecium genome project, we have identified a multigene family with at least 35 members, all of which encode cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKGs).

Molecular identification of a calcium-inhibited catalytic subunit of casein kinase type 2 from Paramecium tetraurelia.

We have previously described the occurrence in Paramecium of a casein kinase (CK) activity (EC 2.7.1.