Complexity of heart rate variability predicts outcome in intensive care unit admitted patients with acute stroke .

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been proposed as a predictor of acute stroke outcome. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of a novel non-linear method for analysis of HRV, multiscale entropy (MSE) and outcome of patients with acute stroke who had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: The MSE of HRV was analysed from 1 h continuous ECG signals in ICU-admitted patients with acute stroke and controls.

Biphasic effect of melanocortin agonists on metabolic rate and body temperature.

The melanocortin system regulates metabolic homeostasis and inflammation. Melanocortin agonists have contradictorily been reported to both increase and decrease metabolic rate and body temperature. We find two distinct physiologic responses occurring at similar doses.

The chemical uncoupler 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) protects against diet-induced obesity and improves energy homeostasis in mice at thermoneutrality.

The chemical uncoupler 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) was an effective and widely used weight loss drug in the early 1930s. However, the physiology of DNP has not been studied in detail because toxicity, including hyperthermia and death, reduced interest in the clinical use of chemical uncouplers. To investigate DNP action, mice fed a high fat diet and housed at 30 °C (to minimize facultative thermogenesis) were treated with 800 mg/liter DNP in drinking water.

15,16-Dihydrotanshinone I-induced apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells: involvement of ATF3.

15,16-Dihydrotanshinone I (DHTS) is a component of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. In this study, DHTS at as low as 2.5 μg/ml concentration significantly inhibited proliferation of human benign (SW480) and malignant (SW620) colorectal cancer cells, as shown by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-diphenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) and flow cytometric analysis.

A novel experimental strategy to assess the metabolic effects of selective activation of a G(q)-coupled receptor in hepatocytes in vivo.

Increased hepatic glucose production is a key pathophysiological feature of type 2 diabetes. Like all other cell types, hepatocytes express many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are linked to different functional classes of heterotrimeric G proteins. The important physiological functions mediated by G(s)-coupled hepatic glucagon receptors are well-documented.