New insights into c-Ret signalling pathway in the enteric nervous system and its relationship with ALS.

The receptor tyrosine kinase Ret (c-Ret) transduces the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) signal, one of the neurotrophic factors related to the degeneration process or the regeneration activity of motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The phosphorylation of several tyrosine residues of c-Ret seems to be altered in ALS. c-Ret is expressed in motor neurons and in the enteric nervous system (ENS) during the embryonic period.

Vitreous pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of memantine after subtenon, intravenous, and intravitreal administration in rabbits.

Purpose: This study evaluated the vitreous pharmacokinetics and vitreous bioavailability of memantine following posterior-subtenon administration (PST) compared to intravitreal (INT) and intravenous routes (INV) in rabbits.

Methods: Vitreous pharmacokinetic analysis was performed on female New Zealand (NZ) albino rabbits after PST, INT, and INV administration and calculating the pharmacokinetic parameters that describe memantine vitreous distribution. The vitreous bioavailability (F) and the relative vitreous bioavailability of memantine was estimated after posterior-subtenon administration (Frel (pst/int)) and after intravenous route (Frel (inv/int)) compared with intravitreal administration.

Identification of specific pluripotent stem cell death--inducing small molecules by chemical screening.

A potential application of embryonic and inducible pluripotent stem cells for the therapy of degenerative diseases involves pure somatic cells, free of tumorigenic undifferentiated embryonic and inducible pluripotent stem cells. In complex collections of chemicals with pharmacological potential we expect to find molecules able to induce specific pluripotent stem cell death, which could be used in some cell therapy settings to eliminate undifferentiated cells. Therefore, we have screened a chemical library of 1120 small chemicals to identify compounds that induce specifically apoptotic cell death in undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs).

Does the pharmacy expenditure of patients always correspond with their morbidity burden? Exploring new approaches in the interpretation of pharmacy expenditure.

Background: The computerisation of primary health care (PHC) records offers the opportunity to focus on pharmacy expenditure from the perspective of the morbidity of individuals. The objective of the present study was to analyse the behaviour of pharmacy expenditure within different morbidity groups. We paid special attention to the identification of individuals who had higher values of pharmacy expenditure than their morbidity would otherwise suggest (i.