Functional connectivity in mild cognitive impairment during a memory task: implications for the disconnection hypothesis.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been considered an intermediate state between healthy aging and dementia. The early damage in anatomical connectivity and progressive loss of synapses that characterize early Alzheimer's disease suggest that MCI could also be a disconnection syndrome. Here, we compare the degree of synchronization of brain signals recorded with magnetoencephalography from patients (22) with MCI with that of healthy controls (19) during a memory task.

Prospects in lyophilization of bovine pericardium.

Almost 30 years after the introduction of heart valve prostheses patients worldwide are benefiting from the implant of these devices. Among the various types of heart valves, the ones made of treated bovine pericardium have become a frequently used replacement of the heart's native valve. Lyophilization, also known as freeze-drying, is an extremely useful technique for tissue storage for surgical applications.

Adenoviral expression of calmodulin antisense reduces hypertrophy in cultured cardiomyocytes.

Sustained myocardial hypertrophy is associated with an increased risk of sudden death and progression to heart failure. Multiple signal pathways are involved in cardiac hypertrophy and understanding their interaction may point to new therapeutic targets. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that adenovirus-mediated calmodulin (CaM) antisense expression will reduce the intracellular availability of CaM and inhibit the hypertrophic response.

[Study of the antiradical and radioprotective properties of S-containing compounds using the complex of in vitro test-systems].

Capability of S-radioprotectors (AET, 2-AT, 2-ADT) to react with OH-radicals and to protect various molecular biotest systems against radiation damage was compared with that of 5-methoxytryptamine, some amino acids and t-butanol. A method of competing acceptors was used to determine rate constants in reactions of the radioprotectors with OH-radicals. A complex of biotest systems (protein, DNA, protein-lipid complex) was applied to estimate the radioprotective activity in vitro.

Fractionated plasma separation and adsorption system: a novel system for blood purification to remove albumin bound substances.

The removal of albumin bound substances has gained increasing interest in different diseases, especially in acute and chronic liver disease. Therefore, a new system, the fractionated plasma separation and adsorption (FPSA) system, was developed based on combined membrane and adsorbent blood purification techniques. The most important contribution to the FPSA system was the development of a new polysulfone hollow-fiber filter, which is characterized by a sieving coefficient of 0.