Prolonged Asynchronous Left Ventricular Isovolumic Relaxation Constant in Ascending Compared to Descending Thoracic Aortic Stenosis for Chronic Early Left Ventricular Afterload and Late Left Ventricular Afterload Increase.

: In arterial hypertension, left ventricular relaxation is affected early on in relation to a chronic difference in peak left ventricular afterload with early development of HF. : in ascending compares to descending thoracic aortic stenosis, resulting in chronic late and early LV afterload increase, to assess the left ventricular isovolumic relaxation pressure decay constant through regression analysis, a parameter of left ventricular relaxation on the 4th and 8th week period from invasive left ventricular pressure measurements. : fourteen pigs underwent posterolateral thoracotomy for ascending aortic stenosis, resulting in chronic early left ventricular afterload increase (EL = 6], or descending thoracic aortic stenosis creating chronic late systolic left ventricular load (LL = 8].

Neuropeptide biology in Drosophila.

Drosophila melanogaster is since decades the most important invertebrate model. With the publishing of the genome sequence, Drosophila also became a pioneer in (neuro)peptide research. Neuropeptides represent a major group of signaling molecules that outnumber all other types of neurotransmitters/modulators and hormones.

Efficacy, effectiveness and safety of etanercept in monotherapy for refractory psoriatic arthritis: a 26-week observational study.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of etanercept, a soluble tumour necrosis factor-alpha receptor, in a prospective observational cohort of patients with refractory psoriatic arthritis and polyarticular involvement.

Methods: Twenty patients with psoriatic arthritis refractory to conventional anti-rheumatic drugs were treated with etanercept 25 mg subcutaneously twice a week for 26 weeks. Efficacy and safety were recorded at weeks 2, 6, 10, 16, 20 and 26.

Subcellular site of lectin synthesis in developing rice embryos.

Embryos of developing rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Koshihikari) caryopses which actively synthesize lectin were labelled with [S]cysteine for different times and newly synthesized rice lectin was isolated by affinity chromatography.