Integrated Analysis of Droxidopa for the Treatment of Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension in Patients with Parkinson Disease.

Introduction: Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH) is associated with neurodegenerative conditions, may cause symptoms of end-organ hypoperfusion, increases fall risk, and can negatively impact quality of life. Droxidopa is approved for the treatment of symptomatic nOH in adults. As the largest subpopulation of patients with nOH has a diagnosis of Parkinson disease (PD), the efficacy and tolerability of droxidopa in patients with PD and nOH were examined using integrated clinical trial data.

Allometric scaling of electrical excitation and propagation in the mammalian heart.

Variations in body mass impose constraints on the structure and function of mammalian species, including those of the cardiovascular system. Numerous biological processes, including cardiovascular parameters, have been shown to scale with body mass (BM) according to the law of allometric scaling: Y=Y =a∙BM (Y, biological process; a, normalization constant; b, scaling exponent, which in many instances is a multiple of ¼). These parameters include heart and breathing rates, intervals and subintervals of the electrocardiogram (ECG), action potential duration (APD), metabolic rate, and temporal properties of ventricular fibrillation.

Dendritic and Langerhans cells respond to Aβ peptides differently: implication for AD immunotherapy.

Both wild-type and mutated beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptides can elicit an immune response when delivered subcutaneously. However, only mutated forms of Aβ can sensitize dendritic cells when administered intravenously or intraperitoneally. To understand the role of mutation and delivery routes in creating immune responses, and the function of dendritic cells as therapeutic agents, we used fluorescent-conjugated WT Aβ1-40 (WT40) and artificially mutated Aβ1-40 (22W40) peptides to treat dendritic and Langerhans cells from young and/or old mice at different time points.