The effects of cardamonin on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory protein production and MAP kinase and NFkappaB signalling pathways in monocytes/macrophages.

Background And Purpose: In this study we examined the effect of the natural product cardamonin, upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory gene expression in order to attempt to pinpoint the mechanism of action.

Experimental Approaches: Cardamonin was isolated from the Greek plant A. absinthium L.

Drug transport and drug delivery--the Midnight Sun meeting.

The Midnight Sun Meeting on Drug Transport and Drug Delivery was held on the island of Tromso in northern Norway, where the sun does not set for 2 months during the summer. The meeting was hosted by the University of Tromso's newly established Institute of Pharmacy and the Controlled Release Society (Nordic Chapter). The meeting, attended by approximately 80 delegates from across Europe, showcased recent advances in drug transport through biological barriers, solid-state pharmaceuticals and particulate drug delivery systems.

The effect of an active warm-up on surface EMG and muscle performance in healthy humans.

The effect of an active warm-up on maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), maximal instantaneous power output and surface EMG (sEMG) parameters was studied. Eight volunteers [mean (SD) 22 (4) years] completed two trials on the same day, one control (CO), and the other preceded by an active cycling warm-up (WU) at 70% ventilatory threshold determined by the ventilatory equivalent method. Quadriceps muscle temperature, measured from vastus lateralis with a flexible thermistor, was 33.

Is the coactivation of biceps femoris during isometric knee extension affected by adiposity in healthy young humans?

This study aimed to verify if the level of biceps femoris antagonist activity measured during isometric knee extension was affected by the individual degree of adiposity in 14 young healthy subjects of both genders aged between 18 and 24. Surface EMG signals were recorded from the biceps femoris muscle of the dominant leg during isometric knee extension at three levels of voluntary contraction: maximum (MVC), 80% MVC and 200 N, respectively. In addition, whole-body percentage of fat, volume of the thigh and skinfold thickness below the electrodes were achieved.

Contractile muscle volume and agonist-antagonist coactivation account for differences in torque between young and older women.

It is controversial whether specific tension (the ratio between muscle strength and size) declines with aging. Therefore, contractile muscle volume was estimated separately from the intramuscular noncontractile tissue by magnetic resonance imaging, and maximum isometric torque was measured in the knee extensors and flexors of 10 young (22.8 +/- 5.

Effects of central sympathetic inhibition on heart rate variability during steady-state exercise in healthy humans.

The profound reduction in heart rate variability (HRV) that occurs during exercise is thought to be, at least in part, the result of sympathetic nervous system activation. Moxonidine is a centrally acting anti-sympathetic drug, which suppresses sympathetic nervous system outflow by stimulation of central imidazoline receptors located in the rostral ventro-lateral medulla. This study was designed to investigate the combined effects of central sympathetic inhibition with moxonidine and steady-dynamic exercise on HRV.

The reactions of hypochlorous acid, the reactive oxygen species produced by myeloperoxidase, with lipids.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO), an abundant enzyme in phagocytes, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis. The major oxidant produced by MPO, hypochlorous acid (HOCl), is able to modify a great variety of biomolecules by chlorination and/or oxidation. In this paper the reactions of lipids (preferentially unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol) with either reagent HOCl or HOCl generated by the MPO-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system are reviewed.