Treatment with EPs 7630, a Root Extract, Is Effective and Safe in Patients with the Common Cold: Results From a Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: EPs 7630 was shown to be effective and safe in the treatment of acute respiratory tract infections such as acute bronchitis, acute rhinosinusitis, and acute tonsillopharyngitis. A clinical trial was conducted to investigate its efficacy and safety in the common cold.

Methods: In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind phase 3 clinical trial, 105 adults suffering from common cold symptoms were randomized to a thrice-daily administration of either 1 film-coated tablet containing 40 mg EPs 7630 or matched placebo for a treatment period of 10 days.

The Role of Gas Exchange Variables in Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing for Risk Stratification and Management of Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction.

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is common in the developed world and results in significant morbidity and mortality. Accurate risk assessment methods and prognostic variables are therefore needed to guide clinical decision making for medical therapy and surgical interventions with the ultimate goal of decreasing risk and improving health outcomes. The purpose of this review is to examine the role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and its most commonly used ventilatory gas exchange variables for the purpose of risk stratification and management of HFrEF.

Accumulation of formamide in hydrothermal pores to form prebiotic nucleobases.

Formamide is one of the important compounds from which prebiotic molecules can be synthesized, provided that its concentration is sufficiently high. For nucleotides and short DNA strands, it has been shown that a high degree of accumulation in hydrothermal pores occurs, so that temperature gradients might play a role in the origin of life [Baaske P, et al. (2007)Proc Natl Acad Sci USA104(22):9346-9351].

Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki State on a Honeycomb Lattice from t(2g) Orbitals.

The two-dimensional Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) model on a honeycomb lattice has been shown to be a universal resource for quantum computation. In this valence bond solid, however, the spin interactions involve higher powers of the Heisenberg coupling (S[over →](I)·S[over →](j))(n), making these states seemingly unrealistic on bipartite lattices, where one expects a simple antiferromagnetic order. We show that those interactions can be generated by orbital physics in multiorbital Mott insulators.

Implementation of guidelines for the treatment of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: the Cologne Infarction Model Registry.

Background: The aim of the Köln (Cologne) Infarction Model is to examine the feasibility of obligatory treatment of ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) by first-line percutaneous coronary intervention.

Methods And Results: The study was performed in Cologne with >1 million citizens, 5 coronary intervention centers, and 11 primary care hospitals. Twelve-lead ECG was available for all emergency medical service (EMS) teams.

Neurogenesis in the spider: new insights from comparative analysis of morphological processes and gene expression patterns.

While there is a detailed understanding of neurogenesis in insects and partially also in crustaceans, little is known about neurogenesis in chelicerates. In the spider Cupiennius salei Keyserling, 1877 (Chelicerata, Arachnida, Araneae) invaginating cell groups arise sequentially and in a stereotyped pattern comparable to the formation of neuroblasts in Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, 1830 (Insecta, Diptera, Cyclorrhapha, Drosophilidae). In addition, functional analysis revealed that in the spider homologues of the D.

Structural analysis of linear hydroxyproline-bound O-glycans of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii--conservation of the inner core in Chlamydomonas and land plants.

Linear hydroxyproline-bound O-glycans of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were isolated from outer cell wall glycoproteins and their structure elucidated by chemical and spectroscopic methods. They consist exclusively of arabinose and galactose, the latter in the furanose form, unusual for plants. The first two arabinoses linked to hydroxyproline have the same anomeric configuration and linkage to each other as do the arabinosides isolated from land plants, suggesting that these two steps of hydroxyproline-O-glycosylation have been conserved during evolution.

Safety and efficacy of local administration of contractubex to hypertrophic scars in comparison to corticosteroid treatment. Results of a multicenter, comparative epidemiological cohort study in Germany.

Objectives: To investigate the safety and efficacy of Contractubex administration to hypertrophic scars in routine out-patient practice and to compare it to corticosteroid treatment.

Patients And Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study, based on 38 randomly selected practices representatively distributed in Germany, including dermatologists and general practitioners. Data from 859 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were assessed and analyzed.

Secondary neurons are arrested in an immature state by formation of epithelial vesicles during neurogenesis of the spider Cupiennius salei.

BACKGROUND: In the spider Cupiennius salei about 30 groups of neural precursors are generated per hemi-segment during early neurogenesis. Analysis of the ventral neuromeres after invagination of the primary neural precursor groups revealed that secondary neural precursors arise during late embryogenesis that partially do not differentiate until larval stages. RESULTS: In contrast to the primary groups, the secondary invaginating cells do not detach from each other after invagination but maintain their epithelial character and form so-called epithelial vesicles.

The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor cerivastatin enhances the nitric oxide bioavailability of the endothelium.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor cerivastatin alters the nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability of porcine aortic endothelial cell cultures and of native porcine coronary endothelium, after short-term (minutes) and long-term (24-hour) treatment with cerivastatin (electrochemical NO sensor). NO-synthase expression (Western blot, ELISA) and activity (3H-arginine assay) after cerivastatin treatment were determined. Furthermore, the authors investigated whether cerivastatin modulates an angiotensin II (10 micromol/L; 4 hours) induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) release from intact vessels (lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence-assay).

Clinical evaluation of ricin A-chain immunotoxins in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Background: Immunotoxins (ITs) consist of cell binding ligands coupled to toxins or their subunits. Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is an excellent target for ITs since lymphocyte activation markers such as CD25 and CD30 are expressed in large numbers. The ITs RFT5.

A Notch-independent function of Suppressor of Hairless during the development of the bristle sensory organ precursor cell of Drosophila.

Su(H)/CBF1 is a key component of the evolutionary conserved Notch signalling pathway. It is a transcription factor that acts as a repressor in the absence of the Notch signal. If Notch signalling is activated, it associates with the released intracellular domain of the Notch receptor and acts as an activator of transcription.

Recruitment of cell groups through Delta/Notch signalling during spider neurogenesis.

Early neurogenesis in the spider is characterised by a stereotyped pattern of sequential recruitment of neural cells from the neuroectoderm, comparable with neuroblast formation in Drosophila: However, in contrast to Drosophila, where single cells delaminate from the neuroectoderm, groups of cells adopt the neural fate and invaginate into the spider embryo. This raises the question of whether Delta/Notch signalling is involved in this process, as this system normally leads to a singling out of individual cells through lateral inhibition. I have therefore cloned homologues of Delta and Notch from the spider Cupiennius salei and studied their expression and function.

Comparative analysis of somitogenesis related genes of the hairy/Enhancer of split class in Fugu and zebrafish.

Background: Members of a class of bHLH transcription factors, namely the hairy (h), Enhancer of split (E(spl)) and hairy-related with YRPW motif (hey) (h/E(spl)/hey) genes are involved in vertebrate somitogenesis and some of them show cycling expression. By sequence comparison, identified orthologues of cycling somitogenesis genes from higher vertebrates do not show an appropriate expression pattern in zebrafish. The zebrafish genomic sequence is not available yet but the genome of Fugu rubripes was recently published.

In vivo localization of centrin in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been used as a model system to study flagellar assembly, centriole assembly, and cell cycle events. These processes are dynamic. Therefore, protein targeting and protein-protein interactions should be evaluated in vivo.

Compatible intracellular ion composition of the host improves carbon assimilation by zooxanthellae in mutualistic symbioses.

Cytosymbiotic algae within the host's plasma are exposed to completely different ionic conditions than microalgae living in the sea. The altered ionic gradients, in particular, could be the reason for higher in hospite carbon assimilation levels. To study the effect of varying extracellular ionic conditions on isolated zooxanthellae, their photosynthetic capacity in pure seawater was compared to that in a test medium in which the concentrations of the major inorganic ions, the pH and the osmolality were adjusted to the conditions measured in the host cytoplasm.

Neurogenesis in the spider Cupiennius salei.

To uncover similarities and differences in neurogenesis in arthropod groups, we have studied the ventral neuroectoderm of the spider Cupiennius salei (Chelicerata, Aranea, Ctenidae). We found that invaginating cell groups arose sequentially, at stereotyped positions in each hemisegment and in separate waves, comparable with the generation of neuroblasts in Drosophila. However, we found no evidence for proliferating stem cells that would be comparable with the neuroblasts.

A new method to measure nitrate/nitrite with a NO-sensitive electrode.

There are different methods to measure the unstable molecule nitric oxide (NO). We will describe a new sensitive method to measure NO by reconversion of nitrate/nitrite to NO, which will be determined with an amperometric Clark-type electrode. Nitrate and nitrite are the degradation products of NO.

Treatment of patients with malignant lymphomas with monoclonal antibodies.

Malignant lymphomas represent a heterogenous group of B and T cell-derived malignancies. Most lymphomas are sensitive to chemo- and radiotherapy, however many patients will eventually relapse. Immunotherapeutic approaches including monoclonal antibodies, cytokines or vaccination approaches may offer an alternative treatment of chemotherapy-resistant residual cells especially in cases with low tumor burden or residual disease following chemo- or radiotherapy.

Treatment of refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma patients with an anti-CD25 ricin A-chain immunotoxin.

The anti-CD25 immunotoxin RFT5.dgA was constructed by coupling the monoclonal antibody RFT5 via a sterically hindered disulfide linker to deglycosylated ricin A-chain and was administered to patients with relapsed Hodgkin's lymphoma in four bolus infusions over 7 days (day 1, 3, 5 and 7). The maximum tolerated dose in these patients as defined in a previous phase I study was 15 mg/m2.