A new less-invasive and more informative low-dose ACTH test: salivary steroids in response to intramuscular corticotrophin.

Objective: The intravenous low-dose ACTH test has been proposed as a sensitive tool to assess adrenal function through circulating steroids. The aims of this study were to: (a) find the minimal intramuscular ACTH dose that induced serum and salivary cortisol and aldosterone responses equivalent to those obtained after a pharmacological dose of ACTH; and (b) define the minimum normal salivary cortisol and aldosterone responses in healthy subjects to that dose of ACTH. We also compared the performances of the standard- and low-dose ACTH intramuscular tests to screen patients with known hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal impairments.

Metal-ligand interactions in perturbed blue copper sites: a paramagnetic (1)H NMR study of Co(II)-pseudoazurin.

Pseudoazurin is an electron transfer copper protein, a member of the cupredoxin family. The protein is frequently found in denitrifying bacteria, where it is the electron donor of nitrite reductase. The copper at the active site is coordinated to His40, Cys78, His81 and Met86 in a distorted tetragonal geometry.

Axial ligand modulation of the electronic structures of binuclear copper sites: analysis of paramagnetic 1H NMR spectra of Met160Gln Cu(A).

Cu(A) is an electron-transfer copper center present in heme-copper oxidases and N2O reductases. The center is a binuclear unit, with two cysteine ligands bridging the metal ions and two terminal histidine residues. A Met residue and a peptide carbonyl group are located on opposite sides of the Cu2S2 plane; these weaker ligands are fully conserved in all known Cu(A) sites.

Effects of grazing pattern and nitrogen availability on primary productivity.

A major part of the impact of grazing on primary productivity results from the joint action of tissue removal and nutrient return to the soil via dung and urine. Grazing, however, is not uniformly distributed in space: grazed grasslands show a matrix of grazed and ungrazed patches, which in turn, may or may not be affected by faecal or urine deposition. This paper investigates the effects of grazing spatial pattern and nitrogen availability on primary productivity.

The cytoskeletal components of the myelin fraction are affected by a single intracranial injection of apotransferrin in young rats.

We have previously shown that in rat pups intracranially injected with a single dose of apotransferrin (aTf), there is an early oligodendroglial cell OLGc differentiation. The expression of the mRNAs of myelin basic proteins and of 2',3' cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase and the amount of the corresponding proteins, as well as myelin glycolipids and phospholipids, were significantly increased in these animals at 10 and 17 days of age. Microtubules and myelin basic proteins appear to be closely associated in OLGc and it has been shown that the mRNAs of myelin basic proteins are concentrated in the OLGc processes.

Semiquinone production by lipophilic o-naphthoquinones.

Several β-lapachone analogues, the o-naphthoquinones CG 10-248, CG 9-442 and CG 8-935, were reduced to their semiquinones by sodium borohydride, the liver NADPH-P450 reductase system and Crithidia fasciculata cells, in anaerobic solutions. ESR spectra of the radical anions showed hyperfine spin couplings located at protons of the naphthalene ring. Borohydride reduction of another o-naphthoquinone, mansonone E, yielded spin couplings located at the naphthalene and methyl groups protons.