Amylin prevents TRAIL-mediated apoptotic effects of reserpine in the rat gastric mucosa.

We have previously shown that amylin has a protective effect upon the damaged rat gastric mucosa via a cytokine-mediated mechanism. Here, the effects of amylin on the proapoptotic cytokine TNF-related-apoptosis-inducing-ligand (TRAIL) were tested in the rat gastric mucosa damaged by reserpine administration in vivo. Intraperitoneal administration of reserpine in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats resulted in increased TRAIL expression in the gastric mucosa.

TRAIL-related neurotoxicity implies interaction with the Wnt pathway in human neuronal cells in vitro.

Tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) is involved in amyloid beta dependent neurotoxicity via the extrinsic pathway. Recently, several genes modulating TRAIL cytotoxicity have been characterized, providing evidence for a role of wingless-type mouse mammary tumor virus integration site family (Wnt), Jun-N-terminal kinase and other pathways in increased cell susceptibility to the cytokine. We investigated whether neurotoxic effects of TRAIL could be due to modulation of the Wnt signaling pathway.

Clitoral blood flow changes after surgery for stress urinary incontinence: pilot study on TVT Versus TOT procedures.

Objectives: To study the effects of mini-invasive surgery using the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure and the transobturator tape (TOT) procedure in modifying clitoral blood flow in women affected by stress urinary incontinence.

Methods: The setting of the prospective open clinical study was the Urogynecologic Service of the Department of Microbiological and Gynecological Science, University of Catania School of Medicine (Catania, Italy). A total of 105 women underwent surgery; 42 (mean age 52.

Protective effects of the sigma agonist Pre-084 in the rat retina.

Aim: With the rationale that amyloid beta (AB) is toxic to the retina, we here assessed the role of TRAIL, a mediator of AB toxicity and related signal transduction, in a rat model. We also attempted to demonstrate possible protective effects of sigma 1 receptor agonists in these processes.

Methods: AB and the sigma 1 receptor agonist Pre-084 were injected intravitreally in the anaesthetised rat.

Possible involvement of nitric oxide in morphine-induced miosis and reduction of intraocular pressure in rabbits.

The role of mu3 opioid receptors in morphine-induced intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering effect and miosis was evaluated in conscious, dark-adapted New Zealand white (NZW) rabbits using a masked-design study. IOP and pupil diameter (PD) measurements were taken at just before and 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6 h after monolateral instillation of morphine (10, 50 and 100 microg/30 microl) as compared to vehicle administered in the contralateral eye.

Increased prevalence of peripheral arterial disease in osteoporotic postmenopausal women.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and correlates of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in a population of osteoporotic postmenopausal women. The presence of PAD was assessed by ankle brachial index (ABI) in 345 ambulatory osteoporotic postmenopausal women, and in 360 community-based, age- and race-matched postmenopausal women with normal bone mineral density (BMD) (control group). PAD was detected in 63/345 (18.

Penile cancer.

Unlabelled: Penile cancer, while relatively rare in the western world, remains a disease with severe morbidity and mortality, not to mention significant psychological ramifications. Furthermore, the disease is observed with dramatically increased incidence in other parts of the world. A review of the literature has shown that the overwhelming majority of penile cancers are in situ or invasive squamous cell carcinomas, including a well-differentiated variant, verrucous carcinoma.

Impaired cognitive performance in asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease: relation to C-reactive protein and D-dimer levels.

Background And Purpose: asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease (APAD), a highly prevalent condition in the general older population, is associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular events because of co-existing clinical or subclinical cerebral atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitive function is impaired in stroke- and transient ischaemic attack-free patients with APAD, and whether inflammatory and haemostatic markers are associated independently with neuropsychological performance.

Methods: cognitive performances of 164 well-functioning, community-dwelling patients with APAD were compared with those of 164 age-, gender- and education-matched healthy control subjects on six neuropsychological tests.

Association of palmoplantar keratoderma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, dental anomalies, and hypogenitalism in four siblings with 46,XX karyotype: a new syndrome.

The association of palmoplantar keratoderma (PPK) with the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), dental anomalies, severe hypogenitalism with hypospadias, abnormal development of gonads with ambiguous external genitalia, gynecomastia, altered plasma sex hormones levels, and hypertriglyceridemia has not, to our knowledge, been reported previously. We describe it in 4 brothers with 46,XX karyotype, whereas the 5 sisters of their consanguineous parents were unaffected. This family may represent a new syndrome.

Accelerated cardiomyopathy in maternally inherited diabetes and deafness.

The clinical features and course of cardiac involvement in a patient with maternally inherited diabetes and deafness associated with the mitochondrial DNA 3243 mutation are reported. A 45-year-old woman with maternally transmitted diabetes mellitus and deafness presented with congestive heart failure. The patient showed a short P-R interval on electrocardiogram (ECG) and had developed progression from left ventricular hypertrophy to a hypokinetic cardiomyopathy pattern over the course of 10 months.

Efficacy and safety of daily intake of apomorphine SL in men affected by erectile dysfunction and mild hyperprolactinemia: a prospective, open-label, pilot study.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of the "daily" use of apomorphine SL compared with the "on demand" administration of the drug in patients with mild to moderate erectile dysfunction (ED) and mild hyperprolactinemia who were nonresponders to apomorphine administered "on demand."

Methods: In this open-label prospective study, 34 patients with mild-to-moderate ED and mild hyperprolactinemia were screened. The subjects answered the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire and underwent follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, free testosterone, and prolactin plasma testing, and Doppler sonography at the 2-week screening period to define the ED severity and etiology, at the end of a 4-week "as required" dose-escalation regimen of 2 mg/3 mg apomorphine SL, and at the end of a 4-week period of daily administration of the drug to assess the efficacy of each treatment modality.

Effects of patch or gel estrogen therapies on auditory brainstem response in surgically postmenopausal women: a prospective, randomized study.

Objective: To study the effects of gonadal steroids on the nongenital audiological target in surgically postmenopausal women treated with patch or gel transdermal estrogen therapy (ET).

Design: Prospective randomized study.

Setting: Research Group for Sexology, University of Catania, Italy.

Nerve growth factor-endothelial cell interaction leads to angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) has important functions during embryonic development and on various tissues and organs under normal and pathological conditions during the extrauterine life. RT-PCR analysis and immunological methods demonstrate that human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) express the NGF receptors trkA(NGFR) and p75NTR. NGF treatment caused a rapid phosphorylation of trkA(NGFR) in HUVECs, determining a parallel increase of phosphorylated ERK1/2.

Divergent effects of corticotropin releasing hormone on endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase are associated with different expression of CRH type 1 and 2 receptors.

1. Endothelium is a target for an array of factors involved in inflammation. Endothelial cells express receptors for CRH, a neuropeptide produced during inflammation.

Tamoxifen inhibits nerve growth factor-induced proliferation of the human breast cancerous cell line MCF-7.

An array of polypeptide growth factors contribute to the development of breast cancer, the most common tumor-related cause of death in women of Western countries. Therefore, breast cancer therapy should be aimed at inhibition of growth factor-dependent breast cancerous cell proliferation. However, the relative contribution of each individual factor in the development and maintenance of the transformed phenotype is largely unknown.

Increased ACTH and cortisol secretion after interleukin-alpha injection in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus jacchus).

We have studied the effect of intravenous injection of interleukin-1 (dose range: from 0.25 to 4.5 microg/kg of body weight) on plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in the marmoset, a primate paradygm of peripheral glucocorticoid resistance.

Mitogenic effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) in LNCaP prostate adenocarcinoma cells: role of the high- and low-affinity NGF receptors.

We have investigated the effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the androgen-dependent, prostate adenocarcinoma LNCaP cell line. Exposure of LNCaP cells to NGF resulted in a significant increase of cell proliferation. The effect was concentration dependent and equally present in serum- or charcoal-stripped serum-supplemented and serum-deprived conditions.

Thymic hormones, cancer and behavioural adaptive responses.

The effects of thymic hormones are not restricted within the immune system but are rather pleiotropic. Through neuropeptides the neuroendocrine system participates in the regulation of homeostasis as well as in the control of stress response and behavioural outputs. Thymic hormones increase spontaneous behaviour, inhibit anxiety-like responses and improve resistance to stress in tumour-bearing mice.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha induces apoptosis in immortalized hypothalamic neurons: involvement of ceramide-generating pathways.

To investigate possible effects that may contribute, together with a direct action on neurohormone secretion, to the impairment of gonadal axis function during inflammation, we evaluated the effect of TNF alpha on the growth and viability of GT1-7 hypothalamic neurons and the intracellular transduction pathways involved in these effects. TNF alpha caused a reduction of cell number and an induction of apoptotic death. These effects were mimicked by cell-permeable analogs of ceramide and by neutral or acidic sphingomyelinase.

Distinct effects of ceramide-generating pathways in prostate adenocarcinoma cells.

Ceramide, generated by the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin, mediates the actions of several cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) interferon-gamma and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), including their inhibitory effect on tumour proliferation. We have evaluated the role of ceramide in the proliferation of prostate cancer by using the human prostate adenocarcinoma LNCaP cell line. Treatment of LNCaP cells with neutral or acidic sphingomyelinase or addition of C8- or C2-ceramide, two cell permeable analogues of endogenous ceramide, induced a profound inhibition of cell proliferation.

Helicobacter pylori-positive functional dyspepsia in elderly patients: comparison of two treatments.

The association of Helicobacter pylori and functional dyspepsia is not well defined. The role of H. pylori on dyspeptic symptoms is still controversial.

Neuroprotective effects of nicergoline in immortalized neurons.

We studied the potential neuroprotective action of nicergoline in immortalized hypothalamic GT1-7 cells exposed to agents which deplete levels of reduced glutathione, thus causing oxidative stress and cell death. Treatment with diethylmaleate (1 mM), buthionine sulfoximine (500 microM) or menadione (10-50 microM) caused diffuse GT1-7 cell degeneration, as assessed by using either the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cytotoxicity assay or the fluorescent dyes fluorescein diacetate and propidium iodide. Pre- and/or co-exposure of the cells to nicergoline significantly prevented diethylmaleate- or buthionine sulfoximine-induced neuronal death, whereas nicergoline was ineffective against menadione-induced toxicity.

Involvement of DA1 and DA2 receptors in the gastroprotective activity of amylin in the rat.

Peripheral administration of amylin (40 microg kg-1) exerts gastroprotective effects in the reserpine-induced gastric lesions in the rat. This activity is decreased by pretreatment (30 min before) with (-)-sulpiride (0.1 mg kg-1 s.

Protective action of epidermal growth factor and a fraction from Triticum vulgare extract in mouse tail necrosis.

Several peptide growth factors, including EGF, are known to protect endothelium from oxygen-related damage or ischemia-reperfusion, in vitro experiments show that such protective effect involves endogenous endothelium-related factors like nitric oxide and prostanoids. However, in vivo demonstrations of a possible role in related vascular diseases are lacking. In our experiments, human EGF and fraction C, a 3-10 kDa oligosaccharidic fraction from an aqueous extract of Triticum vulgare, known as growth promoters for several cell types including endothelial cells, were found protective against ischemic necrosis of the mouse tail induced by i.