BACKGROUND The concurrent impact of repeated low-level summer sunlight exposures on vitamin D production and cutaneous DNA damage, potentially leading to mutagenesis and skin cancer, is unknown. OBJECTIVES This is an experimental study (i) to determine the dual impact of repeated low-level sunlight exposures on vitamin D status and DNA damage/repair (via both skin and urinary biomarkers) in l...

In Triton-skinned phasic ileal smooth muscle, constitutively active recombinant p21-activated kinase (PAK3) has been shown to induce Ca(2+)-independent contraction, which is accompanied by phosphorylation of caldesmon and desmin (Van Eyk JE, Arrell DK, Foster DB, Strauss JD, Heinonen TY, Furmaniak-Kazmierczak E, Cote GP, and Mak AS. J Biol Chem 273: 23433-23439, 1998). In the present study, we ...

Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy of highly stretched skinned frog semitendinous muscle fibers revealed that connectin, an elastic protein of muscle, is located in the gap between actin and myosin filaments and also in the region of myosin filaments except in their centers. Electron microscopic observations showed that there were easily recognizable filaments extending from the myosin fila...

Abstract Friendships between members of different ethnoracial groups can help to reduce prejudice and ease tensions across groups. A large body literature has explored possible determinants for the formation these friendships. One unexplored factor is role an individual’s skin color in influencing their opportunities befriend other This study seeks answer two questions: For minorities, how asso...

The psychological world of The English Patient is explored to deepen the understanding of schizoid states. The protagonist, Almásy, is a remote desert explorer whose triangular sadomasochistic affair with the married Katharine destroys them all. His damaged skin is understood as a symbolic representation of his psychological condition. For the schizoid, love consumes and leads to obliteration o...

The mechanism ofthe Bat+-induced contraction was investigated using intact and saponin-treated skinned smooth muscle (skinned muscle) strips of the rabbit mesenteric artery . After depletion of Ca21 stored in the caffeinesensitive site, >0 .65 mM Ba2+ evoked contraction in muscle strips depolarized with 128 mM K+ in Cat+-free solution in a dose-dependent fashion, and the ED50 values for Ca2' an...

The mechanism ofthe Bat+-induced contraction was investigated using intact and saponin-treated skinned smooth muscle (skinned muscle) strips of the rabbit mesenteric artery . After depletion of Ca21 stored in the caffeinesensitive site, >0 .65 mM Ba2+ evoked contraction in muscle strips depolarized with 128 mM K+ in Cat+-free solution in a dose-dependent fashion, and the ED50 values for Ca2' an...

To investigate the extent to which the properties of the cardiac myofibrils contribute to the length-force relation of cardiac muscle, we determined the sarcomere length-force relations for rat ventricular trabeculae both before and after the muscles were skinned with the detergent Triton X-100. Sarcomere length was measured continuously by laser diffraction. In the unskinned trabeculae stimula...

BACKGROUND Previously, the authors have shown in Ca(2+)-clamped skinned arterial strips that protein kinase C (PKC) plays a role in 3% halothane- or isoflurane-increased force. PKC in the pulmonary artery and Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) in the femoral artery have been implicated in isoflurane-induced relaxation. For this study, the authors used clinical concentrations...

Laguna Mar Chiquita (central Argentina; ~latitude 31°S, longitude 63°W) provides an outstanding opportunity to examine organic facies development and petroleum source-rock potential in a modern thick-skinned foreland basin lake. In this case study, we defi ne profundal, paleodelta, and lake-margin depositional environments based on trends in bathymetry and lake-fl oor sediment particle size. Se...