INTRODUCTION This study was undertaken to determine whether the anti-osteoarthritis drug pentosan polysulfate (PPS) influenced mesenchymal precursor cell (MPC) proliferation and differentiation. METHODS Human MPCs were maintained in monolayer, pellet or micromass cultures (MMC) for up to 10 days with PPS at concentrations of 0 to 20 microg/ml. MPC viability and proliferation was assessed usin...

OBJECTIVE Postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS), which is thought to be related to autoimmune phenomena, represents a common postoperative complication in cardiac surgery. Late pericardial effusions after cardiac surgery are usually related to PPS and can progress to cardiac tamponade. Preventive measures can reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality related to PPS. In a previous study, diclofen...

Background: Depression and ischemic heart disease (IHD) are associated with persistent stress and autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction. The former can be measured by pressure pain sensitivity (PPS) of the sternum, and the latter by the PPS and systolic blood pressure (SBP) response to a tilt table test (TTT). Beta-blocker treatment reduces the efferent beta-adrenergic ANS function, and th...

Inspection of the genomes of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Streptomyces avermitilis reveals that each contains 55 putative eukaryotic-type protein phosphatases (PPs), the largest number ever identified from any single prokaryotic organism. Unlike most other prokaryotic genomes that have only one or two superfamilies of eukaryotic-type PPs, the streptomycete genomes possess the eukaryotic-ty...

We use the implementation of a new prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) to investigate the effect of changes in marginal and average reimbursement on costs. The results show that the IRF PPS led to a significant decline in costs and length of stay. Changes in marginal reimbursement associated with the move from a cost-based system to a PPS led to a 7-1...

Background: During sports competitions, the performance of athletes may be negatively affected by persistent stress and autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, both of which can be assessed by pressure pain sensitivity (PPS) at the chest bone. Objectives: To test the association between PPS and sports performance; does a reduction of an elevated PPS improve performance stability and overall...

Introduction The End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS), implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in January 2011, encouraged use of peritoneal dialysis (PD) through various financial incentives. Our goal was to determine whether PPS effectively increased PD use in incident dialysis patients. Methods Our study used the United States Renal Data Sys...