Insulinomas are β-cell tumors that cause hypoglycemia through inappropriate secretion of insulin. Characterization of the in vitro dynamics of insulin secretion by perifused fragments of 10 human insulinomas permitted their subdivision into three functional groups with similar insulin content. Group A (four patients with fasting and/or postprandial hypoglycemic episodes) showed qualitatively no...

Both Mg2+ and Ca2+ have been implicated as having roles in the pathomechanisms of cerebral ischemia. To further study the effects of these ions on postischemic histologic outcome, fasted rats were given one of three intravenous infusions: 5.0 mmol/kg MgCl2, 5.0 mmol/kg MgCl2 + 0.035 units/kg regular insulin, or 1.0 mmol/kg CaCl2. This resulted in elevated plasma Mg2+ or Ca2+ concentrations in t...

The efficiencies of different transformation methods of E. coli DH5Qalpha train, induced by several cations like Mg2+, Mn2+ Rb+ and especially Ca2+, with or without polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were compared using the two commonly used plasmid vectors pCAMBIA1201 and pBI121. The widely used calcium chloride (CaCl2) method appeared to be the most efficient procedure, w...

In guard cells of open stomata under daylight, long actin filaments are arranged at the cortex, radiating out from the stomatal pore. Abscisic acid (ABA), a signal for stomatal closure, induces rapid depolymerization of cortical actin filaments and the slower formation of a new type of actin that is randomly oriented throughout the cell. This change in actin organization has been suggested to b...

Perfusion of the isolated rat heart with Ca2+ concentrations exceeding 3 mM activated phosphofructokinase and phosphorylase, and decreased the concentration of cyclic AMP. Half-maximal activation of phosphofructokinase occurred at 5 mM-CaCl2; significant activation of phosphorylase did not occur until the concentration of CaCl2 exceeded 12 mM. The time course for the activation of phosphofructo...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to introduce a novel, simple and effective technique for creating a reliable rabbit model of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) via a combination of periaortic calcium chloride (CaCl2) and elastase incubation. METHODS Forty-eight New Zealand white rabbits were divided into four groups. The AAA model was developed via a 20-minute periaortic incubation of C...

Background Normal ionic perfusate containing butanedione monoxime (BDM), a reversible myofilament inhibitor, could be better than either a high potassium (KCl) or a low calcium (CaCl2) perfusate for long-term cardiac preservation. This hypothesis was tested in 70 isolated guinea pig hearts. Methods and Results Three groups time control (8 hours, 370C), cold control (22 hours, 3.80C), and cold+B...

High-resolution atomic force microscopy is used to map the surface charge on the basal planes of kaolinite nanoparticles in an ambient solution of variable pH and NaCl or CaCl2 concentration. Using DLVO theory with charge regulation, we determine from the measured force-distance curves the surface charge distribution on both the silica-like and the gibbsite-like basal plane of the kaolinite par...

Microstructure development and the kinetics of hydration of pure tricalcium silicate (C3S) and CaCl2-accelerated C3S pastes were investigated by performing isothermal calorimetry and in situ small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements on parallel specimens during the first few days of hydration, as well as on 28-day old specimens hydrated under the same curing conditions (water/cement ra...

Surgical flaps are frequently affected by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) and stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) are closely associated with myocardial I/R injury. This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of applying SDF-1α to counteract CaSR activation-mediated I/R injury in ischemic free flaps. Free flaps that underwent ischemia for 3 h were...