Neuropeptides of the cockroach allatostatin (AST) family are known for their ability to inhibit the production of juvenile hormone by the corpora allata of cockroaches. Since their discovery, they have also been shown to modulate myotropic activity in a range of insect species as well as to act as neurotransmitters in Crustaceans and possibly in insects. The midgut of cockroaches contains numer...

BACKGROUND Elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is prominent in acute dengue illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2009 dengue guidelines defined AST or ALT ≥ 1000 units/liter (U/L) as a criterion for severe dengue. We aimed to assess the clinical relevance and discriminatory value of AST or ALT for dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and severe den...

PURPOSE Astaxanthin (AST) is a carotenoid that is found in marine animals and vegetables. Several previous studies have demonstrated that AST exhibits a wide variety of biological activities including antioxidant, antitumor, and anti-Helicobacter pylori effects. In this study, attention was focused on the antioxidant effect of AST. The object of the present study was to investigate the efficacy...

We used an RIA and inhibition of enzyme activity to monitor the changes in mass and catalytic concentrations of the aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1;AST) isoenzymes in serum after myocardial infarction. Cytosolic (c-AST) and mitochondrial (m-AST) forms of AST were present in sera from all 38 of our patients. Although the immunological and catalytic concentrations of both isoenzymes correl...

BACKGROUND/AIM Intima media thickness (IMT) and stiffness of the carotid arteries is related to coronary artery disease, and chronic renal failure patients are at high risk for such diseases. An oral adsorbent, AST-120 (Kremezin; Kureha Chemical Industry, Tokyo, Japan), can delay the progression of chronic renal failure in undialyzed uremic patients. The aim of the present study was to determin...

A complementary DNA (cDNA) for rat hepatic aryl sulfotransferase IV (AST IV) was isolated, characterized, and used as a hybridization probe to evaluate the molecular basis for the differential expression of AST IV during 2-acetylaminofluorine (2AAF)-induced hepatocarcinogensis. The AST IV cDNA clone was obtained by immunochemical screening of a male Sprague-Dawley rat liver cDNA library. The AS...

The oral adsorbent AST-120 is composed of spherical carbon particles and has an adsorption ability for certain small-molecular-weight compounds that accumulate in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). So far, very few compounds are known to be adsorbed by AST-120 in vivo. To examine the effect of AST-120 in vivo, we comprehensively evaluated the plasma concentrations of 146 compounds (61 ...

Enzymatic sulfation of N-hydroxylated arylamines by mammalian hepatic cytosol sulfotransferases (AST; EC 2.8.2.1) is an important metabolic step which generates ultimate carcinogens. The metabolic activity of AST IV, the putative isozymic form of AST primarily responsible for catalyzing N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene sulfation, is modulated during 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF)-induced rat hepato...

In this paper, we give three functors $mathfrak{P}$, $[cdot]_K$ and $mathfrak{F}$ on the category of C$^ast$-algebras. The functor $mathfrak{P}$ assigns to each C$^ast$-algebra $mathcal{A}$ a pre-C$^ast$-algebra $mathfrak{P}(mathcal{A})$ with completion $[mathcal{A}]_K$. The functor $[cdot]_K$ assigns to each C$^ast$-algebra $mathcal{A}$ the Cauchy extension $[mathcal{A}]_K$ of $mathcal{A}$ by ...