Type 2 diabetes is associated with altered immune and hemostatic responses. We investigated the selective effects of hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia on innate immune, coagulation, and fibrinolytic responses during systemic inflammation. Twenty-four healthy humans were studied for 8 hours during clamp experiments in which either plasma glucose, insulin, both, or none was increased, depending ...

Two genetic loci control the vernalization response in winter cereals; VRN1, which encodes an AP1-like MADS-box transcription factor, and VRN2, which has been mapped to a chromosome region containing ZCCT zinc finger transcription factor genes. We examined whether daylength regulates expression of HvVRN1 and HvVRN2. In a vernalization-responsive winter barley (Hordeum vulgare), expression of Hv...

Taking into account that there are controversial antioxidative effects of inhalational anesthetics isoflurane and sevoflurane and absence of comparison of genotoxicity of both anesthetics in animal model, the aim of this study was to compare DNA damage and antioxidant status in Wistar rats exposed to a single time to isoflurane or sevoflurane. The alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis assay ...

BACKGROUND Hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia is due to disturbed renal and intestinal magnesium (Mg(2+)) (re)absorption. The underlying defect is a mutation in the transient receptor potential melastatin type 6 (TRPM6), a Mg(2+)-permeable ion channel expressed in the kidney and intestine. Our aim was to characterize homozygous (-/-) and heterozygous (+/-) TRPM6 knockout mice with respe...

Lipid metabolism plays an important role in glucose homeostasis under normal and pathological conditions. In adipocytes, skeletal muscle, and pancreatic beta-cells, lipids are mobilized from acylglycerides by the hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). Here, the consequences of a targeted disruption of the HSL gene for glucose homeostasis were examined. HSL null mice were slightly hyperglycemic in the ...

Sorgner recently wrote in this journal that Nietzsche’s overhuman and the posthuman envisioned by transhumanists are similar at a fundamental level. However, the overhuman is an ideal limit of human progress that can never be reached, whereas posthumans will be a reality, the next stages in human progress. Some transhumanists are concerned that human improvement technologies will create radical...

Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic (H/I) brain injury remains a major cause of neurologic disability. Because we have previously demonstrated that this insult depletes cells from the subventricular zone (SVZ), the goal of the present investigation was to compare the relative vulnerability to H/I of neural stem cells versus progenitors. The dorsolateral SVZs of P6 rats were examined at 2 to 48 hours of ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the Tardieu Scale as a clinical measure of spasticity after stroke with the Ashworth Scale. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS Sixteen people, living in the community three years after their stroke. MAIN MEASURES The Ashworth Scale and Tardieu Scale as well as laboratory measures of spasticity (stretch-induced electromyographic (EMG) activity) and contracture ...

OBJECTIVE The rupture of unstable carotid atherosclerotic plaques is one of the main causes of cerebrovascular ischemic events. There is need for circulating markers that can predict plaque instability and risk of stroke. Proinflammatory chemerin, leptin, and resistin, along with anti-inflammatory adiponectin, are adipokines with direct influence on vascular function. We investigated the associ...

Fatty acids (FAs) are known to be important regulators of insulin secretion from pancreatic -cells. FA-coenzyme A esters have been shown to directly stimulate the secretion process, whereas long-term exposure of -cells to FAs compromises glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) by mechanisms unknown to date. It has been speculated that some of these long-term effects are mediated by members ...