Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been shown to reduce both morbidity and mortality in this population when compared with endotracheal intubation. NIV may also be used in a host of other diseases including cardiogenic pulmonary edema, post-extubation hypoxemia, and chronic ventilatory failure associated with muscular weakn...

The effects and interaction between cAMP-analogue dibutyryl-cAMP and calmodulin antagonists were investigated on de novo synthesis and secretion of lipids in cultures of hepatoma McArdle-RH7777 cells and normal rat hepatocytes. Dibutyryl cAMP caused a significant decrease in the secretion of de novo synthesized triacyl [3H] glycerol in both cultures of McArdle cells and rat hepatocytes. The ...

The effects and interaction between cAMP-analogue dibutyryl-cAMP and calmodulin antagonists were investigated on de novo synthesis and secretion of lipids in cultures of hepatoma McArdle-RH7777 cells and normal rat hepatocytes. Dibutyryl cAMP caused a significant decrease in the secretion of de novo synthesized triacyl [3H] glycerol in both cultures of McArdle cells and rat hepatocytes. The ...

Rab proteins are small molecular weight GTPases that control vesicular traffic in eucaryotic cells. A subset of Rab proteins, the Rab3 proteins are thought to play an important role in regulated exocytosis of vesicles. In transfected AtT-20 cells expressing wild-type Rab3D, we find that a fraction of the protein is associated with dense core granules. In the same cells, expression of a mutated ...

In diabetes, insulin secretion is either completely absent (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM]) or inappropriately regulated (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [NIDDM]). In recent years, new insights into the molecular and biochemical mechanism(s) of fuel-mediated insulin release coupled with advances in gene transfer technology have led to the investigation of molecular strategie...

High-fat diets are often associated with greater caloric intake and weight gain. Since satiety during fat intake is induced by fat in the intestine we investigated the efficiency of a lipid compound that retards fat digestion to regulate fat intake. We found this compound to reduce high-fat food intake, body weight and blood lipids in Sprague-Dawley rats, without causing steatorrhea. The absenc...

An experimental study was performed to determine methods to improve the cloning efficiency of the BTC3 cell line prior to obtaining clonal cell lines expressing recombinant protein. Polylysine pretreatment of the substrate was found to increase colony formation along with the use of conditioned media. Using the acquired knowledge, clonal lines were obtained from the parental (nonclonal) line, a...

Background: Opioid peptides and their receptors are present in the majority of body tissues including gastrointestinal tract.  Heroin is one of the opioid derivatives that abuse increasingly today.  So far, there is no study on the effect of acute heroin administration on gastric acid and pepsin secretion. Objective:  To define the effect of the acute heroin consumption on basal and vagal-stimu...

The aim of this study was to examine whether the secreted fluid from the uterus influences the survival and fertilization capacity of fowl sperm in the hen oviduct. Hens with either regular uterine fluid secretion or irregular uterine fluid secretion were artificially inseminated through the transfer of sperm into the uterus. Twenty-four hours after  artificial insemination, 3 hens with regular...

Neurotransmitter release is a multistep process that is coordinated by a large number of synaptic proteins and depends on proper protein-protein interactions. Using morphological, capacitance, and amperometric measurements, we investigated the effect of tomosyn, a Syntaxin-binding protein, on the different kinetic components of exocytosis in adrenal chromaffin cells. Overexpression of tomosyn d...