Endocannabinoids and cannabinoid 1 (CB(1)) receptors have been implicated in cardiac dysfunction, inflammation, and cell death associated with various forms of shock, heart failure, and atherosclerosis, in addition to their recognized role in the development of various cardiovascular risk factors in obesity/metabolic syndrome and diabetes. In this study, we explored the role of CB(1) receptors ...

OBJECTIVE Salsalate is a nonacetylated salicylate that lowers glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Here we examined whether salsalate also lowered serum-protein-bound levels of early and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that have been implicated in diabetic vascular complications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants were from the Targeting Inflammation Using Salsalate...

The present paper attempts to explain some very serious fallacies contained in the idea of “circular flow of macroeconomic activity”, upon which virtually everything in mainstream macroeconomics is built and which provides a substantial portion of its conceptual framework. The critique proceeds by analyzing the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is widely accepted as being “the most...

BACKGROUND The Alphabet Strategy (AS) is a diabetes care checklist ensuring "important, simple things are done right all the time." Current audits of diabetes care in developed countries reveal wide variations in quality with performance of care processes frequently sub-optimal. This study had three components:• an audit to assess diabetes care quality worldwide,• a questionnaire study seeking ...

In developing countries, official statistics, national accounts, and economic development initiatives generally focus on commercial, often exportoriented fisheries, which are often perceived to be the major economic contribution of fisheries. While small-scale, non-commercial fisheries, especially near-shore subsistence fisheries, have been recognized as fundamental for social, cultural, and fo...

Diabetic patients in poor glycemic control show increased glycation of total plasma proteins, but little is yet known about the relative extents to which the various individual proteins are glycated. Thus, we studied the non-enzymic glycation of several major plasma proteins and plasma protein fractions in normal and diabetic patients. In vivo glycation for most plasma proteins was very low in ...

FAP (familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy) is a systemic amyloid disease characterized by the formation of extracellular deposits of transthyretin. More than 80 single point mutations are associated with amyloidogenic behaviour and the onset of this fatal disease. It is believed that mutant forms of transthyretin lead to a decreased stability of the tetramer, which dissociates into monomers that...

Objectives The neurodegeneration and loss of memory function are common consequences of aging. Medicinal plants have potent protective effects against chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the beneficial effects and molecular mechanisms of crocin on brain function in D-galactose (D-gal)-induced aging model in rats. Materials and Methods Male Wistar rats ...

Protein glycation is an age-dependent posttranslational modification associated with several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. By modifying amino-groups, glycation interferes with folding of proteins, increasing their aggregation potential. Here, we studied the effect of pharmacological and genetic manipulation of glycation on huntingtin (HTT), the cau...

We have developed a colorimetric assay for determining the degree of glycation of serum proteins that is unaffected by glycosylation residues. This was accomplished by reducing the proteins with sodium borohydride prior to periodate oxidation. Previous periodate-based methods, which offer several advantages over other glycation assays, cannot determine glycoprotein glycation because interferenc...