Generally, plasma proteins owe their binding capacity to the presence of aminoacid units which enter into intra- and intermolecular hydrophobic bonding with a diverse range of endo- and exogenous chemical substances. The intermolecular interactions between the hydrophobic areas of drug molecules and those of plasma proteins play an important role in drug-macromolecular complex formation and...

abstract introduction humans in the last trimester of gestation are assumed to be in a pain-free environment in the womb, but those neonates who are born preterm often spend weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (nicu) and undergo numerous painful procedures as part of their routine care. materials and methods in this semi-experimental study, 70 preterm infants born at average 32 to 36 week...

Sepsis has deleterious effects on cardiac function including reduced contractility. We have shown previously that lipopolysaccharides (LPS) directly affect HL-1 cardiac myocytes by inhibiting Ca(2+) regulation and by impairing pacemaker "funny" current, I(f). We now explore further cellular mechanisms whereby LPS inhibits excitability in HL-1 cells. LPS (1 μg/ml) derived from Salmonella enterit...

The effect of depolarization on the duration of the action potential was studied in short cardiac Purkinje fibers. Membrane potential was altered by overdriving pacemaker fibers showing spontaneous diastolic depolarization (dog), by injecting constantcurrent pulses through an intracellular microelectrode (sheep), or by voltage clamping (dog). Test action potentials were elicited at the end of 5...