Long and short QT syndromes associated with loss and gain of human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) channel activity, respectively, can cause life-threatening arrhythmias. As such, modulation of hERG channel activity is an important consideration in the development of all new therapeutic agents. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms of action of 2-[2-(3,4-dichloro-phenyl)-2,3-di...

Expression of programmed cell death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) has been shown to be up-regulated in some gastric cancer patients and to correlate with the density of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). However, conflicting results have been reported regarding TILs and the expression of PD-L1 as a prognostic marker for gastric cancer. We investigated the correlation of PD-L1 and TILs expressi...

This narrative review reports on the pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties of rotigotine, a non-ergolinic D₃/D₂/D₁ dopamine receptor agonist approved for the treatment of early- and advanced-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) and moderate to severe restless legs syndrome (RLS). Rotigotine is formulated as a transdermal patch providing continuous drug delivery over 24 h, with a plasma conce...

The relationship between local population density and habitat area is an important factor in spatial population ecology. I examined how density dependence in the growth of local insect populations and their host plant patches, combined with patch birth and death, and insect dispersal affect the density–area relationship. I constructed a simulation model to examine the relationship for an insect...

BACKGROUND Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in tumor cells is known to promote immune escape of cancer by interacting with programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) in tumor infiltrating immune cells. Immunotherapy targeting these molecules is emerging as a new strategy for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Understanding the relationship between the PD-L1/PD-1 axis and prognosis in GBM patients may be...

Plant root systems can respond to nutrient availability and distribution by changing the three-dimensional deployment of their roots: their root system architecture (RSA). We have compared RSA in homogeneous and heterogeneous nitrate and phosphate supply in Arabidopsis. Changes in nitrate and phosphate availability were found to have contrasting effects on primary root length and lateral root d...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease that usually affects individuals over 50 years of age. Age at onset in a small subset of PD cases is considerably lower, and these are considered early-onset PD (EOPD) patients. Most PD cases appear sporadic, but approximately 15% are familial, and some of the familial cases exhibit Mendelian inheritance. Genetic analysis of fami...

Availability of multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) databases opens up the opportunity to synthesize different MRI contrasts without actually acquiring the images. In theory such synthetic images have the potential to reduce the amount of acquisitions to perform certain analyses. However, to what extent they can substitute real acquisitions in the respective analyses is an open questio...

Cholangiocarcinoma is an aggressive biliary neoplasm lacking effective therapeutic agents. Immunotherapies targeting the PD-L1/PD-1 immune checkpoint have shown encouraging results in solid and hematologic cancers in clinical trials. Response to these immunomodulators is correlated with PD-L1 expression. Our goal was to characterize PD-L1 expression in intra-hepatic (iCCA) and perihilar (pCCA) ...