It is still incompletely understood why amiodarone is such a potent antiarrhythmic drug. We hypothesized that chronic amiodarone treatment produces postrepolarization refractoriness (PRR) without conduction slowing and that PRR modifies the induction of ventricular arrhythmias. In this study, the hearts of 15 amiodarone-pretreated (50 mg/kg p.o. for 6 weeks) rabbits and 13 controls were isolate...

The parietal reach region (PRR) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) form part of the fronto-parietal reach network. While neural selectivity profiles of single-cell activity in these areas can be remarkably similar, other data suggest that both areas serve different computational functions in visually guided reaching. Here we test the hypothesis that different neural functional organizations chara...

Coordinated eye movements are crucial for precision control of our hands. A commonly believed neural mechanism underlying eye-hand coordination is interaction between the neural networks controlling each effector, exchanging, and matching information, such as movement target location and onset time. Alternatively, eye-hand coordination may result simply from common inputs to independent eye and...

Recent reports have indicated that oscillations shared across distant cortical regions can enhance their connectivity, but do coherent oscillations ever diminish connectivity? We investigated oscillatory activity in two distinct reach-related regions in the awake behaving monkey (Macaca mulatta): the parietal reach region (PRR) and the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd). PRR and PMd were found to osc...

In this issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), Wang et al.1 unravel an intriguing new signaling cascade that involves the prorenin receptor (PRR) in the kidney collecting ducts (CDs) as a necessary component of the physiologic ability of the kidneys to concentrate urine. The pathway includes serial coupling between the vasopressin (AVP) V2 receptor, the prostaglandin...

BACKGROUND The Myanmar army and ethnic armed groups agreed to a preliminary ceasefire in 2012, but a heavy military presence remains in southeastern Myanmar. Qualitative data suggested this militarization can result in human rights abuses in the absence of armed engagements between the parties, and that rural ethnic civilians use a variety of self-protection strategies to avoid these abuses or ...

BACKGROUND Nearly half of the population of Northwest China live in Shaanxi province, but population-based data on the epidemiologic characteristics of congenital heart defects (CHD) in this population is limited. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence and epidemiologic characteristics of the CHD among infants born between 2010 and 2013 in Shaanxi province. METHODS Infants born between...

Aims: Renal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a pivotal role in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Angiotensin II (Ang II) type 1 receptor (AT1R) blockade elevates (pro)renin, which may bind to (pro)renin receptor (PRR) and exert receptor-mediated, angiotensin-independent profibrotic effects. We therefore investigated whether PRR activation leads to the limited anti-fibrotic effec...

AIM To investigate the expression of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in cancer stem cells (CSCs), we have previously characterized in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). METHODS 3,3-Diaminobenzidine (DAB) immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for the stem cell marker, SOX2, and components of the RAS: angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), (pro)renin receptor (PRR), angiotensin II receptor 1 (ATIIR1)...

BACKGROUND The main objective was to investigate the burden of birth defects among alive infants and explore the impact of maternal lifestyle during pregnancy on the burden of birth defects in Northwest China. METHODS A stratified multi-stage sampling method was used to study infants born during 2010-2013 (and their mothers) in Shaanxi province of Northwest China. Socio-demographic informatio...