BACKGROUND Body wasting and cachexia change body composition and organ function, with effects on drug pharmacokinetics. The aim of this study was to investigate how cancer and cancer cachexia modify liver metabolism and renal drug elimination in rats. METHODS Nine male Wistar-Han rats received a single oral dose of midazolam and propranolol (markers of hepatic metabolism), and 10 rats receive...

INTRODUCTION Critically ill immunocompromised (CIIC) patients with pulmonary infection are a population at high risk for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). The host defenses are important factors to consider in determining the risk and outcome of infection. Quantification of changes in the status of host immunity could be valuable for clinical diagnosis and outcome prediction. METHODS We...

The theory of regular cost functions is a quantitative extension to the classical notion of regularity. A cost function associates to each input a non-negative integer value (or infinity), as opposed to languages which only associate to each input the two values “inside” and “outside”. This theory is a continuation of the works on distance automata and similar models. These models of automata h...

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Prof. F. Matthias Bickelhaupt. The cover picture illustrates the authors' quantum chemical finding that π electrons can significantly bend otherwise linear d(10)-ML2 complexes through backbonding. For more details, see the Full Paper on p. 106 ff.

We have investigated the molecular geometries of a series of dicoordinated d(10)-transition-metal complexes ML2 (M=Co(-), Rh(-), Ir(-), Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu(+), Ag(+), Au(+); L=NH3, PH3, CO) using relativistic density functional theory (DFT) at ZORA-BLYP/TZ2P. Not all complexes have the expected linear ligand-metal-ligand (L-M-L) angle: this angle varies from 180° to 128.6° as a function of the metal...

(1) Background: the broadcast is an outdated fertilization method with a low fertilizer-utilization rate and environmental problems, which seriously restricts development of agriculture. (2) Methods: Under machine-transplanted rice side-deep (MRSF) mode, five treatments were applied: 0 cm (D0), 5 (D5), 7.5 (D7.5), 10 (D10), comprising four different depths fertilization, no (CK). The yield, acc...

We investigated blocking the TGF-β signaling pathway in HCC using two small molecule inhibitors (LY2157299, LY2109761) and a neutralizing humanized antibody (D10) against TGF-βRII. LY2157299 and LY2109761 inhibited HCC cell migration on Laminin-5, Fibronectin, Vitronectin, Fibrinogen and Collagen-I and de novo phosphorylation of pSMAD2. LY2157299 inhibited HCC migration and cell growth independ...

BACKGROUND The question whether metacylic trypomastigote (MT) forms of different T. cruzi strains differentially release surface molecules, and how they affect host cell invasion, remains to be fully clarified. We addressed that question using T. cruzi strains that differ widely in the ability to invade cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Metacyclic forms were incubated at 37°C for 1 h in c...