Allopregnanolone (ALLO), is a brain endogenous neurosteroid that binds with high affinity to gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptors and positively modulates the action of GABA at these receptors. Unlike ALLO, 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone (5alpha-DHP) binds with high affinity to intracellular progesterone receptors that regulate DNA transcription. To investigate the physiological roles...

INTRODUCTION The Diabetes Health Profile-18 (DHP-18) measures diabetes-related psychological well-being in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It includes 3 subscales: psychological distress (PD), barriers to activity and disinhibited eating. The psychometric properties of the DHP have not been evaluated in Asia. The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of t...

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) allowed comprehensive analysis of various steroids detectable in plasma throughout equine gestation. Mares (n=9) were bled serially until they foaled. Certain steroids dominated the profile at different stages of gestation, clearly defining key physiological and developmental transitions. The period (weeks 6-20) coincident with equine ch...

BACKGROUND Direct hemoperfusion with polymyxin B-immobilized fiber column (PMX-DHP) could improve the hemodynamic status of septic shock patients. As PMX-DHP is an invasive and costly procedure, it is desirable to estimate the therapeutic effect before performing the therapy. However, it is still unclear when this therapy should be started and what type of sepsis it should be employed for. In t...

BACKGROUND Artemisinin-based combination therapy is very effective in clearing asexual stages of malaria and reduces gametocytemia, but may not affect mature gametocytes. Primaquine is the only commercially available drug that eliminates mature gametocytes. METHODS We conducted a 2-arm, open-label, randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of single-dose primaquine (0.75 mg/kg) fo...

To examine mechanisms whereby the abundance of functional Ca channels may be regulated in excitable tissue, Ca channel number was estimated by binding of the dihydropyridine (DHP) antagonist 3H (+)PN200-110 to monolayers of intact myocytes from chick embryo ventricle. Beta adrenergic receptor properties were studied in cultured myocytes using [3H]CGP12177, an antagonist ligand. Physiological co...

Meiosis is an indispensable process of sexual reproduction. However, detailed information on the regulatory mechanisms that initiate meiosis is not available. Progestins are important steroids regulating final maturation in male and female vertebrates. In male teleosts, it is known that progestin induces spermiation and sperm maturation. However, a role for progestin in early spermatogenesis or...

Dihydropyrimidinase (DHP) deficiency is an autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the DPYS gene. Patients present with highly elevated levels of dihydrouracil and dihydrothymine in their urine, blood and cerebrospinal fluid. The analysis of the effect of mutations in DPYS on pre-mRNA splicing is hampered by the fact that DHP is primarily expressed in liver and kidney cells. The mini...

We propose a general reaction mechanism for the pyridine (Py)-catalyzed reduction of CO2 over GaP(111), CdTe(111), and CuInS2(112) photoelectrode surfaces. This mechanism proceeds via formation of a surface-bound dihydropyridine (DHP) analogue, which is a newly postulated intermediate in the Py-catalyzed mechanism. Using density functional theory, we calculate the standard reduction potential r...

In biological applications, the tandem mass spectrometry is a widely used method for determining protein and peptide sequences from an ”in vitro” sample. The sequences are not determined directly, but they must be interpreted from the mass spectra, which is the output of the mass spectrometer. This work is focused on a similarity-search approach to mass spectra interpretation, where the paramet...