The trans-(3R,4R)-dimethyl-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl)piperidine scaffold is a known pharmacophore for mu opioid (MOP), kappa opioid (KOP), and delta opioid (DOP) receptor antagonists; however, it has not been explored in nociceptin opioid (NOP/ORL-1) receptor ligands. We recently found that the selective KOP antagonist JDTic, (3R)-7-hydroxy-N-((1S)-1-{[(3R,4R)-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3,4-dimethyl-1-piperi...

δ opioid peptide (DOP) receptors are considered a therapeutic target in Parkinson's disease, although the use of DOP agonists may be limited by side effects, including convulsions. To circumvent this issue, we evaluated whether blockade of nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) tone potentiated the antiparkinsonian effects of DOP agonists, thus allowing for reduction of their dosage. Systemic administr...

The opioid-like peptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) produces marked cardiovascular and renal responses after central or peripheral administration in rats. Due to their ability to behave as full/partial agonists or antagonists in different cellular and tissue assays, the present studies were performed to determine how compounds classified as N/OFQ peptide (NOP) receptor partial agonists ([F/G...

This paper presents a secure alternate path routing in sensor networks. Our alternate path scheme makes the routing protocol resilient in the presence of malicious nodes that launch selective forwarding attacks. SeRINS (a Secure alternate path Routing IN Sensor networks) detects and isolates the compromised nodes, which try to inject inconsistent routing information, from the network by neighbo...

Energy is a critical resource in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a new approach to maintain network wide energy equivalence and maximize network lifetime. Compared to existing protocols, our approach emphasizes on route maintenance instead of route finding. This means no critical nodes would become the bottleneck of network lifetime. A reroute request packet is sent out from...

This study examined the effect of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), an investigational substance, on enteric methane emission, milk production, and composition in Holstein dairy cows. Following a 3-wk covariate period, 48 multi- primiparous cows averaging (± standard deviation) 118 ± 28 d milk, 43.4 8 kg/d yield, 594 57 kg body weight were blocked based days emission randomly assigned to 1 2 treatmen...

With the current maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 630/100,000 live births, Nigeria ranks among the nations with the highest mortality rates in the world. The use of skilled assistants during delivery has been identified a key predictor in the reduction of mortality rates in the world over. Not only are Nigerian women predominantly using unskilled attendants, one in five births are delivered wi...

The neuropeptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) has been shown to modulate neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release. Previous studies indicate that the mRNA levels for the N/OFQ precursor (proN/OFQ) are increased after seizures. However, it is unclear whether N/OFQ plays a role in seizure expression. Therefore, (1) we analyzed proN/OFQ mRNA levels and NOP (the N/OFQ receptor) mRNA lev...

The pharmacology of G protein-coupled receptors can be influenced by factors such as constitutive receptor activation and Na(+) ions. In this study, we examined the coupling of natively and heterologously expressed nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) peptide (NOP) receptors with voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels after exposure to four high-affinity NOP receptor blockers [[Nphe(1)Arg(14)Lys(15)]N/OFQ...