Peripheral α2-adrenoceptor-mediated sympathoinhibitory effects of mivazerol

Summary— Mivazerol is a new compound that could potentially reduce perioperative cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with or at risk of coronary disease and submitted to surgery. This action of mivazerol depends on a well documented centrally mediated reduction in sympathetic nerve activity, but a direct peripheral decrease in sympathetic neurotransmitter release induced by activation of prejunctional α₂-adrenoceptors located on sympathetic nerve endings could also contribute. To investigate this issue, the effects of mivazerol on the pressor, systemic and regional hemodynamic (pulsed Doppler technique) as well as on the cardiac responses to electrical stimulation of the spinal cord (SCS) were measured in pithed rats in the absence and in the presence of mivazerol. Mivazerol exerted strong sympathoinhibitory effects: SCS-induced increases in blood pressure, total peripheral resistance and heart rate were dose-dependently reduced by mivazerol, but among the regional vascular beds investigated, only the hindlimb vasoconstrictor responses were significantly drug-affected. All these sympathoinhibitory effects of mivazerol were abolished by prior yohimbine administration. Simultaneously, mivazerol did not induce any postjunctional adrenoceptor blockade as it did not affect noradrenaline cardiac and hemodynamic effects. On the contrary, through postjunctional α₂-adrenoceptor stimulation, mivazerol, in this pithed preparation, dose-dependently increased blood pressure, total peripheral and hindlimb vascular resistances, but heart rate was not affected. We conclude that, in the pithed rat, mivazerol exerts strong peripheral sympathoinhibitory effects. The mechanism involved is prejunctional α₂-adrenoceptor activation as i) mivazerol does not display any postsynaptic α-adrenoceptor blocking effect — it even behaves as a postsynaptic α₂-adrenoceptor agonist — and ii) yohimbine abolishes mivazerol's sympathoinhibitory effects. Thus, direct peripheral together with central mechanisms contribute to mivazerol's sympathoinhibitory effects and ultimately to its cardioprotective action.     

Scintigraphic diagnosis of tricuspid regurgitation

The authors describe a simple technique for diagnosis of tricuspid regurgitation. Red blood cells were labeled in vivo with 99mTc and 22 patients were studied with ECG-gated blood-pool imaging of the liver. A single region of interest was manually drawn around the liver and a time-activity curve obtained. The per cent change in liver counts during the cardiac cycle was found to be significantly higher in the 12 patients with tricuspid regurgitation (Group I) (mean, 4.04 +/- 1.6%; range, 1.3-21.4%) compared with the 10 controls (Group II) (mean, 0.35 +/- 0.16%; range, 0.013-1.3%) (p less than 0.05). Using a 1% change in liver counts as the criterion of a positive study, all 12 cases in Group I were diagnosed correctly, but there was one false positive in Group II; thus the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity 90%.     

Breaking the camel's back: multicenter clinical trials and local institutional review boards

Clinical research has undergone remarkable and beneficial expansion in the past 25 years, but with this growth has come an unprecedented increase in workload for the human subjects protection system. Recently, a major change in federal oversight of local institutional review boards (IRBs) became evident. Although it was not announced publicly, in 1998 and 1999 federal regulatory actions against local IRBs increased threefold. Particularly notable was the marked increase in regulatory actions taken against the IRBs of academic medical centers (1 in 1997 compared with 14 in 1999). Ironically, this apparent federal crackdown began at the same time that two federal review panels called for major changes in the regulations governing local IRBs. A key factor in the current crisis in the function of local IRBs is the ascendance of multicenter clinical trials as the dominant form of clinical research. Local IRBs were not designed to handle the initial evaluation and ongoing review required by the rapidly increasing number of multicenter clinical trials. Furthermore, local IRB review of the thousands of safety reports from multicenter clinical trials monopolizes resources without promoting patient safety. Instead of rigid enforcement of outmoded regulations that do not contribute to patient safety, the responsibilities of the local IRB in the oversight of multicenter clinical trials must be systematically evaluated.     

控制和影响神经干细胞增殖分化为神经元细胞的途径及因素

目的:探讨控制和影响神经干细胞向神经元细胞转化途径的因素。资料来源:应用计算机检索Medline和cnki数据库1990-01/2006-06期间的有关神经干细胞和增殖与分化关系的文献,检索词“NSC,proliferation,differentiation”,并限定文章语言种类为English。同时计算机检索中国生物医学文献数据库1990-01/2006-06期间的相关文献,限定文章语言种类为中文,检索词“神经干细胞、增殖、分化”。资料选择:选取关于影响神经干细胞增殖与分化特别是机制方面的相关文献,删除未进行对照的试验研究的文章,然后查余下的文献全文,进一步判断是否采用对照。纳入标准:平行对照组,即未采用影响神经干细胞增殖与分化的因素或正常对照;实验组为采用干扰神经干细胞增殖与分化的因素。排除明显不随机的试验。质量评价主要考察资料的真实性,调查设计是否严密,实施过程是否严格,统计学处理是否合理。资料提炼:共检索43篇关于神经干细胞增殖与分化分别与基因调控、生长因子、细胞因子及微环境信号等因素密切相关文章,31编符合纳入标准。排除的12篇试验中,8篇是因重复的同一研究,4篇是Meta分析研究。资料综合:神经干细胞是一种具有强大的自我更新能力和多向分化潜能的细胞,它具有分化为中枢神经系统内神经元、星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞的能力;其增殖与分化与基因调控、生长因子、细胞因子及微环境信号等因素密切相关,基本螺旋-环-螺旋基因、凋亡相关基因Bc1-XL、sox2等参与了神经干细胞的定向分化机制,notch信号通路、过氧化物酶体增殖分化激活受体Y信号通路也影响神经干细胞的分化方向。结论:神经干细胞的增殖与分化机制尚不十分清楚,其分化及调控机制是多因素调节和多因素相互作用的结果。