Vasorelaxant effects of ethyl cinnamate isolated from Kaempferia galanga on smooth muscles of the rat aorta

From the rhizomes of Kaempferia galanga, ethyl cinnamate (EC) was isolated and its vasorelaxant effect was examined on the rat aorta. EC inhibited the tonic contractions induced by high K+ and phenylephrine (PE) in a concentration-dependent manner, with respective IC50 values of 0.30 +/- 0.05 mM and 0.38 +/- 0.04 mM. The relaxant effect against PE-induced contractions was greater in the presence of endothelium. Pre-treatment of the aorta with methylene blue and indomethacin significantly reduced the relaxant effect. These results suggest that the inhibitory effects of EC may involve inhibition of Ca2+ influx into vascular cells and release of nitric oxide (NO) and prostacyclin from the endothelial cells. Thus, the vasorelaxant effect of EC mediated through multiple pathways may explain the traditional use of the parent plant in treating hypertension.     

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy for depression in primary care: Design of a randomised trial

Background  

Major depression is a common mental health problem in the general population, associated with a substantial impact on quality of life and societal costs. However, many depressed patients in primary care do not receive the care they need. Reason for this is that pharmacotherapy is only effective in severely depressed patients and psychological treatments in primary care are scarce and costly. A more feasible treatment in primary care might be computerised cognitive behavioural therapy. This can be a self-help computer program based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy. Although previous studies suggest that computerised cognitive behavioural therapy is effective, more research is necessary. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to evaluate the (cost-) effectiveness of online computerised cognitive behavioural therapy for depression in primary care.     

Effect of Ultrasonic Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment-Induced Nanograins on the Mechanical Properties and Biocompatibility of Pure Titanium

Commercially pure titanium (Ti) is widely used in bio-implants due to its high corrosion resistance. However, Ti exhibits marginally low mechanical and tribological properties, which limit its applications in some orthopedic implants. In this work, the Ti samples were subjected to ultrasonic surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) for various durations to improve their surface properties such as hardness, strength and surface energy. SMAT-induced grain refinement was analyzed using optical, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy techniques. A Vickers hardness test was performed to determine the through-thickness hardness. Mechanical testing was carried out to measure the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and ductility of the specimens. Corrosion tests were performed on a Gamry Potentiostat. The surface energy of SMAT-modified samples was calculated using the Owens–Wendt method. It was observed that SMAT reduced the average grain size from 50 μm to as low as 100 nm. The grain refinement and the corresponding grain boundary density led to a significant improvement in mechanical properties and biocompatibility in terms of increased hardness, yield and tensile strengths, surface energy, corrosion rate and hydrophilicity.     

Plasma from rheumatoid patients taking low dose methotrexate enhances platelet aggregation

Methotrexate (MTX) in low doses is commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At least 36 deaths have been attributed to bone marrow cytotoxicity associated with low dose MTX. The goal was to determine if plasma from arthritis patients taking low dose MTX induces platelet aggregation in platelet rich plasma from healthy volunteers. Plasma from patients on MTX alone caused a 3-fold increase in aggregation vs plasma from controls (P<0.05). Plasma from patients not taking MTX or taking MTX with diclofenac caused aggregation to a lesser extent. Diclofenac, along with several others NSAIDs and cyclooxygenase inhibitors, depressed aggregation produced by arachidonic acid in platelet rich plasma from healthy volunteers. A precise mechanism for amplification of aggregation by MTX plasma and its relationship to MTX toxicity remains unknown. However, a serum factor may be produced by MTX that modulates the activity of cyclooxygenase, thereby influencing aggregation.     

Conflict management of mothers and daughters belonging to individualistic and collectivistic cultural backgrounds: a comparative study

Research on the mother-daughter relationship during adolescence is mostly conducted in Western and European cultures where individualism is stressed. To examine ethnic/cultural differences and similarities in this relationship, 80 dyads of British (white) and Pakistani mothers and their adolescent daughters were studied. On the basis of the theories of cultural variability dimension and conflict face negotiation, it was hypothesized that mothers and daughters from the two cultures would use different styles of handling disagreements/conflicts. That is, Pakistani mothers and daughters would use an avoiding style, whereas British mothers and daughters would use either a dominating or compromising style, to a greater degree. It was also argued that Pakistani daughters and mothers will express more intimacy and relational harmony, will exhibit greater connectedness and mutuality and demonstrate lesser individuality and self-assertion compared to their British counterparts. However, it appeared that both the groups used an avoiding style equally, although the British group used a dominating style more than Pakistani group. As hypothesized, Pakistani mothers and daughters expressed more intimacy, relational harmony, connectedness and mutuality and lesser individuality than British mothers and daughters.     

Huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) binds to a Trio-like polypeptide, with a rac1 guanine nucleotide exchange factor domain

Huntington's disease (HD) occurs when the widely expressed protein huntingtin contains an expanded glutamine repeat. The selective degeneration and neuronal morphologic abnormalities of HD may involve interactions with proteins that bind to huntingtin, such as HAP1. The biological significance of this interaction is unclear because neither HAP1 nor huntingtin have significant homology to known proteins. Therefore, we sought to identify HAP1-binding proteins. Using the yeast two-hybrid system, we isolated a rat cDNA encoding part of a protein that interacts with HAP1, and we confirmed the specificity of this interaction using an in vitro protein-binding assay. We called the protein Duo because it is closely related to the human protein Trio but is shorter. Northern blot analysis indicates brain-specific expression of Duo. Human Duo contains a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) domain that is likely to be rac1-specific, a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain and spectrin-like repeat units. These data support the hypothesis that huntingtin is involved in vesicle trafficking and cytoskeletal functions, and raise the possibility of a role for huntingtin in the regulation of a ras-related signaling pathway.      

Saturation multipoint linkage mapping of chromosome 6q in type 1 diabetes

Linkage analysis of type 1 diabetes sib pair families (n = 334) has suggested two separate regions of human chromosome 6q are linked to disease (designated IDDM5 and IDDM8). To test if these are false positive results, all available sib pair families (n = 429) were typed using a 92% informative map of chromosome 6q and multipoint analysis. The two regions still showed positive evidence of linkage, most notably the proterminal region, 6q27, corresponding to IDDM8 (MLS = 2.57, p = 0.0006; lambda s = 1.17). In addition, some evidence of transmission disequilibrium was seen with marker a046xa9 (IDDM5).      

The applicability of the flow cytometric sperm chromatin structure assay in epidemiological studies. Asclepios

The impact of demographic, lifestyle, and seminal factors on the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) parameters was evaluated in a population of 277 healthy Danish men. This cohort was established within the framework of a European Concerted Action on occupational hazards to male reproductive capability in order to examine the possible reproductive effects of exposure to styrene or pesticides. The SCSA measures the susceptibility of sperm DNA to in-situ acid-induced denaturation, by multiparameter flow cytometric analysis after staining with the DNA-specific fluorescent dye acridine orange. The green versus red bivariate cytogram patterns were quite variable among donors, showing a wide heterogeneity of sperm DNA denaturability. Nevertheless, in those cases where we had the possibility to measure two semen samples from the same donor, the cytogram pattern remained stable over time (0.64 < r < 0.78). Analysis of variance demonstrated that the SCSA results can be influenced by the age of the donor (P < 0.0001), smoking habits (P < 0.05), the presence of leukocytes and immature germ forms in the ejaculate (P < 0.0001), and the duration of sexual abstinence (P < 0.0001). Furthermore, the relationship between the SCSA data and sperm concentration, morphology, and vitality was weak (-0.22 < r < - 0.46). Therefore, the SCSA provides independent and complementary measurements of semen quality and is thus a useful tool for epidemiological studies, but the effects of some confounders should be accounted for in the survey design and analysis.