Effect of an Ethanol Extract of Scutellaria baicalensis on Relaxation in Corpus Cavernosum Smooth Muscle

Aims of study. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether an ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis (ESB) relaxes penile corpus cavernosum muscle in organ bath experiments. Materials and methods. Changes in tension of cavernous smooth muscle strips were determined by penile strip chamber model and in penile perfusion model. Isolated endothelium-intact rabbit corpus cavernosum was precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) and then treated with ESB. Results. ESB relaxed penile smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner, and this was inhibited by pre-treatment with NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, and 1H-[1, 2, 4]-oxadiazolo-[4,3-α]-quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), a soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) inhibitor. ESB-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with tetraethylammonium (TEA), a nonselective K+ channel blocker, and charybdotoxin, a selective Ca2+-dependent K+ channel inhibitor. ESB increased the cGMP levels of rabbit corpus cavernosum in a concentration-dependent manner without changes in cAMP levels. In a perfusion model of penile tissue, ESB also relaxed penile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion. Taken together, these results suggest that ESB relaxed rabbit cavernous smooth muscle via the NO/cGMP system and Ca2+-sensitive K+ channels in the corpus cavernosum

Association between the awareness of osteoporosis and the quality of care for bone health among Korean women with osteoporosis

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background: The prevalence of osteoporosis is increasing and is a socio-economic burden worldwide. Although screening tests for osteoporosis in Korea are easily accessible, this condition remains undertreated. Evaluating post-diagnostic behavior changes may be helpful for improving the quality of care for bone health in osteoporotic patients. Methods: After reviewing the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2009, 1,114 women with osteoporosis aged >50 years were included in this cross-sectional study. Factors related to bone health were categorized into the following groups: (1) behavioral health (smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity); (2) measured factors (lean body mass [kg], appendicular skeletal muscle mass [kg], and serum vitamin D level [nmol/L]); and (3) nutritional factors (calcium intake, vitamin/mineral supplementation, and healthy supplementary food). Logistic regression analysis and analysis of covariance was conducted after adjusting for age, education, income, residential area, height, weight, and self-perceived health using a weighted method. Results: Doctors diagnosed 39.5% of patients with osteoporosis, and these patients were compared with the control group. The awareness group, who had been diagnosed with osteoporosis by a doctor, had a lower proportion of smokers and higher serum vitamin D level than the control group, who had never been diagnosed with osteoporosis. No other associations were found for quality of bone health care variables. The awareness group had higher odds ratios of vitamin/mineral replacement and healthy supplementary food but no other differences were observed, indicating the patients beliefs in bone health care do not follow the recommended clinical guidelines (e.g. higher physical activity, lower alcohol consumption). Conclusion: To improve the quality of care for bone health in osteoporotic patients, an initial step should be the development of post-diagnostic procedures such as patient counseling and education through a multi-team care approach.Peer Reviewe

Insulin Facilitates the Recovery of Myocardial Contractility and Conduction during Cardiac Compression in Rabbits with Bupivacaine-Induced Cardiovascular Collapse

Bupivacaine inhibits cardiac conduction and contractility. Insulin enhances cardiac repolarization and myocardial contractility. We hypothesizes that insulin therapy would be effective in resuscitating bupivacaine-induced cardiac toxicity in rabbits. Twelve rabbits were tracheally intubated and midline sternotomy was performed under general anesthesia. Cardiovascular collapse (CVC) was induced by an IV bolus injection of bupivacaine 10 mg/kg. The rabbits were treated with either saline (control) or insulin injection, administered as a 2 U/kg bolus. Internal cardiac massage was performed until the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and the time to the return of sinus rhythm (ROSR) was also noted in both groups. Arterial blood pressure, and electrocardiography were continuously monitored for 30 min and plasma bupivacaine concentrations at every 5 min. The ROSC, ROSR and normalization of QRS duration were attained faster in the insulin-treated group than in the control group. At the ROSC, there was a significant difference in bupivacaine concentration between two groups. Insulin facilitates the return of myocardial contractility and conduction from bupivacaine-induced CVC in rabbits. However, recovery of cardiac conduction is dependent mainly on the change of plasma bupivacaine concentrations

Effects of nanofluids containing graphene/graphene-oxide nanosheets on critical heat flux

The superb thermal conduction property of graphene establishes graphene as an excellent material for thermal management. In this paper, we selected graphene/graphene oxide nanosheets as the additives in nanofluids. The authors interestingly found that the highly enhanced critical heat flux (CHF) in the nanofluids containing graphene/graphene-oxide nanosheets (GON) cannot be explained by both the improved surface wettability and the capillarity of the nanoparticles deposition layer. Here we highlights that the GON nanofluid can be exploited to maximize the CHF the most efficiently by building up a characteristically ordered porous surface structure due to its own self-assembly characteristic resulting in a geometrically changed critical instability wavelength.open363

A Multicenter Phase II Study of AMG 337 in Patients with MET-Amplified Gastric/Gastroesophageal Junction/Esophageal Adenocarcinoma and Other MET-Amplified Solid Tumors

PURPOSE: MET gene amplification is associated with poor prognosis in gastric/gastroesophageal junction/esophageal (G/GEJ/E) cancers. We determined antitumor activity, safety, and pharmacokinetics of the small-molecule MET inhibitor AMG 337 in MET-amplified G/GEJ/E adenocarcinoma or other solid tumors.Patients and Methods: In this phase II, single-arm study, adults with MET-amplified G/GEJ/E adenocarcinoma (cohort 1) or other MET-amplified solid tumors (cohort 2) received AMG 337 300 mg/day orally in 28-day cycles. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR; cohort 1). Secondary endpoints included ORR (cohort 2), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety. RESULTS: Of 2101 patients screened for MET amplification, 132 were MET-amplified and 60 were enrolled: 45 in cohort 1, and 15 in cohort 2. Fifty-six patients (97%) had metastatic disease; 57 had prior lines of therapy (1 prior line, 29%; ≥2 prior lines, 69%). A protocol-permitted review showed efficacy that was lower-than-expected based on preliminary data from a first-in-human study, and enrollment was stopped. Fifty-eight patients received ≥1 AMG 337 dose. ORR in cohort 1 was 18% (8 partial responses). No responses were observed in cohort 2. Of 54 evaluable patients, median (95% CI) PFS and OS were 3.4 (2.2-5.0) and 7.9 (4.8-10.9) months, respectively. The most frequent adverse events (AEs) were headache (60%), nausea (38%), vomiting (38%), and abdominal pain, decreased appetite, and peripheral edema (33% each); 71% had grade ≥3 AEs and 59% had serious AEs. CONCLUSIONS: AMG 337 showed antitumor activity in MET-amplified G/GEJ/E adenocarcinoma but not in MET-amplified non-small-cell lung cancer.See related commentary by Ma, p. 2375. ispartof: CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH vol:25 issue:8 pages:2414-2423 ispartof: location:United States status: publishe