Intrathecal morphine remotely preconditions the heart via a neural pathway

Central opioid receptor activation triggers cardioprotection against ischemia reperfusion injury, independent of peripheral opioid receptor activity. Using a rodent model of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury with infarct size as the primary outcome, we tested the hypothesis that spinal opioids confer this beneficial effect via a neural pathway. Intrathecal morphine reduced the infarct size compared with control (23% +/- 7% vs. 58% +/- 3%, respectively, P < 0.01). Prior antagonism of the autonomic pathway, and the receptors for bradykinin, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and the KATP channel, respectively, abolished this cardioprotection (54% +/- 13%, 52% +/- 10%, 56% +/- 9%, and 49% +/- 8%, respectively, P < 0.05). In a second set of experiments, we demonstrated that the increased expression of myocardial phosphorylated-Akt and endothelial nitric oxide synthase induced by intrathecal morphine was blocked by prior administration of hexamethonium. These findings support the notion that spinal opioid receptors stimulate a neural pathway that uses nonopioid neurotransmitters to confer cardioprotection from ischemia reperfusion injury. The use of intrathecal morphine for this purpose has potential clinical application, and it is already being used in the perioperative period to provide prolonged analgesia.postprin

Remote pharmacological post-conditioning by intrathecal morphine: Cardiac protection from spinal opioid receptor activation

Background: Intrathecal morphine pre-conditioning attenuates cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury via activation of central opioid receptors. We hypothesized that intrathecal morphine also post-conditions the myocardium in the rat. Methods: Intrathecal morphine at 0.3 μg/kg (LMPC), 3 μg/kg (MMPC) or 30 μg/kg (HMPC) was administered for 5 min before 120-min reperfusion following 30-min ischemia. Infarct size as a percentage of area at risk (IS/AAR) was determined using triphenyltetrazolium staining. MMPC was repeated following the intrathecal administration of nor BNI, NTD, CTOP, or naloxone methiodide (NM), kappa, delta, mu and non-specific opioid receptor antagonists, respectively. The role of peripheral opioid, adenosine and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptors was examined by the intravenous administration of NM, 8-ρ-sulfophenyl theophylline (8-SPT) and human CGRP fragment (CGRP8-37), respectively. Results: Morphine post-conditioning at all three doses was cardioprotective (IS/AAR of LMPC=37±4%, MMPC=35±5%, HMPC=32±4%, control=50±5%, P<0.01). The prior administration of opioid receptor antagonists intrathecally, as well as intravenous 8-SPT and CGRP8-37 receptor antagonists, abolished this effect (nor BNI+MMPC=47±7%, NTD+MMPC=49±7%, CTOP+MMPC=45±9%, NM+MMPC=47±6% 8-SPT+MPC=46±5% & CGRP8-37+MPC=53±6%, P=0.63). However, the intravenous administration of NM did not prevent the protective effect (34±4%, P<0.01). Conclusions: Intrathecal morphine administration can induce pharmacological cardiac post-conditioning as it involves opioid receptor centrally but non-opioid receptors peripherally. © 2010 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.postprin

Singular Effects of Spin-Flip Scattering on Gapped Dirac Fermions

We investigate the effects of spin-flip scattering on the Hall transport and spectral properties of gapped Dirac fermions. We find that in the weak scattering regime, the Berry curvature distribution is dramatically compressed in the electronic energy spectrum, becoming singular at band edges. As a result the Hall conductivity has a sudden jump (or drop) of $e^2/2h$ when the Fermi energy sweeps across the band edges, and otherwise is a constant quantized in units of $e^2/2h$. In parallel, spectral properties such as the density of states and spin polarization are also greatly enhanced at band edges. Possible experimental methods to detect these effects are discussed

Prioritization of Cognitive Assessments in Alzheimer's Disease via Learning to Rank using Brain Morphometric Data

We propose an innovative machine learning paradigm enabling precision medicine for prioritizing cognitive assessments according to their relevance to Alzheimer’s disease at the individual patient level. The paradigm tailors the cognitive biomarker discovery and cognitive assessment selection process to the brain morphometric characteristics of each individual patient. We implement this paradigm using a newly developed learning-to-rank method PLTR. Our empirical study on the ADNI data yields promising results to identify and prioritize individual-specific cognitive biomarkers as well as cognitive assessment tasks based on the individual’s structural MRI data. The resulting top ranked cognitive biomarkers and assessment tasks have the potential to aid personalized diagnosis and disease subtyping

A comprehensive review on the applications of coal fly ash

Coal fly ash, an industrial by-product, is derived from coal combustion in thermal power plants. It is one of the most complex anthropogenic materials, and its improper disposal has become an environmental concern and resulted in a waste of recoverable resources. There is a pressing and ongoing need to develop new recycling methods for coal fly ash. The present review first describes the generation, physicochemical properties and hazards of coal fly ash at the global level, and then focuses on its current and potential applications, including use in the soilamelioration, construction industry, ceramic industry, catalysis, depth separation, zeolite synthesis, etc. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of these applications, themode of fly ash utilizationworldwide anddirections for future research are considered

Effects of Glucose Concentration on Propofol Cardioprotection against Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Isolated Rat Hearts

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Cloning and characterization of the densoviruses susceptible gene +nsd-2 in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

Recently, a silkworm gene responsible for the susceptibility to BmDNV-2 (a parvo-like virus) has been discovered and designated as +nsd-2, which encodes a 12-pass transmembrane protein. BmDNV-Z, isolated in Zhenjiang of China, has a high homology with BmDNV-2 in serological characteristics and genome structure. However, it is still uncertain whether +nsd-2 is also responsible for susceptibility to BmDNV-Z. In this study, we cloned +nsd-2 gene from Chinese silkworm strain (HuaBa35) that issusceptible to BmDNV-Z. DNA sequencing confirmed that +nsd-2 from HuaBa35 is the same with that from NO.908 susceptible to BmDNV-2. RT-PCR analysis showed that the gene +nsd-2 was only expressed inlarval midgut and widely expressed in every instar of larva. Bioinformatic study showed that +nsd-2 is a putative amino acid transporter with three glycosylation sites and located on chromosome 11. In addition, +nsd-2 gene was also expressed by baculovirus expression system in Sf9 cell. Our analysis will contribute to the detailed investigation on the infection mechanism of BmDNV