164 research outputs found
Ischemic nucleotide breakdown increases during cardiac development due to drop in adenosine anabolism/catabolism ratio
Abstract
Our earlier work on reperfusion showed that adult rat hearts released almost twice as much purine nucleosides and oxypurines as newborn hearts did [Am J Physiol 254 (1988) H1091]. A change in the ratio anabolism/catabolism of adenosine could be responsible for this effect. We therefore measured the activity of adenosine kinase, adenosine deaminase, nucleoside phosphorylase and xanthine oxidoreductase in homogenates of hearts and myocytes from neonatal and adult rats. In hearts the activity of adenosine deaminase and nucleoside phosphorylase (10–20 U/g protein) changed relatively little. However, adenosine kinase activity decreased from 1.3 to 0.6 U/g (P < 0.025), and xanthine oxidoreductase activity increased from 0.02 to 0.85 U/g (P < 0.005). Thus the ratio in activity of these rate-limiting enzymes for anabolism and catabolism dropped from 68 to 0.68 during cardiac development. In contrast, the ratio in myocytes remained unchanged (about 23). The large difference in adenosine anabolism/catabolism ratio, observed in heart homogenates, could explain why ATP breakdown due to hypoxia is lower in neonatal than in adult heart. Because this change is absent in myocytes, we speculate that mainly endothelial activities of adenosine kinase and xanthine oxidoreductase are responsible for this shift in purine metabolism during development
Preconditioning in globally ischemic isolated rat hearts: effect on function and metabolic indices of myocardial damage
We assessed the effects of ischemic preconditioning on heart recovery and
metabolic indices of damage following global ischemia and reperfusion, in
relationship to post-ischemic lactate release. Three groups of Langendorff
rat hearts were studied: (1) A control group of 40 min global ischemia and
45 min reperfusion; (2) preconditioning by 5 min global ischemia and 15
min reperfusion prior to sustained ischemia and reperfusion; (3)
Preconditioning by three episodes of brief ischemia-re
Urate production by human heart
Xanthine oxidoreductase has been demonstrated in the heart of various species. However, its presence in human heart is still debated. In the literature, high to undetectable levels have been reported. We studied the arterial-venous urate difference across the heart of patients undergoing both routine cardiac catheterization and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Urate is the end product of the reaction catalysed by xanthine oxidoreductase. In 10 patients, studied before angioplasty, the plasma urate level in the great cardiac vein exceeded the arterial one by 26 +/- 10 nmol/ml (P = 0.028). In a further 13 patients, urate production was maximal immediately after the last of four consecutive occlusions (23 +/- 8 nmol/ml, P = 0.018) and concomitant with increased coronary sinus hypoxanthine levels. We conclude that xanthine oxidoreductase is probably present in the heart of patients, suffering from ischemic heart disease, and responsible for the increase in urate production during transient myocardial ischemia
Multimodal Aerial Locomotion:An Approach to Active Tool Handling
The research focus in aerial robotics is shifting from contactless inspection toward interaction and manipulation, with the number of potential applications rapidly increasing [1]. Eventually, aerial manipulators, i.e., unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with manipulators, will likely take on hazardous maintenance tasks now performed by humans. For this to happen, aerial manipulators must be able to perform all the different operations required in these maintenance routines
Phonon anomalies and electron-phonon interaction in RuSr_2GdCu_2O_8 ferromagnetic superconductor: Evidence from infrared conductivity
Critical behavior of the infrared reflectivity of RuSr_2GdCu_2O_8 ceramics is
observed near the superconducting T_{SC} = 45 K and magnetic T_M = 133 K
transition temperatures. The optical conductivity reveals the typical features
of the c-axis optical conductivity of strongly underdoped multilayer
superconducting cuprates. The transformation of the Cu-O bending mode at 288
cm^{-1} to a broad absorption peak at the temperatures between T^* = 90 K and
T_{SC} is clearly observed, and is accompanied by the suppression of spectral
weight at low frequencies. The correlated shifts to lower frequencies of the
Ru-related phonon mode at 190 cm^{-1} and the mid-IR band at 4800 cm^{-1} on
decreasing temperature below T_M are observed. It provides experimental
evidence in favor of strong electron-phonon coupling of the charge carriers in
the Ru-O layers which critically depends on the Ru core spin alignment. The
underdoped character of the superconductor is explained by strong hole
depletion of the CuO_2 planes caused by the charge carrier self-trapping at the
Ru moments.Comment: 11 pages incl. 5 figures, submitted to PR
Teacher Ratings of Children's Behavior Problems and Functional Impairment Across Gender and Ethnicity:Construct Equivalence of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
The present study examined construct equivalence of the teacher Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and compared mean scores in an ethnically diverse sample of children living in the Netherlands. Elementary schoolteachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for 2,185 children aged 6 to 10 years of the four largest ethnic groups in the Netherlands, namely native Dutch (n = 684) and Moroccan (n = 702), Turkish (n = 434), and Surinamese (n = 365) immigrant children. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis suggested the factor structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to be invariant across children's ethnicity and gender. Additionally, the factor structure appeared to be similar for Dutch and Surinamese teachers. However, mean scores on emotional problems, hyperactivity, conduct problems, prosocial behavior, and impairment varied significantly according to ethnicity and gender. Mean scores on peer problems differed significantly for boys and girls, but not across ethnicity. Whether mean differences reflect a method bias or actual differences in classroom behaviors is discussed and needs further research
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