Economic Benefits of Intensive Insulin Therapy in Critically Ill Patients: The Targeted Insulin Therapy to Improve Hospital Outcomes (TRIUMPH) Project

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to analyze the economic outcomes of a clinical program implemented to achieve strict glycemic control with intensive insulin therapy in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU)

Activation of ion transport by combined effects of ionomycin, forskolin and phorbol ester on cultured HT-29cl.19A human colonocytes

The differentiated clone 19A of the HT-29 human colon carcinoma cell line was used as a model to study the intracellular electrophysiological effects of interaction of the cAMP, the protein kinase C (PKC) and the Ca2+ pathways, (a) A synergistic effect between ionomycin and forskolin was observed. From intracellular responses it was concluded that the synergistic effect is caused by activation of an apical Cl- conductance by protein kinase A and a basolateral K+ conductance by Ca2+. (b) A transient synergistic effect of ionomycin and the phorbol ester phorbol dibutyrate (PDB) was found. The decrease of the response appeared to be due to PKC-dependent inactivation of the basolateral K+ conductance. The synergism is caused by PKC-dependent increase of the apical Cl- conductance and Ca2+-dependent increase of the basolateral K+ conductance. (c) The effects of carbachol and PDB were not fully additive presumably because of their convergence on PKC activation, (d) Forskolin and P

Social dominance does not affect semen quality in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus)

Sperm banking and artificial insemination could benefit conservation of endangered African wild dogs (AWD). However, it is not clear whether their strict dominance hierarchy causes subfertility in subdominant males that typically do not breed. Our study investigated the effect of dominance on male reproductive parameters including: faecal glucocorticoids (fGCMs) and androgens (fAMs), testis and prostate volume, preputial gland size, semen collection success, and the number, motility, morphology, viability, acrosome integrity (PSA-FITC), and DNA integrity (TUNEL) of spermatozoa collected by electroejaculation. Samples were obtained from n=12 captive AWDs (4 US packs) in the pre-breeding season and n=28 captive AWDs (n=11 from 4 US packs; n=17 from 3 Namibian packs) in the breeding season. Male hierarchy was clearly determined by behavioural observations in all but 1 Namibian pack. Data were grouped by dominance status and means compared by ANOVA or t-test. P≤0.05 was significant. In the pre-breeding season, there was no significant difference in body weight, fGCMs, fAMs, or prostate and testis volume between dominance groups. Semen was successfully collected from all alphas but only half the subdominants; with urine contamination negatively associated with dominance. Sperm quality was low (17.3 ± 10.2% total motility, 12.8 ± 8.5% progressive motility, 27.4 ± 11.5 x 106 ejaculated spermatozoa, 40.6 ± 9.8% normal morphology, 63.1 ± 5.1% viability, 72.6 ± 5.2% acrosome integrity) with no difference observed in any parameter except progressive motility and normal sperm morphology; which were significantly lower in subdominants (27.7 ± 16.8% vs. 0.0 ± 0.0% and 59.8 ± 13.0% vs. 21.4 ± 5.7%). From pre-breeding to breeding season, testis and prostate volume increased significantly; particularly in beta and gamma males respectively. Prostate volume was higher in alpha than beta males (16.0 ± 6.4 cm3 vs. 5.7 ± 1.4 cm3), but testis volume, body weight, fAMs and fGCMs did not differ between dominance groups (12.0 ± 0.9 cm3, 28.5 ± 0.8 kg, 0.51 ± 0.07 µg/g dry weight - DW, 30.6 ± 2.3 ng/g DW). Semen was successfully collected from 75% of males; with reduced urine contamination. Collection success, urine contamination and preputial gland size were not associated with dominance. Sperm quality improved with significantly greater number, viability, and total motility. However, sperm quality did not differ between dominance groups (47.4 ± 6.7% total motility, 30.5 ± 5.8% progressive motility, 32.3 ± 9.2 x 106 ejaculated spermatozoa, 50.9 ± 5.2% normal morphology, 74.4 ± 4.2% viability, 85.6 ± 3.0% acrosome integrity, 99.7 ± 0.1% DNA integrity). In conclusion, subdominant males are at higher risk of urine contamination and have lower sperm motility and normal morphology when semen is collected in the pre-breeding season. However, their semen is of similar quality to dominant males in the breeding season, indicating that reproductive suppression of subdominant males is only behavioural. Thus, AWD males of all social ranks in the breeding season are suitable candidates for sperm banking