Search results for "pine"
showing 10 items of 2022 documents
Serotonergic modulation of rat pineal gland activity: in vivo evidence for a 5-Hydroxytryptamine(2C) receptor involvement
2000
There are some suggestions that, in the pineal gland, serotonin acts not only as a precursor of melatonin but also plays a role in the modulation of the pineal biosynthetic activity. To corroborate this possible neuromodulatory role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) (5-HT) on the pineal gland, the effects of two 5-HT(2) receptor agonists meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) and 1-(2, 5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane were assessed in vivo on pineal N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity and melatonin content in rats. m-CPP potentiated the enhancement of NAT activity and pineal melatonin content induced by isoproterenol administration during daytime, whereas it did not affect the diurnal …
Guideline on management of the acute asthma attack in children by Italian Society of Pediatrics
2018
Abstract Background Acute asthma attack is a frequent condition in children. It is one of the most common reasons for emergency department (ED) visit and hospitalization. Appropriate care is fundamental, considering both the high prevalence of asthma in children, and its life-threatening risks. Italian Society of Pediatrics recently issued a guideline on the management of acute asthma attack in children over age 2, in ambulatory and emergency department settings. Methods The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology was adopted. A literature search was performed using the Cochrane Library and Medline/PubMed databases, retrieving studies in Englis…
Communication deficits and avoidance of angry faces in children with autism spectrum disorder.
2017
Abstract Background Understanding how emotional faces are processed is important to help characterize the social deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Aims We examined: (i) whether attention is modulated by emotional facial expression; (ii) the time course of the attentional preferences (short vs. long stimulus presentation rates); and (iii) the association between attentional biases and autistic symptomatology. Method and procedures We applied a dot-probe experiment with emotional faces (happy, sad, and angry). The sample was composed of ASD children without additional language and/or intellectual impairments (n = 29) and age-matched Typically Developing (TD) children (n = 29). Outco…
Altered receptor subtypes in the forebrain of GABAA receptor δ subunit-deficient mice: recruitment of γ2 subunits
2002
A GABA(A) receptor delta subunit-deficient mouse line was created by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells to investigate the role of the subunit in the brain GABA(A) receptors. High-affinity [(3)H]muscimol binding to GABA sites as studied by ligand autoradiography was reduced in various brain regions of delta(-/-) animals. [(3)H]Ro 15-4513 binding to benzodiazepine sites was increased in delta(-/-) animals, partly due to an increment of diazepam-insensitive receptors, indicating an augmented forebrain assembly of gamma 2 subunits with alpha 4 subunits. In the western blots of forebrain membranes of delta(-/-) animals, the level of gamma 2 subunit was increased and that of alpha …
Fasted-state simulated intestinal fluid "FaSSIF-C", a cholesterol containing intestinal model medium for in vitro drug delivery development.
2015
A set of biorelevant media "fasted-state simulated intestinal fluid with cholesterol (FaSSIF-C)" for the in vitro study of intestinal drug dissolution in the duodenum was developed. These contain cholesterol at the same levels as in human bile: the cholesterol content of FaSSIF-7C is equivalent to healthy female, FaSSIF-10C to healthy male persons, and FaSSIF-13C to several disease cases that lead to gallstones. The fluids were studied in three aspects: biocompatibility, intestinal nanostructure, and solubilizing power of hydrophobic drugs of the BCS class II. The biocompatibility study showed no toxic effects in a Caco-2 cell system. The drug-solubilizing capacity toward Fenofibrate, Danaz…
Efficacy of quetiapine XR vs. placebo as concomitant treatment to mood stabilizers in the control of subthreshold symptoms of bipolar disorder: Resul…
2017
Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) do not always achieve full remission between episodes. Subthreshold symptoms (depressive, manic or mixed) represent a major cause of relapse and disability in these patients. Immediate release (IR) and extended release (XR) formulations of quetiapine are both indicated for short and long-term treatment of BD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of quetiapine XR vs placebo in subthreshold symptomatology when added to previous mood stabilizer treatment. A pilot phase IIIB, multicentre, prospective, placebo controlled, randomized, double blinded study of 12 weeks follow-up was performed (NCT01197846). Patients were randomized to quetiapine XR …
Amylase release from streptolysin O-permeabilized pancreatic acinar cells. Effects of Ca2+, guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate, cyclic AMP, tetanu…
1992
The molecular requirements for amylase release and the intracellular effects of botulinum A toxin and tetanus toxin on amylase release were investigated using rat pancreatic acinar cells permeabilized with streptolysin O. Micromolar concentrations of free Ca2+ evoked amylase release from these cells. Maximal release was observed in the presence of 30 microM free Ca2+. Ca(2+)-stimulated, but not basal, amylase release was enhanced by guanosine 5′-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]) (3-4 fold) or cyclic AMP (1.5-2 fold). Neither the two-chain forms of botulinum A toxin and tetanus toxin, under reducing conditions, nor the light chains of tetanus toxin, inhibited amylase release triggered by Ca2…
Hidden sources of joy, fear, and sadness: Explicit versus implicit neural processing of musical emotions.
2016
Music is often used to regulate emotions and mood. Typically, music conveys and induces emotions even when one does not attend to them. Studies on the neural substrates of musical emotions have, however, only examined brain activity when subjects have focused on the emotional content of the music. Here we address with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the neural processing of happy, sad, and fearful music with a paradigm in which 56 subjects were instructed to either classify the emotions (explicit condition) or pay attention to the number of instruments playing (implicit condition) in 4-s music clips. In the implicit vs. explicit condition, stimuli activated bilaterally the infe…
Effects of menthol on circular smooth muscle of human colon: Analysis of the mechanism of action.
2014
Abstract Menthol is the major constituent of peppermint oil, an herbal preparation commonly used to treat nausea, spasms during colonoscopy and irritable bowel disease. The mechanism responsible for its spasmolytic action remains unclear. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects induced by menthol on the human distal colon mechanical activity in vitro and to analyze the mechanism of action. The spontaneous or evoked-contractions of the circular smooth muscle were recorded using vertical organ bath. Menthol (0.1 mM–30 mM) reduced, in a concentration-dependent manner, the amplitude of the spontaneous contractions without affecting the frequency and the resting basal tone. The in…
Nifedipine improves blood flow and oxygen supply, but not steady-state oxygenation of tumours in perfusion pressure-controlled isolated limb perfusio…
2002
Isolated limb perfusion allows the direct application of therapeutic agents to a tumour-bearing extremity. The present study investigated whether the dihydropyridine-type Ca2+-channel blocker nifedipine could improve blood flow and oxygenation status of experimental tumours during isolated limb perfusion. Perfusion was performed by cannulation of the femoral artery and vein in rats bearing DS-sarcoma on the hind foot dorsum. Perfusion rate was adjusted to maintain a perfusion pressure of 100–140 mmHg throughout the experiment. Following equilibration, nifedipine was continuously infused for 30 min (8.3 μg min−1 kg−1 BW). During constant-pressure isolated limb perfusion, nifedipine can signi…