To identify sites of action of volatile anesthetics, we are studying genes in a functional pathway that controls sensitivity to volatile anesthetics in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The unc-1 gene occupies a central position in this pathway. Different alleles of unc-1 have unique effects on sensitivity to the different volatile anesthetics. UNC-1 shows extensive homology to human stomati...

This paper presents a preliminary study of the effects anesthetics propofol, remifentanil, and vecuronium bromide on rheological properties glycated erythrocytes in vitro, modeling glycation by hyperglycemia observed diabetes. Viscoelastic aggregation kinetic parameters were determined using an erythrocyte rheometer optical chip aggregometer developed our laboratory. The results showed signific...

Injectable treatments, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and insulin, are options for the pharmacologic treatment of type 2 diabetes. Numerous barriers lead to delay in initiating injectable treatment, which, in turn, may lead to inadequate glycemic control and increased risk of diabetes-related complications, underscoring the need to understand and address these barriers. Barri...

OBJECTIVE The U.S. substance-abuse treatment system has been slow to adopt medications for the treatment of alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). The objectives of this study are to (a) determine how the inherent characteristics of injectable naltrexone (i.e., relative advantage, complexity, trialability, observability, compatibility) shape organizational-level decisions to adopt the medication and (b)...

BACKGROUND During severe hypoglycemic episodes, people with diabetes depend on others to help with treatment. We compared needle-free nasal glucagon and commercially available injectable glucagon for ease of use by caregivers of people with diabetes and by others in treating simulated episodes of severe hypoglycemia. METHODS Sixteen instructed caregivers and 15 noninstructed acquaintances adm...

BACKGROUND The advent of oral disease-modifying therapies fundamentally changed the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Nevertheless, impressions of their relative efficacy and tolerability are primarily founded on expert opinion. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine whether oral disease-modifying therapies were better tolerated and/or more effective for controlling multiple scle...

BACKGROUND Microglial cells play important roles in coordinating the inflammatory brain responses to hypoxia and trauma. Ionotropic P2X receptors and metabotropic P2Y receptors (P2YRs) expressed in microglia can be activated by extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) derived from damaged cells or astrocytes, and participate in the signaling pathways evoked in brain insult. Although several i...

Fundamental to the question of where and how anesthetics act at the cellular level and what their effects may be on cell membranes is the question of whether anesthetics alter the permeability of cell membranes to glucose. The present study was designed to investigate the effect, if any, of inhalation anesthetics on the passage of glucose across a particular type of human cell membrane, the red...

One hundred and sixty five years have passed since the first documented use of volatile anesthetics to aid in surgery, but we have yet to understand the underlying mechanism of action of these drugs. There is no question that, in vitro, volatile anesthetics can affect the function of numerous neuronal and non-neuronal proteins. In fact, volatile anesthetics are capable of binding such diverse p...

The aim of the paper was to study the effect of carbisocaine, a new local anesthetic with high liposolubility on incorporation of 32P into individual and total phospholipids and to compare its effect with that of other local anesthetics (procaine, lidocaine, cinchocaine, heptacaine). Carbisocaine decreased 32P incorporation into neutral phospholipids and increased the incorporation into acid ph...