• For many years it has been recognized that normal human subjects and normal dogs retain salt and water only transiently and fail to develop edema during the chronic administration of large doses of a sodium-retaining hormone such as desoxycorticosterone acetate ( DCA ). Similarly, some Addisonian patients retain Na for only a few days in response to prolonged administration of DCA or aldoster...

Dichloroacetate (DCA) has been used for many years as an investigational drug to treat children born with mitochondrial disorders. Through its inhibition of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Kinase (PDK), a key component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, DCA has shown promise in facilitating oxidative phosphorylation in cell mitochondria. Recently, DCA has received more attention as a possible treatm...

OBJECTIVE The use of the levels of hemoglobin A1c for the monitoring of glycemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is an accepted method of clinical usefulness. A study was performed to assess the relative costs of hemoglobin A1c determination by diagnostic testing at or near the site of patient care (point-of-care testing, POCT) and using the standard hemoglobin A1c analyzer. MET...

The nontoxic bile acid ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is reported to be an anti-apoptotic agent with efficacy against a variety of death stimuli including the cytotoxic bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA). To gain insight into this anti-apoptotic property, we tested UDCA for its ability to protect the colon carcinoma-derived cell line HCT116 against DCA-induced apoptosis. We found that UDCA could sup...

A gene, CmCDR1, encoding an ABC transporter of the dicarboxylic acid (DCA)-producing yeast Candida maltosa was cloned. Transcription of CmCDR1 was upregulated in a DCA-hyper-producing mutant of C. maltosa in a later phase of culture on n-dodecane, but not in its parental strain. CmCDR1 expression was significantly induced by the longer-chain DCA in this mutant.

Apoptosis resistance is a hallmark of cancer cells. Typically, bile acids induce apoptosis. However during gastrointestinal (GI) tumorigenesis the cancer cells develop resistance to bile acid-induced cell death. To understand how bile acids induce apoptosis resistance we first need to identify the molecular pathways that initiate apoptosis in response to bile acid exposure. In this study we exa...

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is an important cause of sudden cardiac arrest following myocardial infarction. Following resuscitation from VF, decreased cardiac contractile function is a common problem. During and following myocardial ischemia, decreased glucose oxidation, increased anaerobic glycolysis for cardiac energy production are harmful and energetically expensive. The objective of the ...

BACKGROUND Previous directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) trials have shown no significant reduction in angiographic restenosis, more in-hospital complications, and higher 1-year mortality than conventional balloon angioplasty (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty [PTCA]). DCA, however, has subsequently evolved toward a more "optimal" technique (larger devices, more extensive tissue ...

Overwhelming hypoxic acidosis due to poor tissue oxygen delivery from low cardiac output, pulmonary failure, and other causes has devastating effects postoperatively on patient outcome. Whereas conventional therapeutics often can not reverse the downward spiral of these patients, dichloroacetate (DCA) has been shown to be beneficial. This study investigated the metabolic and hemodynamic effects...