To measure actin/myosin protein breakdown, the 24 h excretion of N (tau)-methylhistidine (3MH) is used. However, in mice, this method is invalid. Therefore we have developed a liquid chromatography-MS technique to measure the tracer/tracee ratio and concentration of 3MH in plasma, enabling an in vivo primed constant infusion protocol with a deuterated stable isotope of 3MH. We tested this model...

Antiimmune responses in rats previously immunized with soluble tumor antigens prepared by sodium deoxycholate (DOC-STA) from chemically induced fibrosarcoma KMT-17 were measured by the Winn assay. Enhancement of tumor growth was demonstrated at a tumor:effector ratio of 1:500 with DOC-STA-immune spleen cells, although inhibition of tumor growth was demonstrated at a tumor:effector ratio of 1:10...

OBJECTIVES Our purpose of this study was to assess the cerebral hemodynamic improvement with perfusion computed tomography (CT), before and after superficial temporal artery (STA) to middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypass surgery in patients with cerebrovascular steno-occlusive diseases including both moyamoya disease and nonmoyamoya steno-occlusions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four STA-MCA by...

Contractile properties of human motor units provide information on the force capacity and fatigability of muscles. The spike-triggered averaging technique (STA) is a conventional method used to estimate the twitch waveform of single motor units in vivo by averaging the joint force signal. Several limitations of this technique have been previously discussed in an empirical way, using simulated a...

BACKGROUND The electrical alternans shown on an ST segment, ST alternans, is known as one of the most important predictors of ventricular fibrillation (VF). It has also been reported that sodium channel inhibition changes action potential configuration, especially on the repolarization phase. Thus, the sodium channel blocker may produce ST alternans and trigger reentrant arrhythmia. METHODS A...

The role of surgical revascularization for patients who have ischemic disease remains controversial. Despite the previous EC-IC bypass trial that failed to demonstrate the benefit from STA-MCA bypass compared with medical therapy, however, there is mounting evidence that the procedure should be considered in selected patients. Bypass remains a mainstay of treatment in moyamoya disease and in fl...

The K/BxN serum-transfer arthritis (STA) model is a murine model in which the immunological mechanisms occurring in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other arthritides can be studied. To induce K/BxN STA, serum from arthritic transgenic K/BxN mice is transferred to naive mice and manifestations of arthritis occur a few days later. The inflammatory response in the model is driven by autoantibodies a...

The lack of effective treatment modalities is a major problem in pancreatic cancer (PCa), a devastating malignancy that is nearly universally driven by the "undruggable" KRAS and TP53 cancer genes. Poor tumor tissue penetration is the major source of resistance in pancreatic cancer where chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. In this study we exploited the selective tumor-targeting properti...