BACKGROUND Ischemic heart disease is a leading cause of mortality. To study this disease, ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) models are widely used to mimic the process of transient blockage and subsequent recovery of cardiac coronary blood supply. We aimed to determine whether the presence of the growth hormone secretagogues, ghrelin and hexarelin, would protect/improve the function of heart from I/R ...

BACKGROUND The physiological link between ghrelin and growth hormone (GH) has not yet been fully clarified. Furthermore, the existence of a negative feedback mechanism between growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor (GH-IGF)-I axis and ghrelin and the influence of amino acids on ghrelin secretion in children remain matters of debate. OBJECTIVES To understand the regulation of ghrelin secret...

Ghrelin signaling has major effects on energy and glucose homeostasis, but it is unknown whether ghrelin's functions are centrally and/or peripherally mediated. The ghrelin receptor, growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R), is highly expressed in the brain and detectable in some peripheral tissues. To understand the roles of neuronal GHS-R, we generated a mouse line where Ghsr gene is dele...

Ghrelin promotes fat accumulation, despite potent stimulation of the lipolytic hormone, GH. The function of the major circulating isoform of ghrelin, des-octanoyl ghrelin, is unclear, because it does not activate the GH secretagogue receptor (GHS-R1a) and lacks the endocrine activities of ghrelin. We have now addressed these issues by infusing ghrelin, des-octanoyl ghrelin, or synthetic GHS-R1a...

Ghrelin and obestatin are two proteins that originate from post-translational processing of the preproghrelin peptide. Various authors claim an opposed role of ghrelin and obestatin in several systems. Preproghrelin mRNA is significantly expressed in airway epithelium throughout lung development, predominantly during the earliest stages. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of ghrelin...

Despite being unable to activate the cognate ghrelin receptor (GHS-R), unacylated ghrelin (UAG) possesses a unique activity spectrum that includes promoting bone marrow adipogenesis. Since a receptor mediating this action has not been identified, we re-appraised the potential interaction of UAG with GHS-R in the regulation of bone marrow adiposity. Surprisingly, the adipogenic effects of intra-...

Starch is a major carbon and energy source throughout all kingdoms of life. It consists of two carbohydrate polymers, branched amylopectin and linear amylose, which are sparingly soluble in water. Hence, the enzymatic breakdown by glycoside hydrolases (GHs) is of great biological and societal importance. Amylomaltases (AMs) are GHs specialized in the hydrolysis of α-1,4-linked sugar chains such...

Background and Objectives After the U. S. Food and Drug Administration's recommendation against the use of power morcellation for tissue extraction in minimally invasive hysterectomy, the number of procedures completed laparoscopically declined in favor of open surgery laparotomy. We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing perioperative and long-term outcomes, including complications a...

OBJECTIVES To determine the effects of a small-house nursing home model, THE GREEN HOUSE (GH), on residents' reported outcomes and quality of care. DESIGN Two-year longitudinal quasi-experimental study comparing GH residents with residents at two comparison sites using data collected at baseline and three follow-up intervals. SETTING Four 10-person GHs, the sponsoring nursing home for those...

BACKGROUND Glenohumeral subluxation (GHS) is a common poststroke complication. Treatment of GHS is hampered by the lack of objective, real-time clinical measurements. OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were: (1) to compare an ultrasound method of GHS measurement with the fingerbreadth palpation method using a receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and (2) to report the sensitivity and sp...