Lercanidipine is a lipophilic, dihydropyridine calcium antagonist with a long receptor half-life. Its slow onset of action helps to avoid reflex tachycardia associated with other dihydropyridines (DHPs). It produces even and sustained blood pressure lowering with once-daily dosing. It has equivalent antihypertensive efficacy to many other agents and is effective as initial monotherapy or in com...

Ingestion of ethanol results in a decreased level of plasma vasopressin, which appears to be caused by inhibition of arginine vasopressin (AVP) release from the neurohypophysis. Activation of membrane voltage-gated Ca2+ channels plays an important role in triggering this neurohormone release. In this article, single-channel recordings are used to demonstrate that ethanol, at concentrations cons...

Molecular interactions of 4-diphenylmethoxy-1-methylpiperidine derivatives with the calcium channel CaV1.1 (pdb:6JP5) are described. All compounds tested, previously shown to inhibit adrenergic vascular contractions, display similar binding energetics and trans-membrane domain 6JP5 on opposite side relative pore, where nifedipine, a known dihydropyridine Ca2+ blocker binds. Additionally, tested...

Important gender differences in mood disorders result in a greater susceptibility for women. Accumulating evidence suggests a reciprocal modulation between the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) system and neuroactive steroids. Previous data from our laboratory have shown that during pregnancy, the firing activity of 5-HT neurons increases in parallel with progesterone levels. This study was undertaken...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to synthesize available evidence on the efficacy of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHP) in treating uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax malaria in people living in endemic countries. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS This is a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT). We searched relevant studies in electronic databases up to May 2013. RCTs comparing effica...