The combined effects of vegetation and climate change on biosphere-atmosphere water vapor (H2 O) and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) exchanges are expected to vary depending, in part, on how biotic activity is controlled by and alters water availability. This is particularly important when a change in ecosystem composition alters the fractional covers of bare soil, grass, and woody plants so as to influe...

Accumulation of the amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide is a central factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis as supported by continuing evidence. This review concisely summarizes this evidence supporting a critical role for Aβ in AD before discussing the clearance of this peptide. Mechanisms of clearance of Aβ are critical for preventing pathological elevations in Aβ concentration. Direct degrada...

Recently, many concerns are paid for dual action drugs such as ACE/NEP dual inhibitors which have two different biological activities. To identify multiple active drugs by supervised learning approach, a multi-label classification technique is required. In the present work, we investigated the classification of antihypertensive drugs including ACE/NEP dual inhibitors using support vector machin...

To evaluate the role of airway neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP) and epithelium removal in the contraction of airway smooth muscle in response to toluene diisocyanate (TDI), we studied the effects of the NEP inhibitor, phosphoramidon, on TDI-induced contractions of guinea-pig bronchial rings with intact epithelium and without epithelium. In preparations with intact epithelium, phosphoramidon (1...

AIMS Inhibition of neutral endopeptidases (NEP) results in a beneficial increase in plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides such as ANP. However NEP inhibitors were ineffective anti-hypertensives, probably because NEP also degrades vasoconstrictor peptides, including endothelin-1 (ET-1). Dual NEP and endothelin converting enzyme (ECE) inhibition may be more useful. The aim of the study wa...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate patient-reported burden associated with peripheral and central neuropathic pain (NeP) by pain severity and NeP condition. DESIGN Six hundred twenty-four subjects with one of six NeP conditions were recruited during routine office visits. Subjects consented to retrospective chart review and completed a one-time questionnaire (including EuroQol-5 ...

BACKGROUND Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) degrades vasoactive peptides, including the natriuretic peptides, angiotensin II, and endothelin-1. Systemic inhibition of NEP does not consistently lower blood pressure, even though it increases natriuretic peptide concentrations and causes natriuresis and diuresis. We therefore investigated the direct effects of local inhibition of NEP on forearm resista...

A simulation model based on satellite observations of monthly vegetation cover was used to estimate monthly carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems from 1982 to 1998. The NASA–CASA model was driven by vegetation properties derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and radiative transfer algorithms that were developed for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MOD...

A class of efficient mechanisms for allocating a divisible good is studied, which is more general than simple mechanisms discovered independently by Maheswaran and Başar and by us. Strategic buyers play a game by submitting one-dimensional bids, or signals, to the seller. The seller allocates the good in proportion to the bids and charges the buyers nonuniform prices according to the mechanism....