Introduction According to the United Nations World Drug Report 2019, there are an estimated 53 million opioid users[1]. Health problems, social problems associated with this abuse result of a complex interaction between psychoactive substances, patient and environment. There two main approaches in treatment - aimed at complete abstinence from use substance substitution maintenance therapy using...

projects in the various workpackages and clinical cohorts have been launched as planned and the emphasis now is on strengthening the interactions and collaborations between basic scientists and clinicians. Accordingly, a major effort of the NCCR has been to support initiatives that aim at a culture of sharing data and competences in particular by establishing common platforms that could be appl...

BACKGROUND: Hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction due to excessive production of reactive oxygen species is a major trigger of atherogenesis. The c-Jun-N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are activated by oxidative stress and play a key role in atherogenesis and inflammation. We investigated whether JNK2 deletion protects from hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction and oxidat...

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of chronic administration of chloroform extract of Andrographis paniculata, known to possess some cardioprotective action, on endothelial dysfunction using isolated spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rat thoracic aorta. Verapamil hydrochloride was used as a positive control to compare its effect on endothelial dysfunction to that of Andrographis...

The articles in the issue provide important evidence for the acute effects of cocoa flavanols on the peripheral vascular response in humans. As Hollenberg and Luscher point out, ‘‘not only does flavanol-rich cocoa-induced nitric oxide production show a dramatic influence on blood vessels in healthy individuals, preliminary information available indicates that the influence on nitric oxide synth...

Knaapen P, Nijveldt R, Heymans MW, Levi MM, van Rossum AC, Niessen HW, Marcu CB, Beek AM, van Royen N. Magnetic resonance imaging-defined areas of microvascular obstruction after acute myocardial infarction represent microvascular destruction and haemorrhage. Eur Heart J 2013;34:2346–2353. 28. Sezer M, Cimen A, Aslanger E, Elitok A, Umman B, Bugra Z, Yormaz E, Turkmen C, Adalet IS, Nisanci Y, U...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of in vivo ethanol exposure on the expression of plasticity and intrinsic properties of D1 and D2 dopamine receptor expressing medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell. To distinguish between the two subtypes of MSNs in the nucleus accumbens we used DRD1a-TdTomato mice that have been back crossed onto C57BL/6. Mice w...

The paper reviews social interactions in small rodents in which pheromones have been reported to play a part. Some of the chemical messengers involved may have a potential use in control of rodent pests. Research in this field should be encouraged, because alternatives to the current control methods are highly desirable. In 1959, the German chemist Butenandt and his co-workers suggested the ter...

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) considers the application of sea lamprey pheromones a promising alternative-control method for its sea lamprey management program. Several components of two pheromones that regulate migration and reproduction, respectively, have been identified and synthesized. Potential utility of these pheromone compounds in lamprey management have been demonstrated i...

Elevated endothelin (ET)-1 has been implicated in cerebrovascular complications following brain trauma characterized by dysregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), protein kinase C (PKC), and cerebral function. Recently, vascular expression of PPAR has been observed and suggested to improve vascular dysfunction. We speculate that activation of PPAR in cerebral microvessels can im...