Although propofol is commonly used for general anesthesia, its direct effects on left ventricular (LV) contractility and energetics remain unknown. Accordingly, we studied the effects of intracoronary propofol on excised cross-circulated canine hearts using the framework of the Emax (a contractility index)-PVA (systolic pressure-volume area, a measure of total mechanical energy)-V(O2) (myocardi...

In animal models, severing the chordae tendineae of the mitral valve reduces the maximum global left ventricular elastance (Emax,g), a load-independent measure of left ventricular systolic performance; moreover, chamber geometry is altered with systolic bulging in the region of the papillary muscle insertions. This suggests that forces transmitted by the mitral apparatus increase the regional v...

The activation of factor X in the presence of antithrombin has been studied in order to determine the parameters that control the area under the resulting factor Xa generation curve. Generation curves were analyzed using a model containing three parameters: the total generation of factor Xa, Emax; the rate of factor Xa generation, expressed as a first-order rate constant, kappa 1; and the rate ...

BACKGROUND It is important to quantify the dose response for a drug in phase 2a clinical trials so the optimal doses can then be selected for subsequent late phase trials. In a phase 2a clinical trial of new lead drug being developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a U-shaped dose response curve was observed. In the light of this result further research was undertaken to design ...

The presence of highly conserved amino acid stretches in G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) usually predicts an important role in receptor function. Considerable attention has therefore been focused on the involvement of the highly conserved Glu/Asp-Arg-Tyr (E/DRY) motif at the cytoplasmic end of transmembrane domain 3 in the regulation of GPCR conformational states and/or the mediation of G p...

This paper has derived a new method for estimating the maximum ventricular elastance Emax by assuming that the following two assumptions are simultaneously established in a certain part of the ejection period: the ventricular elastance E(t) changes linearly with time and the dead volume V0 does not change. The method can estimate Emax in a single beat without any change in the cardiac load by m...

As part of their immune system, plants have pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that can detect a broad range of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Here, we identified a PRR of Arabidopsis thaliana with specificity for the bacterial MAMP eMax from xanthomonads. Response to eMax seems to be restricted to the Brassicaceae family and also varied among different accessions of Arabidops...

As part of their immune system, plants have pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that can detect a broad range of microbeassociated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Here, we identified a PRR of Arabidopsis thaliana with specificity for the bacterial MAMP eMax from xanthomonads. Response to eMax seems to be restricted to the Brassicaceae family and also varied among different accessions of Arabidopsi...