The obligate intracellular parasitic bacteria rickettsiae are more closely related to mitochondria than any other microbes investigated to date. A rickettsial putative peptidase (RPP) was found to resemble the alpha and beta subunits of mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP), which cleaves the transport signal sequences of mitochondrial preproteins. RPP showed completely conserved zinc-bindin...

The role for ANG II in renal blood flow (RBF) autoregulation is unsettled. The present study was designed to test the effect of clamping plasma ANG II concentrations ([ANG II]) by simultaneous infusion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril and ANG II on RBF autoregulation in halothane-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. Autoregulation was defined as the RBF response to acute ch...

The paper presents how the Random PROLOG Processor (RPP), a bio-inspired model of computations, can be used for formalization and analysis of a phenomenon the Collective Intelligence (CI) of social structures. The RPP originates from the question of why inference processes are quasi-chaotic in real life. In the RPP, clause_molecules (CMs) move quasi-randomly around in abstract Computational_PRO...

In the present work the influence of perfusion pressure on renal functions and renin release was studied before and after the blockade of thromboxane A2/prostaglandin H2 (TXA2/PGH2) receptors using isolated kidneys from 7-week-old genetically hypertensive (LH), normotensive (LN), and low blood pressure (LL) rats of the Lyon strain. Kidneys were single pass perfused with Krebs-Henseleit solution...

Ichihara, Atsuhiro, and L. Gabriel Navar. Neuronal NOS contributes to biphasic autoregulatory response during enhanced TGF activity. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Renal Physiol. 46): F113–F120, 1999.—To assess the afferent arteriolar autoregulatory response during increased activity of the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) mechanism and to delineate the contribution of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS...

Effect of the extent of motor seizure modification on cardiovascular responses in ECT was studied at the second ECT session in 50 (ULECT=25) consenting patients. Twenty five patients each received either 0.5 mg/kg or 1 mg/kg of succinylcholine in a random design. Blood pressure and heart rate were recorded on five occasions during the ECT session. Extent of motor seizure was assessed on a five ...

This paper reports on a simultaneous prediction method for ethylene (C(2)) content and the melt temperature in melt state random polypropylene (RPP) and block polypropylene (BPP) by near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics. The NIR spectra of RPP and BPP in melt states were measured by a FT-NIR on-line monitoring system. The predicted values of the C(2) content from the RPP or BPP spec...

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increased adiposity on myocardial oxygen consumption at rest and during submaximal exercise in young adults. The study consisted of 85 young adults (18-22 years) grouped into 3 based on their body mass index as normal (NW, n=30), overweight (OW, n=25) and obese (...

OBJECTIVE To clarify the impact of radical perineal prostatectomy (RPP) on lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. METHODS A total of 117 patients with a median age of 69 years who underwent RPP alone between August 2002 and August 2005 were included in the study. We measured LUTS on the basis of the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS...