In the field of governing our “Plastic Planet”, polylactic acid (PLA) has been considered to be a promising and ecologically friendlier alternative traditional petroleum-based plastics. However, PLA-based products degrade slowly in natural environment, likely resulting large accumulation PLA waste worldwide near future. Herein, we have incorporated artificially cultured diatom frustules (DFs) i...

Aims. To evaluate the possible additive effects of beetroot juice plus caffeine on exercise performance. Methods. In a randomized, double-blinded study design, fourteen healthy well-trained men aged 22 ± 3 years performed four trials on different occasions following preexercise ingestion of placebo (PLA), PLA plus 5 mg/kg caffeine (PLA+C), beetroot juice providing 8 mmol of nitrate (BR), and be...

Biodegradable carriers containing gentamicin for local treatment of bone infection were developed. This paper describes the preparation and in vitro evaluation of these biodegradable implants. Poly-L-lactic acid (PLA) and poly-L-lactic acid:polyethylene glycol (PLA/PEG) disk implants containing gentamicin sulphate were obtained by compression of microspheres prepared by a double emulsion proces...

RATIONALE Reduction of myocardial infarct size by remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC), that is, cycles of ischemia/reperfusion in an organ remote from the heart before sustained myocardial ischemia/reperfusion, was confirmed in all species so far, including humans. OBJECTIVE To identify myocardial signal transduction of cardioprotection by RIPC. METHODS AND RESULTS Anesthetized pigs were...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Circulating lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)) has emerged as a novel biomarker for cardiovascular diseases. Our aim was to determine Lp-PLA(2) mass and activity in a selected cohort of first-ever transient ischemic attack (TIA) or ischemic stroke patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) and to investigate its relationship with the pres...

To the Editor: I read with interest the recent article by Lai et al on risk of acute pancreatitis after discharge from hospitalization for pyogenic liver abscess (PLA).1 In this cohort study, the authors found that PLA was associated with an increased risk of acute pancreatitis compared to non-PLA (adjusted hazard ratio 3.00; 95% confidence interval, 2.62–3.43).1 However, the estimate may not b...

D-configured poly(D-lactic acid) (D-PLA) and poly(D-2-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoic acid) (D-P2H3MB) crystallized separately into their homo-crystallites when crystallized by precipitation or solvent evaporation, whereas incorporation of L-configured poly(L-2-hydroxybutanoic acid) (L-P2HB) in D-configured D-PLA and D-P2H3MB induced co-crystallization or ternary stereocomplex formation between D-conf...

BACKGROUND Ovarian cancer is the most leading cause of death and the third most common gynecologic malignancy in women. Traditional chemotherapy has inevitable drawbacks of nonspecific tumor targeting, high toxicity, and poor therapeutic efficiency. In order to overcome such shortcomings, we prepared a novel nano-carrier drug-delivery system to enhance the anti-tumor efficiency. METHODS In vi...

olipin and is responsible for increased catalysis, whereas direct interaction between CT V< 5 and acidic PLA 2 inhibits enzyme activity. It is concluded tha t variabilít} in substrate composition and the chemical nature of both PLA 2 and cationic peptide determine whether enzyme activity is affected by substrate packing or by direct enzyme-peptide interaction. Models of interactions of PLA 2 wi...

We report the detailed molecular characterization of two PLA₂s, Lys49 and Asp49 isolated from Bothrops leucurus venom, and examined their effects against Dengue virus (DENV). The Bl-PLA₂s, named BlK-PLA₂ and BlD-PLA₂, are composed of 121 and 122 amino acids determined by automated sequencing of the native proteins and peptides produced by digestion with trypsin. They contain fourteen cysteines ...