In spite of voluminous literature that has been written on defecation, the exact mechanism has not yet been fully cleared up. The current study investigated the effect of sigmoid colon (SC) distension on anal motile activity and of anal distension on SC motility. Sixteen healthy volunteers (age 36.2 +/- 11.6 SD years, 10 men) were studied. The SC was distended by a balloon in 10 ml increments o...

Objective: The present study sought to determine changes in plasma levels of catecholamine metabolites and serum levels of brain-derived neurotorophic factor (BDNF) among smokers with schizophrenia who were treated with varenicline. Methods: We compared plasma homovanillic acid (HVA) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) levels and serum BDNF levels across 4 groups, divided as follows: smo...

Abstract Single-carrier (SC) transmission is an appropriate transmission scheme for uplink transmission because of its low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Spread spectrum (SS) transmission achieves higher frequency diversity gain and hence improves the bit error rate (BER) performance. The authors have recently proposed SC with frequency-domain spread spectrum (SC-FDSS) transmission with or...

Previous studies identified two mammalian prion protein (PrP) polybasic domains that bind the disease-associated conformer PrP(Sc), suggesting that these domains of cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) serve as docking sites for PrP(Sc) during prion propagation. To examine the role of polybasic domains in the context of full-length PrP(C), we used prion proteins lacking one or both polybasic domains...

The principal infectious and pathogenic agent in all prion disorders is a beta-sheet-rich isoform of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) termed PrP-scrapie (PrP(Sc)). Once initiated, PrP(Sc) is self-replicating and toxic to neuronal cells, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this report, we demonstrate that PrP(C) binds iron and transforms to a PrP(Sc)-like form (*PrP(Sc)) when hum...

PURPOSE To investigate the preference of HER2+ breast cancer patients and nursing professionals for subcutaneous (SC) versus intravenous (IV) trastuzumab and to evaluate the financial impact derived from the use of the SC formulation. METHODS A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was carried out to investigate preferences of all patients who started treatment with SC trastuzumab while t...

Self-assembly reactions between di- and tritopic gold(i) metallaligands bearing terminal pyridine rings Pd(ii) or Pt(ii) fragments produce heterometallic macrocycles cages with cavities of different sizes shapes.

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterised by deposition of amyloid plaques containing abnormal prion protein aggregates (PrP(Sc)). This study aimed to evaluate the potential of radioiodinated flavonoid derivatives for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of PrP(Sc). In vitro binding assays using recombinant mouse PrP (rMoPrP) aggregates revealed tha...