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BK channels are large unitary conductance K + channels cooperatively activated by intracellular calcium and membrane depolarisation. We show that BK channels regulate electrical activity in β-cells of mouse pancreatic islets exposed to elevated glucose. In 11.1 m m glucose, the non-peptidyl BK channel blocker paxilline increased the height of β-cell action potentials (APs) by 21 mV without affecting burst- or silent-period durations. In isolated β-cells, paxilline increased AP height by 16 mV without affecting resting membrane potential. In voltage clamp, paxilline blocked a transient component of outward current activated by a short depolarisation, which accounted for at least 90% of the initial outward K + current. This BK current ( I BK ) was blocked by the Ca 2+ channel blockers Cd 2+ (200 μ m ) or nimodipine (1 μ m ), and po...
Universities are seeking objective measures to assess their faculty members' research output in order to improve their national and international standing. Despite concerns, many have adopted the impact factor of journals for this purpose. The objective of this study was to explore the conditions that have been created within Taiwan as a result of such national and institutional policies. A case study design was used. Information was sought from five senior faculty members, who responded to a questionnaire with items derived from the literature. A key participant provided context within the country. The data were summarized and described. The respondents confirmed the presence of governmental and university policies for publication in high-impact factor journals; they saw some positive aspects, yet described the obstacles faced by many...
Nonablative fractionated laser resurfacing improves the texture of treated skin, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie clinical improvements.We sought to examine and quantify the time course and magnitude of dermal matrix changes that occur in response to nonablative fractionated laser resurfacing, with the dual goals of better understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie clinical improvements and of gaining knowledge that will enable evidence-based treatment parameter optimization.Twenty patients (mean age 58 years) with photodamaged skin were focally treated on dorsal forearms with a nonablative fractionated laser. Serial skin samples were obtained at baseline and at various times after treatment. Biopsies were examined with real-time polymerase chain reaction technology and immunohistochemical tech...
The goal of hepatitis B treatment is to prevent the development of cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Ideally, clinical studies should demonstrate that hepatitis B therapies can prevent liver-related complications; however, these clinical endpoints evolve over years or decades. Therefore, clinical trials have relied on intermediate endpoints to evaluate the efficacy of treatment and to determine when treatment can be stopped. Intermediate endpoints that have been used include biochemical, histological, virological, and serological endpoints. This review will discuss the validity of these intermediate endpoints as surrogates of clinical endpoints, and the rates at which these intermediate endpoints can be achieved with currently available therapies.
This paper investigates image cost as a potential downside of proactivity. Drawing on attribution theory, we examine how people construct subjective evaluations of one manifestation of proactivity, feedback-seeking behaviour. Using a scenario methodology, we examined how employees' performance history, their manager's implicit person theory (IPT), and the frequency of their feedback-seeking affect how managers evaluate employees' feedback seeking. Results indicate that manager attribute average performers' feedback seeking significantly less to performance-enhancement motives than superior performers' seeking. Results further show that the frequency of feedback seeking and a manager's IPT interact in influencing managers' attributions for feedback seeking, with more entity oriented managers attributing frequent feedback seeking signifi...
A rapid timing analysis of Very Large Telescope (VLT)/ULTRACAM (optical) and RXTE (X-ray) observations of the Galactic black hole binary GX  339− 4 in the low/hard, post-outburst state of 2007 June is presented. The optical light curves in the r ′,  g ′ and u ′ filters show slow (∼20 s) quasi-periodic variability. Upon this is superposed fast flaring activity on times approaching the best time resolution probed (∼50 ms in r ′ and g ′) and with maximum strengths of more than twice the local mean. Power spectral analysis over ∼0.004–10 Hz is presented, and shows that although the average optical variability amplitude is lower than that in X-rays, the peak variability power emerges at a higher Fourier frequency in the optical. Energetically, we measure a large optical versus X-ray flux ratio, higher than that seen on previous ...
To cite this article: Perinetti G, Baccetti T, Contardo L, Di Lenarda R: Gingival crevicular fluid alkaline phosphatase activity as a non-invasive biomarker of skeletal maturation Orthod Craniofac Res 2011; 14 :44–50Perinetti G, Baccetti T, Contardo L, Di Lenarda RTo evaluate the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in growing subjects in relation to the stages of individual skeletal maturation.The Department of Biomedicine, University of Trieste. Seventy-two healthy growing subjects (45 women and 27 men; range, 7.8–17.7 years).Double-blind, prospective, cross-sectional design. Samples of GCF were collected from each subject at the mesial and distal sites of both of the central incisors, in the maxilla and mandible. Skeletal maturation phase was assessed through the cervical vertebral maturat...
The study determined whether a new version of the Mini Nutritional Assessment that adopted population-specific anthropometric cut-points would improve the mortality-predicting ability in institutionalised Taiwanese older people.Routine screening is the key for detecting emerging malnutrition, but the tool must be simple, reliable and easy-to-use to be well accepted. The Mini Nutritional Assessment can meet these requirements, but for non-Western populations, modifications based on anthropometric considerations are needed.The study purposively sampled 208 residents, aged >65 years, of a long-term care institution in Central Taiwan. Subjects were free of acute infection/disease and able to communicate. A university human-subject-study ethics committee approved the protocol.The study included biochemical measurements and a structured ques...
Understanding the genetic consequences of shifting species distributions is critical for evaluating the impact of climate-induced distributional changes. However, the demographic expansion associated with the colonization process typically takes place across a heterogeneous environment, with population sizes and migration rates varying across the landscape. Here we describe an approach for coupling ecological-niche models (ENMs) with demographic and genetic models to explore the genetic consequences of distributional shifts across a heterogeneous landscape. Analyses of a flightless grasshopper from the sky islands of the Rocky Mountains of North America are used to show how biologically informed predictions can be generated about the genetic consequences of a colonization process across a spatially and temporally heterogeneous landscap...
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