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Isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (Idh1) is an important metabolic enzyme that produces NADPH by converting isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate. Idh1 is known to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced in cells by treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro. Here, we used Idh1-deficient knockout (Idh1 KO) mice to investigate the role of Idh1 in antioxidant defense in vivo. Idh1 KO mice showed heightened susceptibility to death induced by LPS and exhibited increased serum levels of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. The serum of LPS-injected Idh1 KO mice also contained elevated levels of AST, a marker of inflammatory liver damage. Furthermore, after LPS injection, livers of Idh1 KO mice showed histological evidence of elevated oxidative DNA damage compared with livers of wild-type (WT) mice. Idh1 KO livers showed a faster and more pronounced oxidative stress than WT livers. In line with that, Idh1 KO hepatocytes showed higher ROS levels and an increase in the NADP+/NADPH ratio when compared with hepatocytes isolated from WT mice. These results suggest that Idh1 has a physiological function in protecting cells from oxidative stress by regulating the intracellular NADP+/NADPH ratio. Our findings suggest that stimulation of Idh1 activity may be an effective therapeutic strategy for reducing oxidative stress during inflammatory responses, including the early stages of septic shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has not compared implicit affective responses to smoking-related stimuli in occasional (i.e., those who smoke less than one cigarette per day) and daily smokers (i.e., those who smoke at least once per day). In addition to assessing their motivations for smoking, implicit affective responses were measured using the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) in occasional (n=19) and daily smokers (n=34) to smoking-related and neutral cues. Half of the cues depicted a human interacting with an object (i.e., active), whereas the remaining cues depicted objects alone (i.e., inactive). Results indicated that for the active cues, daily smokers responded more positively to smoking-related than to neutral cues, whereas occasional smokers showed no difference in their implicit responses. In addition to smoking frequency, relative differences in implicit responses to active cues were related to cognitive enhancement motivation. For inactive cues, implicit responses were related to cognitive enhancement as well as reinforcement. Because daily smokers have more positive implicit responses to active smoking-related cues than occasional smokers, these cues may play an important role in maintaining smoking behavior in daily smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objectives: The present study introduces a method that has been developed to improve the remote collection and transportation of gas samples from the nose and lungs.Design: Assessment of agreement between two methods of clinical measurements.Setting: Noninvasive exhaled gas measurement at a respiratory research laboratory.Participants: Ten nonsmoking adult volunteers (median age, 44 years; age range, 33 to 53 years; men, 6; women, 4) were recruited.Measurements and Results: Exhaled nitric oxide (ENO) and nasal nitric oxide (NNO) outputs were measured directly (on-line) and remotely (off-line). With the velum closed, lung air was exhaled at fixed flows (ie, 6, 8, and 10 L/min) (ENO) or room-air was aspirated through the nose in series at one fixed flow (ie, 5 to 8 L/min) (NNO). The off-line nitric oxide (NO) measurements were achieved by a gas collection tube system, which consisted of a flow control unit, a tube reservoir with one-way valves at both ends, and an interrupter valve allowing the trapping of gas inside the tube and eliminating the inclusion of "dead space." After clamping, the reservoir may store and transport the gas samples for delayed analysis. The coefficient of variation of three consecutive NO measurements was < 3% for both on-line and off-line ENO and NNO. The correlations between on-line and off-line measurements in both ENO and NNO outputs were high (r = 0.99; R(2) = 0.99), and, unlike previous studies using bag-collection, the ENO outputs for on-line and off-line measurements were in good agreement (Bland-Altman test) at all flows tested.Conclusions: The tube gas collection system eliminates the dead space and contamination during the gas sampling and permits the cost-effective and reliable off-line collection of both nasal and exhaled gas samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The role of oxygen in the nasal air on nasal nitric oxide (NO) output was studied in 13 adult volunteers. Methods: Nasal NO was measured while air containing oxygen (0%-100% in nitrogen) was aspirated through the nasal airway before and after the topical application of xylometazoline. Results: The mean nasal NO output of the untreated nose was 507.8 +/- 161.9 nL/min (mean +/- SD) when 21% oxygen was aspirated through the nasal cavities in series and remained unaltered by 100% O2 (P = .79). Below 10% oxygen the reduction in nasal NO output correlated positively and significantly with the decrease in oxygen concentration (r2 = 0.14). NO output was 245.2 +/- 153.4 nL/min at 0% oxygen, a significant decline from 21% oxygen (P < .0001). Nasal vasoconstriction induced by xylometazoline and alterations in the blood oxygen content by a maximal breath-holding or breathing 100% oxygen did not alter nasal NO in hypoxia (P = .41). Conclusions: Nasal NO output is markedly depressed in hypoxia and is oxygen dependent at concentrations of less than 10%. Approximately 50% of nasally generated NO is produced from oxygen in nasal air or regulated by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1942 Piccard [10] gave an example of a set of real numbers whose sum set has zero Lebesgue measure but whose difference set contains an interval. About thirty years later various authors (Connolly, Jackson, Williamson and Woodall) in a series of papers constructed F σ sets E in ℝ such that E – E contains an interval while the K-fold sum sethas zero Lebesgue measure for progressively larger values of k. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Suppose that we have a system of congruences ai (mod ni) 1 < n1 < … < ni < … < nk such that every integer is congruent to at least one ai (mod ni), then we say that it is a covering system of congruences. If ni | m, 1 ≤ i ≤ k, we say that m is a covering number. We shall use the symbol ℕ to denote the natural numbers together with zero, then m is a covering number if, for each q there is an aq such that [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Let G be any enumerable subset of the positive real numbers, with infinity as its only limit point. The purpose of this paper is to give a construction for a Lebesgue measurable set E ⊂ R+, with the following properties: [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous observers have suggested that the main site of respiratory airflow resistance is localized to the vestibular region of the nose. This resistive segment of the airway was investigated using a "head-out" body plethysmograph in subjects with anatomically normal noses (a) untreated, (b) congested and (c) decongested. In all three conditions, 2/3 of the total nasal airflow resistance was found within the bony cavum in the vicinity of the pyriform aperture and about 1/3 in the cartilaginous vestibule. As might be expected, caval resistance changed proportionately with the degree of mucosal congestion; but, more surprisingly, vestibular resistance changed similarly. This was due in part to the observed forward expansion of the anterior ends of the inferior turbinates with congestion. EMG recordings in subjects breathing through both nostrils demonstrated a gradation of inspiratory alar dilator muscle activity with increased minute ventilation and with mucosal congestion, and there was no evidence of inspiratory alar collapse. But with elevated ventilation through one nostril only, or when the alar muscles were paralyzed by lidocaine block of the VIIth nerve, alar collapse occurred. These findings are of importance in the management of the congested but anatomically normal nose and in surgery of the nasal tip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For any subsets E, F of a group G, written additively, we writeand [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is not difficult to construct an unbounded set E on the positive real line such that, if x1, x2 belong to E, then x1/x2 is never equal to an integer. Our object is to show that it is possible to find such a set E which is measurable and of infinite Lebesgue measure. We were led to consider this problem through a study of those sets E, which are of infinite measure, yet, for each x > 0, nx є E for only a finite number of integers n. Sets of this type were first discovered by C. G. Lekkerkerker [2]. The set that we consider has both these properties. For another result on lattice points in sets of infinite measure see [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]