At the 2nd Pepducin Science Symposium held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 4-5, 2010, investigators working in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) research convened to discuss progress since last year's inaugural conference. This year's symposium focused on increasing knowledge of the structure and function of this ubiquitous superfamily of membrane receptors and their potential modulation for disease treatment. Presentations also focused on how GPCR mechanisms might be exploited to treat diseases with pepducins, novel synthetic lipopeptide pharmacophores that modulate heptahelical GPCR activity. While the multiple roles of GPCRs in physiological and pathophysiological processes offer significant opportunities for novel drug development, the global nature of their activity challenges drug-specific and validated target identification. This year's conference highlighted advances in understanding of GPCR agonist and antagonist ligand-binding motifs, their ligand-independent functions, structureactivity relationships (SARs), and evolving unique methods to probe GPCR structure and function. Study results summarized at the meeting also provided evidence for evolving views of how signaling mechanisms work through these receptors.

Context: Spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation nurses document the occurrence of educational and care management efforts in traditional nursing documentation methods but not the intensity (or dose) of such interactions. This article describes a process to capture these nursing interventions. Methods: Nurses at 6 US inpatient SCI centers used 2 in-person meetings and weekly telephone calls over 9 months to develop a taxonomy of nursing patient education efforts and care management. Results: This was subsequently incorporated into a point-of-care documentation system and used to capture details of nursing care for 1,500 SCI rehabilitation patients enrolled in the SCIRehab study. The taxonomy consists of 10 education and 3 care management categories. The point-of-care system includes time spent on each category along with an indication of whether the patient and/or family received the education/care management. In addition, a subjective measure of patient participation in nursing activities is included. Conclusions: Creation of a SCI rehabilitation nursing taxonomy is feasible, and its use has had an impact on nursing practice. It also has implications for future clinical documentation, because greater accuracy and details of patient education and care management will be a permanent practice in the participating systems at the conclusion of the study.

Sexually mature New Zealand White male rabbits were subjected to various sexual stimulation procedures. Plasma samples were obtained through an indwelling catheter in the central ear artery and analysed for LH and testosterone using specific radioimmunoassays. Coitus and exposure to females occasionally led to increases in testosterone levels which were usually preceded by a rise in LH. Increases in hormone concentration were not significantly different from those of rabbits which did not mate or which were isolated from females. These results suggest that coitus in the male rabbit does not cause the massive increase in LH concentration which is known to occur in the female.

Heparinized blood samples were obtained through an indwelling catheter in the central ear artery from sexually mature female New Zealand white rabbits after copulation. Immediately after 1 or 2 matings the female was transferred to a restraining cage; blood samples were taken at intervals while the animal was completely immobilized for 3–5 h or was only immobilized for blood withdrawal. Ovulation was detected by the presence of corpora lutea at laparotomy the following day. Plasma was analyzed for LH by established radioimmunoassay procedures. Immobilization did not inhibit ovulation or the pre-ovulatory surge of LH in either group. These data suggest that immobilization cannot inhibit the reflex release of LH in the female rabbit.

In order to determine whether the ovarian follicles of the domestic cat which normally ovulates following copulation, were similar to those of the rabbit steroidogenically, the following experiments were carried out. Follicles were dissected out of ovaries from nine estrous cats throughout the year and incubated in medium alone or with luteinizing hormone (LH) or human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Media were removed every 15 min and stored frozen until analyzed for testosterone using established radioimmunoassay procedures. Although LH and HCG caused slight increases in testosterone production the amounts produced were much less than that produced by rabbit follicles under identical conditions. However, when follicles were incubated for a total of 8 h without removal of media, marked changes in testosterone and estradiol production occurred. These data suggest that the ovarian follicles of the estrous cat are steroidogenically active.