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We have developed an S(N)Ar reaction-triggered fluorescence probe using a new fluorogenic compound derivatized from 7-aminocoumarin for oligonucleotides detection.

A lthough chronological age is a well-established risk factor for developing cardiovascular diseases, the changes that accumulate with age are highly variable. It has been increasingly recognized that indices of vascular age are more reliable than age per se in prediction of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Variations in the way these age-related changes occur are a function of many genetic and environmental factors. Some of the pathophysiological mechanisms that characterize the vascular aging phenotype are reviewed, and an overview of the key outcome studies that deal with the value of these vascular health indicators is provided, as well as a discussion of the potential effects on perioperative cardiovascular outcomes. COMMENTDespite an expanding number of effective preventive measures and treatments for such cardiovascular risk factors as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular disease attributable to aging remains the leading cause of mortality in Western countries. This seeming incongruity results from the reality that age itself is associated with morphological changes in all layers of the vascular tree, including central aortic dilation and thickening of the arterial wall even in the absence of atherosclerotic disease. Functional changes occur as well in the vasculature, and the rate at which these morphological and functional alterations develop is characteristic by enormous interindividual variation. The great physician William Osler demonstrated extraordinary insight when, more than a century ago, he proclaimed, BYou are as old as your arteries.[ Increased arterial stiffness is a direct manifestation of early vascular aging and is accompanied by increased central aortic pressure. Current data imply that aortic pulse wave velocity and augmentation index are the best available noninvasive approximations of arterial stiffness in patients older than and younger than 50 years, respectively. Pulse wave velocity is calculated as the distance (femoral-carotid) divided by time, as derived from the electrocardiogram. These values are more sensitive than traditional risk factors at predicting cardiovascular outcomes. Emerging data have linked increased pulse pressure with stroke, renal failure, and mortality after cardiac surgery, thereby offering evidence that measures of vascular stiffness may yield important information in terms of risk stratification. Moreover, data indicate that blood pressureYreducing therapies specifically targeted to lowering central aortic pressure may offer additional therapeutic advantages in routine clinical practice beyond their basic blood pressureYreducing effects. Whether interventions focused on reducing central aortic pressure can ameliorate the risk for indi-viduals undergoing cardiac and noncardiac surgery is yet to be determined. Comment by Kathryn E. McGoldrick, MD Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.T he reversibility of rocuronium-induced profound neuromuscular block with sugammadex in younger and older patients was compared. Fifteen young...

Enzymatic ligation methods are useful in the diagnostic detection of DNA sequences. Here, we describe the investigation of nonenzymatic phosphorothioate--iodoacetyl DNA chemical ligation as a method for the detection and identification of RNA and DNA. The specificity of ligation on the DNA target is shown to allow the discrimination of a single point mutation with a drop in the ligation yield of up to 16.1-fold. Although enzymatic ligation has very low activity for RNA targets, this reaction is very efficient for RNA targets. The speed of the chemical ligation with an RNA target achieves a 70% yield in 5 s, which is equal to or better than that of ligase-enzyme-mediated ligation with a DNA target. The reaction also exhibits a significant level of signal amplification under thermal cycling in periods as short as 100-120 min, with the RNA or DNA target acting in a catalytic way to ligate multiple pairs of probes.

Maternal rCBV and rCBO decrease significantly during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section. Reductions in rCBV and rCBO may be associated with the severity of hypotension induced by subarachnoid sympathetic block with bupivacaine.

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The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors, including atherogenic dyslipidemia, impaired fasting glucose, hypertension, and central adiposity, predisposing to higher risks of oxidative stress, type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. [1][2][3][4] In particular, an enhancement in oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been proposed as a common pathomechanism by which cardiovascular risk factors affect the vessel wall to induce and amplify vessel and organ injury. Thus, an appropriate evaluation and reduction in oxidative stress in the circulating blood is important from the viewpoint of protecting vascular endothelium and vascular smooth muscle cells against oxidative stress.5-7) Dietary modifications, which include the use of antilipidemic supplements, are one of the key elements in the management of these metabolic abnormalities. For example, chitosan has been proposed as a safe and efficacious dietary supplement that can contribute to weight loss by reducing the amount of dietary fat absorbed, thereby improving calorie balance. 8)Chitosan, a cationic polysaccharide produced by the Ndeacetylation of chitin under alkaline conditions, contains a linear sugar backbone, composed of b-1,4-linked glucosamine units. It exhibits a wide variety of biological activities except for cholesterol-lowering effects.9-11) A property of particular interest for this study is the antioxidant properties of chitosan. Santhosh et al. reported that the administration of chitosan to rats that had been treated with isoniazid or rifampicin inhibited the oxidation of hepatotoxic lipids.12) It had also been reported that chitosan, when injected, inhibited glycerol-induced renal oxidative damage in rats.13) Because of the numerous in vitro and in vivo antioxidant studies that have appeared, chitosan has attracted considerable attention from researchers. In spite of this, however, relationships between molecular weight (MW) and antioxidant activity have not been extensively investigated in in vivo studies.In this study, we examined the effect of high and low MW chitosan supplements (HMC; 1000 kDa and LMC; 30 kDa) on oxidative stress in normal and metabolic syndrome model rats, in an attempt to better understand the potential role for HMC and LMC as an antioxidant in the systemic circulation. Oxidative stress was evaluated by monitoring oxidized serum albumin levels, a sensitive marker for protein oxidation, in the systemic circulation.14,15) We also investigated the role of HMC and LMC as a chelator, to develop a better understanding of the mechanism of the antioxidant activity of HMC and LMC in metabolic syndrome model rats. MATERIALS AND METHODSMaterials LMC (MWϭ30 kDa) and HMC (MWϭ1000 kDa) were obtained from Nippon Kayaku Food Techno Co., Ltd. (Gunma, Japan). All other chemicals were of the highest grade available and were obtained from commercial sources.Animals and Treatment Male (6 weeks old) Wistar Kyoto rats as a normal model (Normal-rats) and spontaneously hypertensive rat/ND mcr-cp ...