Bovine collateral ligament was found to have a water content of 67.5 +/- 2.5%, the tissue was highly collagenous containing 100.3 +/- 15.1 micrograms hydroxyproline/mg dry weight. Type I collagen was ...the major collagen present with small amounts of Type III and V. The hexuronate content of the tissue was found to be 2.62 +/- 0.40 micrograms hexuronate/mg dry weight of tissue. On incubation in vitro collateral ligament incorporated 35Ssulfate and 3Hacetate into proteoglycans and 3Hacetate into hyaluronate and glycoproteins. The rate of synthesis of proteoglycans by collateral ligament was shown on a weight basis to be greater than that of tendon but lower than that of articular cartilage. Analysis of the proteoglycans present in collateral ligament showed two populations of proteoglycans to be present. Approx. 20% of the total proteoglycans present were large chondroitin- and keratan sulfate-containing proteoglycans capable of forming aggregates with hyaluronate. The major species of proteoglycan present were small dermatan sulfate proteoglycans made up of a core protein with a molecular mass of 45,000 daltons with one dermatan/chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan chain of 30,000 daltons attached. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the core protein of this proteoglycan showed it to be analogous to the core protein of dermatan sulfate proteoglycan II.
Communicating clinical trial results to research participants is seldom accomplished in a timely or an effective manner.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a plan to communicate results in an ...industry-sponsored randomized controlled trial for Huntington disease.
Postal survey to research participants at 28 of 41 research sites (including 217 of 316 participants) in Canada and the United States.
We communicated trial results by means of (1) a media release from the investigators within a day after a sponsor-issued press release; (2) a subsequent telephone call from the site staff to the participants; and (3) a conference call for research participants 2 weeks after the results were released.
Source and timing for learning study results and satisfaction with their communication.
Of the 217 study participants surveyed, 114 (52.5%) responded. Most (73.1%) first learned the study results from their site's telephone call, and 46.3% learned the results within 1 day of the sponsor's press release. Participants reported high or complete satisfaction with the site telephone call (89.3%) and conference call (82.1%) but relatively low satisfaction with the sponsor's press release (50.0%). Most respondents reported good understanding of the risks and benefits of the experimental treatment and the next steps for their participation.
Surveyed research participants learned of the clinical trial results soon after public release and highly valued the personalized and accurate communication efforts by the study investigators.
Motor fluctuations are a common complication in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) receiving long-term levodopa therapy. Slowed gastric emptying and poor solubility of levodopa in the ...gastrointestinal tract may delay the onset of drug benefit after dosing. Etilevodopa is an ethyl-ester prodrug of levodopa that has greater gastric solubility, passes quickly into the small intestine, is rapidly hydrolyzed to levodopa, and has a shortened time to maximum levodopa concentration.
To determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of etilevodopa in patients with PD who have motor fluctuations.
A double-blind, randomized, comparative clinical trial.
Forty-four sites in the United States and Canada.
Three hundred twenty-seven patients with PD who had a latency of at least 90 minutes total daily time to "on" (TTON) after levodopa dosing.
Treatment with either etilevodopa-carbidopa or levodopa-carbidopa for 18 weeks.
Change from baseline in total daily TTON as measured using home diaries.
The reduction in mean total daily TTON from baseline to treatment was 0.58 hour in the etilevodopa-carbidopa group and 0.79 hour in the levodopa-carbidopa group (P = .24). There was no significant difference between the etilevodopa-carbidopa and levodopa-carbidopa groups in the reduction of response failures (-6.82% vs -4.69%; P = .20). Total daily "off" time improved in the etilevodopa-carbidopa (-0.85 hour) and levodopa-carbidopa (-0.87 hour) groups without an increase in on time with troublesome dyskinesias.
Despite the theoretical pharmacokinetic advantage of etilevodopa, there was no improvement in TTON, response failures, or off time compared with levodopa.
Chick epiphyseal chondrocytes were grown in high density cultures for 14 days, after which the cell layers were placed in a cyclical stretching apparatus and subjected to a strain of 5.5% at a ...frequency of 0.2 Hz. There was a 1.4- and 1.7-fold increase in the incorporation of 35SO4 and 14C-glucosamine, respectively, into glycosaminoglycans in cultures subjected to mechanical loading for 24 h. No significant change was observed in the hydrodynamic size of the proteoglycans synthesized by chondrocytes subjected to mechanical loading. In this time period there was no increase in 3H-glycine incorporation into acid-insoluble protein, but there was a 2.4-fold increase of 3H-thymidine into DNA in cultures subjected to tensional strain. Concomitant with these changes, the cellular levels of cyclic AMP increased 2.2 times in the mechanically loaded cultures. This is discussed as a possible mechanism whereby chondrocytes respond to mechanical stimuli.
CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION Pope, Stephen J; Oakes, Edward T; Ruddy, Christopher
Commonweal,
06/2000, Letnik:
127, Številka:
11
Magazine Article
Pope argues that Christopher Ruddy's essay (2000) regarding the state of academic theology and its relation to the church is unclear and lacks balance, and that rather than create a false dichotomy ...between theology and academia he should instead focus on the special way they interact. Similarly Oakes criticizes Ruddy's treatment of the issue as overblown and futile, and condemns his engagement in personal attacks as rhetoric. Ruddy defends his essay, negating the criticisms brought on by Pope and Oakes.
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