This new compound induced relaxation with efficacy similar to that of SNP, although its potency is lower. The time elapsed until maximum relaxation is achieved (E(max) = 240 s) is similar to measured for SNP (210 s). Vascular reactivity experiments demonstrated that aortic relaxation by RuBPY is inhibited by the soluble guanylyl-cyclase inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4] oxadiozolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline-1-one (ODQ 1 mu M). In a similar way, 1 mu M ODQ also reduces NO release from the

complex as measured with DAF-2 DA by confocal Selleckchem CX-6258 microscopy. These findings suggest that this new complex RuBPY that has nitrite in its structure releases NO inside the vascular smooth muscle cell. This ruthenium complex releases significant amounts of NO only in the presence of the aortic tissue. Reduction of nitrite to NO is most probably dependent on the

soluble guanylyl-cyclase enzyme, since NO release is inhibited by ODQ. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Restricting amplification of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA to wild-type (WT) HCMV is useful to exclude PCR contaminations by laboratory strains from viral cultures. A set of UL141-specific TaqMan PCRs was developed to amplify (1) WT HCMV and laboratory strain Towne(long), but not strain AD169, (2) only WT HCMV. The performance was compared to a PCR targeting the conserved sequence LY2109761 of HCMV glycoprotein B using 46 serum and urine samples from blood donors with primary CMV infection. Amplification was restricted to the targeted strains with the exception of Towne(long) being amplified also by PCR (2), but new at a distinctly lower efficiency than WT HCMV. The coefficient of regression for linear dilutions

of two clinical samples with a high concentration of HCMV DNA was 0.999 and 0.997, respectively. The correlation between both WT PCRs and the generic HCMV PCR was good, with coefficients of regression of 0.891 and 0.871 for PCR (1) and (2), respectively. The limit of detection was calculated to be 1.5 genome equivalents per PCR. The set of HCMV TaqMan PCRs enables rapid differentiation between WT and laboratory strains, which can be especially useful as even virus lysate can contaminate sensitive PCRs without prior DNA isolation. A standardized WT HCMV control would be useful to evaluate WT-specific PCR methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Objectives: A comparison between the atheroprotective and osteoprotective effects of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) raloxifene and those of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has not been made in elderly women.

Methods: A randomized prospective controlled trial was performed in a cohort of 32 elderly Japanese women with osteoporosis receiving HRT (estriol plus medroxyprogesterone) for more than 1 year. In 16 randomly selected subjects, HRT was changed to raloxifene therapy (60 mg/day, 71.4 +/- 3.4 years, SERM group).