ABSTRACT
The abnormal thyroid function in the duration of drug treatment has attracted increasing attention, these drugs included traditional drugs, such as glucocorticoid, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, iodine agent, etc.; also included new types of drugs, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. The possible reasons causing abnormality of thyroid biomarkers included drugs' toxicity on thyroid, drug-drug interaction affecting synthetic thyroid hormones therapy, and drug's interference on biomarkers' measurement. This article focused on the influence and mechanisms of common drugs on the regulation, synthesis, release, transport and metabolism of thyroid hormones. Here also briefly introduced the mechanism of drug-drugs interaction on the effect of synthetic thyroid hormone; the interference and mechanism of some drugs on the laboratory measurement was also included. The aim of this article was to strengthen clinician's understanding on drug-induced thyroid diseases and to be alert to drugs' interference on the in-vitro measurement of biomarkers.
Subject(s)
Iodine , Pharmaceutical Preparations , Thyroid Diseases , Biomarkers , Humans , Thyroid Diseases/chemically induced , Thyroid HormonesABSTRACT
The effects of the solvent-surfactant interaction, chain length and stiffness of surfactants on the formation of aggregates and the aggregation degree of surfactants in the two-dimension solution have been investigated using discontinuous molecular-dynamics simulations. When the tail-water repulsion increases or the head-water attraction decreases, the aggregation degree increases. Increasing the chain length and raising the stiffness of surfactants lead to the increment of the aggregation degree.
ABSTRACT
A percolation model with long-range correlations was introduced to investigate the phenomena of epidemic spreading by Monte Carlo simulations. The correlation exponent alpha and pathogenic ratio s correspond to different spreading methods and pathogenicity of variant epidemics. As the correlation changes from a weak one to a strong one, the patterns change from site percolation to Eden cluster when pathogenic ratio s=1, or Leath percolation cluster when s<1. Corresponding to change of patterns, the fractal dimension increases up to space dimension. The critical behavior in epidemic spreading has been examined based on the model. It is found that correlation has a great influence on the threshold of spreading percolation.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/statistics & numerical data , Fractals , Humans , Models, Biological , Models, Statistical , Monte Carlo MethodABSTRACT
A novel antifungal peptide (termed as Anafp) was isolated from the culture supernatant of the filamentous fungi, Aspergillus niger. The whole amino acid sequence of Anafp was determined and the peptide was found to be composed of a single polypeptide chain with 58 amino acids including six cysteine residues. The peptide shows some degree of sequence homology to a cysteine-rich antifungal peptides reported from the seeds of Sinapis alba and Arabidopsis thaliana or the extracellular media of Aspergillus giganteus and Penicillium chrysogenumsome. Cysteine-spacing pattern of Anafp was similar to that of the antifungal peptide from Penicillium chrysogenum. The Anafp exhibited potent growth inhibitory activities against yeast strains as well as filamentous fungi at a range from 4 to 15 microM. In contrast, Anafp did not show antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis even at 50 microM.
Subject(s)
Antifungal Agents/chemistry , Antifungal Agents/isolation & purification , Aspergillus niger/chemistry , Fungal Proteins/chemistry , Fungal Proteins/isolation & purification , Amino Acid Sequence , Antifungal Agents/pharmacology , Arabidopsis/chemistry , Bacteria/drug effects , Cysteine , Fungal Proteins/pharmacology , Fungi/drug effects , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Molecular Sequence Data , Mustard Plant/chemistry , Penicillium chrysogenum/chemistry , Plants, Medicinal , Seeds/chemistry , Sequence Alignment , Sequence Homology, Amino AcidABSTRACT
The influence of particle size on diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) has been investigated by computer simulations. For DLA clusters consisting of two kinds of particles with different sizes, when large particles are in the minority, the patterns of clusters appear asymmetrical and nonuniform, and their fractal dimensions D(f) increase compared with one-component DLA. With increasing size of large particles, D(f) increases. This increase can be attributed to two reasons: one is that large particles become new growth centers; the other is the big masses of large particles. As the concentration ratio x(n) of large particles increases, D(f) will reach a maximum value D(f(m)) and then decrease. When x(n) exceeds a certain value, the morphology and D(f) of the two-component DLA clusters are similar to those of one-component DLA clusters.
ABSTRACT
The effect of caerulein injected into cerebroventricle on the stress-induced gastric mucosal lesion of rats with tied four limbs immersed in water was investigated. Caerulein (1.0 ng/rat) reduced significantly gastric mucosal lesion, decreased gastric acid content, but increased the gastric content of the mucus and PGE2. Under electromicroscope, morphological sign of hyposecretion in the parietal cells and hypersecretion in the mucus cells could be seen. The effect of caerulein could be prevented by intraventricular injection of naloxone or subcutaneous injection of indomethacin, but not by atropine, phentolamine and propranolol. The results indicate that the protective effect of caerulein on the gastric mucosa is mediated partly by central morphine receptors and partly by enhancement of endogenous PGE2.
Subject(s)
Ceruletide/pharmacology , Gastric Mucosa/pathology , Stomach Ulcer/drug therapy , Animals , Ceruletide/therapeutic use , Dinoprostone/metabolism , Female , Gastric Juice/metabolism , Injections, Intraventricular , Male , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Receptors, Opioid/metabolism , Stomach Ulcer/etiology , Stress, Physiological/complicationsABSTRACT
The effects of caerulein on gastric motility in urethane-anesthetized rats were studied. Caerulein administered into the lateral cerebral ventricle (i.c.v.) and jugular vein (i.v.) caused predominantly an inhibitory effect on gastric motility but sometimes an excitatory or a biphasic effect. The inhibitory response was reduced after vagotomy and/or splanchnicotomy, or after guanethidine. The remaining inhibitory response was abolished by tetrodotoxin, but was resistant to atropine and guanethidine. The excitatory response was abolished by atropine. Discharges of the gastric branch of the vagus nerve were decreased by i.v. injection of caerulein but increased by i.c.v. injection, whereas those of the splanchnic nerve were increased by both i.v. and i.c.v. injection. These results suggest that caerulein causes an inhibition of gastric motility by centrally stimulating vagal non-adrenergic inhibitory nerves and splanchnic adrenergic nerves and inhibiting vagal cholinergic nerves, and by peripherally stimulating non-adrenergic inhibitory neurons of the myenteric plexus. This peptide causes an excitation by stimulating cholinergic neurons of the myenteric plexus.
