Advances in Medicine and Biology. Volume 157 (eBook)

Advances in Medicine and Biology. Volume 157 opens with a study wherein the authors use guinea pig airway smooth muscle to demonstrate that testosterone blocks L type voltage dependent Ca2+ channels. Furthermore, in vivo experiments with sensitized guinea pigs show that bronchospasm induced by antigenic challenge was abolished by testosterone and its 5a and 5-dihydrotestosterone metabolites. Following this, the authors evaluate the structural features of skeletal muscles in children and adults with various pathologies of the musculoskeletal system based on ultrasonography, considering periods of natural growth and involutive changes. An overview of the current state of research on fluoxetine for the treatment of anxiety alone or combined with depression is provided, along with its possible side effects. Also provided is scientific information is regarding the neurobiological bases of depression and therapeutic effects of fluoxetine during the different periods of menopause. This information could be useful in pharmacological strategies for the treatment of depression occurring in the menopausal women. One chapter focuses on how improved direct access to the liver protected inside the rib cage can be obtained in laparoscopic liver resection using its specific "e;Caudal approach"e;, decreasing the risk of refractory ascites and liver failure, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with chronic liver diseases. The nucleolus is packed with proteins involved in ribosome function and biogenesis, as well as other proteins involved in cell-cycle regulation, senescence and stress response. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of protein turnover in the nucleolus. As such, the authors discuss the nucleolus-localized protein degradation pathway, which is essential to ribosome production and cell-cycle progression. The concluding chapter focuses on the dye Congo red, which is used as a stain in microscopy to detect an abnormal material called amyloid. Amyloid consists of misfolded proteins that form fibrils which bind molecules of Congo red and orientate the molecules parallel to the long axis of the fibrils.