Synthetic progestins (SPs) Levonorgestrel (LNG), Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA) and Megestrol Acetate (MGA) are more potent than progesterone to induce estrous behavior (lordosis and proceptive behaviors) in estrogen-primed rats. To test the role of progesterone receptor (PR) and estrogen receptor (ER) in the sexual response in rodents induced by SPs, three experiments were designed. In experiment 1, four dose levels (range 1.3-1300 ng) of the three SPs were infused into the right lateral ventricle (icv) to estrogen primed rats. All SPs induced significantly sexual behavior, and calculated ED50s showed that MPA was the most effective progestin to elicit the estrous behavior, followed by LNG and MGA. In experiment 2, the estrous behavior stimulating effects of all three SPs (at a dose of 1300 ng) were significantly reduced by the antiprogestin RU486, indicating that binding to the PR is required for these effects. Interestingly, tamoxifen (TMX) blocked the sexual behavior induced by MPA and MGA, but failed to block significantly the sexual behavior response induced by LNG. In experiment 3, was assessed the role of the Src/MAPK system in the facilitation of estrous behavior induced by the three SPs. Icv infusion of either PP2 (Src inhibitor) or PD98059 (MAPK inhibitor) prior of 1300 ng of SPs infusion fail to inhibit both lordosis and proceptive behaviors induced by the three SPs. The results point clearly toward an active role of the PR in the sexual behavior display elicited by the three SPs. Besides, the ER seems to be required only for the progesterone derivatives MGA and MPA and unnecessary for the androgen derivative LNG which is readily reduced at C5. The active system Src/MAPK related in some extent with the PR in neoplasic cells is not linked with the present results in the central nervous system.

Aim: To evaluate the changes in left and right ventricular volumes during adjuvant treatment with trastuzumab in women with HER2 positive breast cancer.
Methods: 115 women with HER2 positive primary breast cancer treated with trastuzumab after anthracycline therapy in the adjuvant setting were included. Patients had a routine multigated radionuclide angiography (MUGA) before the initiation of trastuzumab as well as every third month during treatment.
Results: After 270 days of trastuzumab mean left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic volumes increased from 86.8 ml to 96.5 ml and from 30.4 ml to 39.3 ml, respectively (p = 9*10-9 and 2*10-10). Simultaneously, mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decreased from 66.3 (± 9.3) to 60.7 (± 9.7) (p = 6*10-10). An LVEF decrease = 10 percentage points (pp) from baseline to 270 days was found in 37 women and 16 experienced a decrease of = 15 pp, while 22 women experienced a decrease in LVEF to = 50%. Significant changes in mean blood pressure (120/73 to 125/75, p = 0.007) and heart rate (72 to 67 bpm, p = 4*10-5) were observed, but changes were not substantial enough to account for the changes in ejection fraction and left ventricular volumes. Though right ventricular volumes increased (mean end diastolic from 114 to 131 ml, mean end systolic from 63.3 to 73.3ml) no significant changes in right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) were found.
Conclusion: Mean LVEF decreased significantly during treatment with trastuzumab, while right ventricular ejection fraction was apparently not affected to the same extent.

The aim of this work is to study the ability of activated carbon (both powdered activated carbon: PAC and granular activated carbon: GAC) to adsorb trihalomethane (THM) precursors (mainly humic substances) in drinking water treatment. Three different types of water were studied in this work: natural water from the Úzquiza Reservoir (Burgos, Spain), synthetic water prepared using natural fulvic acids extracted from the Úzquiza Reservoir and synthetic water prepared using a commercially supplied humic acid.

Lesch-Nyhan-Nyhan disease is (LND) an X-linked recessive disorder of the purine salvage pathway characterized by hyperuricemia. Untreated patients develop gout and uric acid nephrolithiasis. The disease also characterized by cognitive impairment, dystonia and dramatic behavioral manifestations, including the hallmark of features of severe, involuntary and wide ranging self-injurious behaviors, most characteristically biting, leading to loss of tissue about the lips and fingers.

Background: Aspirin and statins are drugs with a number of common activities suitable for cardiovascular diseases prevention. In addition, it seems to be well established that aspirin exerts a prophylactic effect on colorectal cancer development, whereas this quality is under debate while statins are reviewed. The aim of the present work was to examine the effect of aspirin, pravastatin and atorvastatin - each one alone or one of the statins in combination with aspirin on cell proliferation of HT-29 or RKO human colon carcinoma cells and on the immune cross talk between peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and the cancer cells.