1,721,026 research outputs found

    Different plasma levels of nitric oxide in arterial and venous blood

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    Experimental investigations suggest that a basal release of nitric oxide (NO) occurs in arterial but not in venous endothelium. We therefore decided to compare plasma levels of NO in the arterial and venous circulation. Parallel blood samples were drawn from the radial artery and brachial vein in 15 healthy drug-free women. Nitric oxide levels were assessed by measuring plasma levels of nitrite and nitrate, the two stable oxidation products of NO metabolism. Plasma levels of NO metabolites in arterial blood were signi®cantly higher than in the paired venous blood samples (45á1 17á7 versus 22á5 8á5 lmol lA1, respectively, mean SD). The results of this preliminary study strongly suggest that the endothelial release of NO is probably different in arteries and veins in vivo; this is also consistent with previous literature indicating that basal release of NO occurs mainly from the endothelium of arteries but not from that of veins

    Effects of estrogen replacement therapy on plasma levels of nitric oxide in postmenopausal women

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    Our purpose was to assess the effects of estrogen replacement therapy on plasma levels of nitric oxide in postmenopausal women. STUDY DESIGN: The study, designed as a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial, involved 28 healthy postmenopausal women who had previously undergone hysterectomy. Women received either transdermal estradiol (50 g/day) (estradiol group) or placebo (placebo group) for 6 months continuously. At the end of month 6 the treatment allocations were opened, and then the treatments were exchanged for 1 month. The serum concentration of estradiol was measured at baseline before treatment and at the end of months 6 and 7. The plasma concentration of the stable oxidation products of nitric oxide was assessed before treatment and monthly until month 7. RESULTS: The mean baseline concentrations of nitric oxide metabolites in the estradiol and placebo groups were similar (mean and SD: 19+/-4.3 vs 21+/-5.6 micromol/L, respectively). At subsequent measurements from months 1 to 6, the mean concentration of nitric oxide metabolites increased significantly in the estradiol group alone, in which the concentration ranged between 33 6.4 and 36 8.5 micromol/L. At the end of month 7 the mean level of nitric oxide metabolites in women previously treated with estradiol fell to baseline value (19 2.6 micromol/L), whereas in the placebo group the level increased significantly (34 4.4 micromol/L). CONCLUSION: Estrogen replacement therapy induces a sustained increase in plasma levels of nitric oxide in postmenopausal women; the suspension of estrogen replacement therapy is followed by a significant reduction in nitric oxide levels. The results of this study suggest that a nitric oxide-related mechanism may help to explain the cardioprotective effect of estrogen replacement therapy in the postmenopausal perio

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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