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PubMedDate not supplied

United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service research on targeted management of the Formosan subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).

The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki is currently one of the most destructive pests in the USA. It is estimated to cost consumers over US dollars 1 billion annually for preventative and remedial treatment and to repair damage caused by this insect. The mission of the Formosan Subterranean Termite Research Unit of the Agricultural Research Service is to demonstrate the most effective existing termite management technologies, integrate them into effective management systems, and provide fundamental problem-solving research for long-term, safe, effective and environmentally friendly new technologies. This article describes the epidemiology of the pest and highlights the research accomplished by the Agricultural Research Service on area-wide management of the termite and fundamental research on its biology that might provide the basis for future management technologies. Fundamental areas that are receiving attention are termite detection, termite colony development, nutrition and foraging, and the search for biological control agents. Other fertile areas include understanding termite symbionts that may provide an additional target for control. Area-wide management of the termite by using population suppression rather than protection of individual structures has been successful; however, much remains to be done to provide long-term sustainable population control. An educational component of the program has provided reliable information to homeowners and pest-control operators that should help slow the spread of this organism and allow rapid intervention in those areas which it infests.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2001

Smoking cessation interventions among hospitalized patients: what have we learned?

BACKGROUND: We conducted a structured review of controlled studies on inpatient hospital-based smoking cessation interventions. METHODS: Electronic searches were conducted with two different search engines, and reference sections of articles located were also reviewed. The RE-AIM framework was used to organize the review around the issues of reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of interventions. RESULTS: Thirty-one intervention articles were located, 20 of which included a comparison condition and were included in the review. Overall, a moderate number of studies (13/20) reported on reach, which was highly variable and limited (30-50% in most studies), while few reported on implementation (7/20). Longer term cessation results produced relative risk ratios of 0.9-2.3, with a median of 1.5. Increases in quit rates above the control condition ranged from -1 to 10% (median 4%) among general admission patients and from 7 to 36% (median 15%) among cardiac admission patients. Studies with a dedicated smoking cessation counselor and 3-5 months of relapse prevention had a significant impact on cessation rates. Study settings (adoption) were limited to university, Veterans affairs, and HMO hospitals. Maintenance at the individual level was variable and related to the presence of a relatively intensive initial intervention and a sustained relapse prevention intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Efficacious inpatient smoking programs have been developed and validated. The challenge now is to translate these interventions more widely into practice, given changing hospitalization patterns.

Hospitalization↗
PubMed2004

Food-borne intestinal trematodiases in humans.

Food-borne trematodiases still remain a public health problem world-wide, despite changes in eating habits, alterations in social and agricultural practices, health education, industrialization, environmental alteration, and broad-spectrum anthelmintics. Food-borne trematodiases usually occur focally, are still persistently endemic in some parts of the world, and are most prevalent in remote rural places among school-age children, low-wage earners, and women of child-bearing age. Intestinal fluke diseases are aggravated by socio-economic factors such as poverty, malnutrition, an explosively growing free-food market, a lack of sufficient food inspection and sanitation, other helminthiases, and declining economic conditions. Control programs implemented for food-borne zoonoses and sustained in endemic areas are not fully successful for intestinal food-borne trematodiases because of centuries-old traditions of eating raw or insufficiently cooked food, widespread zoonotic reservoirs, promiscuous defecation, and the use of "night soil" (human excrement collected from latrines) as fertilizer. This review examines food-borne intestinal trematodiases associated with species in families of the Digenea: Brachylaimidae, Diplostomidae, Echinostomatidae, Fasciolidae, Gastrodiscidae, Gymnophallidae, Heterophyidae, Lecithodendriidae, Microphallidae, Nanophyetidae, Paramphistomatidae, Plagiorchiidae, and Strigeidae. Because most of the implicated species are in the Echinostomatidae and Heterophyidae, emphasis in the review is placed on species in these families.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Corporate healthcare costs and smoke-free environments.

Results from two studies were combined to assess potential market impact for programs to reduce health risks, as well as to define how small businesses can better control their healthcare operating expenses, widen their profit margins, and increase their productivity. The most effective solutions resulted from partnerships among the medical, business, and patient communities for the joint implementation of intensive smoking-cessation programs. In the first study, the chief executive officers of 1,100 small businesses in the Chicago area were polled regarding their opinions on healthcare costs. During the 4-year study period, 1986-1990, we observed a significant increase in their recognition of the impact of employee smoking on rising healthcare costs. From this study we identified three profile attributes of small-business leaders. First, these leaders possess a weak knowledge base regarding healthcare cost-containment methods; second, they understand the magnitude of the impact-rising healthcare costs have on corporate profitability; and third, they have a strong level of confidence (85%) that lifestyle modification programs for their employees, such as smoking cessation, can help control healthcare costs. In the second study we found that smoking-cessation programs with physician involvement, addiction assessment and treatment, and behavioral training and follow-up are preferred by those who want to stop smoking. Such programs have also enjoyed the highest level of sustained success.

Efficiency↗
PubMed1989

Inducibility of sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia as a prognostic indicator in survivors of recent myocardial infarction: a prospective evaluation in relation to other prognostic variables.

The prognostic significance of sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia inducible with up to three extrastimuli was assessed in relation to other prognostic markers, including clinical assessment, signal-average electrocardiogram (ECG), Holter monitoring, ejection fraction measurement and exercise testing, in 75 patients after recent myocardial infarction. Among eight patients with inducible sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, six suffered arrhythmic events during a median follow-up period of 16 months. No patient without inducible sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia suffered an arrhythmic event. Multivariate analysis showed that of all the variables examined, inducible sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia was the only independent predictor of arrhythmic events during the follow-up period. The sensitivity for predicting arrhythmic events by this response was 100%, the specificity 97% and the positive predictive accuracy 75%. Individually, the other prognostic variables were less sensitive and much less accurate predictors of arrhythmic events, but the combination of the occurrence of acute phase complications or frequent ectopic activity with an abnormal signal-averaged ECG approached the sensitivity and accuracy of inducible sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. The prognostic utility of programmed ventricular stimulation in patients with recent myocardial infarction is limited because comparable information can be obtained less invasively. However, the test may have a role in selecting therapy in patients judged to be at risk from arrhythmias on the basis of noninvasive assessment.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Advancing age progressively affects obstacle avoidance skills in the elderly.

The ability to adequately avoid obstacles while walking is an important skill that allows safe locomotion over uneven terrain. The high proportion of falls in the elderly that is associated to tripping over obstacles potentially illustrates an age-related deterioration of this locomotor skill. Some studies have compared young and old adults, but very little is known about the changes occurring within different age groups of elderly. In the present study, obstacle avoidance performance was studied in 25 young (20-37 years) and 99 older adults (65-88 years). The participants walked on a treadmill at a speed of 3 km/h. An obstacle was dropped 30 times in front of the left foot at various phases in the step cycle. Success rates (successful avoidance) were calculated and related to the time available between obstacle appearance and the estimated instant of foot contact with the obstacle (available response times or ARTs ranging from 200 to more than 350 ms). In addition, latencies of avoidance reactions, the choice of avoidance strategies (long or short step strategy, LSS or SSS), and three spatial parameters related to obstacle avoidance (toe distance, foot clearance, and heel distance) were determined for each participant. Compared to the young, the older adults had lower success rates, especially at short ARTs. Furthermore, they had longer reaction times, more LSS reactions, smaller toe and heel distances, and larger foot clearances. Within the group of elderly, only the 65-69 year olds were not different from young adults with respect to success rate, despite marked changes in the other parameters measured. In particular, even this younger group of elderly showed a dramatic reduction in the amount of SSS trials compared to young adults. Overall, age was a significant predictor of success rates, reaction times, and toe distances. These parameters deteriorated with advancing age. Finally, avoidance success rates at short ARTs were considerably worse in elderly participants who sustained recurrent falls in the six-month period prior to the assessment compared to those who sustained no or only one fall. An exercise program has been shown to improve avoidance success rates, especially at short ARTs, but the training effects on the determinants of success still need to be assessed.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2005

The roles of chronic pressure and volume overload states in induction of arrhythmias: an animal model of physiologic sequelae after repair of tetralogy of Fallot.

OBJECTIVE: Sudden death occurs in as many as 8% of patients after repair of tetralogy of Fallot and has been attributed to arrhythmias. The purpose of this study was to establish an animal model to evaluate the individual contribution of different physiologic sequelae after tetralogy of Fallot repair in the development of late-onset arrhythmias. METHODS: Forty-nine piglets were divided into 5 groups: (1) pulmonary artery band; (2) pulmonary valvotomy; (3) pulmonary artery band plus pulmonary valvotomy; (4) infundibular scar; and (5) age-matched control animals. Baseline and follow-up electrocardiograms were obtained and recorded, as well as changes in QRS duration. A total of 45 animals underwent hemodynamic evaluation and programmed electrical stimulation at 5.6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation) were induced in 31.1%, and atrial arrhythmias were induced in 33.3%. The pulmonary valvotomy group was 30 times more likely to evidence arrhythmias than control animals for sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation, as well as atrial arrhythmias (P = .01). The pulmonary artery band group was 15 times more likely to evidence atrial arrhythmias than control animals (P = .02). Prolonged QRS duration was predictive of inducibility of both atrial arrhythmias (P < .01) and sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (P = .01). Mean right atrial (P = .01) and capillary wedge (P = .01) pressures predicted atrial arrhythmia inducibility. Right ventricular end-diastolic pressure predicted atrial arrhythmia (P= .01) and sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation inducibility (P = .05). Right ventricular systolic pressure did not predict inducibility of either atrial arrhythmias (P = .10) or sustained ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (P = .94). CONCLUSIONS: Chronic right ventricular volume overload resulted in an increased incidence of inducible ventricular and atrial arrhythmias.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Application of assisted reproduction for population management in felids: the potential and reality for conservation of small cats.

Assisted reproductive technology (ART), using the primary applied tools of AI, ET, and sperm and embryo cryopreservation, has been promoted over the past decades for its potential to conserve endangered wildlife, including felids. However, if the goal is efficient, consistent production of viable offspring for population management, then the 'potential' of ART has yet to become 'reality' for any non-domestic cat species. For the five small-sized felids (i.e., Brazilian ocelot, fishing cat, Pallas' cat, Arabian sand cat, black-footed cat) managed by Species Survival Plans (SSPs) in North American zoos, achieving this potential may be an absolute necessity if genetically viable captive populations are to be maintained into the next century. Modeling programs suggest that current SSP populations are not sustainable without periodic introduction of new founders and improved demographic parameters, including longer generation intervals and larger population sizes. ART provides the means to address each of these management challenges. In each small cat SSP species, fecal hormone metabolite assays and seminal analysis have proven useful for characterizing basal reproductive parameters, a necessary prerequisite to developing ART. Of the five SSP species, ART has been used to produce living offspring only in the ocelot, including after AI with frozen-thawed spermatozoa and following transfer of frozen-thawed IVF embryos. The true efficacy of these techniques, however, is still unknown. To improve the applicability of ART for population management, priorities for immediate research include further investigation of ovarian stimulation protocols, sperm and embryo cryopreservation methods, embryo culture systems, and fetal and neonatal viability following ART.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Using clinical practice analysis to improve care.

BACKGROUND: Improving clinical outcomes requires that physicians examine and change their clinical practice. Sustaining outcome improvements requires a dedicated and dynamic program of analyzing and improving patient care. In 1992 North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) implemented a program to improve physicians' clinical efficiency. CLINICAL PRACTICE ANALYSIS ( CPA): CPA uses evidenced-based guidelines and examines each physician's resource utilization, processes, and outcomes for a diagnosis or procedure. Clinical practice profiles are developed, and individual performance is compared to local and national benchmarks and presented to physicians. The CPA process is used on its own or as a component of more comprehensive performance improvements projects. Physicians have been engaged in outcome improvement by more than 55 CPA projects. RESULTS: NHMS has progressively reduced its Medicare loss and its length of stay (LOS) to 4.9 days. Mortality and readmission rates have been reduced in specific diagnoses. The community-acquired pneumonia project reduced the LOS from 7.7 to 5.1 days, decreaesed the mortality rate from 8.9% to 5.0%, and decreased the cost of care from $4,269 to $3,834. The ischemic stroke project reduced the aspiration pneumonia rate from 6.4% to 0% and mortality from 11.0% to 4.6%. Patients' average LOS decreased from 10.7 days to 6.5 days, and their cost of care was reduced by $1,100 per patient. DISCUSSION: Providing individualized data has engaged physicians in improving outcomes. The program has evolved from improving efficiency to managing outcomes and from simple CPA projects to integrated performance improvement projects; however, the CPA process remains the cornerstone of the current process.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ecological change and the challenges for monitoring.

Anthropogenic activities are changing the chemical composition of the global atmosphere. This results in changes to the physical properties as well, such as the radiation balance. These properties are important input variables for biospheric processes. This paper discusses a number of documented ecological changes that have occurred in response to the changing atmosphere. Much of the information has been derived from data collected at integrated monitoring sites. The changing atmosphere is expected to result in many more ecological changes to resources of economic as well as environmental value. Defining and understanding these changes will be necessary for managing sustainable development and poses major challenges for monitoring programs in general and for integrated sites in particular.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed2005

[Subtainable health promotion via organisational development--a model project for teachers in professional training schools].

The goal of this project is the development, implementation and evaluation of a concept designed for sustainable health promotion among occupational and trade school teachers. We assume that for sustainable health promotion -- along with a behavioral prevention program -- a change is necessary in the structure, as well as, the working and communication processes within schools. The realization of early teacher participation and self regulated cooperative groups initiates comprehensive and goal-oriented developmental processes in the project schools. The organizational development process was accomplished in the following way: At the beginning we conducted a diagnosis of school-specific and individual health risks and the resources available to the project schools. The results were reported for both the individual and for the teacher group. This was intended to clarify the potential for improvement and, thus, strengthen the teachers' motivation toward processes of change. Following the diagnosis, the teachers chose areas of stress-related strain and then worked in groups to develop and implement behaviour and working condition-oriented intervention strategies for health promotion. The diagnosis results confirm the necessity of school-specific health promotion: the schools demonstrate very different demand and resource profiles. Furthermore, is has become evident that the central success factor for health promotion in schools is the teachers' willingness for change. The individual and group reports of the diagnosis results seem to have made clear how essential individual and organisational changes are.

Education, Professional↗
PubMed2003

A dugwell program to provide arsenic-safe water in West Bengal, India: preliminary results.

In 1982, Dr. K. C. Saha, a dermatologist of Calcutta, West Bengal, identified patients with skin lesions from the district of 24 Parganas, leading him and others to search for a cause. The cause was soon identified to be arsenic in drinking water, but even today, 20 years later, large number of people continue to drink arsenic contaminated water and patients are increasing in number. Project Well is a program chosen for implementation in some villages of North 24 Parganas. Arsenic safe drinking water is provided for adopted villages by constructing shallow, concrete dugwells designed to tap the water of the unconfined aquifer, 20-30 feet below ground level, that contains low levels (< 0.05 mg/L) of arsenic in the target region. The traditional dugwell design is modified by use of tube well hand pumps to withdraw water. The project includes community involvement, programs to increase awareness of the need to drink arsenic safe water, and training in monitoring of dugwell water for arsenic and harmful pathogens. Disinfecting of the water and regulating the water hazard diagram are also included in the training program. The plan is to make the system sustainable at the village level using indigenous labor and materials.

Arsenic↗
PubMed1998

Screening for congenital hypothyroidism used as an indicator of the degree of iodine deficiency and of its control.

Neonatal thyroid screening using serum thyrotropin (TSH) as the primary screening test detects not only permanent sporadic congenital hypothyroidism, whose incidence is about 1 per 4000 births, but also compensated or transient primary hypothyroidism, whose incidence can be as high as 1 in 10 neonates and whose main cause is iodine deficiency. Elevated serum TSH in the neonate indicates insufficient supply of thyroid hormones to the developing brain, and therefore, constitutes the only indicator that allows prediction of possible impairment of mental development at a population level, which is the main consequence of iodine deficiency. Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) included neonatal TSH as one of the indicators for assessing iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and their control. In the absence of iodine deficiency, the frequency of neonatal TSH above 5 mU/L whole blood (or 10 mU/L serum) is less than 3%. A frequency of 3%-19.9% indicates mild IDD. Frequencies of 20%-39.9% and above 40% indicate moderate and severe IDD, respectively. Neonates exhibit elevated serum TSH more frequently than adults for a similar degree of iodine deficiency. Consequently, they appear hypersensitive to the effects of iodine deficiency. This characteristic is explained by a particularly low iodine content of the thyroid of neonates and, consequently, by an accelerated turnover rate of their intrathyroidal iodine reserves. This turnover rate is 1% in adults. It is 17% in the neonate in conditions of iodine repletion, but is as high as 62% and 125% in conditions of moderate and severe iodine deficiency, respectively. Such an accelerated turnover rate requires thyroid hyperstimulation by TSH that is morphologically evidenced even in moderately iodine deficient neonates. Neonatal screening using primary TSH is implemented in most countries with mild IDD where it detects the cases of sporadic, permanent congenital hypothyroidism and where it is also used as a monitoring tool for IDD evaluation and control. However, the implementation of such programs in countries affected by moderate or severe IDD is still insufficient because of lack of resources of the countries. This should be considered in the framework of the external support often provided to these countries for the implementation of programs of universal salt iodization. Monitoring of these programs in order to achieve the goal of sustainable elimination of IDD now constitutes an absolute priority.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

DNA damage signaling and p53-dependent senescence after prolonged beta-interferon stimulation.

Interferons are cytokines with potent antiviral and antiproliferative activities. We report that although a transient exposure to beta-interferon induces a reversible cell cycle arrest, a sustained treatment triggers a p53-dependent senescence program. Beta-interferon switched on p53 in two steps. First, it induced the acetylation of p53 at lysine 320 and its dephosphorylation at serine 392 but not p53 activity. Later on, it triggered a DNA signaling pathway, the phosphorylation of p53 at serine 15 and its transcriptional activity. In agreement, beta-interferon-treated cells accumulated gamma-H2AX foci and phosphorylated forms of ATM and CHK2. The DNA damage signaling pathway was activated by an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by interferon and was inhibited by the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine. More important, RNA interference against ATM inhibited p53 phosphorylation at serine 15, p53 activity and senescence in response to beta-interferon. Beta-interferon-induced senescence was more efficient in cells expressing either, p53, or constitutive allele of ERK2 or RasV12. Hence, beta-interferon-induced senescence targets preferentially cells with premalignant changes.

Acetylation↗
PubMed2001

Cancer genetics fundamentals.

It is often said that cancer is genetic. What exactly does that mean? This article is our answer to that question at the turn of the millennium. We present models of carcinogenesis, review basic cancer genetics terminology, and explain some of the fundamental genetic changes common to all types of cancer. These are organized into 6 sections of (1) self-sufficiency in growth signals, (2) insensitivity to growth-inhibitory signals, (3) evasion of programmed cell death, (4) limitless replicative potential, (5) sustained angiogenesis, and (6) tissue invasion and metastases. Underlying all of these changes are the even more fundamental enabling factors of genetic instability on both the chromosomal and the gene level. Finally, we look toward the future in a field where the future is now!

Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of tiapamil in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

The effect of tiapamil was studied in 9 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome using programmed stimulation of the heart. Before the drug, sustained orthodromic tachycardias could be initiated in 7 patients and antidromic tachycardia in 2 by premature atrial and/or ventricular stimulation. An intravenous bolus of tiapamil, 2 mg/kg, terminated the tachycardia in 7 out of 8 cases by a block in the atrioventricular (AV) node. Tiapamil lengthened the effective refractory period of the AV node in the only patient in whom it could be measured and the atrial effective refractory period in 1 out of 9 cases, but the drug had no influence on antegrade or retrograde refractory periods of the accessory pathway or on that of the ventricle. The AV nodal conduction time (A-H interval) was prolonged. Following tiapamil, it was not possible to initiate the tachycardia in 4 cases, in 2 patients the tachycardia zone widened, and in 3 it was unaltered. In the latter cases, the cycle length of the tachycardia was increased. Tiapamil appears to be useful for the termination of tachycardia and also for its prevention in some cases. In others, it may facilitate the inhibition of tachycardia. The delayed AV nodal conduction during sinus rhythm augments the area of ventricular preexcitation, which may facilitate the electrocardiographic localization of the accessory pathway.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A randomized controlled trial of a smoking cessation intervention for pregnant adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The smoking prevalence rate among pregnant adolescents has been estimated at 59-62%, and 60-80% of these adolescents continue to smoke throughout their pregnancies. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of smoking cessation strategies tailored to the pregnant adolescent to attain and maintain abstinence. The specific aim was to examine differences in short- and long-term smoking behaviors among three groups: Teen FreshStart (TFS), Teen FreshStart Plus Buddy (TFS-B), and Usual Care (UC) control. METHODS: In this randomized controlled intervention study, a 3-group (TFS, TFS-B, and UC) by 3-occasion (baseline, 8 weeks postrandomization, and 1-year following study entry) design was used. The study included 142 pregnant adolescents who were aged 14 to 19 years. Both self-reported smoking status collected on the Smoking History Questionnaire and saliva cotinine levels were used to identify smoking behaviors. RESULTS: There were no significant differences among the three treatment groups at baseline in terms of the racial distribution, age, gestational age, age of menses initiation, number in family household, number of family members who smoked, or tobacco use. A significant difference between the UC group and the TFS-B group (p = .010) was seen in smoking behaviors measured 8 weeks following treatment initiation. At 1 year following study entry, however, there were no differences between the groups in smoking behaviors. DISCUSSION: The TFS-B intervention was more effective in attaining short-term smoking cessation in the pregnant adolescent than TFS or UC. Findings suggest that the peer-enhanced programming had a limited effect but could not sustain the participant beyond postpartum (1 year following study entry). Future studies should include relapse prevention to sustain smoking abstinence into the postpartum period.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Store depletion and store-operated Ca2+ current in human prostate cancer LNCaP cells: involvement in apoptosis.

1. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms involved in the induction of apoptosis by the Ca2+-ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin (TG), in androgen-sensitive human prostate cancer LNCaP cells. 2. Exposure of fura-2-loaded LNCaP cells to TG in the presence of extracellular calcium produced an increase in intracellular Ca2+, the first phase of which was associated with depletion of intracellular stores and the second one with consecutive extracellular Ca2+ entry through plasma membrane, store-operated Ca2+ channels (SOCs). 3. For the first time we have identified and characterized the SOC-mediated membrane current (Istore) in prostate cells using whole-cell, cell-attached, and perforated patch-clamp techniques, combined with fura-2 microspectrofluorimetric and Ca2+-imaging measurements. 4. Istore in LNCaP cells lacked voltage-dependent gating and displayed an inwardly rectifying current-voltage relationship. The unitary conductance of SOCs with 80 mM Ca2+ as a charge carrier was estimated at 3.2 +/- 0.4 pS. The channel has a high selectivity for Ca2+ over monovalent cations and is inhibited by Ni2+ (0.5-3 mM) and La3+ (1 microM). 5. Treatment of LNCaP cells with TG (0.1 microM) induced apoptosis as judged from morphological changes. Decreasing extracellular free Ca2+ to 200 nM or adding 0.5 mM Ni2+ enhanced TG-induced apoptosis. 6. The ability of TG to induce apoptosis was not reduced by loading the cells with intracellular Ca2+ chelator (BAPTA-AM). 7. These results indicate that in androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells the depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores may trigger apoptosis but that there is no requirement for the activation of store-activated Ca2+ current and sustained Ca2+ entry in induction and development of programmed cell death.

Androgens↗