Research Triangle Park

About: Research Triangle Park is a nonprofit organization based out in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 24961 authors who have published 35800 publications receiving 1684504 citations. The organization is also known as: RTP.

Rational Use of in Vitro P-glycoprotein Assays in Drug Discovery

Abstract: P-glycoprotein (Pgp) affects the absorption, distribution, and clearance of a variety of compounds. Thus, identification of compounds that are Pgp substrates can aid drug candidate selection and optimization. Our goal was to evaluate three assays used to determine whether compounds are Pgp substrates. Sixty-six compounds were tested in monolayer efflux, ATPase, and calcein-AM assays. Assay results yielded two categories of compounds. Category I (n = 35) exhibited concordance across the assays. Category II (n = 31) revealed differences among the assays that related to the apparent permeability (P(app)) of the compounds. Within category II, two groups were discerned based on the absence (group IIA, n = 10, nontransported substrates) or presence (group IIB, n = 21, transported substrates) of monolayer efflux. Detection of efflux (group IIB) was associated with compounds having low/moderate P(app) values (mean = 16.6 nm/s), whereas inability to detect efflux (group IIA) was associated with compounds having high P(app) values (mean = 535 nm/s). The calcein-AM and ATPase assays revealed Pgp interactions for highly permeable group IIA compounds but were less responsive than monolayer efflux for low/moderate P(app) compounds of group IIB. All assays detected substrates across a broad range of P(app), but the efflux assay was more prone to fail at high P(app), whereas the calcein-AM and ATPase assays were more prone to fail at low P(app). When P(app) is low, efflux is a greater factor in the disposition of Pgp substrates. The efflux assay is more reliable at low/moderate P(app) and is the method of choice for evaluating drug candidates despite low throughput and reliance on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

HTAP_v2.2: a mosaic of regional and global emission grid maps for 2008 and 2010 to study hemispheric transport of air pollution

Abstract: The mandate of the Task Force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is to improve the scientific understanding of the intercontinental air pollution transport, to quantify impacts on human health, vegetation and climate, to identify emission mitigation options across the regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and to guide future policies on these aspects. The harmonization and improvement of regional emission inventories is imperative to obtain consolidated estimates on the formation of global-scale air pollution. An emissions data set has been constructed using regional emission grid maps (annual and monthly) for SO2, NOx, CO, NMVOC, NH3, PM10, PM2.5, BC and OC for the years 2008 and 2010, with the purpose of providing consistent information to global and regional scale modelling efforts. This compilation of different regional gridded inventories-including that of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for USA, the EPA and Environment Canada (for Canada), the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) for Europe, and the Model Inter-comparison Study for Asia (MICS-Asia III) for China, India and other Asian countries-was gap-filled with the emission grid maps of the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGARv4.3) for the rest of the world (mainly South America, Africa, Russia and Oceania). Emissions from seven main categories of human activities (power, industry, residential, agriculture, ground transport, aviation and shipping) were estimated and spatially distributed on a common grid of 0.1° × 0.1° longitude-latitude, to yield monthly, global, sector-specific grid maps for each substance and year. The HTAP-v2.2 air pollutant grid maps are considered to combine latest available regional information within a complete global data set. The disaggregation by sectors, high spatial and temporal resolution and detailed information on the data sources and references used will provide the user the required transparency. Because HTAP-v2.2 contains primarily official and/or widely used regional emission grid maps, it can be recommended as a global baseline emission inventory, which is regionally accepted as a reference and from which different scenarios assessing emission reduction policies at a global scale could start. An analysis of country-specific implied emission factors shows a large difference between industrialised countries and developing countries for acidifying gaseous air pollutant emissions (SO2 and NOx) from the energy and industry sectors. This is not observed for the particulate matter emissions (PM10, PM2.5), which show large differences between countries in the residential sector instead. The per capita emissions of all world countries, classified from low to high income, reveal an increase in level and in variation for gaseous acidifying pollutants, but not for aerosols. For aerosols, an opposite trend is apparent with higher per capita emissions of particulate matter for low income countries.

Drive mechanism for surgical instruments

Abstract: A surgical instrument for applying a ligating device to a surgical work site. The instrument is provided with a power subassembly which provides the power by which the ligating device is placed into proper position for being applied to the work site. In one embodiment, the instrument is a hemostatic clip applier and the power subassembly feeds the clips into position between the jaws of the applier which are then closed by squeezing the applier handles.

The rodent estrous cycle: characterization of vaginal cytology and its utility in toxicological studies

Abstract: While an evaluation of the estrous cycle in laboratory rodents can be a useful measure of the integrity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian reproductive axis, it can also serve as a way of insuring that animals exhibiting abnormal cycling patterns are disincluded from a study prior to exposure to a test compound. Assessment of vaginal cytology in regularly cycling animals also provides a means to establish a comparable endocrine milieu for animals at necropsy. The procedure for obtaining a vaginal smear is relatively non-invasive and is one to which animals can become readily accustomed. It requires few supplies, and with some experience the assessments can be easily performed in fresh, unstained smears, or in fixed, stained ones. When incorporated as an adjunct to other endpoint measures, a determination of a female's cycling status can contribute important information about the nature of a toxicant insult to the reproductive system. In doing so, it can help to integrate the data into a more comprehensive mechanistic portrait of the effect, and in terms of risk assessment, may provide some indication of a toxicant's impact on human reproductive physiology.