University of Alcalá

About: University of Alcalá is a education organization based out in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 10795 authors who have published 20718 publications receiving 410089 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Alcala & University of Alcala de Henares.

Detection of serum immunoglobulins in wild birds by direct ELISA: a methodological study to validate the technique in different species using antichicken antibodies

Abstract: Summary 1. This study presents an easy protocol to measure the amount of immunoglobulins from the blood serum of different bird species in the wild ( Ficedula hypoleuca Pallas, Parus caeruleus L., Lanius meridionalis Temminkck, Lanius collurio L., Athene noctua Scopoli and Falco tinnunculus L.) by direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA using commercial antichicken antibodies. 2. Additionally, the ELISA technique is validated for detecting serum immunoglobulins by means of other electrophoretic (sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE, and native electrophoresis) and immunological (Western blot) methods. 3. The results by Western blot show that the commercial antibody recognized proteins with apparent molecular weight according to heavy and light chains of immunoglobulins. 4. Both ELISA and Western blot data were correlated, implying that the commercial antibody bound to immunoglobulins and not to other proteins or ELISA plates. Densitometric data achieved by SDS-PAGE and native electrophoresis were only correlated in some species indicating a problem in detecting clearly the heavy and light chains, and γ -globulin fraction, respectively. 5. It is concluded that the proposed protocol is easy to carry out and may be used to detect total serum immunoglobulins from most bird species.

Lifestyle interventions for the prevention and treatment of hypertension

Abstract: Hypertension affects approximately one third of the world's adult population and is a major cause of premature death despite considerable advances in pharmacological treatments. Growing evidence supports the use of lifestyle interventions for the prevention and adjuvant treatment of hypertension. In this Review, we provide a summary of the epidemiological research supporting the preventive and antihypertensive effects of major lifestyle interventions (regular physical exercise, body weight management and healthy dietary patterns), as well as other less traditional recommendations such as stress management and the promotion of adequate sleep patterns coupled with circadian entrainment. We also discuss the physiological mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of these lifestyle interventions on hypertension, which include not only the prevention of traditional risk factors (such as obesity and insulin resistance) and improvements in vascular health through an improved redox and inflammatory status, but also reduced sympathetic overactivation and non-traditional mechanisms such as increased secretion of myokines.

Half a century of antidepressant drugs: on the clinical introduction of monoamine oxidase inhibitors, tricyclics, and tetracyclics. Part I: monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

Abstract: MILESTONES OF PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT The 50th anniversary of antidepressant pharmacotherapy is worth remembering. We review the onset of drug treatment with convincing antidepressive efficacy in 2 parts, and in this first part, we recapitulate on the development and clinical introduction of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI). Before the clinical introduction of the first antidepressants, imipramine and iproniazid, the therapeutic choice in dealing with mood disorders was extremely small. In the early 20th century, the agents used were chloral hydrate, barbiturates, amphetamines, and even opiate derivatives in agitated melancholic patients. During the first half of that century biological treatments were insulin coma, chemical and electric shock therapy, or the famous and widespread Bsleep cures.[ Available chemical preparations were only some nonspecific ones, such as succinic dinitrite, malonic nitrite, or lactic acid with rather unsatisfactory antidepressant results. In the 1950s, a veritable revolution took place in the fields of psychopharmacology and psychiatry with the clinical introduction of the main groups of psychoactive substances still used today. Chance played an important role in the discovery of the majority of psychotropic drugs in the early phases of psychopharmacology; in addition, a large dose of wisdom and astute clinical observation3 was truly important to the final results of these research processes. It suffices to highlight, apart from the discovery of imipramine and the psychiatric use of iproniazid, the discovery of the antimanic properties of lithium in 1949, the clinical introduction of chlorpromazine in 1952 and meprobamate in 1954, and, finally, the introduction of chlordiazepoxide in 1960. This contributes to the 1950s being considered to be the Bgolden decade of psychopharmacology.[