Time-course alterations of plasma and soleus agouti-related peptide and relationship to ATP, glycogen, cortisol, and insulin concentrations following treadmill training programs in male rats.

No studies have examined the time-course changes of the appetite stimulating hormone, agouti-related peptide (AgRP), induced by exercise training. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of short (3 weeks), moderate (9 weeks), and long-term (12 weeks) treadmill training on plasma and soleus concentrations of AgRP, as well as ATP and glycogen concentrations in soleus muscle and liver tissues. 54 Wistar male rats were randomly assigned into control (total n=27; 3 week control=10; 9 week control=8; 12 week control=9) and training (total n=27; 3 week trained=10; 9 week trained=8; 12 week trained=9). The training groups ran for 60 min/d, 5 d/wk at 25 m/min and 0% grade for 3, 9, and 12 weeks. After the last exercise session soleus muscle, liver, and plasma were collected and frozen. Results demonstrated that after 3, 9, and 12 weeks of exercise training there was an increase in plasma and soleus AgRP that declined with age. Soleus muscle glycogen was inversely related to AgRP. After 9 weeks of training there was a significant decrease and increase in plasma insulin and cortisol, respectively. Thus, as little as 3 weeks of running enhances AgRP concentration in rat soleus and plasma whereas changes in liver ATP and glycogen and soleus muscle glycogen require 9 weeks for alteration. Plasma and soleus muscle AgRP decline with age, and AgRP concentration in plasma and soleus are related to insulin, soleus ATP, and liver glycogen.

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of enterococci in intensive care units in Sweden evaluated by different MIC breakpoint systems.

Three hundred and twenty-two (322) clinical isolates were collected from patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) at eight Swedish hospitals between December 1996 and December 1998. Of the isolates, 244 (76%) were Enterococcus faecalis, 74 (23%) were Enterococcus faecium and four (1%) were other Enterococcus spp. MICs of ampicillin, imipenem, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, trovafloxacin, clinafloxacin, gentamicin, streptomycin, vancomycin, teicoplanin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid and evernimicin were determined by Etest. Susceptible and resistant isolates were defined according to the species-related MIC breakpoints of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) and the Swedish Reference Group for Antibiotics (SRGA). Tentative breakpoints were applied for new/experimental antibiotics. Multidrug resistance among enterococci in ICUs is not uncommon in Sweden, particularly among E. faecium, and includes ampicillin resistance and concomitant resistance to fluoroquinolones. Almost 20% of E. faecalis isolates showed high-level resistance to gentamicin and concomitant resistance to fluoroquinolones. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci were only found sporadically. Among the new antimicrobial agents, linezolid and evernimicin showed the best activity against all enterococcal isolates. There was good concordance between the BSAC, NCCLS and SRGA breakpoints in detecting resistance. When applying the SRGA breakpoints for susceptibility, isolates were more frequently interpreted as intermediate. This might indicate earlier detection of emerging resistance using the SRGA breakpoint when the native population is considered susceptible, but with the risk that isolates belonging to the native susceptible population will be incorrectly interpreted as intermediate.