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Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase
Fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH (, oleamide hydrolase, anandamide amidohydrolase) is a member of the serine hydrolase family of enzymes. It was first shown to break down anandamide in 1993. In humans, it is encoded by the gene ''FAAH''.; Function FAAH is an integral membrane hydrolase with a single ''N''-terminal transmembrane domain. ''In vitro'', FAAH has esterase and amidase activity. ''In vivo'', FAAH is the principal catabolic enzyme for a class of bioactive lipids called the fatty acid amides (FAAs). Members of the FAAs include: * Anandamide (''N''-arachidonoylethanolamine), an endocannabinoid * 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), an endocannabinoid. * Other ''N''-acylethanolamines, such as ''N''-oleoylethanolamine and ''N''-palmitoylethanolamine * The sleep-inducing lipid oleamide * The ''N''-acyltaurines, which are agonists of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of calcium channels. ''FAAH'' knockout mice display highly elevated (>15-fold) levels of ''N'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serine Hydrolase
Serine hydrolases are one of the largest known enzyme classes comprising approximately ~200 enzymes or 1% of the genes in the human proteome. A defining characteristic of these enzymes is the presence of a particular serine at the active site, which is used for the hydrolysis of substrates. The hydrolysis of the ester or peptide bond proceeds in two steps. First, the acyl part of the substrate (the acid part of an ester or the part of a peptide ending in a carboxyl group) is transferred to the serine, making a new ester or amide bond and releasing the other part of the substrate (the alcohol of an ester or the part of the peptide ending in an amino group) is released. Later, in a slower step, the bond between the serine and the acyl group is hydrolyzed by water or hydroxide ion, regenerating free enzyme. Unlike other, non-catalytic, serines, the reactive serine of these hydrolases is typically activated by a proton relay involving a catalytic triad consisting of the serine, an acidi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oleamide
Oleamide is an organic compound with the formula CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7CONH2(. It is the amide derived from the fatty acid oleic acid. It is a colorless waxy solid and occurs in nature. Sometimes labeled as a fatty acid primary amide (FAPA), it is biosynthesized from N-oleoylglycine. Biochemical and medical aspects In terms of natural occurrence, oleamide was first detected in human plasma. It was later shown to accumulate in the cerebrospinal fluid during sleep deprivation and induces sleep in animals. It has been considered as a potential treatment for mood and sleep disorders, as well as cannabinoid-regulated depression. In terms of its sleep inducing effects, it is speculated that oleamide interacts with multiple neurotransmitter systems. Some in-vitro studies show that the cis enantomer of oleamide is an agnoist for the cannabinoid receptor CB-1 with an affinity around 8 micromolar. However, given oleamide's relatively low affinity for CB-1 and uncertainty about the concentr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flurbiprofen
Flurbiprofen is a member of the phenylalkanoic acid derivative family of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It is primarily indicated as a pre-operative anti-miotic (in an ophthalmic solution) as well as orally for arthritis or dental pain. Side effects are analogous to those of ibuprofen. It was derived from propionic acid by the research arm of Boots UK during the 1960s, a period which also included the discovery of ibuprofen, indometacin, diclofenac, naproxen, ketoprofen, and sulindac. It was patented in 1964 by Boots UK and approved for medical use in 1987. It was approved in the US in 1988; the first generic was approved in 1994. Adverse effects In October 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required the drug label to be updated for all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications to describe the risk of kidney problems in unborn babies that result in low amniotic fluid. They recommend avoiding NSAIDs in pregnant women at 20 weeks or later in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzyme Inhibitor
An enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that binds to an enzyme and blocks its activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions necessary for life, in which substrate molecules are converted into products. An enzyme facilitates a specific chemical reaction by binding the substrate to its active site, a specialized area on the enzyme that accelerates the most difficult step of the reaction. An enzyme inhibitor stops ("inhibits") this process, either by binding to the enzyme's active site (thus preventing the substrate itself from binding) or by binding to another site on the enzyme such that the enzyme's catalysis of the reaction is blocked. Enzyme inhibitors may bind reversibly or irreversibly. Irreversible inhibitors form a chemical bond with the enzyme such that the enzyme is inhibited until the chemical bond is broken. By contrast, reversible inhibitors bind non-covalently and may spontaneously leave the enzyme, allowing the enzyme to resume its function. Reve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause physical and cognitive symptoms, such as restlessness, irritability, easy fatiguability, difficulty concentrating, increased heart rate, chest pain, abdominal pain, and a variety of other symptoms that may vary based on the individual. In casual discourse, the words ''anxiety'' and ''fear'' are often used interchangeably. In clinical usage, they have distinct meanings: anxiety is defined as an unpleasant emotional state for which the cause is either not readily identified or perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable, whereas fear is an emotional and physiological response to a recognized external threat. The umbrella term ''anxiety disorder'' refers to a number of specific disorders that include fears (phobias) or anxiety symptoms. There a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that explores people's values and beliefs, how they change over time, and what social and political impact they have. Since 1981 a worldwide network of social scientists have conducted representative national surveys as part of WVS in almost 100 countries. The WVS measures, monitors and analyzes: support for democracy, tolerance of foreigners and ethnic minorities, support for gender equality, the role of religion and changing levels of religiosity, the impact of globalization, attitudes toward the environment, work, family, politics, national identity, culture, diversity, insecurity, and subjective well-being. The findings provide information for policy makers seeking to build civil society and democratic institutions in developing countries. The work is also frequently used by governments around the world, scholars, students, journalists and international organizations and institutions such as the World Bank and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nociception
Nociception (also nocioception, from Latin ''nocere'' 'to harm or hurt') is the sensory nervous system's process of encoding noxious stimuli. It deals with a series of events and processes required for an organism to receive a painful stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal in order to trigger an appropriate defense response. In nociception, intense chemical (e.g., capsaicin present in Chili pepper or Cayenne pepper), mechanical (e.g., cutting, crushing), or thermal (heat and cold) stimulation of sensory neurons called nociceptors produces a signal that travels along a chain of nerve fibers via the spinal cord to the brain. Nociception triggers a variety of physiological and behavioral responses to protect the organism against an aggression and usually results in a subjective experience, or perception, of pain in sentient beings. Detection of noxious stimuli Potentially damaging mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli are detected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exogenous
In a variety of contexts, exogeny or exogeneity () is the fact of an action or object originating externally. It contrasts with endogeneity or endogeny, the fact of being influenced within a system. Economics In an economic model, an exogenous change is one that comes from outside the model and is unexplained by the model. Such changes of an economic model from outside factors can include the influence of technology, in which this had previously been noted as an exogenous factor, but has rather been noted as a factor that can depict economic forces as a whole. In economic sociology, Project IDEA (Interdisciplinary Dimensions of Economic Analysis) gave notion to understanding the exogenous factors that play a role within economic theory. Developed from the International Social Science Council (ISSC) in the year of 1982, Project IDEA was founded to gather ideas from economists and sociologists in order to conceptualize what economic sociology incorporates, as they have sought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tail Flick Test
The tail flick test is a test of the pain response in animals, similar to the hot plate test. It is used in basic pain research and to measure the effectiveness of analgesics, by observing the reaction to heat. It was first described by D'Amour and Smith in 1941. Procedure Most commonly, an intense light beam is focused on the animal's tail and a timer starts. When the animal flicks its tail, the timer stops and the recorded time (latency) is a measure of the pain threshold. Alternate methods can be used to apply heat, such as immersion in hot water. Alternately, a dolorimeter with a resistance wire with a constant heat flow may be used. For the tail flick test, the wire is attached to the tail of the organism, and the wire applies heat to the tail. The researcher then records the latency to tail flick. Applications Researchers testing the effectiveness of drugs on the pain threshold often use the tail flick test to measure the extent to which the drug being tested has reduce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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