In the present study, we found that 129S1 mice are resistant to the infection with Plasmodium yoelii 17XL, which is highly virulent and causes lethal infection in various strains of mice. In contrast, IFN-γ receptor-deficient (IFN-γR(-/-)) mice on the 129S1 background were much more susceptible than 129S1 mice with intraperitoneal ...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key antigen-presenting cells that express a wide variety of pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). Triggering of a single PRR, especially Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and C-type lectins, induces maturation of DCs, but cooperativity between multiple PRRs is needed in order to achieve an effective immune response. In this review, ...

BACKGROUND: Determination of the defibrillation safety margin (DSM) is the most common method of testing device effectiveness at the time of implantation of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRTD). Low DSM remains a problem in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to ascertain ...

PURPOSE: Using transformations of existing quality-of-life data to estimate utilities has the potential to efficiently provide investigators with utility information. We used within-method and across-method comparisons and estimated disutilities associated with increasing chronic kidney disease (CKD) severity. METHODS: In an observational cohort of veterans with diabetes (DM) and pre-existing SF-36/SF-12 ...

Purpose. Dasatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of BCR-ABL and SRC family and ixabepilone is an epothilone B analog. Synergistic activity has been reported when combining dasatinib with chemotherapy. This study was conducted to determine the dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) and the maximum tolerated doses (MTDs) for this combination. ...

BACKGROUND: Diets high in vegetables and fruits have been suggested to be inversely associated with risk of gastric cancer. However, the evidence of the effect of variety of consumption is limited. We therefore investigated whether consumption of a variety of vegetables and fruit is associated with gastric and esophageal cancer ...

Reasoning about problems with empirically false content can be hard, as the inferences that people draw are heavily influenced by their background knowledge. However, presenting empirically false premises in a fantasy context helps children and adolescents to disregard their beliefs, and to reason on the basis of the premises. The ...

This longitudinal study examined the interactive effects of depressive attributional style and multiple domains of perceived competence on depressive symptoms among 431 adolescents. Our structural equation modeling with latent factor interactions indicated that (1) for girls with a higher depressive attributional style, lower perceived competence in physical appearance was predictive ...

Chemical reactivity descriptors are derived within the framework of the pair density functional theory. These indices provide valuable information about bonding rearrangements and activating mechanisms upon electrophilic or nucleophilic reactions. Indices derived and tested in this work represent nonlocal counterparts of the local reactivity indices derived in the context of ...

Factor VIII (FVIII, other clotting factors are named similarly) is a glycoprotein that circulates in the plasma bound to von Willebrand factor. During the blood coagulation cascade, activated FVIII (FVIIIa) binds to FIXa and activates FX in the presence of calcium ions and phospholipid membranes. The C1 and C2 domains ...

Gene expression profiling had revealed that TGF-β superfamily type I receptor (also known as activin receptor-like kinase-1, ALK1) and TGFβR2 (TGF-β type II receptor) were down-regulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (P < 0.05, respectively). However, no study with significantly large clinical samples to address the relevance of ALK1 and TGFβR2 in NPC ...

In many regions of the world, fires are primarily of anthropogenic origin. In northwestern Patagonia, the number of fires is not correlated with meteorological variables, but is concentrated in urban areas. This study was conducted in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) area of San Carlos de Bariloche (Patagonia, Argentina), within the ...

We estimated the prevalence of conscious risk, specifically defined as unprotected anal intercourse with an HIV-serodiscordant partner, and identified individual-level and partnership-level predictors of this behavior. Conscious risk was estimated to be practiced by 4.8% of HIV-negative MSM and 15.7% of HIV-positive MSM over a six-month period (p < 0.01). Among HIV-negative ...

A recently observed developmental instability of the ano-genital distance (AGD) in female mice indicates that natural prenatal androgens do not have such a robust effect on female genital morphology as has been generally assumed. Part of this instability might be caused by oestrous cyclicity. To check this assumption, we examined ...

The Japanese Society for the Study of Postoperative Morbidity after Gastrectomy conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey to clarify the current status of reconstruction after gastrectomy. One hundred and forty-five institutions (66%) responded to the survey. The questionnaire dealt with the reconstruction after a distal gastrectomy, pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG), total gastrectomy, ...

Using the "list-before-last" paradigm (Jang & Huber, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 112-127, 2008; Shiffrin, Science, 168, 1601-1603, 1970), we examined whether the difficulty involved in retrieving a previously studied list affects the recall of the current list. Participants studied three lists (L1, L2, and L3), ...

The Discs Large (DLG) tumor suppressor plays essential roles in regulating cell polarity and proliferation. It localizes at sites of cell-cell contact where it acts as a scaffold for multiple protein interactions, including with the APC tumor suppressor, which in turn regulates β-catenin. Furthermore, many tumor types including breast and ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of an association between vitamin D deficiency and anaemia in Jordanian infants and toddlers, in whom both vitamin D deficiency and anaemia have previously been proved to be common separately. DESIGN: Cross-sectional prospective study. SETTING: Department of Paediatrics, Princess Rahma Teaching Hospital, Jordan. SUBJECTS: Healthy ...

INTRODUCTION: This study presents the performance evaluation of a tailor-made passive sampler developed for the monitoring of tropospheric ozone. METHODS: The performance of the passive sampler was tested in the field conditions in terms of accuracy, precision, blank values, detection limit, effects of some parameters such as sampling site characteristics ...

This chapter offers a general review of the evolvement of methods for the stereoselective synthesis of Z-alkenes, with a focus on the development of catalytic systems towards this goal in recent years.

The aim was to evaluate and compare the presence of myofibroblasts in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), verrucous carcinoma (VC), high-risk epithelial dysplasia (HRED), low-risk epithelial dysplasia (LRED), and normal oral mucosa (NOM). The study consisted of 37 OSCC, 15 VC, 15 HRED, 15 LRED and 15 NOM. α-smooth muscle ...

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy via three or four trocars is a well-established procedure. This report describes the initial experience with single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) using the transperitoneal approach for left adrenalectomy. METHODS: Between April 2010 and August 2011, all consecutive patients with adrenal masses, including Conn's syndrome, Cushing's adenoma, and nonfunctional ...

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between cruciferous vegetables intake and risk of bladder cancer. METHODS: Eligible studies were retrieved via both computer searches and review of references. The summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the highest versus ...

We studied the reaction of phenyl radicals (C₆H₅) with propylene (C₃H₆) exploiting a high temperature chemical reactor under combustion-like conditions (300 Torr, 1,200-1,500 K). The reaction products were probed in a supersonic beam by utilizing tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation from the Advanced Light Source and recording the photoionization efficiency ...

In 2007, Bosma et. al provided a comprehensive review of emerging therapies for the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a condition which continues to carry a mortality rate of greater than 30%. Over the past several years, the development of novel and effective therapeutic agents for ARDS remains disappointing, and ...

Cerebellar hemorrhage is the least common type of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) encountered in clinical practice, and clinical data concerning the long-term outcomes are limited. This study aimed to investigate the long-term outcomes following spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage in a cohort of Chinese patients. This single-center observational study was carried out between ...

Comparisons of S- or prepotential activity, thought to derive from a retinal ganglion cell afferent, with the activity of relay cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) have sometimes implied a loss, or leak, of visual information. The idea of the "leaky" relay cell is reconsidered in the present analysis ...

The aim of the study was to determine the quality and nature of photographic images submitted to the National Injuries Database (part of the National Policing Improvement Agency) in the United Kingdom, for expert assessment and interpretation. A prospective analysis of cases (n = 50) were assessed for the number, origin, type ...

Ecological sociobiology is an emerging field that aims to frame social evolution in terms of ecological adaptation. Here we explore the ecological context for evolution of quorum sensing diversity in bacteria, where social communication is limited to members of the same quorum sensing type (pherotype). We sampled isolates of Bacillus ...

INTRODUCTION: On August 2006, a cargo ship illegally dumped 500 t of toxic waste containing high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide in numerous sites across Abidjan. Thousands of people became ill. Seventeen deaths were associated with toxic waste exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study reports on environmental and health problems associated with ...

Visible light sensitive Fe(3+) and Ce(4+) co-doped nano TiO(2) photocatalyst has been prepared by a modified aqueous sol-gel method and the activity has been measured in terms of degradation of MB dye. Both dopants shifted the absorption profile of TiO(2) to the visible region and improved activity. Fe(3+) ions trapped ...

Large incisional hernias are difficult to treat surgically because of the post-operative respiratory complications and abdominal compartment syndrome. Pre-operative progressive pneumoperitoneum is a technique which has been used in such cases. We describe a case of a large incisional hernia, where this technique was employed by objectively calculating abdominal and ...

Objective  To investigate how participants in an economic resource allocation survey construct notions of fairness. Design  Qualitative interview study guided by interpretive grounded theory methods. Setting and participants  Qualitative interviews were conducted with volunteer university- (n = 39) and community-based (n = 7) economic survey participants. Intervention or main variables studied  We explored how ...

The new bis(phosphaalkenyl) germanium(ii) compound (NHC)Ge(CCl[double bond, length as m-dash]PMes*)(2) reacts with L(2)M(CO)(4) (M = Mo, W) to give bidentate complexes with an unexpected coordinating behaviour involving the Ge(ii) centre and one phosphorus atom, and with AuI or Me(2)SAuCl to afford the monodentate complexes coordinated at the germanium(ii) atom.

We present the case studies of two adult patients with tetralogy of Fallot who were scheduled for surgery. After addressing the right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, the aorta was opened and the ventricular septal defect was approached in a straightforward manner as it was located just under the overriding aortic ...

A simple preparation process for the monodispersed pH-sensitive core-shell magnetic microspheres was carried out consisting of chitosan self-assembled on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. Meanwhile, glucoamylase was immobilized as a model enzyme on this carrier of Fe(3)O(4)/CS microspheres by ionic adsorption. The morphology, inner structure, and high magnetic sensitivity of the ...

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) mediated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is a transcription-coupled mechanism most responsible for generating high affinity antibodies. An issue remaining enigmatic in SHM is how AID is preferentially targeted during transcription to hypermutable bases in its substrates (WRC motifs) on both DNA strands. AID targets only single ...

A series of 73 bisphosphonium salts and 10 monophosphonium salt derivatives were synthesized and tested in vitro against several wild type and resistant lines of Trypanosoma brucei (T. b. rhodesiense STIB900, T. b. brucei strain 427, TbAT1-KO, and TbB48). More than half of the compounds tested showed a submicromolar EC(50) ...

Background  Involving service users and carers in decisions about their health care is a key feature of health-care practice. Professional health and social care students need to develop skills and attributes to best enable this to happen. Aims  The aims were to explore service user and carer perceptions of behaviours, ...

A flow injection analysis method based on ion chromatography and luminol chemiluminescence detection was used for the simultaneous determination of copper (II) and cobalt (II) trace levels in soils and sediments following microwave-assisted acid digestion. Detection was based on chemiluminescence (CL) of the luminol-perborate system in an alkaline medium, which ...

Stuttering is a disturbance of normal fluency of speech whose pathophysiology is still not well understood. We investigated one of the most ancient speech disorders in the biblical person Moses who lived in approximately 1300 BC. To get the most complete medical and non-medical information on Moses, we did systematic ...

Different minimally invasive methods have been proposed to treat renal manifestation of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), in order to preserve kidney parenchyma and avoid nephrectomy. The case of a boy with bleeding giant angiomyolipoma treated by selective arterial embolization is discussed. The extensive renal lesions resulted significantly decreased, with resolution ...

There is a great need for new treatments for acute ischemic stroke that will achieve greater rates of arterial recanalization and increase the population of patients who may benefit. Of several approaches under investigation, intra-arterial therapy (IAT) is the farthest along in clinical development, but experience has shown that the ...

BACKGROUND: The pathophysiology of microvascular angina (cardiac syndrome X, CSX), (effort-induced angina, a positive response to exercise stress testing and angiographically normal coronary arteries) has not been fully elucidated. Various pathogenic mechanisms have been proposed, amongst which coronary microvascular dysfunction features prominently. Management of patients with microvascular angina is often ...

Heterotypic cell interactions are essential for the homeostasis of bone tissue, in particular the widely studied interaction between osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Closely related with osteoclasts are monocytes/macrophages. These have been shown to produce osteogenic factors, e.g. BMP-2, which plays a key role in bone metabolism. However, the mechanisms through which ...

The implementation of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) screening tests has significantly enhanced blood transfusion safety. However, the transmission of HBsAg-negative blood components can still occur in the acute phase of infection during the seronegative window period or during chronic stages of infection such as occult hepatitis virus B infection ...

Wild-type naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) from Pseudomonas sp. strain NCIB 9816-4 transforms relatively planar flavone and isoflavone to cis-dihydrodiols. However, this enzyme cannot catalyze the transformation of flavanone and isoflavanone in which a phenyl group bonds to the stereogenic C2 or C3 of the C-ring. Protein modeling suggested that Phe224 in ...

In this paper, a fully automatic computer-aided detection (CAD) method is proposed for the detection of prostate cancer. The CAD method consists of multiple sequential steps in order to detect locations that are suspicious for prostate cancer. In the initial stage, a voxel classification is performed using a Hessian-based blob ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are grouped in a monophyletic group, the phylum Glomeromycota. In this review, the history and complexity of the taxonomy and systematics of these obligate biotrophs is addressed by recognizing four periods. The initial discovery period (1845-1974) is characterized by description mainly of sporocarp-forming species and the ...

Major infestations of the flat mite species Raoiella indica Hirst affecting bananas, palms and other ornamental plants have been reported from the Caribbean islands, Mexico, FL (USA), Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Specimens from these localities were examined using traditional light microscopy and low-temperature scanning electron microscopy techniques. While little is ...