Two expressed sequence tags with similarity to dehydrin were cloned to full-length (CsDHN1 and CsDHN2) through rapid amplification of cDNA ends. CsDHN1 and CsDHN2 were 1,027 and 992 base pair long and encoded for predicted polypeptides of 260 and 201 amino acids, respectively. Deduced CsDHN1 protein had a S-segment and ...

We investigated the genetic markers of twelve X-STR loci in 670 healthy, unrelated Japanese (438 men and 232 women) from Tokyo and 488 Chinese (263 men and 225 women) from Shenyang, using the Investigator Argus X-12 kit. Allele and haplotype analyses of twelve X-STRs clustered into four linkage groups indicated ...

The excretory secretory products (ESP) of Clonorchis sinensis are the causative agents of clonorchiasis and biliary diseases. The parasites' ESP play important roles in host-parasite interactions. The protein compositions of ESP at different secretory times are different and have not been systemically investigated so far. In this study, we collected ...

Thiamethoxam (THIA), a second generation neonicotinoid insecticide in the thianicotinyl subclass, is used worldwide. Environmental studies revealed that microbial degradation is the major mode of removal of this pesticide from soil. However, microbial transformation of THIA is poorly understood. In the present study, we isolated a bacterium able to degrade ...

Bioavailable concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in water of Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) using semipermeable membrane devices during the period of completely impounding water. ∑PAH concentrations in water of TGR in the period of completely impounding water were 15-381 ng L(-1). ∑PAH concentrations increased from town or counties to ...

Matrix metalloproteinase-21 (MMP-21) has been shown to enhance tumor invasion and metastasis ability in some solid tumors. In the present study, we investigated the expression of MMP-21 as well as its association with overall survival of gastric cancer patients. MMP-21 expression was investigated in 296 cases of gastric cancer by ...

Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an allergic dermatitis of horses caused by bites of insects. IBH is a multifactorial disease with contribution of genetic and environmental factors. Candidate gene association analysis of IBH was performed in a group of 89 Icelandic horses all born in Iceland and imported to Europe. ...

BACKGROUND: Material deprivation in cold weather may increase the risk of hypothermia and contribute to excess winter mortality. To date, there were no local data to support the potential contribution of material deprivation to the incidence of hypothermia in Irish older people. AIM: To contribute evidence from a hospital-based perspective. ...

A 74-year-old man presented with progressive dyspnea after a 10-days latency following a thoracic trauma. CT imaging showed multiple rib fracture and an empyema that was primarily treated by a chest tube. In the course of the hospital stay, a rapidly progressive paraplegia developed and the MR imaging revealed a ...

BACKGROUND: Trastuzumab in association with systemic cytotoxic chemotherapy is the standard of care for patients with advanced HER2-positive gastric carcinoma (GC). However, HER2 as a prognostic factor in GC remains controversial. METHODS: HER2 overexpression and amplification was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in 2,798 GCs ...

During alcoholic fermentation, the products build up and can, ultimately, kill the organism due to their effects on the cell's macromolecular systems. The effects of alcohols on the steady-state kinetic parameters of the model enzyme β-galactosidase were studied. At modest concentrations (0 to 2 M), there was little effect of methanol, ...

Self-assembly of multicomponent nanocrystal superlattices provides a modular approach to the design of metamaterials by choosing constituent nanocrystal building blocks with desired physical properties and engineering the interparticle coupling. In this work, we report self-assembly of binary nanocrystal superlattices composed of magnetically hard CoFe2O4 nanocrystals and magnetically soft Fe3O4 nanocrystals. ...

In this critical review, new nanomaterials based on graphene (GN) are described, especially those used for the assembly of miniaturized electrochemical transducers. In particular, the physicochemical properties and mechanical features of few layers of graphene (FLGs) are described, as is their use for assembly of chemically modified sensors, biosensors, and ...

BACKGROUND: Endothelial injury is considered critical for progression of atherosclerosis and its complications, in coronary artery disease (CAD). The endothelial-supportive effects of bradykinin have mainly been attributed to activation of the resident endothelium. Here we newly investigate the role of bradykinin and its B2 receptor for the recruitment and functional ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Hsa-miR-26b is an intronic miRNA located in the intron of CTDSP1 (carboxy-terminal domain, RNA polymerase II, polypeptide A, small phosphatase 1). In the present study, the expression of hsa-miR-26b was examined during human preadipocyte differentiation. ...

Tricyclodecan-9-yl-xanthogenate (D609) has been shown to possess both neuroprotective and anti-proliferative properties. We investigated the role of D609 in reducing the proliferation of neural progenitor cells in vitro. D609 decreased the expression of cyclin D1 after 1 day but not 2 or 4 days in culture, indicating the possible degradation/inactivation of drug ...

Congenital chloride diarrhea (CLD, OMIM#214700) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the solute carrier family 26 member 3 (SLC26A3) gene, which encodes an intestinal chloride/bicarbonate exchanger. While more than 50 mutations have been identified throughout the world, there have been no data on the genetic characteristics of ...

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the occurrence of cold episodes and excess hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Porto, Portugal, in order to further understand the effects of cold weather on health in milder climates. Excess COPD winter morbidity was calculated ...

Damage to the mutual and delicate articular relationships of the foot may lead to functional failure. A painful foot can be the heralding sign of inflammatory, metabolic or degenerative rheumatic disease that may cause severe disability if left untreated. Healthy tendons are brilliant white in colour, are fibroelastic in texture ...

Periostin (PN) is a kind of secreted glycoprotein, which is closely related to the metastatic potential and prognosis of many kinds of tumors in recent studies. However, the expression level of PN in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with tumor angiogenesis and prognosis remain unclear. Here Immunohistochemistry assay was ...

OBJECTIVES: Following a search conducted in several databases, no instrument was found that jointly evaluates the prevalence of back pain and its associated demographic, social-economic, hereditary, behavioral and postural risk factors. Thus, the present study aims to develop the Back Pain and Body Posture Evaluation Instrument (BackPEI) for school-age children ...

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) is a widely used tool in clinical microbiology for rapidly identifying microorganisms. This technique can be applied directly on positive blood cultures without the need for its culturing, thereby, reducing the time required for microbiological diagnosis. The present study proposes an innovative identification protocol ...

In Japan, there has been virtually no study in a population large enough to definitively demonstrate a relationship between the preoperative clinical features and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. The aim of this study was to determine the preoperative variables that significantly predict postoperative mortality ...

Conventional radiography can detect most fractures, evaluate their healing, and visualize characteristic skeletal abnormalities for some metabolic bone diseases. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is used to measure areal bone mineral density (BMD) in order to diagnose osteoporosis, estimate fracture risk, and monitor changes in BMD over time. Vertebral fracture assessment ...

Accurate exposure-response modeling is important in drug development. Methods are still evolving in the use of mechanistic, e.g., indirect response (IDR) models to relate discrete endpoints, mostly of the ordered categorical form, to placebo/co-medication effect and drug exposure. When the discrete endpoint is derived using change-from-baseline measurements, a mechanistic exposure-response ...

Renal dysfunction is reported to be associated with poor outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). A recent study showed that acidic urine is related to chronic kidney disease, which is a risk factor for the development of CHF. However, it remains to be determined whether acidic urine is ...

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), of approximately 10,000 base pairs (bp) in length, were shown to occur in the Japanese Taylorella equigenitalis strain, EQ59. The locus was composed of the putative CRISPRs-associated with 5 (cas5), RAMP csd1, csd2, recB, cas1, a leader region, 13 CRISPR consensus sequence repeats (each ...

BACKGROUND: Unprecedented recent advances in the molecular genetics of cutaneous malignancies have markedly improved our ability to diagnose, treat, and counsel patients with skin tumors. This review provides an update on molecular genetics of periocular cutaneous basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, sebaceous carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma ...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and its ligands have profound effects on glucose homeostasis, cardiovascular diseases, and bone metabolism. To explore the pathophysiological roles of PPARγ in diabetes with concomitant vascular calcification, we investigated changes in PPARγ expression and the effect of the PPARγ ligands troglitazone and rosiglitazone on vascular ...

The present study was designed to investigate the cardioprotective effect of neferine against isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction. Neferine was given orally for 30 days, and isoproterenol was injected subcutaneously for 2 days. Histopathological examination of heart tissue of isoproterenol-treated rats showed myocardial necrosis. Biochemical analysis of isoproterenol-treated rats showed significant increase in the ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate effectiveness of carboxymethylcellulose/polyethylene oxide (CMC/PEO) gel in improving clinical outcomes after the first-time lumbar discectomy. METHOD: Ninety-three patients with herniated lumbar disc at L4-L5 or L5-S1 were enrolled and randomized into two groups: CMC/PEO gel treatment group and control group. All the patients underwent laminotomy and discectomy ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the article was to present an overview of the management strategies of dentin hypersensitivity (DHS) and summarize and discuss the therapeutic options. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A PubMed literature search was conducted to identify articles dealing with dentin hypersensitivity prophylaxis and treatment. We focussed on meta-analyses of ...

The analysis of deoxynivalenol (DON) in silage samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) often leads to an overestimation. To better analyze DON in rice and corn silages using a commercially available ELISA kit, a cleanup method using a MultiSep #226 column was developed. As a result, overestimation of DON by ...

The importance of the extrinsic haemostatic system, of which factor VII/VIIa (FVII/FVIIa) is a key constituent, in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is well recognized. The contribution of FVII gene variants R353Q and -323P0/10, and altered FVII plasma levels to the risk of ACS was investigated in a North African Tunisian ...

BACKGROUND: Central compartment lymph node (CCLN) metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is associated with higher risk of loco-regional recurrence and distant metastasis. This study evaluated the prognostic implication of the number of metastatic CCLN in PTC. METHODS: Prospective data collection on 91 patients with PTC who underwent total thyroidectomy ...

PURPOSE: Trochleoplasty is a relatively rare operation with few published results and it remains a technically demanding procedure which requires careful patient selection. The ideal candidate for surgery remains to be elucidated, and some authors consider it as a good revision option in cases of previous unsuccessful operations for persisting ...

As tuberculosis is still a worldwide infection and buffalo breeding represents an important economic activity in various countries, the purpose of this study was to employ an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using MPB70 as a capture antigen for the diagnosis of naturally occurring tuberculosis in water buffaloes in Brazil. After ...

GPR56-related bilateral frontoparietal polymicrogyria (BFPP) is a rare recessively inherited disorder of neuronal migration caused by mutations of GPR56. To better delineate the clinical, molecular, and neuroradiological phenotypes associated with BFPP, we performed conventional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging studies in a series of prospectively enrolled patients carrying ...

PRKN mutations have been linked to Parkinson's disease (PD). Most of the mutational screenings have focused on the coding exons. The 3' untranslated region (UTR) could also harbor functionally relevant nucleotide changes. We performed a mutational screening of PRKN in a cohort of early-onset PD patients (n = 235) from Spain. We ...

Adipogenesis is the differentiation of preadipocytes to adipocytes which is marked by the accumulation of lipid droplets. Adipogenic differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells is achieved by exposing the cells to Insulin, Dexamethasone and IBMX for 5-7 days. Thiazolidinedione drugs, like rosiglitazone are potent insulin sensitizing agents and have been shown to enhance ...

Myosin VI (MVI) is a unique unconventional motor moving backwards on actin filaments. In non-muscle cells, it is involved in cell migration, endocytosis and intracellular trafficking, actin cytoskeleton dynamics, and possibly in gene transcription. An important role for MVI in striated muscle functioning was suggested in a report showing that ...

Docetaxel is a taxane anticancer drug used in a wide variety of solid tumors. Liposomes are versatile drug carriers that may increase drug solubility, serve as sustained release systems, provide protection from drug degradation and toxicities, and help overcome multidrug resistance. This phase I study was conducted to determine the ...

To investigate the effect of Chinese medicine (CM) and Western medicine (WM) on quality of life (QOL) after conservative surgery for endometriosis. A total of 320 patients with endometriosis were randomized into two groups by using random block design, CM group (160 cases, activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis ...

Photodynamic therapy is a moderately invasive therapeutic procedure based on the action of photosensitizers (PSs). These compounds are able to absorb light, and dissipate energy through photochemical processes leading to the production of oxidizing chemical species (singlet oxygen, free radicals or reactive oxygen species) which can damage the cell molecular ...

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to characterize the clinical course and outcomes of children with pancreatic pseudocysts that were initially treated non-operatively or with percutaneous drainage. METHODS: A retrospective review of children with pancreatic pseudocysts over a 12-year period was completed. Categorical variables were compared using Fischer's exact ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Candida parapsilosis CCTCC M203011 catalyzes the stereoinversion of (R)-1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol (PED) through oxidation and reduction. Its NAD+-linked (R)-carbonyl reductase (RCR) catalyzes the oxidization of (R)-PED to 2-hydroxyacetophenone (HAP), and its NADPH-dependent (S)-carbonyl reductase (SCR) catalyzes the reduction of HAP to (S)-PED. The reactions require NAD+ and NADPH as cofactors. ...

Thunderstorm asthma is a term used to describe an observed increase in acute bronchospasm cases following the occurrence of thunderstorms in the local vicinity. The roles of accompanying meteorological features and aeroallergens, such as pollen grains and fungal spores, have been studied in an effort to explain why thunderstorm asthma ...

To investigate the ability of the pericardium meridian (PM) to mitigate or enhance the cardiotoxic effects of aconitine injected at specific acupoint and non-acupoint sites in rabbits. This study consisted of 3 experiments that were designed to test the effects of injection of 30 μg/kg of aconitine at acupoints on ...

Both matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) and transforming growth factors-β1 (TGF-β1) are the important factors in the pathogenesis of the aortic aneurysm (AA) and aortic dissection (AD). Recent studies have shown that inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2(ERK1/2) or NF-κB pathways is able to suppress aneurysm formation. ...

As cancer care becomes increasingly complex, the ability to coordinate this care is more difficult for health care providers, patients and their caregivers alike. Despite the widely recognized need for improving continuity and coordination of care, the relationship of continuity of care with patient outcomes has yet to be elucidated. ...