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Glucagon release upon hypoglycemia is an important homeostatic mechanism utilized by vertebrates to restore blood glucose to normal. Glucagon secretion itself is triggered by Ca2+ influx through voltage-gated ion channels, and the gene inactivation of R-type Ca2+ channels, with Ca(v)2.3 as the ion conducting subunit, has been shown to disturb glucose homeostasis. To understand how glucagon release

The relationships and the zoogeography of the three extant pinniped families, Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals), Odobenidae (one extant species, the walrus), and Phocidae (true seals), have been contentious. Here, we address these topics in a molecular study that includes all extant species of true seals and sea lions, four fur seals and the walrus. Contrary to prevailing morphological views the

Development of type-II collagen (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) is dependent on activation of CII-reactive T cells. Dendritic cells (DCs) are believed to play a crucial role in antigen-specific priming of T cells but it is still unclear how the CII-reactive T cells are primed since Langerhans cells (LCs) are poor antigen-presenting cells for CII. In the present study we show that LCs, treated with c

In an attempt to identify subtypes of breast cancer and pinpoint patterns of cell cycle regulatory defects associated with clinical behaviour, proliferation and other transformation associated events, a multitude of cell cycle regulatory proteins were analysed in a material of 113 primary breast cancers. Increased proliferation was observed in two different scenarios; (1) with high cyclin D1 and e

There are considerable biomass resources in the European Union (EU) and mature conversion technologies to exploit the potentials of bioenergy. The challenge confronting the EU and member states is how to accelerate the implementation of bioenergy systems. This paper contributes to the identification, analysis, and discussion of barriers for bioenergy in the EU. Adopting an innovative methodology i

Background: Thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) is a 56-kDa procarboxypeptidase. Proteolytic enzymes activate TAFI into TAFIa, an inhibitor of fibrinolysis, by cleaving off the N-terminal activation peptide (amino acids 1-92), from the enzyme moiety. Activated TAFI is unstable, with a half-life of approximately 10 min at 37 degrees C. So far, it is unknown whether the activation pep

Background Exposure to Benzodiazepines (BZD) during foetal life has been suggested to contribute to neonatal morbidity and some congenital malformations, for example, orofacial clefts. Here we aimed to study the neonatal outcome and congenital malformations in neonates whose mothers reported use of BZD and/or hypnotic benzodiazepine receptor agonists (HBRA) during pregnancy. Methods In the Swedish

After identifying an association between maternal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the authors analyzed a nested case-control study within Finnish and Icelandic maternity cohorts with 7 million years of follow-up to confirm EBV's role in ALL. Offspring of 550,000 mothers were followed up to age 15 years during 1975-1997 by national cancer registries to

The purpose of this study was to gain an enhanced understanding of how people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience their engagement in occupations. We interviewed 10 people and then analyzed the data gathered using the constant comparative method of grounded theory, The findings encompassed the core category "essentials of a constantly changing life," showing that along a continuum of change, t

The first lineage commitment step of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) results in separation into distinct lymphoid and myeloid differentiation pathways, reflected in the generation of common lymphoid and myeloid progenitors (CLP and CMP, respectively). In this report we present the first evidence for a nonredundant regulator of this process, in that adult mice deficient in expression of the flt3 lig

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of CD 18 in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced leukocyte adhesion and extravasation in vivo. MATERIAL: Male wild-type (WT) and mutated mice with hypomorphic expression of CD 18. METHODS: Intravital microscopy was used to quantitate leukocyte-endothelium interactions provoked by TNF-alpha (0.5 microg) in the cremaster muscle and dorsal skin microcirculati

Many new therapeutic strategies have been and are being developed to correct, prevent, or slow the progression of osteoarthritis. Our ability to evaluate the efficacy of these techniques, or to determine the situations for which they might provide the most benefit, critically depends on diagnostic measures that can serve as proxies for the present or predicted state of the cartilage. Many of the m

In SPECT imaging of the chest, nonuniform attenuation correction requires use of a patient specific attenuation (p)map. Such a map can be obtained by estimating the regions of 1)the lungs and 2) the soft tissues and bones, and then assigning an appropriate value of attenuation coefficient (p) to each region. We proposed a method to segment such regions from the Compton scatter and photopeak window

Photon quality correction factors (kQγ) for ionization chamber photon dosimetry in an epithermal neutron beam were determined according to a modified absorbed dose to water formalism which was extended to mixed radiation fields. We have studied two commercially available ionization chambers in the epithermal neutron beam optimized for BNCT at the facility at Studsvik, Sweden. One of the chambers i

RNA repair has now been demonstrated to be a genuine biological process and appears to be present in all three domains of life. In this article, we consider what this might mean for the transition from an early RNA-dominated world to modem cells possessing genetically encoded proteins and DNA. There are significant gaps in our understanding of how the modem protein-DNA world could have evolved fro