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Galectin-1 (Gal-1) and galectin-3 (Gal-3) exhibit profound but unique immunomodulatory activities in animals but their molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. Early studies suggested that Gal-1 inhibits leukocyte function by inducing apoptotic cell death and removal, but recent studies show that some galectins induce exposure of the common death signal phosphatidylserine (PS) independent

BACKGROUND: Calcitonin-related peptides have been found in the human prostate, and calcitonin (CT) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) have been demonstrated in subpopulations of neuroendocrine (NE) cells. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentrations of CT and CGRP as well as the densities of NE cells in normal prostates, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and carcinoma of

In this study, we show that distinct compartmentalization patterns of the IL-1 molecules (IL-1alpha and IL-1beta), in the milieu of tumor cells that produce them, differentially affect the malignant process. Active forms of IL-1, namely precursor IL-1alpha (pIL-1alpha), mature IL-1beta (mIL-1beta), and mIL-1beta fused to a signal sequence (ssIL-1beta), were transfected into an established fibrosar

In this article we present the first theoretical study of solvent effects on the rotatory strength tensor. The system chosen is solvated formaldehyde for which only one tensor element is nonvanishing, and the solvent is modeled as a linear, homogeneous, and isotropic dielectric continuum. We present results using both an equilibrium and a nonequilibrium description of the solvent. Four illustrativ

For further investigations in the field of artificial photosynthesis, a model compound, 1, has been developed to mimic the electron-transfer steps from the manganese cluster to P680+ in photosystem II. In this model compound the photosensitizer ruthenium(II)-trisbipyridyl was linked to a manganese(II) ion through a bridging ligand. Photoexcitation of 1 in the presence of the electron acceptor meth

We have cloned a cDNA for a myocardial cGMP-inhibited cAMP phosphodiesterase (cGI PDE) from a human heart cDNA library in lambda Zap II. The open reading frame [3.5 kilobases (kb)] of cDNA clone n.13.2 (7.7 kb) encodes a protein of 125 kDa. In Northern blots of total human ventricle RNA, a single mRNA species (8.3 kb) hybridized with a 4-kb EcoRI restriction fragment of clone n.13.2 cDNA (containi

This study addressed the contribution of ADAMTS13 deficiency to complement activation in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Renal tissue and blood samples were available from 12 TTP patients. C3 and C5b-9 deposition were demonstrated in the renal cortex of two TTP patients, by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry, respectively. C3 was also demonstrated in the glomeruli of Shiga toxi

Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein (BRCA1) has a multitude of functions that contribute to genome integrity and tumor suppression. Its participation in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) during homologous recombination (HR) is well recognized, whereas its involvement in the second major DSB repair pathway, nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ), remains controversial. Here we have st

The Gaia mission has been designed to perform absolute astrometric measurements with unprecedented accuracy; the end-of-mission parallax standard error is required to be of the order of 10 mu as for the brightest stars (V= 10) and 30 mu as for a G2V-type star of magnitude 15. These requirements set a stringent constraint on the accuracy of the estimation of the location of the stellar image on the

BACKGROUND Neuroendocrine (NE) cells are frequently present in the human prostate and urethra, whereas they are lacking in the other urogenital organs. This study was undertaken as there are only few detailed studies available on the distribution, form and function of NE cells and the structure of excretory ducts of the accessory sex organs in the male rat.

Recent technological innovation has opened new avenues in migration research - for instance, by allowing individual migratory animals to be followed over great distances and long periods of time, as well as by recording physiological information. Here, we focus on how technology - specifically applied to bird migration - has advanced our knowledge of migratory connectivity, and the behavior, demog

In the past decade, many initiatives were taken for the development of antibodies for proteome-wide studies, as well as characterisation and validation of clinically relevant disease biomarkers. Phage display offers many advantages compared to antibody generation by immunisation because it is an unlimited resource of affinity reagents without batch-to-batch variation and is also amendable for high

Erythroblast transformation-specific domain (ETS) transcription factors regulate some of the critical molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation of multipotent haematopoietic progenitor cells into effector B-lymphocytes. The SPI-group ETS-protein transcription factors PU.1 and SPI-B play essential and, although coexpressed and binding to similar DNA sequences, unique roles in B-cell diff

This paper describes the implementation of a structure assessmentmethod in an industrial control system. The method uses available signals to evaluate if a given signal can be used for additional feed forward control action to improve the performance of a control loop.

The neuropeptide WE-14 is derived from the posttranslational processing of chromogranin A (CgA). While CgA is expressed in a preponderance of neuroendocrine cells, WE-14 is generated in a distinct subpopulation of CgA-immunopositive cells, most notably in the adrenal, pituitary, and parathyroid glands. Physiological and pharmacological studies have demonstrated that CgA is cleaved to generate WE-1