Agouti signaling protein (ASIP), the human (h) homolog of agouti, is an endogenous melanocortin peptide antagonist. To date, characterization of this protein has been performed with recombinant protein only and without the availability of an ASIP/agouti radioligand. In this report we describe the functional characteristics of a chemically synthesized truncated ASIP variant, ASIP-[90-132 (L89Y)]...

Schizophrenia is characterized by affective, cognitive, neuromorphological, and molecular abnormalities that may have a neurodevelopmental origin. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA sequences critical to neurodevelopment and adult neuronal processes by coordinating the activity of multiple genes within biological networks. We examined the expression of 854 miRNAs in prefrontal cortical ...

Intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) of Alloy 132 weld metal in light water reactor (LWR) structural components is a great concern. The microstructure of Alloy 132 is dendritic and the grain boundaries that are parallel to the direction of the dendrites growth are known to be most susceptible to cracking. In order to correlate the grain boundary microstructure to IGSCC, and in genera...

Arteriogenesis is a complicated process induced by increased local shear-and radial wall-stress, leading to an increase in arterial diameter. This process is enhanced by growth factors secreted by both inflammatory and endothelial cells in response to physical stress. Although therapeutic promotion of arteriogenesis is of great interest for ischaemic diseases, little is known about the modulati...

BACKGROUND Estrogen synthesis is an important function of the mammalian ovary. Estrogen plays important roles in many biological processes, including follicular development, oocyte maturation and endometrial proliferation, and dysfunctions in estrogen synthesis contribute to the development of polycystic ovary syndrome and premature ovarian failure. Classical signaling cascades triggered by fol...

BACKGROUND Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) are being developed for the treatment of various human cancers. METHODS MTT assay was used to test the proliferation of SKOV3 and CaOV3. The splice variant expression of GHRH receptors was examined by RT-PCR. The expression of protein in signal pathway was examined by Western blotting. siRNA was used to block the effect of EGFR...

We made a bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis in 107 of 132 (81%) adults with clinical tuberculous meningitis: acid-fast bacilli were seen in 77 of 132 (58%) and cultured from 94 of 132 (71%). Volume of cerebrospinal fluid, duration of symptoms, cerebrospinal fluid neutrophils, lactate, and glucose were all independently associated with bacteriological confirmation.

PURPOSE Long non-coding RNA taurine upregulated gene 1 (TUG1) is reported to be a vital regulator of the progression of various cancers. This study aimed to explore the exact roles and molecular mechanisms of TUG1 in osteosarcoma (OS) development. MATERIALS AND METHODS Real-time quantitative PCR was applied to detect the expressions of TUG1 and microRNA-132-3p (miR-132-3p) in OS tissues and c...

The performance of six commercially available immunoassay systems for the detection of dengue virus-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies in serum was evaluated. These included two IgM and IgG enzyme immunoassays (EIA) from MRL Laboratories and PanBio, a rapid immunochromatographic test (RIT) from PanBio, immunofluorescence assays (IFA) from Progen, a dot blot assay from Genelabs, ...

6,732,064 131 * 5/2004 Kadtke et al .................. 702/189 6,970,560 131 * 11/2005 Hench et al . .................. 379/417 7,147,666 131 12/2006 Tsang et al . ...................... 703/2 7,295,137 132 * 11/2007 Liu et al .......................... 341/51 7,356,791 132 4/2008 Rautio .............................. 716/5 7,475,102 132 * 1/2009 Nagahara ...................... 708/25