CONTEXT Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in health care workers has not been adequately studied in developing countries using newer diagnostic tests. OBJECTIVES To estimate latent tuberculosis infection prevalence in health care workers using the tuberculin skin test (TST) and a whole-blood interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) assay; to determine agreement between the tests; and to compare their ...

The effects of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on a highly enriched population of granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) were assessed. When added with myeloid growth factors (interleukin-3 [IL-3], granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor [GM-CSF], or macrophage-CSF [M-CSF]), IFN-gamma inhibited the formation of colonies in soft agar assays. Furthermore IFN-gamma stimulated a...

BACKGROUND Brain activity is less organized in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy controls (HC). Noise power (scalp-recorded electroencephalographic activity unlocked to stimuli) may be of use for studying this disorganization. Method Fifty-four patients with schizophrenia (29 minimally treated and 25 stable treated), 23 first-degree relatives and 27 HC underwent clinical and cognitive...

Activation of Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) in fibrogenesis involves distinct morphological and biochemical changes. This activation requires the coordinated changes in activity of several transcription factors. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) is one such factor whose activity is decreased in activated HSC. PPAR gamma ligands suppress several markers of HSC activati...

Background: Natural background radiation of a particular region is one of the distinctive factors defining the status of environment. Eloor Island is an industrial area in Ernakulum District of the state of Kerala, India. The indoor and outdoor gamma level measurements have been carried out for the region for evaluating the annual effective dose to the population residing in this area. Mate...

The genetic factors Gm(a), Gm(b), Gm(x), and Inv(a), Inv(b) described for normal human gamma-globulin were all found in different myeloma proteins. A single myeloma protein never contained more than one product of alternate alleles even in heterozygous individuals. However, factors determined by the two different loci were often found in the same myeloma protein. The Gm(a) character of the myel...

Expression of CD40 ligand (CD40L) correlated directly with Mycobacterium tuberculosis-stimulated gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from tuberculosis patients and healthy tuberculin reactors. The CD40L agonist increased M. tuberculosis-induced IFN-gamma production by PBMC, and anti-CD40 or anti-CD40L antibodies reduced IFN-gamma production. CD40...

In the financial world, importance of “downside risk” and “higher moments” has been emphasized, predominantly in developing countries such as Pakistan, for a substantial period. Consequently, this study tests four models suitable capital asset pricing model. These are CAPM’s beta, beta replaced by skewness (gamma), with gamma, downside CAPM (DCAPM), gamma. The problems high correlation between ...