Envelopment of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) nucleocapsid depends on the large envelope protein L, which is expressed as a transmembrane polypeptide at the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Previous studies demonstrated that the cytosolic exposure of the N-terminal pre-S domain (174 amino acids) of L was required for virion formation. N-terminal truncations of L up to Arg 103 were tolerated. To map...

The sip gene encoding for a conserved highly immunogenic surface protein of Streptococcus agalactiae was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subcloned into prokaryotic expression vector pET32a (+) and expressed as a recombinant protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3). An indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed using the purified Sip protein as a coating antigen, w...

Hepatitis B virus genotype E (HBV/E) is highly prevalent in Western Africa. In this work, 30 HBV/E isolates from HBsAg positive Angolans (staff and visitors of a private hospital in Luanda) were genetically characterized: 16 of them were completely sequenced and the pre-S/S sequences of the remaining 14 were determined. A high proportion (12/30, 40%) of subjects tested positive for both HBsAg a...

Introduction: The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a group of cell surface proteins that are essential for recognizing foreign molecules in human and other mammals. The physiologic function of MHC molecules is the presentation of peptides to T cells. In this study, we evaluated the purification of a class II MHC molecule (HLA-DR) from a human Burkitt′s lymphoma cell line; Daudi...

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by hypertension and proteinuria. There are several factors associated with an increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia, one of which is increased uterine artery resistance, referred to as "notching". However, some women do not progress into pre-eclampsia whereas others may have a higher risk of doing so. The placenta, central in pre-ecla...

In this paper, we introduce the notion of fuzzy (r, s)-S1-pre-semicontinuous mappings on intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces in Šostak’s sense, which is a generalization of S1-pre-semicontinuous mappings by Shi-Zhong Bai. The relationship between fuzzy (r, s)-pre-semicontinuous mapping and fuzzy (r, s)-S1-pre-semicontinuous mapping is discussed. The characterizations for the fuzzy (r, s)-S1...

Margie Dudley, president of the E. j B. L. S. brought out the fact that the j May Fete crowd, all dressed up, would j hove some place to go tonight. Jack Sparks, Rice graduate of 1937, j will be featured in the vocal role with Steele and his band. This orchestra was selected af ter several members of the E. B. L. S. and the P re -Laws had heard music played by it in Austin at several Texas Univ...

A slowly progressive Heymann nephritis (SPHN) was induced in three groups of rats by weekly injections of a chemically modified renal tubular antigen in an aqueous medium. A control group of rats received the chemically unmodified version of the antigen in an aqueous solution. One group of SPHN rats were pre- and post-treated with weekly injections of IC made up of rKF3 and rarKF3 IgM antibody ...

PURPOSE Soluble antigen (S-Ag) is a member of the arrestin family of protein with which it shares a high level of homology. It is an immunologically privileged retinal antigen that can elicit experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) and is thought to be a target for ocular inflammatory diseases. This study was conducted to identify in humans, the immunogenic determinants of human S-Ag and to estab...

S-antigen is a photoreceptor-specific and potentially autoantigenic protein. Using light microscopic immunocytochemistry, the localization of S-antigen was studied in the retinas of normal dogs and Irish setters affected with rod-cone dysplasia, a hereditary retinal degeneration characterized by abnormal cGMP metabolism and arrested outer segment differentiation. Normal and affected dogs were a...