I radiation therapy of differentiated thyroid cancer may be compromised by thyroid stunning (i.e., a paradoxical inhibition of radioiodine uptake caused by radiation from a pretherapeutic diagnostic examination). The stunning mechanism is yet uncharacterized at the molecular level. We therefore investigated whether the expression of the sodium/ iodide symporter (NIS) gene is changed by irradiat...

Introduction. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in the elderly presents with peculiar characteristics, and current conventional approaches achieve only poor results, especially in relapsed patients. In particular, intensified regimens do not offer advantages in terms of clinical response, and even cause significant toxicity. Thus, alternative strategies able to combine efficacy and a low profile of ...

Biocompatibility has long been associated with surface microtopography, microtexture and microchemistry. The surface topography ultimately affects the nature and the strength of the interactions that occur at biomaterial-biological environment (cell adhesion, mobility, spreading and proliferation). Thus, it is necessary to produce and work with controlled microtopographical surfaces that presen...

The Drosophila clock genes period (per) and timeless (tim) have been studied behaviorally and biochemically, but to date there has been no viable culture system for studying the cell biology of the Drosophila clock. We have cultured pupal ring glands attached to the central nervous system and observed rhythms of period gene expression in the prothoracic gland for 4–7 days. A daily rhythm of Per...

First-generation progeny of field-collected Psorophora ferox, Aedes scapularis, and Aedes serratus from the Rocio encephalitis epidemic zone in S.Paulo State, Brazil, were tested for vector competency in the laboratory. Psorophora ferox and Ae. scapularis are susceptible to per os infection with Rocio virus and can transmit the virus by bite following a suitable incubation period. Oral ID50S fo...

The effects of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) on three aspects of myogenesis have been analyzed: (a) fusion of mononucleated myogenic cells to form myotubes; (b) synthesis and accumulation of two muscle-specific proteins; and (c) DNA syn thesis. Using autoradiography combined with immunofluorescent localization of muscle-specific light meromyosin and the musclespecific intermediate filam...

Agonist stimulation of the type 5 metabotropic glutamate (mGlu5) receptor initiates robust oscillatory changes in cytosolic Ca concentration ([Ca ]i) in single cells by rapid, repeated cycles of phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of the mGlu5 receptor, involving protein kinase C and as-yet-unspecified protein phosphatase activities. An emergent property of this type of Ca oscillation-generating ...

The effects of vasodilator hormones acting through receptors linked to adenylyl cyclase are impaired in the hypertensive state. This has been ascribed to impaired receptor-G protein coupling. However, these receptors also act via effectors not linked to adenylyl cyclase activation. These “alternate” mechanisms may be especially important in growth regulation and might be unaffected (or enhanced...

Exposure of cultured clone A human colon tumor cells to 25 to 75 MM of NSC 368390 |6-fluoro-2-(2'-fluoro-l,l'-biphenyl-4-yl)-3-inethyl-4quinolinecarboxylic acid sodium salt, DuP 785) for 48 to 72 h resulted in a 99.9% cell kill as determined by clonogenic assay. Cells exposed to NSC 368390 became depleted in intracellular pools of uridine S'-triphosphate and cytidine S'-triphosphate. Both uridi...

The ethanol extracts of clove (Eugenia caryophyllus Bullock & Harrison) and sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linn.) were investigated for their antifungal activity in comparison with eugenol and amphotericin B (AmB) by using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLs) M27-P broth microdilution method. Two medicinal plant extracts, eugenol and amphotericin B were used to determine...