IL-12-mediated type 1 inflammation confers host protection against the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. However, production of IFN-γ, another type 1 inflammatory cytokine, also drives lethality from excessive injury to the intestinal epithelium. As mechanisms that restore epithelial barrier function following infection remain poorly understood, this study investigated the role of trefoil ...

Trefoil factor family (TFF)-domain peptides (formerly P-domain peptides, trefoil factors) represent major mucin-associated peptides of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, the first localization studies on TFF3 in the lower respiratory tract of human material are presented. Immunohistochemistry revealed significant accumulation of TFF3 to mucous cells in the acini of submucosal glands and varying ...

Models of symmetric protein evolution typically invoke gene duplication and fusion events, in which repetition of a structural motif generates foldable, stable symmetric protein architecture. Success of such evolutionary processes suggests that the duplicated structural motif must be capable of nucleating protein folding. If correct, symmetric expansion of a folding nucleus sequence derived fro...

Cryptotia attributable to deficient posterior skin coverage frequently recurs. Because local flaps cover only the posterior aspects of the defective upper auricular cartilage and lack functional support to resist collapse of the helix, especially if severe helical cartilage anomalies are present, additional support is required to prevent the postoperative recurrence of this anomaly. The authors...

We determine knotting probabilities and typical sizes of knots in double-stranded DNA for chains of up to half a million base pairs with computer simulations of a coarse-grained bead-stick model: Single trefoil knots and composite knots which include at least one trefoil as a prime factor are shown to be common in DNA chains exceeding 250,000 base pairs, assuming physiologically relevant salt c...

We propose a new type of Hopf semimetals indexed by a pair of numbers (p, q), where the Hopf number is given by pq. The Fermi surface is given by the preimage of the Hopf map, which consists of loops nontrivially linked for a nonzero Hopf number. The Fermi surface forms a torus link, whose examples are the Hopf link indexed by (1, 1), the Solomon’s knot (2, 1), the double Hopf-link (2, 2) and t...

Trefoil factor family 2 (TFF2), also known as spasmolytic polypeptide, is a member of the trefoil family of peptides and is expressed primarily in the mucous neck cells of the gastric mucosa. To study the physiologic role of TFF2, we have generated TFF2-deficient mice through targeted gene disruption. Homozygous mutant mice were viable and fertile without obvious gastrointestinal abnormalities....

Rosso and Jones gave a formula for the colored Jones polynomial of a torus knot, colored by an irreducible representation of a simple Lie algebra. The Rosso-Jones formula involves a plethysm function, unknown in general. We provide an explicit formula for the second plethysm of an arbitrary representation of sl3, which allows us to give an explicit formula for the colored Jones polynomial of th...

During the past decade, a new family of stomach-specific proteins has been recognized. Known as "gastrokines" (GKNs), these secreted proteins are products of gastric mucus-producing cell lineages. GKNs are highly conserved in physical structure, and emerging data point to convergent functions in the modulation of gastric mucosal homeostasis and inflammation. While GKNs are highly prevalent in t...

Trefoil peptides (TFFs) with a unique trefoil domain(s) are presumed to function in protection and repair of the gastrointestinal epithelial layer. Three peptide family members are differently distributed in the mouse gastrointestinal tract: TFF1/pS2 specifically in stomach, TFF2/SP mainly in stomach, pancreas and duodenum, and TFF3/ITF in intestine. We cloned and sequenced the mouse TFF1 gene ...