Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a well-established cause of cervical cancer. While many studies have been performed so far on HPV viral biology, mode of infection and prevention measures, scanty information is available on lesion sites of infected women and the incidence of viral types at specific locations. We looked for a possible relationship between the most common viral types (HPVs 16,...

The in vivo short-term effect of melatonin on kainic acid (KA)-induced proenkephalin (proENK) or prodynorphin (proDYN) mRNA, and on AP-1 protein levels in the rat hippocampus, were studied. Melatonin (5 mg/kg) or saline was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) to rats 30 min prior to and immediately after i.p. injection of KA (10 mg/kg). Rats were sacrificed 1 and 3 h after KA injection. The p...

The two positive cis elements in the soybean nodulin N23 gene promoter were investigated in transgenic Lotus corniculatus plants and shown to constitute a two-component nodule-specific enhancer. Equal quantitative contributions from the two components were suggested by the similar expression level of chimeric N23-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase genes after deletion of either the distal positi...

Adipokines are predominantly secretory protein hormones from adipose tissue but may also originate in placenta and other organs. Cross-sectionally, we monitored maternal plasma concentration of adiponectin, resistin, and leptin and their mRNA expression in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue and placenta from preeclamptic (PE; n = 15) and healthy pregnant (HP; n = 23) women undergoing caesare...

Colocalization of proenkephalin and prodynorphin mRNAs with each other as well as with D1, D2, and D3 dopamine receptor mRNAs was analyzed in the nucleus accumbens of the rat. Distinct combinations were detected in the rostral pole, core, and shell subdivisions of the nucleus accumbens. Proenkephalin and prodynorphin mRNAs were principally localized in separate cells in the core. All detectable...

The increased vulnerability to alcohol dependence (AD) seen in individuals with childhood adversity (CA) may result in part from CA-induced epigenetic changes. To examine CA-associated DNA methylation changes in AD patients, we examined peripheral blood DNA methylation levels of 384 CpGs in promoter regions of 82 candidate genes in 279 African Americans [AAs; 88 with CA (70.5% with AD) and 191 ...

The role of the cerebellum in motivation and addictive behaviors is less understood than that in control and coordination of movements. High running can be a self-rewarding behavior exhibiting addictive properties. Changes in the cerebellum transcriptional networks of mice from a line selectively bred for High voluntary running (H) were profiled relative to an unselected Control (C) line. The e...

The transition to motherhood involves CNS changes that modify sociability and affective state. However, these changes also put females at risk for post-partum depression and psychosis, which impairs parenting abilities and adversely affects children. Thus, changes in expression and interactions in a core subset of genes may be critical for emergence of a healthy maternal phenotype, but inapprop...

Walter E. Penk, PhD, ABPP We begin by thanking the Editor of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) for commissioning a special issue on psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) for persons with serious mental illnesses. For many years, the conventional wisdom in the field of mental health has been that serious mental illnesses result in inevitable deterioration. Professional pr...

The multigene PE and PPE family represents about 10% of the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here, we report that three members of the PE family, namely, Rv1169c, Rv0978c, and Rv1818c, elicit a strong, but differential, B-cell humoral response among different clinical categories of tuberculosis patients. The study population (n = 211) was comprised of different clinical groups of both adul...