Recent evidence suggests that certain periodontal pathogens preferentially stimulate T cells expressing specific variable regions on the beta chain (Vbeta) of the T-cell receptor, which may indicate the presence of a superantigen. Superantigens are microbial proteins that activate large numbers of CD4(+) T cells in a Vbeta-specific manner. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Prev...

Invasion of oral epithelial cells by pathogenic oral bacteria may represent an important virulence factor in the progression of periodontal disease. Here we report that a clinical isolate of Prevotella intermedia, strain 17, was found to invade a human oral epithelial cell line (KB), whereas P. intermedia 27, another clinical isolate, and P. intermedia 25611, the type strain, were not found to ...

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PURPOSE Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived bioactive molecule that is known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. In the current study, we investigated the effect of the flavonoid quercetin on the production of NO in murine macrophages activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Prevotella intermedia, a pathogen related to inflammatory periodontal disease, and t...

Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has been increasingly useful for the diagnosis of patients with rare causes of anemia, particularly when there is an atypical clinical presentation or targeted genotyping approaches are inconclusive. Here, we describe a 20-yr-old man with a lifelong moderate-to-severe anemia with accompanying splenomegaly who lacked a definitive diagnosis. After a thorough clinical ...

The cellular origins of corticotropin and melanotropin were studied by observing the response of the rat hypophysis to adrenalectomy and cortisol administration when stained immunochemically with peroxidase-labeled antibody following application of antiserums to P1-24-corticotropin, pp17-39-corticotropin, human p-melanotropin, and a-melanotropin. The presence of corticotropin in the pars interm...

BACKGROUND Better survival of thalassemia patients allowed previously unrecognized renal complications to emerge. OBJECTIVES Assess prevalence and early predictors of renal dysfunction in young β-thalassemia major (β-TM) and intermedia (β-TI) patients. SUBJECTS 66 β-TM (group I), 26 β-TI (group II) Egyptian patients and 40 healthy controls. METHODS Clinical assessment and laboratory data ...

The prevalence of eight mutations in 84 patients with beta-thalassaemia major and in 16 subjects with thalassaemia intermedia was investigated. All of the patients were Italian, originating from Eastern Sicily (Messina area) and some Calabrian regions. Genomic DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). DNA molecular investigations were performed by allele-specific oligonucleotide (AS...

BACKGROUND Thalassemia syndromes are the most prevalent single gene disorders in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different types of beta-globin gene mutations, co-inheritance of alpha-globin gene mutations and/or Xmn1 SNP on disease phenotype in a large cohort of Iranian patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS In total, 433 patients were clinically classified into β-thalassemia major ...