BACKGROUND Sharing drug injecting paraphernalia other than needles and syringes (N/S) has been implicated in the transmission of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) among injecting drug users (IDU). We aimed to determine whether the provision of sterile non-N/S injecting paraphernalia reduces injecting risk behaviours or HCV transmission among IDU. METHODS A systematic search of seven databases and the g...

OBJECTIVES Although referrals for nonsynostotic plagiocephaly (NSP) have increased in recent years, the prevalence, natural history, and determinants of the condition have been unclear. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and natural history of NSP in normal infants in the first 2 years of life and to identify factors that may contribute to the development of NSP. METHODS...

AIMS Because hepatic cancer stem cells (HCSCs) are believed to derive from the conversion of hepatic normal stem cells (HNSCs), the identification of the differences that distinguish HCSCs from HNSCs is important. METHODS The HCC model was established in F344 rats by DEN induction. Using FACS analysis, side population cells from HCC (SP-HCCs) were isolated from the epithelial-like cells of HC...

AIMS To review the evidence on the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions involving the provision of sterile injecting equipment in the prevention of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission among injecting drug users (IDUs). The interventions assessed were needle and syringe programmes (NSP), alternative modes of needle/syringe provision (pharmacies, v...

We developed neural cell sheets being positive for mature motoneuron markers, such as βIII tubulin, islet1 and HB9, from human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells after embryoid body formation. We transplanted the neural cell sheets into the complete transection sites of spinal cord injury (SCI) model mice. We assessed functional and histological analyses of the SCI mice and compared the data...

In vitro incubation studies were carried out to determine if various carbohydrase preparations contained appropriate activities to target nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) of wheat, soybean meal (SBM), canola meal, and peas. Triplicate samples (0.1 g) were incubated with a number of carbohydrase preparations (i.e., cellulase, pectinase, xylanase, glucanase, galactanase, and mannanase) or their co...

We previously isolated side-population (SP) cells from a human endometrial cancer cell line, Hec1, and determined that Hec1-SP cells have cancer stem–like cell features. In this study, we isolated SP cells and nonSP (NSP) cells derived from a rat endometrial cell line expressing human [Val] KRAS (RK12V cells) and determined the SP phenotype. RK12V-SP cells showed self-renewal capacity, the pote...

The NSP-interacting kinase (NIK) receptor-mediated defense pathway has been identified recently as a virulence target of the geminivirus nuclear shuttle protein (NSP). However, the NIK1-NSP interaction does not fit into the elicitor-receptor model of resistance, and hence the molecular mechanism that links this antiviral response to receptor activation remains obscure. Here, we identified a rib...

To further understand how diets containing high levels of fibre protect against colorectal cancer, we examined the effects of diets high in nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP) or high in NSP plus resistant starch (RS) on the composition of the faecal microbial community in 46 healthy adults in a randomized crossover intervention study. Changes in bacterial populations were examined using denaturing...

Negative sequential patterns (NSP) refer to sequences with non-occurring and occurring items, and can play an irreplaceable role in understanding and addressing many business applications. However, some problems occur after mining NSP, the most urgent one of which is how to select the actionable positive or negative sequential patterns. This is due to the following factors: 1) positive sequenti...