Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a monogenetic disorder caused by single amino acid change in the beta globin gene. This mutation facilitates the production of unstable sickle hemoglobin (Hb S) which upon deoxygenation forms higher order aggregates which cause erythrocyte rigidity. These rigid cells block the microvasculature resulting in vaso-occlusion, tissue ischemia, organ damage, pain and deat...

The response of standard-risk hepatoblastoma (HB) to neoadjuvant cisplatin (CDDP) chemotherapy is excellent; however, in high-risk HB, drug resistance remains a major challenge. Alternative therapeutic strategies may consider combining cytotoxic drugs with apoptosis sensitizers as this has shown additive effects in various types of malignancies. Analysis of published expression databases have r...

BACKGROUND Hemoglobin (Hb) A1c is widely used as the gold standard for blood glucose level monitoring in diabetic patients. Various methods are being used in clinical laboratories for HbA1c measurement. However, the presence of Hb variants may interfere with HbA1c measurement. METHODS The HbA1c assay was performed routinely in a 55-year old woman with type 2 diabetes and hyperlipidemia that w...

The bronchial epithelium is a potential source of growth factors that could mediate airway fibrosis during the progression of diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis. We report that conditioned medium (CM) from normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBECs) contains mitogenic activity for human lung fibroblasts that is blocked by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) tyrosine ki...

Tumor relapses in patients with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BALL) occur frequently after primary treatment. Therefore, development of additional treatment modalities to eliminate residual tumor cells is needed. Active immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with tumor-associated antigens is a promising approach to induce specific T-cell immunity in patients with canc...

Hemicelluloses were isolated from hybrid poplar with the single-step alkaline extraction. Neutralization and subsequent ethanol precipitation were used to recover them. Their structures were investigated using sugar analysis, Fourier transform infrared and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The hemicelluloses were characterized by particle size analyzer, gel permeation chromatograph...

BACKGROUND Occult hepatitis B (HB) is characterized by the presence of HBV-DNA in patients who do not have HB surface antigen (HBsAg) detectable in sera, and is frequently described in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. These viral liver diseases are common and may have a negative impact on the survival of renal transplant patients, especially if they are both present. In this stu...

Elucidation of the principal targets of the action of the antimalarial drug artemisinin is an ongoing pursuit that is important for understanding the action of this drug and for the development of more potent analogues. We have examined the chemical reaction of Hb with artemisinin. The protein-bound haem in Hb has been found to react with artemisinin much faster than is the case with free haem....

Anteroposterior polarity of the Drosophila embryo is initiated by the localized activities of the maternal genes, bicoid and nanos, which establish a gradient of the hunchback (hb) morphogen. nanos determines the distribution of the maternal Hb protein by regulating its translation. To identify further components of this pathway we isolated suppressors of nanos. In the absence of nanos high lev...