background spoilage of tea (camellia sinensis) is often accompanied by contamination and formation of mycotoxins, which are toxic secondary metabolites produced by specific tea-borne fungi. objectives the purposes of this study were to isolate aspergillus flora in the air from tea gardens and factories in gilan and mazandaran provinces, in northern iran, and to determine their protein patterns....

OBJECTIVE To examine changes in insulin sensitivity (SI), compensatory acute insulin response (AIR), and β-cell function/disposition index (DI) across puberty in overweight Latino boys and girls. STUDY DESIGN Latino children (n = 253) were followed annually for up to 5 years. Longitudinal modeling was used to examine changes in SI, AIR, DI, and fasting and 2-hour glucose and insulin across Ta...

The impedance of the middle-ear air space was measured on three human cadaver ears with complete mastoid air-cell systems. Below 500 Hz, the impedance is approximately compliance-like, and at higher frequencies (500-6000 Hz) the impedance magnitude has several (five to nine) extrema. Mechanisms for these extrema are identified and described through circuit models of the middle-ear air space. Th...

BACKGROUND Recent epidemiologic studies have shown that environmental contaminants such as air pollution and tobacco smoke play an important role in the pathophysiology of atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the severity of AD and indoor air pollution. METHODS The study population consisted of 425 children from 9 kindergartens, Ko...

Prolonged exposure to cold air may induce a chronic asthma-like condition in healthy subjects as has been demonstrated in cross-country skiers. In the present controlled study, our aim was to elucidate further the link between cold air exposure and airway inflammation by assessing the cellular influx and mediator levels within the airways following acute exposure to cold air. Bronchoalveolar (B...

AIM To demonstrate the influence of intraocular fluid-air exchange on retinal ganglion cell activity. METHODS In two cats lensectomy and vitrectomy were performed in a two-step approach 2 weeks prior to recording experiments. To measure retinal activity, up to two fiber microelectrodes were inserted via a scleral port. Precise micromanipulator positioning of the electrodes' tips onto the inne...

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic studies consistently demonstrate an association between acute cardiopulmonary events and changes in air pollution; however, the mechanisms that underlie these associations are not completely understood. Oxidative stress and inflammation have been suggested to play a role in human responses to air pollution. The proteasome is an intracellular protein degradation system l...

The light-dependent pH changes in the suspending medium of guard cell protoplasts (GCP) from Vicia faba were studied. Upon illumination, the medium was initially slightly alkalinized and then acidified. The extent of alkalinization was lower in CO(2)-free air than in normal air. This initial alkalinization was inhibited by DCMU. Acidification in CO(2)-free air became observable in shorter durat...

The mouse insulin-like growth factor II receptor (Igf2r) gene and its antisense transcript Air are reciprocally imprinted in most tissues, but in the brain, Igf2r is biallelically expressed despite the imprinted Air expression. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of such brain-specific relaxation of Igf2r imprinting, we analyzed its expression and epigenetic modifications in neurons, glial ...