By analogy with its human nectin1 counterpart, murine nectin1 serves as a cellular receptor for the entry of herpes simplex virus (HSV) into murine cells. HSV entry mediated by either receptor is dependent on the viral glycoprotein D (gD). Whereas human nectin1 binds gD at high affinity and in a saturable manner, murine nectin1 binds gD in a barely detectable fashion, depending on the sensitivi...

In our previous studies, we presumed subtypes of Graves' disease (GD) may be caused by different major susceptibility genes or different variants of a single susceptibility gene. However, more evidence is needed to support this hypothesis. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2476601 in PTPN22 is the susceptibility loci of GD in the European population. However, this polymorphism has not been...

Gangrenous dermatitis (GD) is an emerging disease of increasing economic importance in poultry resulting from infection by Clostridium septicum and Clostridium perfringens type A. Lack of a reproducible disease model has been a major obstacle in understanding the immunopathology of GD. To gain better understanding of host-pathogen interactions in GD infection, we evaluated various immune parame...

To facilitate the evaluation of vaccines against bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1), a cotton rat model of intranasal (i.n.) BHV-1 infection was established. Cotton rat lung cells were similar to bovine cells in their ability to support BHV-1 replication in vitro. Furthermore, i.n. inoculation of cotton rats with BHV-1 resulted in pulmonary lesions comparable to BHV-1 infection in cattle. Using ...

Paramagnetic nanomaterials for use as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents have higher relaxivity than conventional low molecular weight MRI agents. However, the biocompatibility and pharmacokinetics of such nanomaterials will strongly affect the likelihood of clinical approval. We synthesized MRI contrast agents based on biocompatible lysine-dendri-grafts: Gd-BzDTPA-lysineG2 and Gd...

In diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the fractional anisotropy (FA) maps can be obtained when the number of recorded gradient directions (GD) is increased. Vice versa, elimination of motion-corrupted or noisy GD leads to a more accurate characterization of the diffusion tensor. We previously suggest a slice-wise method for artifact detection in...

Graves' disease (GD) is a common thyroid disease, and Graves ophthalmopathy(GO) is the most common extra-thyroidal manifestation of GD. Genetic associations of the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) gene with GD and GO have been studied in different population groups for a long time. We aimed to obtain a more precise estimation of the effects of TSHR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SN...

Graves' disease (GD) is a leading cause of hyperthyroidism, which affects 1.0-1.6% of the general population. Previous studies reported a higher GD prevalence in Asian populations compared to Caucasian populations. The etiology of GD involves complex interactions between predisposing genes and environmental triggers. Genetic studies have shown that the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is an import...

The ability of chelated Gd to serve as an effective magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent largely depends on fast exchange rates between the Gd-bound water molecules and the surrounding bulk water. Because water diffuses slowly across lipid bilayers, liposomes with encapsulated chelated Gd have not been widely adopted as MR contrast agents. To overcome this limitation, we have synthesized chem...

Graves' disease (GD) is one of the most common endocrine diseases. Antithyroid drugs (ATDs) treatment is frequently used as the first-choice therapy for GD patients in most countries due to the superiority in safety and tolerance. However, GD patients treated with ATD have a relatively high recurrence rate after drug withdrawal, which is a main limitation for ATD treatment. It is of great impor...