To identify basic mechanisms of how infections may induce a neuron-specific autoimmune response, we generated mice expressing OVA as neuronal autoantigen under control of the neuron-specific enolase promoter (NSE-OVA mice). Intracerebral, but not systemic, infection with attenuated Listeria monocytogenes-secreting OVA induced an atactic-paretic neurological syndrome in NSE-OVA mice after bacter...

The non-histone chromatin-binding protein HMGA2 is expressed predominantly in the mesenchyme before its differentiation, but it is also expressed in tumors of epithelial origin. Ectopic expression of HMGA2 in epithelial cells induces epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), which has been implicated in the acquisition of metastatic characters in tumor cells. However, little is known about in vi...

AIM OF THE STUDY Tumour endothelial cells have been proven to have molecular markers distinct from normal endothelial cells. These specific molecular markers allow for targeting of the tumour vasculature with specific pharmacological vehicles to direct diagnostic or therapeutic modalities at the endothelial cells. By performing a phage display-based screening, this study aimed to identify a cer...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated tumors developing in immunocompetent individuals present a challenge to immunotherapy, since they lack expression of immunodominant viral antigens. However, the tumors consistently express viral proteins including LMP2, which are immunologically "weak" but may nonetheless be targets for immune T cells. We previously showed that a majority of cytotoxic T lymph...

Internet was designed about thirty years ago, and used as an academic communication and research platform for researchers at universities and research agencies of the United States at that time. However, with the great development and improvement of science and technology and many surprising inventions like desktop, laptop, mobile phone, PDA, intelligent sensor and so forth, Internet has evolve...

We previously showed that immature CD166(+) osteoblasts (OB) promote hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) function. Here, we demonstrate that CD166 is a functional HSC marker that identifies both murine and human long-term repopulating cells. Both murine LSKCD48(-)CD166(+)CD150(+) and LSKCD48(-)CD166(+)CD150(+)CD9(+) cells, as well as human Lin(-)CD34(+)CD38(-)CD49f(+)CD166(+) cells sustained signific...

The non-histone chromatin-binding protein HMGA2 is expressed predominantly in the mesenchyme before its differentiation, but it is also expressed in tumors of epithelial origin. Ectopic expression of HMGA2 in epithelial cells induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which has been implicated in the acquisition of metastatic characters in tumor cells. However, little is known about in vi...

Quality of Experience (QoE) provisioning in heterogeneous access networks (HANs) can be achieved via handoffs. The current approaches for QoE-aware handoffs either lack the availability of a network path probing method or lack the availability of efficient methods for QoE prediction. Further, the current approaches do not explore the benefits of proactive QoE-aware handoffs such that user’s QoE...

There is little information on the fate of infused mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and long-term side effects after irradiation exposure. We addressed these questions using human MSCs (hMSCs) intravenously infused to nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice submitted to total body irradiation (TBI) or local irradiation (abdominal or leg irradiation). The animals were sacr...

Pelagic seabirds wander the open oceans then return accurately to their habitual nest-sites. We investigated the effects of sensory manipulation on oceanic navigation in Scopoli's shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) breeding at Pianosa island (Italy), by displacing them 400 km from their colony and tracking them. A recent experiment on Atlantic shearwaters (Cory's shearwater, Calonectris boreali...