Calcium/calmodulin dependent kinase II (CaMKII), PDZ-domain scaffolding protein Discs-large (DLG), immunoglobin superfamily cell adhesion molecule Fasciclin 2 (FAS2) and the position specific (PS) integrin receptors, including betaPS and its alpha partners (alphaPS1, alphaPS2, alphaPS3/alphaVolado), are all known to regulate the postembryonic development of synaptic terminal arborization at the...

ZAP-70 is a tyrosine kinase expressed in normal T cells and NK cells. Expression of ZAP-70 has been associated with poor prognosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and might be a surrogate marker for immunoglobin heavy chain (IGH) mutational status in that disease. Little is known about ZAP-70 expression in other hematologic malignant neoplasms. We examined 446 specimens representing a ra...

In this edition of Pediatric Dermatology Samimi and Siegfried report the interesting and provocative case of a 9-year-oldgirlwithhypocomplementemic systemic lupus erythematosus and severe nephritis. Over an approximate 3-week time span this very ill patient was treated withsevendi€erentagents including intravenousandoral corticosteroids.Within 2±3weeks (andwhile on steroids) she developed a fev...

OBJECTIVE Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) comprises a large group of diseases that occur secondary to inhalation of a variety of antigens. This report describes a little-known cause of HP, previously unreported in the English literature. METHODS Five patients (three women) with a mean age of 41 years who fulfilled the criteria for HP due to exposure to dry sausage dust were studied. The cli...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To investigate a community wide outbreak of hepatitis A (HA). DESIGN Description of the outbreak, with a case-control study to assess transmission. SETTING A Florida county, USA, 1988-9. SUBJECTS A total of 311 cases of HA. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS A 13 month outbreak of HA is described. Most of the 311 cases (95%) were residents of a large metropolitan area (attack...

Myosin X (Myo X), also known as MYO10, is an unconventional actin-based motor protein that plays an important role in filopodium formation. Its intra-filopodia movement, an event tightly associated with the function of Myo X, has been extensively studied. However, how the motor activity of Myo X and the direction of its movements are regulated remains largely unknown. In our previous study, we ...

BACKGROUND A mass vaccination has been implemented to prevent the spread of 2009 pandemic influenza virus in China. Highly limited information is available on whether this vaccine induces cross-reactive neutralization antibodies against other subtypes of influenza viruses. METHODS We employed pseudovirus-based assays to analyze heterosubtypic neutralization responses in serum samples of 23 re...

B-cell immune dysfunction contributes to the risk of severe infections after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Delayed B-cell regeneration is found in patients with systemic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and is often accompanied by bone marrow (BM) suppression. Little is known about human BM GVHD. We analyzed the reconstitution kinetics of B-cell subsets in adul...

Protein G, the immunoglobin G-binding surface protein of group C and G streptococci, also binds serum albumin. The albumin-binding site on protein G is distinct from the immunoglobulin G-binding site. By mild acid hydrolysis of the papain-liberated protein G fragment (35 kDa), a 28-kDa fragment was produced which retained full immunoglobulin G-binding activity (determined by Scatchard plotting)...

Malaria-specific antibody responses in children often appear to be short-lived but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the B-cell activating factor (BAFF) and its receptors expressed on B cells with antibody responses during and after acute malaria in children. Our results demonstrate that BAFF plasma levels ...