As genome-wide association studies grow in popularity for the identification of genetic factors for common and rare diseases, analytical methods to comb through large numbers of genetic variants efficiently to identify disease association are increasingly in demand. We have developed a pattern-based data-mining approach to discover unlinked multilocus genetic effects for complex disease and to ...

IL-18 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine of the IL-1 family and it induces IL-1, TNF, and IL-6, all of which are endogenous pyrogens. The pyrogenic properties of recombinant IL-18 were studied in a rabbit model of fever. rIL-18 did not cause fever when injected intravenously into rabbits. Furthermore, the ability of rIL-18 to modulate other components of the acute-phase response was assessed. rIL-1...

Two infants presented with a salt-losing syndrome, the presenting features of which were subtle. One case appeared to be transient. Deficient production of aldosterone was shown by plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone profile. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of urine indicated a defect in 18-dehydrogenation of 18-hydroxycorticosterone. Treatment with salt supplements and 9alpha-flu...

Symptom validity tests (SVTs) are predicated on the assumption that overendorsement of atypical symptoms flags symptom exaggeration (i.e., questionable symptom validity). However, few studies have explored how practitioners from different cultural backgrounds evaluate such symptoms. We asked professionals working in Western (n = 56) and non-Western countries (n = 37) to rate the plausibility of...

The Human Proteome Project is moving into the next phase of creating and/or reconsidering the functional annotations of proteins using the chromosome-centric paradigm. This challenge cannot be solved exclusively using automated means, but rather requires human intelligence for interpreting the combined data. To foster the integration between human cognition and post-genome array a number of spe...

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an important driver for present day healthcare. Fluorine-18 is the most widely used radioisotope for PET imaging and a thorough overview of the available radiochemistry methodology is a prerequisite for selection of a synthetic approach for new fluorine-18 labelled PET tracers. These PET tracers can be synthesised either by late-stage radiofluorination, int...

A pericentric inversion (10)(p15q24) was observed in three generations of a family. One daughter of the inversion carrier was found to have the inv(10) and trisomy 18. The other offspring had a recombinant (10) chromosome.

E verything that doctors and other health workers do involves communication about the benefi ts and harms to be expected from interventions—whether they are therapeutic, diagnostic, or prophylactic. As health-care professionals, we need to share our understanding and perceptions of benefi ts and harms with patients and their families as fully as we can. We also have to share them with other pro...

Vacancies play a pivotal role in affecting ferroelectric polarization and switching properties, and there is a possibility that ferroelectricity may be utterly eliminated when defects render the system metallic. However, sufficient quantitative understandings of the subject have been lacking for decades due to the fact that vacancies in ferroelectrics are often charged and polarization in charg...