Nuclear Autoantigen of 14 kDa (NA14) was originally identified using the serum of a Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patient as probe in screening a human testis cDNA expression library. To date there is no report in the systematic analysis of the prevalence of autoantibodies to NA14. In this study, anti-NA14 was determined in several rheumatic diseases from independent cohorts in the US and Japan. The ...

The structure of a single-stranded (ss) oligonucleotide containing (GTC)15 [ss(GTC)15] was examined. As a control, parallel studies were performed with ss(CTG)15, an oligonucleotide that forms a hairpin. Electrophoretic mobility, KMnO4 oxidation and P1 nuclease studies demonstrate that, similar to ss(CTG)15, ss(GTC)15 forms a hairpin containing base paired and/or stacked thymines in the stem. E...

BACKGROUND Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection in immunocompromized patients is currently a growing health concern, and we aimed to examine the relative risk of NTM infection in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) compared with that in non-SS individuals. METHODS We used the 2003-2012 Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 6554 incident SS cases during 20...

In this paper we classify fuzzy subgroups of the dihedral group $D_{pqrs}$  for distinct primes  $p$, $q$, $r$ and $s$. This follows similar work we have done on distinct fuzzy subgroups of some dihedral groups.We present formulae for the number of (i) distinct maximal chains of subgroups, (ii) distinct fuzzy subgroups and (iii) non-isomorphic classes of fuzzy subgroups under our chosen equival...

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease that affects exocrine glands including salivary and lacrimal glands. It is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration into exocrine glands, leading to dry mouth and eyes. A number of auto-antibodies, such as anti-SS-A and SS-B antibodies, are detected in patients with SS. However, no SS-specific pathologic auto-antibodies have yet been found in th...

Prosomatostatin (pro-SS) is a peptide of 92 amino acids which contains the extensively studied somatostatin (SS) 1-28 and SS 1-14 at the C terminus. Little is known about the N-terminal part of pro-SS. In previous studies, using a radioimmunoassay against pro-SS 20-36 (sequence deduced from human cDNA sequence) we have identified a peptide with a molecular mass of approximately 8000 daltons in ...

Over the past years, DNA biosensors have been developed to analyze DNA interaction and damage that have important applications in biotechnological researches. The immobilization of DNA onto a substrate is one key step for construction of DNA electrochemical biosensors. In this report, a direct approach has been described for immobilization of single strand DNA onto carboxylic acid-functionalize...

  Objective: Corrosion resistance is among the most important properties of metal alloys used in the oral cavity. Consumption of acidic foods reduces the salivary pH and intensifies the corrosion of brackets and orthodontic wires. This study aimed to compare electro galvanic corrosion of different orthodontic brackets and wires and determine the amount of ions released into acidic artifici...

  Objective: Orthodontic wires should have high resistance against corrosion in the oral environment. Since the effect of pH on corrosion has been well recognized, this study sought to assess and compare the electrochemical corrosion of orthodontic brackets and wires of different brands in acidic artificial saliva.   Methods: This in vitro experimental study was conducted on 24 mandibular centr...

A technique of directly measuring Venous Flow Rate (VFR) in a large superficial limbvein is described.With this technique, increases in VFR were noted in response to Epinephrine; and decreases inVFR, in response to the anticipation of, and the performance of an alerting mental arithmetic prob-lem.High Ego Strength Ss revealed higher rates of flow than low E.S. Ss at rest and...