Hyperoxia increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in vascular endothelium; however, the mechanisms involved in ROS generation are not well characterized. We determined the role and regulation of NAD(P)H oxidase in hyperoxia-induced ROS formation in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs). Exposure of HPAECs to hyperoxia for 1, 3, and 12 h increased the generation of superox...

   Background and Objective: Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors. Despite therapeutic advances, the majority of gliomas do not respond to either chemo or radiotherapy. CD117, the gene product of c-kit has been expressed in cells of glial tumors. Because gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) that express CD117 respond dramatically to treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, ide...

Disabled-2 (Dab2) is a cytoplasmic adaptor protein that binds to the cytoplasmic tail of the multiligand endocytic receptor megalin, abundantly expressed in renal proximal tubules. Deletion of Dab2 induces a urinary increase in specific plasma proteins such as vitamin D binding protein and retinol binding protein (Morris SM, Tallquist MD, Rock CO, and Cooper JA. EMBO J 21: 1555-1564, 2002). How...

Filarial nematode parasites establish long-term chronic infections in the context of an antiparasite immunity that is strongly biased toward a Th2 response. The mechanisms that lead to this Th2 bias toward filarial antigens are not clear, but one possibility is that the parasites produce molecules that have the capacity to proactively modify their immunological environment. Here we report that ...

Beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR)-mediated vasorelaxation declines with age in humans and animal models. This is not caused by changes in expression of beta-AR, G alpha s, adenylyl cyclase, or protein kinase A but is associated with decreased cAMP production. Expression and activity of G protein receptor kinase-2 (GRK-2), which phosphorylates and desensitizes the beta-AR, increases with age in...

A case of primary lung malignancy presenting as pericardial effusion with associated localised Epstein-Barr virus infection or persistence. Editor, Acute pericarditis and pericardial effusion has many causes including infections, malignancy, collagen vascular disease, autoimmune diseases, uraemia, myocardial infarction, trauma, surgery, medications and hypothyroidism.We report a rare case in wh...

The distribution of immunoglobulin-containing cells within 8 normal human labial salivary glands was studied using an immunoperoxidase technique. Cell counts revealed that IgA-containing cells predominated in all specimens and that the mean percentage class ratios for IgG:IgA:IgM:IgD cells were 4:92:3:1. IgE cells were rare and only detected in one gland. The density of IgA cells (191 cells/mm ...