Initiation of folliculogenesis through the induction of primordial follicle development in the ovary has an important role in determining the fertility and reproductive fitness of most mammalian species. The factors that control this critical process are largely unknown. The hypothesis tested in the current study was that kit-ligand/stem cell factor (KL) promotes the initiation and progression ...

goddess of Greek mythology who spins the thread of life. Mice deficient for KL exhibit many changes that occur during aging, including arteriosclerosis, osteoporosis, infertility, and cognitive decline and have a short life span [1]. The Klotho gene encodes several isoforms in mammals, which include a membrane-bound and two secreted forms. The circulating isoforms result from the proteolytic cl...

We review what has been learned about CP violation in the K system. It is natural to hypothesize that the observed CP-violating effects are caused by the Standard Model weak interaction. We describe the stringent future test of this hypothesis via experiments on the B system. Then, we see how new physics beyond the Standard Model could be revealed by this test. 1. What do we already know? Befor...

The main goal of the NA48 experiments at the CERN SPS has been the search for direct CP violation (CPV) in kaon decays. In this paper results from NA48 and NA48/2 are presented. The direct CPV parameter Re(ε′/ε) has been measured by NA48 from the decay rates of neutral kaons into two pions: combining the results from data collected in 1997, 98, 99 and 2001, an overall value of Re(ε′/ε) = (14.7 ...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of hypoxia-inducible factor-2 (HIF-2α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with radiographic severity in primary osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Expression of these two factors in cartilage samples from OA knee joints was examined at mRNA and protein levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS Knee joints were examined using plain r...

A block, considered as a set of elements together with its adjacency matrix M, is called a B-block if M is the adjacency matrix of a complete bipartite graph Kk,, k, . A balanced bipartite design with parameters b, u, r, k, h, kl, k2 (briefly BBD(u, k, A; kl)) is an arrangement of u elements into b B-blocks such that every B-block contains k = kl + ki elements, every element occurs in exactly r...

Several families of plant viruses evolved cap-independent translation enhancers (3'CITE) in the 3' untranslated regions of their genomic (g)RNAs to compete with ongoing cap-dependent translation of cellular mRNAs. Umbravirus Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV)2 is the only example where three 3'CITEs enhance translation: the eIF4E-binding Panicum mosaic virus-like translational enhancer (PTE) and r...

Kikuchi’s lymphadenitis (KL), also called as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a reactive condition of a lymph node which has a distinct clinical manifestation but unknown etiology. In most of the cases, it presents as a cervical lymphadenopathy mainly in young adults, especially women. It undergoes a self-limiting course within a few weeks to several months. However, unnecessary excisi...

Fibrotic aortic valve disease (FAVD) is an important cause of aortic stenosis, yet currently there is no effective treatment for FAVD due to its unknown etiology. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether deficiency in the anti-aging Klotho gene (KL) promotes high-fat-diet-induced FAVD and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism. Heterozygous Klotho-deficient (KL(+/-) ) mice an...

Background: We retrospectively analysed the prognostic significance of a tumor marker index (TMI) based on preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) levels in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 176 NSCLC patients who had preoperative serum CEA and KL-6 level measurements and had undergone curative surgery betw...