Porcine rubulavirus (PoRV) is an emerging virus causing meningo-encephalitis and reproductive failures in pigs. Little is known about the pathogenesis and immune evasion of this virus; therefore research on the mechanisms underlying tissue damage during infection is essential. To explore these mechanisms, the effect of PoRV on the transcription of interferon (IFN) pathway members was analyzed i...

OBJECTIVE Lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) is abundant in atherosclerotic lesions and has potential immunomodulatory activities. This study is aimed to investigate effects of lysoPC on the interferon (IFN)-gamma-induced gene expression, focusing on T cell-directed CXC chemokines relevant to atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS Effects of lysoPC on the IFN gamma-induced gene expression of IFN-...

A novel variant of human heat-shock cognate protein 70 (HSC70) transcript, named heat-shock cognate protein 54 (HSC54), was identified and characterized. The transcript encodes the protein lacking 153 amino acid residues of HSC70 in a part of the protein-binding and variable domains, resulting in a calculated molecular mass of 53.5 kDa. HSC54 mRNA was detected in all human cells and tissues exa...

The damaged DNA-binding protein (DDB) complex, thought to recognize (6-4) photoproducts and other lesions in DNA, has been implicated to have a role in global genomic nucleotide excision repair (NER) and E2F-1-mediated transcription. The complex consists of a heterodimer of p127 (DDB1) and p48 (DDB2), the latter also being known as XPE. We reported previously that in Drosophila expression of th...

Interferon (IFN) induction of immediate-early response genes is mediated through the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs). Activation of STAT1 by IFNalpha or IFNgamma through its tyrosine phosphorylation involves members of the Jak tyrosine kinases. In addition, STAT2 is activated by IFNalpha, and, together with STAT1 and p48/ISGF3gamma, forms the transcription factor comp...

We analyze the relationship between international trade and the quality of economic institutions, such as contract enforcement, rule of law, or property rights. The literature on institutions has argued, both empirically and theoretically, that larger firms care less about good institutions and that higher inequality leads to worse institutions. Recent literature on international trade enables ...

The involvement of phosphorylation/dephosphorylation in the salicylic acid (SA) signal transduction pathway leading to pathogenesis-related gene induction has previously been demonstrated using kinase and phosphatase inhibitors. Here, we show that in tobacco suspension cells, SA induced a rapid and transient activation of a 48-kD kinase that uses myelin basic protein as a substrate. This kinase...

This paper investigates how, in a developing country, where credit market and legal institutions are weak, firms' choice of organization form, i.e., noncorporate versus corporate, affects their access to capital markets. I use data from Indonesian manufacturers from 1992 to 1998 to show that incorporated firms are less reliant on internal financing than unincorporated firms. Moreover, a 1995 re...

We cloned cDNA encoding chicken cytoplasmic histone acetyltransferase-1, chHAT-1, comprising 408 amino acids including a putative initiation Met. It exhibits 80.4% identity to the human homolog and possesses a typical leucine zipper motif. The glutathione S:-transferase (GST) pull-down assay, involving truncated and missense mutants of the chicken chromatin assembly factor-1 (chCAF-1)p48, revea...

The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union could serve as an opportunity to accelerate global and regional trade integration of ACP countries. Moreover, the European Commission intends to use EPAs as a tool for development and the eradication of poverty in ACP countries. To achieve their potential develop...