Purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) are binuclear hydrolases that catalyse the hydrolysis of a range of phosphorylated substrates. Human PAP is a major histochemical marker for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. In patients suffering from this disorder, PAP activity contributes to increased bone resorption and, therefore, human PAP is a key target for the development of anti-osteoporotic drugs. This ma...

The mechanism by which bi-and trivalent cations affect human liver phosphatidatephosphohydrolase (PAP) activity was investigated. Bivalent cations up to 1 mM increased PAP activity whereas at higher concentrations the activity of the enzyme decreased. The stimulatory concentration for trivalent cations such as Al3+ and Cr3+, however, was much lower being 2 m M and 1 m M, respectively. All catio...

BACKGROUND The pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) is increased in the serum of active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and its levels seem to be correlated with disease activity. Our aim was to evaluate the usefulness of serum and fecal PAP measurements to predict relapse in patients with inactive IBD. MATERIALS AND METHODS We undertook a 12-month prospective study that included 6...

We have previously reported the purification of a 37-kd platelet-agglutinating protein (PAP p37) from the plasma of a patient with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) that was shown to be present in a subset of TTP patients. The platelet agglutination induced by PAP p37 has been shown to be inhibited by IgG from normal human adults and the same TTP patient after recovery. To elucidate the...

Background: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer and leading cause of death from cancer among women in Nigeria owing to late presentation. This is attributed to lack of an effective national cervical cancer screening programme or poor utilization of the few existing services. Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the perception of female employees of the Jos University Teaching...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular function and pulmonary circulation in chronic mountain sickness (CMS) patients with rest and stress echocardiography compared with healthy high-altitude (HA) dwellers. BACKGROUND CMS or Monge's disease is defined by excessive erythrocytosis (hemoglobin >21 g/dl in males, 19 g/dl in females) and severe...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Neutrophils are involved in acute lung injury during ARDS via several mechanisms. This study focuses on neutrophil-derived oxidative stress. Hypochlorite is a major neutrophil-derived oxidant. This study characterizes hypochlorite-induced acute changes in pulmonary circulation and the involvement of tissue lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduced glutathione (rGSH) depletion. METH...

Apoptosis is an active form of programmed cell death (PCD) that plays critical roles in the development, differentiation and resistance to pathogens in multicellular organisms. Ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) are able to induce apoptotic cell death in mammalian cells. In this study, using yeast as a model system, we showed that yeast cells expressing pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP), a si...