While still relatively low as compared to rates in the Western world, prostate cancer is on the increase in Asia, presumably due to change in dietary and other lifestyle factors. One risk factor is reported to be vitamin D (VD) and therefore the function of its receptor (VDR) could be of importance. In the present study polymorphims with functional significance in the Bsm, Apa 1 and Taq 1 genes...

BMP and Wnt signaling pathways play a crucial role in organogenesis, including tooth development. Despite extensive studies, the exact functions, as well as if and how these two pathways act coordinately in regulating early tooth development, remain elusive. In this study, we dissected regulatory functions of BMP and Wnt pathways in early tooth development using a transgenic noggin (Nog) overex...

Understanding climate change and its potential impact on species, populations and communities is one of the most pressing questions of twenty-fi rst-century conservation planning. Palaeobiogeographers working on Cenozoic fossil records and other lines of evidence are producing important insights into the naturally dynamic nature of climate and the equally dynamic response of species, population...

Learning Objectives: After participating in this educational activity, the physician should be better able to 1. Evaluate the relationship between reward processes, stress, and depression. 2. Assess the characteristics of the three etiological models of stress and reward processes. 3. Identify the biological basis for stress and reward processes. Adolescence is a peak period for the onset of de...

The inhibitory effects of major long-chain fatty acids (LCFA), which have 16 or 18 carbons, not only on acetate degradation, but also on propionate degradation and β-oxidation were examined in anaerobic serum bottle tests at 35°C with the acclimated granular sludges. A modified Gompertz equation described cumulative methane production to assess the rates of VFA degradation and β-oxidation, whic...

Volatile oils extracted by steam distillation from leaves of two plant species Moschosma polystachyum and Solanum xanthocarpum were evaluated in mosquito cages for their topical repellency effects against filarial vector Culex quinquefasciatus. The oil from M. polystachyum was tested at four different concentrations ranging from 1 to 4%. The 4% concentration gave 332.2 minutes protection wherea...

Although skin is the largest organ of the human body, cutaneous drug metabolism is often overlooked, and existing experimental models are insufficiently validated. This proof-of-concept study investigated phase II biotransformation of 11 test substrates in fresh full-thickness human skin explants, a model containing all skin cell types. Results show that skin explants have significant capacity ...

Sorosphaera viticola is a soil-borne, endophytic parasite of grapevine. It is classifi ed within the plasmodiophorids, an enigmatic group of obligate biotrophic parasites of higher plants. Sorosphaera viticola has been found abundantly in the roots of Vitis spp. in Germany and Canada. This may indicate a global distribution of this root parasite. But its biphasic life-cycle, its soil-borne natu...