BACKGROUND In the central nervous system ethanol (EtOH) is metabolized to acetaldehyde (ACA) primarily by the oxidative enzyme catalase. Evidence suggests that ACA is responsible for at least some of the effects on the brain that have been attributed to EtOH. Various types of ion channels which are involved in electrical signaling are targets of EtOH like maxi calcium-activated potassium (BK) c...

Autophagy plays a role in deciding the fate of cells by inducing either survival or death. 1'S-1-acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA) is a phenylpropanoid isolated from rhizomes of Alpinia conchigera and has been reported previously on its apoptotic effects on various cancers. However, the effect of ACA on autophagy remains ambiguous. The aims of this study were to investigate the autophagy-inducing a...

Assembly of H/ACA RNPs in yeast is aided by at least two accessory factors, Naf1p and Shq1p. Although the function of Naf1p and its human ortholog NAF1 has been delineated in detail, that of Shq1p and its putative human ortholog SHQ1 remains obscure. We demonstrate that SHQ1 indeed functions in the biogenesis of human H/ACA RNPs and we dissect its mechanism of action. Like NAF1, SHQ1 binds the ...

In the process of evaluating the effect of several plant extracts against Mycobacterium tuberculosis using the Microplate Alamar Blue Assay (MABA), an extract of Thai herb Alpinia galanga rhizome and its major component, 1'-acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), exhibited marked anti-tuberculosis activity. The minimal inhibition concentrations (MICs) of the S-enantiomer of ACA (S-ACA) against M. tuberc...

The box H/ACA RNA gene family is one of the largest non-protein-coding gene families in eukaryotes and archaea. Recently, we developed snoGPS, a computational screening program for H/ACA snoRNAs, and applied it to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We report here results of extending our method to screen for H/ACA RNAs in multiple large genomes of related species, and apply it to the human, mouse, and r...

The family of box H/ACA snoRNA is an abundant class of non-protein-coding RNAs, which play important roles in the post-transcriptional modification of rRNAs and snRNAs. Here we report the characterization in the human genome of 202 sequences derived from box H/ACA snoRNAs. Most of them were retrogenes formed using the L1 integration machinery. About 96% of the box H/ACA RNA-related sequences ar...

Introduction Illinois hospitals have experienced a marked decrease in the number of uninsured patients after implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, the full impact of health insurance expansion on trauma mortality is still unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of ACA insurance expansion on trauma patients hospitalized in Illinois. Methods We perfo...

BACKGROUND Epsilon-aminocaproic acid (epsilon-ACA), an antifibrinolytic agent, is used in cardiac surgery to decrease postoperative bleeding. Theoretical concerns exist about the potential for epsilon-ACA to contribute to thrombotic complications. For this reason epsilon-ACA administration is sometimes delayed until after heparinization. This study investigated the impact of the timing of epsil...

An anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA) bump was produced on a silicon chip for bonding onto a glass substrate. The bumping process and the bonding procedure are described. The constituents of the ACA were investigated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The thermal behavior of the ACA was investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)...

Increased levels of IgG anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) were found in 23 of 98 patients (23%) with systemic lupus erythematosus. Increased levels of IgM ACA were found less frequently (5%). All four patients with major cerebrovascular events had increased IgG ACA, including the two with highest levels, both of whom were men. Six of nine patients with livedo reticularis had increased IgG ACA. I...