The host defense against viral infection is acquired during the coevolution or symbiosis of the host and pathogen. Several cellular factors that restrict retroviral infection have been identified in the hosts. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a gammaretrovirus that is classified into several receptor interference groups, including a novel FeLV-subgroup D (FeLV-D) that we recently identified. FeL...

OBJECTIVES Our goal was to describe the functional status of cardiogenic shock survivors, identify the correlates of cardiogenic shock, and compare global quality of life and functional status of patients randomly assigned to treatment with emergency revascularization (ERV) versus initial medical stabilization (IMS). BACKGROUND Historically, the hospital survival rate of patients with cardiog...

This letter is in response to the article by Riera et al. entitled “Early repolarization variant: Epidemiological aspects, mechanism, and differential diagnosis” The article is available online as in press article Cardiology Journal 2008 (vol. 15). With much interest I read the review article by Riera et al. [1] in which they comprehensively described the epidemiological aspects, mechanism, and...

OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of bariatric surgery in patients with obesity on dyspnea and to analyze the relationships between improvement of dyspnea after bariatric surgery and changes in pulmonary function, especially Expiratory Reserve Volume (ERV) which is the lung volume abnormality most frequently associated with obesity. METHODS Forty-five patients (5 males/40 females, mean Body Ma...

Initial indications that retroviruses are connected to neoplastic transformation were seen more than a century ago. This concept has also been tested for endogenized retroviruses (ERVs) that are abundantly expressed in many transformed cells. In healthy cells, ERV expression is commonly prevented by DNA methylation and other epigenetic control mechanisms. ERVs are remnants of former exogenous f...

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) differ from typical retroviruses in being inherited through the host germline and therefore are a unique combination of pathogen and selfish genetic element. Some ERV lineages proliferate by infecting germline cells, as do typical retroviruses, whereas others lack the env gene required for virions to enter cells and thus behave like retrotransposons. We wished to ...

BACKGROUND The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a widely used parameter to study obesity; however it does not assess the distribution of body adiposity. Ultrasonography is a reliable method of measuring subcutaneous (SAT), visceral (VAT) and Total adipose tissue of the abdomen (TAT) to determine the influence of abdominal fat on pulmonary function by directly measuring abdominal adipose tissue. METHO...

BACKGROUND Prolonged slow expiration (PSE) is a physiotherapy technique often applied in infants to reduce pulmonary obstruction and clear secretions, but there have been few studies of PSE's effects on the respiratory system. OBJECTIVE To describe PSE's effects on respiratory mechanics in infants. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study with 18 infants who had histories of recurrent ...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated risks of the emergency room visits (ERV) for cerebrovascular diseases, heart diseases, ischemic heart disease, hypertensive diseases, chronic renal failure (CRF), diabetes mellitus (DM), asthma, chronic airway obstruction not elsewhere classified (CAO), and accidents associated with the ambient temperature from 2000 to 2009 in metropolitan Taipei. METHODS The di...

AIMS Adenohypophysis (AH) hormone-producing cells represent the origin of diverse groups of pituitary adenomas (PA). Deregulation of hypothalamic hormone receptors, growth factors and cAMP signalling have been implicated in the aetiology of PA. Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are derived from past exogenous retroviral infections and represent more than 8% of the human genome. Some ERV genes enco...