Susceptibility to spontaneous testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), a common cancer affecting young men, shows unusual genetic complexity. Despite remarkable progress in the genetics analysis of susceptibility to many cancers, TGCT susceptibility genes have not yet been identified. Various mutations that are inherited as Mendelian traits in laboratory mice affect susceptibility to spontaneous TG...

An (n, r)-arc is a set of n points of a projective plane such that some r, but no r + 1 of them, are collinear. The maximum size of an (n, r)-arc in PG(2, q) is denoted by mr(2, q). Using some good blocking sets in PG(2, 23) we establish that m22(2, 23) ≥ 484, m21(2, 23) ≥ 461, m20(2, 23) ≥ 437, m19(2, 23) ≥ 411, m18(2, 23) ≥ 385 and m17(2, 23) ≥ 360.

The ‘local’ community of Matera has been studied in a pioneering work by Lidia De Rita, who focused on the unique configuration its neighborly relations, defining “psycho-groups”, featured their not codified laws and affected topographical defects formation normal groups. In second half 20th century, radically changed status: from “national shame”, it was declared “World Heritage Site” UNESCO; ...

Tight junctions (TJs) are complex biochemical structures that seal the intercellular space and prevent the free movement of solutes across epithelial cell sheets. Modulating the TJ seal is a promising option for increasing the transdermal absorption of drugs. Within TJs, the binding of the claudin (CLDN) family of tetratransmembrane proteins through cis- and trans-interactions is an integral pa...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Mosquito gut is a rich source of microorganisms. These microorganisms exhibit close association and contribute various physiological processes taking place in mosquito gut. The present study is aimed to characterize two bacterial isolates M19 and GB11 recovered from the gut of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito collected from Bhuj and Jamnagar districts of Gujarat, India. ...

The metabolic profile of the potent hypoglycemic agent, (2S)-pterosin A (1), in rat urine via intragastrical oral administration was investigated. In total, 19 metabolites (M1-M19) were identified. Among these, 16 metabolites were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography solid-phase extraction-tube transfer-NMR, and seven metabolites were further isolated from the treated urine t...

We present evidence that a highly purified pepsin extract of type 5 streptococcal M protein (pep M5) contains at least three epitopes that are cross-reactive with sarcolemmal membrane proteins of human myocardium. The tissue-cross-reactive determinants of pep M5 are also partially shared with pep M6 and pep M19. Three rabbits immunized with a single 300 micrograms dose of pep M5 developed signi...

Staphylococcus aureus is the most common etiological agent of bacterial arthritis and acute osteomyelitis and has been shown to bind to type II collagen under static and dynamic conditions. We have previously reported the effect of shear on the adhesion of S. aureus Phillips to collagen and found that this process is shear dependent (Z. Li, M. Höök, J. M. Patti, and J. M. Ross, Ann. Biomed. Eng...

We report the discovery of a luminous "yellow" post-asymptotic-giant-branch (PAGB) star in globular cluster (GC) M19 (NGC 6273), identified during our uBVI survey Galactic GCs. The photometric system is optimized to detect stars with large Balmer discontinuities, indicating very low surface gravities and high luminosities. spectral-energy distribution (SED) consistent an effective temperature a...