Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that regulates antioxidant and anti-inflammatory genes, and it plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Moreover, 15-deoxy-delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2) plays a protective role against oxidative stress and inflammation both in vivo and in vitro. In a previous st...

BACKGROUND Infection is one of the most common causes of death in β-thalassemia patients. This may be due in part to an underlying immunological abnormality. During the past decade, a subset of CD3+ T cells that express both CD4+CD8+ (DP) T-cells were discovered and have been described in several pathological conditions. However, phenotypic characterization of this unique T-lymphocyte subset in...

Understanding how pH affects the activity of hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is key to developing active, stable, and affordable HOR/HER catalysts for hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers. A common linear correlation between hydrogen binding energy (HBE) and pH is observed for four supported platinum-group metal catalysts (Pt/C, Ir/C, ...

HemoglobinE (HbE), havin| the substitutionof glutamic acidwithlysineat the 26thamino acidresidue onp-globin, is the most common mutaion of the p-globin gei" in South East Asia. A compound heteroqgote of this mutation with another mutation in the $-globin gene Iead.s to o'rrrr)r"h"^otyi, disease known as hemoglobin Et\-thalnssemia d.isease, where repeated blood transfusions are neededIn an Ind.o...

....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Results ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Characterization of 3D HBE TLAs ....................................................

BACKGROUND Non-neuronal cells, including those derived from lung, are reported to express nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR). We examined nAChR subunit expression in short-term cultures of human airway cells derived from a series of never smokers, ex-smokers, and active smokers. METHODS AND RESULTS At the mRNA level, human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells and airway fibroblasts express...

In this study we have examined the density of HLA class I protein display on the hepatocytes of patients with HBe antigen (HBeAg) or anti-HBe (HBeAb) positive chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and related this to the level of interferon activation of these cells determined by measuring hepatic oligo 2-5A synthetase activity. In HBeAg positive patients the density of HLA class I (HLA-I) ...

Hemoglobin (Hb) E (β-Glu26Lys) remains an enigma in terms of its contributions to red blood cell (RBC) pathophysiological mechanisms; for example, EE individuals exhibit a mild chronic anemia, and HbE/β-thalassemia individuals show a range of clinical manifestations, including high morbidity and death, often resulting from cardiac dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to determine and eval...

Retinoids, natural and synthetic derivatives of vitamin A, are active in cancer therapy and chemoprevention. We reported previously that all-trans-retinoic acid (RA) treatment prevented carcinogen-induced transformation of immortalized human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. To identify cancer chemopreventive mechanisms, immortalized (BEAS-2B), carcinogen-transformed (BEAS-2B(NNK)), and RA-chem...