A NUMBER of receptors for growth factors and differentiation antigens have been found to be secreted or released by cells. Following mononuclear cell (MNC) activation and interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) expression, a soluble form of the Alpha;-chain of IL-2R (sIL-2R) is released. The sIL-2R has been shown to be present in the culture supernatants of activated MNCs as well as in normal sera and, ...

SIL's (Safety Integrity Levels) are used by IEC 61508:1998 [1] to characterise the required functional safety of computer control systems. For example, SIL 4, the highest rating is for fly by wire aircraft and weapons systems and track circuited train signalling systems while SIL 2 is typical of certain Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). Fire control panels have not been SIL rated to date ev...

Local effect of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) on peripheral nerve regeneration was studied using a rat sciatic nerve transection model. Forty-five male healthy White Wistar rats were divided into three experimental groups (n = 15), randomly: Sham-operation (SHAM), control (SIL), and ASA-treated (SIL/ASA) groups. In SHAM group after anesthesia left sciatic nerve was exposed through a gluteal muscl...

OBJECTIVES To date, insufficient evidence is available to recommend serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) measurement as a routine test in the assessment of sarcoidosis. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical value of this test. DESIGN Forty-seven patients with sarcoidosis, all presenting with active disease, were included in the study. Initial serum sIL-2R levels were determined by enz...

Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is a marker of T-lymphocyte activation. We have undertaken a study to examine the serum sIL-2R levels in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and the changes following anti-TB chemotherapy. Forty four patients with pulmonary TB or tuberculous pleural effusion were recruited. Serum was collected from the patients before and at 1, 2, 4 and 6 months aft...

The atypical squamous cell/squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC/SIL) ratio has been used as a surrogate quality control tool for specificity and uncertainty for cytopathologists. Whether this ratio is useful for cytotechnologists is not known. During an 8-month period, the sensitivity of screening for 11 cytotechnologists was determined using rapid prescreening. The ASC/SIL ratio for each cytot...

This study was undertaken to determine if advanced epithelial ovarian cancer was associated with increased serum and ascitic levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor alpha (sIL-2R alpha). Serum and ascitic fluid samples from 23 ovarian cancer patients were analyzed for sIL-2R alpha using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and compared with the serum and peritoneal levels in 18 normal females....

BACKGROUND The soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R, sIL2R, sTAC, sCD25) is a reliable biomarker for disease activity in inflammatory disorders such as sarcoidosis. Based on the essential pathogenic role of inflammation for progression of liver diseases, we hypothesized that sIL-2R might be an indicator of inflammatory cell activation and disease severity in patients with chronic liver diseas...

BACKGROUND It has been well documented that phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, sildenafil (SIL) protects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I-R) injury. SIRT1 is part of the class III Sirtuin family of histone deacetylases that deacetylates proteins involved in cellular stress response including those related to I-R injury. OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS We tested the hypothesis that SIL-induced card...

A hemispherical silicon solid immersion lens (SIL) was used to improve the spatial resolution of front-side thermal IR imaging in lock-in mode. The bottom of the SIL was cone-shaped to reduce the footprint of the SIL to the size of the imaged region. Caused by the lock-in operation mode, the detection limit improves by 2-3 orders of magnitude, and scattered light does not limit the image contra...