AIM The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in dyspeptic patients. BACKGROUND Although severe mucosal abnormality with villous atrophy (lesions Marsh III) is the histology gold standard for the diagnosis of CD, non-specific microenteropathy (Marsh I-II) with positive serology is also common Patients with dyspepsia, specific CD antibodies and microenteropathy,...

Multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA) molecules consist of single-stranded DNA covalently linked to RNA. Such molecules are encoded by genetic elements called retrons. Unlike other retrons, retron EC83 isolated from Escherichia coli 161 produces RNA-free msDNA by site-specific cleavage of msDNA at 5'-TTGA/A-3', where the slash indicates the cleavage site. In order to investigate factors respons...

Coeliac sprue (CS) may occur in association with immune complex-mediated diseases, including IgA nephropathy, dermatitis herpetiformis and thyroiditis. An association of CS with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) type 1 is rare, with only two prior cases reported. Here we describe a 45-year-old man with no prior medical history who presented initially with microhaematuria, subnephr...

Hyaluronan (HA) plays a significant role in maintaining aqueous humor outflow in trabecular meshwork, the primary ocular tissue involved in glaucoma. We examined potential association of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the HA synthesizing gene - hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2), hyaluronan binding protein 1 (HABP1) and HA catabolic gene hyaluronidase 3 (HYAL3) in the primary open angl...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of celiac disease is common in Iran. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of celiac disease in apparently healthy blood donors of Sistan and Balouchestan Province, southeastern Iran. METHODS Serum samples of 1600 consecutive apparently healthy blood donors at Zahedan Blood Donation Center were assayed for anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) ant...

We investigated a possible association of polymorphism of the eNOS gene and essential hypertension in the Chinese Hui population; polymorphisms of rs2070744 (T>C), rs1799983 (G>T), rs1800780 (A>G), and rs3918181 (A>G) loci of the eNOS gene were examined. We found that the genotypic frequencies at rs1799983 and rs1800780 loci differed significantly between patients with essential hypertension an...

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS The cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 2 (CYSLTR2) gene on chromosome 13q14.12-q21.1 encodes a receptor for CYSLTs, potent biological mediators in the pathogenesis of asthma, particularly that associated with aspirin intolerance (AIA). In an effort to discover additional polymorphism(s), the variant(s) of which have been implicated in asthma and aspirin intolerance, we scruti...

Most single base deletions detected after DNA polymerization in vitro directed by either Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I or its Klenow fragment are opposite Pu in the template. The most frequent mutations were previously found to be associated with the consensus template context 5'-PyTPu-3'. In this study, the predictive power of the consensus sequence on single base deletion frequencies was ...

BACKGROUND Maternal diet during pregnancy has been proposed to increase the risk of autoimmune diseases. OBJECTIVE The objective was to investigate the association between maternal consumption of gluten-containing foods during late pregnancy and subsequent risk of celiac disease in the offspring. DESIGN Genetically susceptible children prospectively followed from birth were screened annuall...

Sequence analysis in Pseudomonas putida DOT-T1E revealed a second toluene efflux system for toluene metabolism encoded by the ttgDEF genes, which are adjacent to the tod genes. The ttgDEF genes were expressed in response to the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene and styrene in the culture medium. To characterize the contribution of the TtgDEF system to toluene tolerance in P. put...