INTRODUCTION Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the region of the Interleukin 28B (IL28B) gene on chromosome 19, coding for the interferon (IFN)-λ3, are involved in hepatitis c virus (HCV), spontaneous clearance. There is little information on the degree of liver fibrosis (LF) in HIV patients, who have had spontaneous clearance of HCV. Our objective in this study is to assess the degree ...

Lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS) is one of the most common spinal disorders in elderly people, with the number of LSCS patients increasing due to the aging of the population. The ligamentum flavum (LF) is a spinal ligament located in the interior of the vertebral canal, and hypertrophy of the LF, which causes the direct compression of the nerve roots and/or cauda equine, is a major cause of ...

Three proteins, protective antigen (PA), lethal factor (LF), and edema factor (EF; a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase), compose the lethal (PA + LF) and edema (PA + EF) toxins secreted by Bacillus anthracis. Mutant strains, each deficient in the production of one toxin component, were constructed, and their virulence was then studied. A kanamycin resistance cassette was inserted in each c...

STUDY DESIGN A study of lumbar ligamentum flavum (LF). OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify LF hypertrophy related microRNAs (miRNAs) expression profile and to investigate the role of miRNAs in the development of LF hypertrophy in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Although histologic and biologic literature on LF hypertrophy is available, the pathomechanism...

Lactoferrin (Lf) is an iron-binding protein of external secretions and neutrophil secondary granules with antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities. To further define these properties of Lf, we have investigated the response to Staphylococcus aureus infection in transgenic mice carrying a functional human Lf gene. The transgenic mice cleared bacteria significantly better than congenic litte...

In this study, we have examined the role of post-translational modification of the myeloid master regulator C/EBPα by small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO). We have used transient transfection analysis, oligonucleotide pulldown assays and chromatin immuno-precititation in all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-inducible promyelocytic cell lines MPRO and NB4. We demonstrate that sumoylated wild-type p...

Apolipoprotein A-IV (apo A-IV) is an anorectic protein produced in the intestine and brain that has been proposed as a satiety signal. To determine whether diet-induced obesity alters apo A-IV gene expression in the intestine and hypothalamus, rats were fed a high-fat (HF), low-fat (LF), or standard chow (CHOW) diet for 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 wk. Rats fed the HF diet had significantly greater body w...

Embryonic mortality is a major constraint to improving reproductive efficiency and profitability in livestock enterprises. We previously reported differential expression of genes with identified roles in cellular growth and proliferation, lipid metabolism, endometrial remodeling, inflammation, angiogenesis, and metabolic exchange in endometrial tissue on day 7 of the estrous cycle (D7), between...

This grand aspiration subsumes the more modest research goal of simply characterizing the knowledge that people have of their native languages. Given this overlap in aims, it makes sense to leverage whatever is known about language itself in the pursuit of computational models of language use. Indeed, in confronting such a daunting challenge it would be foolish to waste intellectual resources d...

Deficiency of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) predisposes to hyperhomocysteinemia and vascular disease. We tested the hypothesis that heterozygous disruption of the Mthfr gene sensitizes mice to diet-induced hyperhomocysteinemia and endothelial dysfunction. Mthfr / and Mthfr / mice were fed 1 of 4 diets: control, high methionine (HM), low folate (LF), or high methionine/low folate (...