In this study we examined the cellular origin and the expression levels of interleukin-18 (IL-18), IL-18 receptor (IL-18R) and IL-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE), which activates pro-IL-18, during normal maturation of murine testis. The levels of IL-18, IL-18R and ICE were significantly higher in testicular tissues and homogenates (but not in the spleen or liver) from sexually immature than matur...

The present study deals with karyotpye-phenotype correlations in a six month old child with multiple congenital abnormalities. Cytogenetic analysis revealed mosaicism of a small metacentric supernumerary marker chromosome with a karyotype mos 47,XY+mar[34]/46,XY[31]. Cytogenetic microarray result showed three copies of chromosome 18p (15,400 kb in size). Moreover, 255 kbp intermittent deletion ...

Immunity to mycobacterial infection is closely linked to the emergence of T cells that secrete cytokines, gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), interleukin-12 (IL-12), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), resulting in macrophage activation and recruitment of circulating monocytes to initiate chronic granuloma formation. The cytokine that mediates macrophage activation is IFN-gamma, and, like IL...

converge absolutely for any fixed τ ∈ H, by Lemma 16.11, and uniformly over τ in any compact subset of H. The proof of this last fact is straight-forward but slightly technical; see [1, Thm. 1.15] for the details. It follows that g2(τ) and g3(τ) are both holomorphic on H, and therefore ∆(τ) = g2(τ) 3 − 27g3(τ) is also holomorphic on H. Since ∆(τ) is nonzero for all τ ∈ H, by Lemma 16.21, the j-...

In vivo evidence suggests that interleukin-18 (IL-18) shapes the development of adaptive immunity toward T-helper cell type 1 (Th1) responses. Monocyte-derived dendritic cells 1 (DC1s) preferentially induce a Th1 response, while plasmacytoid DC-derived DC2s have been linked to a Th2 response. We analyzed the role of IL-18 during the initiation phase of a Th response in vitro to elucidate the ba...

The present work proposes a computer assisted methodology for the effective modelling of the diagnostic decision for breast tumor malignancy. The suggested approach is based on innovative hybrid computational intelligence algorithms properly applied in related cytological data contained in past medical records. The experimental data used in this study, were gathered in the early 1990s in the Un...

Walter Didimo University of Perugia 18.

High speed and low power consumption are vital in ICs for high-speed optical communications systems. Some of the competing IC elements in this field include: Si-BJT (Silicon Bipolar Transistor), Si-CMOS (Silicon Field Effect Transistor), SiGe-BJT (Silicon Germanium Bipolar Transistor), GaAs-HBT (Gallium Arsenide Heterobipolar Transistor), GaAs-FET (Gallium Arsenide Field Effect Transistor), and...

The in vivo role of endogenous interleukin-18 (IL-18) in modulating gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-mediated resolution of replicative Legionella pneumophila lung infection was assessed using a murine model of Legionnaires' disease. Intratracheal inoculation of A/J mice with virulent bacteria (10(6) L. pneumophila organisms per mouse) resulted in induction of IL-18 protein in bronchoalveolar lavag...