Ursolic acid (UA) is a promising natural compound for cancer prevention and therapy. We previously reported that UA induced apoptosis in CML-derived K562 cells. Here we show that the apoptotic process is accompanied by down-regulation of Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 expression and dephosphorylation of Bad. These events are associated with Stat5 inhibition, which is partially mediated through elevated expre...

IL-7 is essential for the survival of naive and memory T cells, and IL-7 receptor alpha-chain (IL-7Ralpha) expression is dynamically regulated in activated CD8 T cells during acute viral and bacterial infections. Most virus-specific CD8 T cells become IL-7Ralpha(low) and are relatively short-lived, but some escape IL-7Ralpha repression (referred to as IL-7Ralpha(high) memory precursor effector ...

Gfi1 is a transcriptional repressor involved in directing differentiation of secretory precursors into goblet and paneth cells in the intestinal epithelium. Gfi 1 is downstream of the Notch signaling pathway, responsible in regulating expression of counter transcription factors Atoh 1 (secretory) and Hes 1, (absorptive). Recent reports describe Notch activity in gastric epithelium, but there ar...

Floods have profound impacts on populations worldwide in terms of both loss of life and property. A global inventory of floods is an important tool for quantifying the spatial and temporal distribution of floods and for evaluating global flood prediction models. Several global hazard inventories currently exist; however, their utility for spatiotemporal analysis of global floods is limited. The...

The anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) mediates the metaphase-to-anaphase transition by instructing the ubiquitination and turnover of key proteins at this stage of the cell cycle. We have recovered a gain-of-function allele in an APC5 subunit of the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome. This finding led us to investigate further the role of APC5 in Caenorhabditis elegans, which conta...

BACKGROUND Frailty among older people is related to an increased risk of adverse health outcomes such as acute and chronic diseases, disability and mortality. Although many intervention studies for frail older people have been reported, only a few have shown positive effects regarding disability prevention. This article presents the design of a two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial on the...