ISection for Medical Enzymology and Metabolism, Laboratory of Biochemistry, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 20151, 1000 lid Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bonn, Gerhard-Domagkstrasse i, D-5300 Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany; and 3Developmental and Metabolic Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Di...

Abstract Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a hazardous transfusion complication with an associated mortality of 5% to 15%. We previously showed that stored (5 days) but not fresh platelets (1 day) cause TRALI via ceramide-mediated endothelial barrier dysfunction. As biological ceramides are hydrophobic, extracellular vesicles (EVs) may be required shuttle these sphingolipids from...

Activator protein (AP), which stimulated fibroblast sphingomyelinase activity, was isolated from the spleen of a patient with Gaucher's disease type I by the combined techniques of heat and alcohol denaturation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, gel filtration, preparative polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and decyl-agarose chromatography. Urea/sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS)/polyacrylamide-...

The level of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP1), a liver-produced serum protein that regulates insulin-like growth factor-I bioactivity, glucose homeostasis, and tissue regeneration, increases during inflammation. This manuscript describes a novel pathway for the regulation of hepatic IGFBP1 mRNA and protein levels by interleukin (IL)-1β. Experiments with the luciferase repor...

A female non-smoker in her thirties was referred to the chest clinic with a 6-month history of a dry cough, breathlessness and general malaise. Her chest x ray showed diffuse bilateral ground-glass opacity (fig 1). Her autoimmune profile was negative. An HIV test was negative. Lung function tests showed a restrictive pattern with moderately reduced transfer factor. A high resolution CT (HRCT) s...