We studied Ca(2+) dependence of tension and actomyosin ATPase rate in detergent extracted fiber bundles isolated from transgenic mice (TG), in which cardiac troponin I (cTnI) serines 43 and 45 were mutated to alanines (cTnI S43A/S45A). Basal phosphorylation levels of cTnI were lower in TG than in wild-type (WT) mice, but phosphorylation of cardiac troponin T was increased. Compared with WT, TG ...

Introduction: Brachytherapy is one of the most common treatment modalities for gynecological cancer. The GZP6 brachytherapy system is one of the devices utilized in Iran. It has been considered particularly due to its low cost compared to other more complete and established systems. This system has some deficiencies including lack of a treatment planning software for non-predefined treatments, ...

Background: The Patterson-Parker table was created in 1934 to determine mg-hr required to deliver the prescribed dose to the treatment area. These tables were created using the dosimetric data for 226Ra that was determined in air and were utilized for dose calculations around implants with Ra-equivalent radionuclides such as 137Cs and 192Ir. Therefore, the differences of the tissue attenuation ...

We analyzed the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) transcriptome in 43 latently infected human trigeminal ganglia (TG) with postmortem intervals (PMIs) ranging from 3.7 to 24 h. Multiplex reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) revealed no VZV transcripts with a PMI of <9 h. Real-time PCR indicated a significant increase (P = 0.02) in VZV ORF63 transcript levels but not the virus DNA burden with longer PM...

The role of cardiac myosin essential light chain (ELC) in the sarcomere length (SL) dependency of myofilament contractility is unknown. Therefore, mechanical and dynamic contractile properties were measured at SL 1.9 and 2.2 μm in cardiac muscle fibers from two groups of transgenic (Tg) mice: 1) Tg-wild-type (WT) mice that expressed WT human ventricular ELC and 2) Tg-Δ43 mice that expressed a m...

TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a DNA/RNA-binding protein containing two consecutive RNA recognition motifs (RRM1 and RRM2) in tandem. Functional abnormality of TDP-43 has been proposed to cause neurodegeneration, but it remains obscure how the physiological functions of this protein are regulated. Here, we show distinct roles of RRM1 and RRM2 in the sequence-specific substrate recogniti...

Aims: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between triglyceride (TG) levels and a history of excessive drinking in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (HT). Methods: Alcohol intake as well as other risk factors associated with HT were searched for in case records of 300 patients known to the laboratory to have had a TG level over 11.3 mmol/l. Results: The majority of sever...

Mesh brachytherapy is a special type of permanent implant: it uses low-energy radioactive seeds in an absorbable mesh that sutured onto the tumor bed immediately after surgical resection. This treatment offers low additional risk to patient as implant procedure carried out part resection surgery. utilizes identification through direct visual evaluation during surgery or medical imaging followin...

BACKGROUND FrzA/sFRP-1, a secreted, frizzled-related protein and antagonist for the wnt/frizzled pathway, is expressed in the heart and vessels during mouse embryogenesis and adulthood. FrzA is involved in cell cycle control of vascular cells and angiogenesis. We assessed the hypothesis that FrzA could control the healing process after myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS AND RESULTS We demons...

The neuronal RNA-binding protein HuD plays a critical role in the post-transcriptional regulation of short-lived mRNAs during the initial establishment and remodelling of neural connections. We have generated transgenic mice overexpressing this protein (HuD-Tg) in adult DGCs (dentate granule cells) and shown that their mossy fibres contain high levels of GAP-43 (growth-associated protein 43) an...