One of best validated findings in schizophrenia research is the association between blockade of dopamine D2 receptors and the effects of antipsychotics on positive psychotic symptoms. The aim of the present study was to examine correlations between baseline striatal D(2/3) receptor binding potential (BP(p)) values and treatment outcome in a cohort of antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophre...

Ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing chemicals (UV filters) are used in personal care products for the protection of human skin and hair from damage by UV radiation. Although these substances are released into the environment in the production and consumption processes, little is known about their ecotoxicology effects. The acute toxicity and potential ecological risk of UV filters benzophenone-3 (BP-3) ...

Digestive amylase has been identified as a useful marker for breeding in the silkwrom, Bombyx mori L (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), due to its wide genetic divergence, its role in better digestibility and robustness. The low yielding indigenous B. mori breeds of tropics like India are characterized by high activity amylase genes controlled by Amy d(iv) or d(v) alleles, while the high yielding breed...

Type XVII collagen (BP180), promotes adhesion of basal keratinocytes to epidermal basement membrane, and is the target of disease in patients with certain inherited or acquired blistering diseases. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate IgA autoantibodies using recombinant BP 180 proteins against bullous pemphigoid in the sera of patients. Thirty consecutive BP sera were ana...

Complementary DNA clones encoding the human vitamin D receptor have been isolated from human intestine and T47D cell cDNA libraries. The nucleotide sequence of the 4605-base pair (bp) cDNA includes a noncoding leader sequence of 115 bp, a 1281-bp open reading frame, and 3209 bp of 3' noncoding sequence. Two polyadenylylation signals, AATAAA, are present 25 and 70 bp upstream of the poly(A) tail...

This study compares blood pressure (BP) changes during active antihypertensive treatment and placebo as assessed by conventional and ambulatory BP measurement. Older patients (> or = 60 years, n=337) with isolated systolic hypertension by conventional sphygmomanometry at the clinic were randomized to placebo or active treatment consisting of nitrendipine (10 to 40 mg/d), with the possible addit...

BACKGROUND The effects of monthly, high-dose, long-term (≥1-year) vitamin D supplementation on central blood pressure (BP) parameters are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 517 adults (58% male, aged 50-84 years) were recruited into a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial substudy and randomized to receive, for 1.1 years (median; range: 0.9-1.5 years), either (1) vitamin D3 200 000 IU...

Short-term treatment of young spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduces systolic blood pressure. Renal medullary neutral lipids (RMNLs) have vasodilator properties that may explain the effects of ACE inhibition. We measured RMNL levels of SHR treated between 6 and 10 weeks of age with (1) vehicle, (2) ramipril 1 mg. kg-1. d-1, (3) the brad...

Yeasts p13suc1/p18CKS and their human homologues, p9CKShs1/p9CKShs2, strongly interact with p34cdc2 and p34cdk2. While attempting to purify the starfish oocyte p13suc1 homologue, we discovered a 15-kDa protein cross-reactive with anti-p9CKShs2/anti-p13suc1 antibodies. p15cdk-BP-Sepharose binds an anti-PSTAIRE cross-reactive protein of 33 kDa when loaded with starfish oocyte extracts. The p15cdk...

We have identified two genomic islands, that is, BCEGI-1 and BCEGI-2, in the genome of Bacillus cereus ATCC 10987, based on comparative analysis with Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579. Furthermore, by using the cumulative GC profile and performing homology searches between the two genomes, the integration sites of the two genomic islands were determined at single-nucleotide resolution. BCEGI-1 is inte...