The germline of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans exhibits a remarkable ability to specifically silence transgenic DNA. We have shown that this silencing mechanism is disrupted in animals mutant for the maternal effect sterile genes mes-2, mes-3, mes-4 and mes-6. The proteins encoded by mes-2 and mes-6 have been shown to be related to the Polycomb Group of transcriptional repressors (Holdeman...

Integrated manufacturing systems have always found in the hardware and software heterogeneity among different vendors an obstacle to their satisfactory implementation. Nowadays, new Open and Distributed Systems technologies have appeared, providing a new integration potential, accelerating the implementation of MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) and making it’s integration to other corporate...

BACKGROUND Metabolic syndrome (MeS) is being recognized as a risk factor for insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. The present study was aimed to find out the possible association between 45-bp I/D polymorphism of uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) and MeS. METHODS DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of 151 subjects with and 149 subjects without MeS. 45-bp I/D variant of UCP2 was detect...

We report here genome-wide mapping of DNA methylation patterns at proximal promoter regions in mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells. Most methylated genes are differentiation associated and repressed in mES cells. By contrast, the unmethylated gene set includes many housekeeping and pluripotency genes. By crossreferencing methylation patterns to genome-wide mapping of histone H3 lysine (K) 4/27 tri...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between carotid plaque characteristics and the occurrence of cerebral microemboli signals (MES) and subsequent ischemic events in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS). DESIGN Sixty-two asymptomatic patients with 50-99% carotid stenosis underwent transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring to determine the relationship between MES and plaque char...

Metabolic syndrome (MeS), a cluster of several metabolic disorders, is increasingly being recognized as a risk factor for type II diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. Genetic and epigenetic alteration of the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) has been associated with components of MeS. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible association of...

Stem cells are at the forefront of current regenerative and biomedical research. Thus, there exists an imperative and urgent need to understand the mechanisms that drive stem cell function in order to exploit their use as a therapeutic tool. Amino acids are potent inducers of signaling cascades that drive stem cell proliferation and differentiation. With a focus on mouse embryonic stem (mES) ce...

Although microembolus monitoring has been widely used for ischemic cerebrovascular disease, the clinical significance of microembolic signal (MES) in asymptomatic middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis remains unclear. We aim to investigate the frequency of MES and the value of MES in predicting ischemic stroke secondary to asymptomatic MCA stenosis. From June 2011 to December 2012, microembolus...

BACKGROUND Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infections in cattle are generally challenging to detect and cost-effective test strategies are consequently difficult to identify. MAP-specific antibody ELISAs for milk and serum are relatively inexpensive, but their utility is influenced by a number of factors such as herd size, herd composition and diagnostic sensitivity. The sensi...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Extensive evidence has underlined the importance of mucosal healing as a treatment aim for ulcerative colitis (UC). We aimed to assess differences in the incidence of clinical relapse at 12 months between UC patients with Mayo endoscopic scores (MES) 0 and 1. METHODS This retrospective study included consecutive patients in corticosteroid-free remission between 2008 and 20...