TASK-3, a two-pore-domain (K2P) potassium channel, has been implicated as important regulator for the effector function and proliferation of T-cells. Interestingly, TASK-3 has also a functional impact on tumor cells. Therefore, we sought to investigate whether TASK3 modulation might have a therapeutic potential for malignant gliomas by a variety of phenotypical and functional in vitro assays mi...

Various inflammatory processes and atypically appearing benign masses can have an imaging appearance very similar to or in some cases indistinguishable from cancer. In the liver such processes include inflammatory pseudotumor, sclerosed hemangioma and focal hepatic steatosis. In the pancreas heterotopic splenule, focal autoimmune pancreatitis and solid serous cystadenoma may be difficult to dis...

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, isolated from bone and joint infections, specifically interact with bone sialoprotein (BSP), a glycoprotein of bone and dentine extracellular matrix, via a cell-surface protein of M(r) 97000 [Yacoub, Lindahl, Rubin, Wendel, Heinegârd and Rydén, (1994) Eur. J. Biochem. 222, 919-925]. Amino acid sequences of seven trypsin fragments from the 97000-M(r) BSP-binding p...

The disappointing economic performance of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies in the late 1980s prompted economic-wide policy reforms in the early 1990s. The primary objectives of these institutional and structural changes were to promote trade and export activities, enhance foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, and ease foreign access to SSA markets particularly for large multinational ente...

Since China entered the WTO in 2001, the Peruvian apparel industry has been considerably affected by the dramatic inflow of Chinese garments. Unlike neighboring countries, the industry was able to keep afloat by firm-level responses that led to unprecedented growth in exports, driven by sales of high-quality apparel. While firm-level responses to import competition are now a well-established em...

Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections are very widespread in poultry. However, little is known about the interaction between the intestinal epithelium and E. coli in chickens. Therefore, the effects of avian non-pathogenic and avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) on the intestinal function of broiler chickens were investigated by measuring the electrogenic ion transport across the isolated ...

International Trade and its Effects on Economic Growth in China International trade, as a major factor of openness, has made an increasingly significant contribution to economic growth. Chinese international trade has experienced rapid expansion together with its dramatic economic growth which has made the country to target the world as its market. This research discusses the role of internatio...

The export tax rebate (ETR) policy is one of the most frequently used policy instruments by Chinese policy makers. This paper therefore provides a vital analysis of its allocation effects. To motivate our empirical analysis for the allocation effects of the ETR policy, we first add a tax rebate to the Melitz and Ottaviano (2008) model and examine the impact of this policy on firms' markup size ...