OBJECTIVE Angiotensin-II (Ang-II) promotes the interaction of mononuclear cells with arterioles and neutrophils with postcapillary venules. To investigate the mechanisms underlying this dissimilar response, the involvement of fractalkine (CX(3)CL1) was explored. METHODS AND RESULTS Enhanced CX(3)CL1 expression was detected in both cremasteric arterioles and postcapillary venules 24 hours afte...

For every fixed set F ⊆ {0, 1}n the following problems are strongly polynomial time equivalent: given a feasible point x ∈ F and a linear objective function c ∈ ZZn, • find a feasible point x∗ ∈ F that maximizes cx (Optimization), • find a feasible point x ∈ F with cx > cx (Augmentation), and • find a feasible point x ∈ F with cx > cx such that x − x is “irreducible” (Irreducible Augmentation)....

Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles and Cx. gelidus Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae), both vectors of Japanese encephalitis, were collected in 1984 and 1998 from two disease endemic localities in Sri Lanka: Anaradhapura and Kandy. Using wild-caught adult mosquitoes from light traps, log dosage-probit mortality curves for insecticide bioassays were obtained for three insecticides: malathion (organophosph...

The main vector of Brugia malayi in the small endemic focus on Hachijo-koshima Island was determined to be Ochlerotatus togoi (as Aedes togoi) [1]. As to Wuchereria bancrofti, many species of mosquitoes were experimentally examined for susceptibility in the laboratory as by Mochizuki in 1911 and 1913 [2, 3], Yamada in 1927 [4], Fujisaki in 1958 and 1959 [5, 6], and Omori in 1962 [7]. The result...

PURPOSE Our aim was to determine whether there is a correlation between cross-sectional areas of the left main coronary artery (LMCA), left anterior descending artery (LAD), and circumflex artery (CX) in normal cases using coronary CT angiography. METHOD Examinations of 180 patients (119 men and 61 women) were selected among 2248 consecutive coronary CT angiography studies. Cross-sectional ar...

A comparative study was conducted in rat primary cortical (CX) and mesencephalic (MC) neurons to investigate intracellular cascades activated during cyanide-induced injury and to determine the point at which the cascades diverge to produce either apoptosis or necrosis. Cyanide treatment (400 microM) for 24 h produced primarily apoptosis in CX cells, whereas the same concentration of cyanide ind...

AIM To investigate whether the changes of gap junction gene connexin messenger RNA in the noncancerous liver tissue of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) could play a significant role in its postresection recurrence. METHODS Seventy-nine consecutive patients having undergone curative resection for HCC entered this study. Using a reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PC...

Inflammatory mechanisms contribute to cisplatin-induced acute renal failure (CisARF). Our first aim was to determine renal macrophage infiltration in CisARF. A more than 2-fold increase in CD11b-positive macrophages in the kidney on day 2 preceded the increase in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr). Our next aim was to determine the chemoattractant for macrophage infiltration i...

Mosquitoes within the Culex pipiens complex have been implicated as major vectors of West Nile virus (WNV) in North America due to their seasonal abundance, vector competence and high field infection rates. However, the role of Cx. p. pipiens complex mosquitoes in enzootic amplification of WNV among avian hosts and epidemic transmission to humans varies throughout its geographical distribution....

In two experiments, rats received preexposure to three compound flavor stimuli, AX, BX, and CX, where X represents a saline solution. AX and BX were presented in alternation; CX, on a separate block of trials. The value of X was then modified, being devalued by aversive conditioning in Experiment 1, and rendered valuable by the induction of a state of salt need in Experiment 2. When given a cho...