Serum soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) concentrations reflect lymphocyte activation in vivo. An investigation was carried out to determine if sIL-2R concentrations correlate with existing disease activity parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether these concentrations are modulated by treatment with second line drugs. Seventy nine patients with rheumatoid arthritis...

In this Article, there is an error in the labelling of the western blot in Fig. 3f. The labels indicating the presence of pterosin B in each lane should read ' À þ þ þ '. The correct version of Fig. 3 appears below.

T-Cell activation results in the release or shedding of a soluble form (45 kDa) of the cellular (55 kDa) low-affinity interleukin-2 receptor (alpha-chain) (slL-2R). The present study was performed to investigate if the serum concentration of sIL-2R is a marker of disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Twenty-seven UC patients (about half...

The complexity of signalling pathways was boosted at the origin of the vertebrates, when two rounds of whole genome duplication (2R-WGD) occurred. Those genes and proteins that have survived from the 2R-WGD—termed 2R-ohnologues—belong to families of two to four members, and are enriched in signalling components relevant to cancer. Here, we find that while only approximately 30% of human transcr...

This study investigated the nature of the relationship between precompetitive state anxiety (CSAI-2C), subjective (race position) and objective (satisfaction) performance outcomes, and self-rated causal attributions (CDS-IIC) for performance in competitive child swimmers. Race position, subjective satisfaction, self-confidence, and, to a lesser extent, cognitive state anxiety (but not somatic s...

NK/T-cell ratios predict disease activity in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). We investigated 50 RRMS patients whether interleukin-2 receptor alpha-chain (IL-2R?) expression and shedding associates with balance, as suggested by daclizumab-trials RRMS. A subsample (N = 31) was genotyped for IL2RA-associated MS risk SNPs. CD56bright NK-cell/IL-17A+CD4+ T-cell correlated negatively p...

Hairy cell leukemia is a chronic lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by the expansion of neoplastic B-cells expressing the p55 chain of the interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) system that is recognized by anti-CD25 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and binds interleukin 2 (IL-2) with low affinity. In the present study we investigated leukemic hairy cells (HC) for the presence of the p75 IL-2R chain...

Thymidylate synthase (TS) converts dUMP to dTMP, the rate-limiting nucleotide in DNA synthesis. It is also the target for 5-flurorouracil, the most common chemotherapy agent for treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). We designed a nested case-control study within the prospective Physicians' Health Study to investigate whether TS polymorphisms independently predict risk of CRC and simultaneously ...

Levels of serum sIL-2R (soluble interleukin-2 receptor) reflect the total amount of activated T lymphocytes in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes of cancer tissues and metastatic organs, because a part of alpha-chain of IL-2R is released into the bloodstream on the attachment of IL-2 (interleukin-2) to its specific IL-2R membrane. In most malignant diseases, elevated levels of serum sIL-2R are foun...

In this paper we investigate some basic properties of fractional powers. In this regard, we show that for any rational number 1 ≤ 2r+1 2s+1 < og(G), G 2r+1 2s+1 −→ H if and only if G −→ H− 2s+1 2r+1 . Also, for two rational numbers 2r+1 2s+1 < 2p+1 2q+1 and a non-bipartite graph G, we show that G 2r+1 2s+1 < G 2p+1 2q+1 . In the sequel, we introduce an equivalent definition for circular chromat...