In systemic sclerosis (SSc), there is no proven treatment to prevent disease progression. In a recent meta-analysis of three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and six open prospective studies on cyclophosphamide (CYC), no significant changes in lung function were observed. However, CYC is associated with an improvement of Mahler's dyspnea index, short form-36 (physical and mental domains), an...

The advent of Web services, and the Semantic Web described by domain ontologies, highlight the bottleneck to their growth: ontology mapping, merging, and integration. In this paper we present the process by which over the last 15 years several ontologies of varying complexity have been mapped or integrated with Cyc, a large commonsense knowledge base. These include SENSUS, FIPS 10-4, several la...

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a potentially lifethreatening ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) that typically involves the respiratory tract and the kidney. The introduction of glucocorticoid and CYC therapy in the 1960s dramatically improved the prognosis of affected patients, with 78% surviving at 5 years compared with a 1-year mortality in 80% of untreated patients [1]. No conventi...

An application of the Cyc system is described, in which the system contributes to the software engineering effort involved in its own construction. Using its Semantic Knowledge Source Integration (SKSI) facility, Cyc interacts with bug reports tracked using the standard Bugzilla defect management system, performing actions such as post-bug-fix tests, and creating and reopening bugs reports as n...

To examine the effects of chronic cyclic hypoxia on neuronal excitability and function in mice, we exposed mice to cyclic hypoxia for 8 h daily (9 cycles/h) for approximately 2 wk (starting at 2-3 days of age) and examined the properties of freshly dissociated hippocampal neurons obtained from slices. Compared with control (Con) hippocampal CA1 neurons, exposed neurons (CYC) had similar resting...

Aim: The objects of this study originated from the experimental observations, whereby the HIV -1 gp120 V3 loop is a high-affinity ligand for immunophilins, and consisted in generating the structural complex of cyclophilin (Cyc) B belonging to immunophilins family with the virus subtype A V3 loop (SA-V3 loop) as well as in specifying the Cyc B segment forming the binding site for V3 synthetic co...

BACKGROUND The outcomes of previous trials of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in treating severe lupus nephritis (LN) are not in exact agreement. This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assesses the benefits and harms of MMF in the induction and maintenance therapy of severe LN. METHODS We searched Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane Collaboration Database for RCTs that compared MM...

A suitable chemically defined culture medium was selected and some optimal conditions for the production of the highly immunosuppressive compound, cyclosporin A (Cyc A) are reported. Medium of the following composition was favorable for the production of Cyc A by Fusarium roseum: glucose, 30; NaNO3, 2; KH2PO4, 1; MgSO4.7H2O, 0.5 and KCL, 0.5 (g/l). Maximum productivity of Cyc A was achieved at ...

Organ asymmetry is thought to have evolved many times independently in plants. In Antirrhinum, asymmetry of the flower and its component organs requires cyc and dich gene activity. We show that, like cyc, the dich gene encodes a product belonging to the TCP family of DNA-binding proteins that is first expressed in the dorsal domain of early floral meristems. However, whereas cyc continues to be...

The CYCLOIDEA (CYC) and DICHOTOMA (DICH) genes encode related TCP transcription factors that control floral asymmetry in Antirrhinum majus. Analysis of sequences from relatives of Antirrhinum suggested that CYC and DICH arose from a gene duplication in an ancestor of the tribe Antirrhineae and have subsequently evolved at similar rates. Coding regions outside the conserved functional TCP and R ...