UV irradiation induces apoptosis in U937 human leukemic cells that is accompanied by the activation of both the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction pathways. The MAPK phosphatase, MKP-1, is capable of inactivating both SAPK and p38 MAPK in vivo. To determine whether MKP-1-mediated inhibition of SAPK and/or p38 MAPK activity ...

L-Arginine (L-arg) is metabolized to nitric oxide (NO) by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) or to urea and L-ornithine (L-orn) by arginase. NO is involved in the inflammatory response, whereas arginase is the first step in polyamine and proline synthesis necessary for tissue repair and wound healing. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) mediate LPS-induced iNOS expression, and MAPK phosphatase-1...

We determined the role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in the increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) contractile responses following ozone and modulation by corticosteroids. Mice were exposed to air or ozone (3 ppm for 3 h) and isometric contractile responses of bronchial rings to acetylcholine (ACh) were measured using a myograph in the presence of p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB239063 (10...

BACKGROUND Cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CBR2) inhibits microglial reactivity through a molecular mechanism yet to be elucidated. We hypothesized that CBR2 activation induces an anti-inflammatory phenotype in microglia by inhibiting extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, via mitogen-activated protein kinase-phosphatase (MKP) induction. MKPs regulate mitogen activated protein kinase...

Recently, we demonstrated that mechanical stress results in rapid phosphorylation or activation of platelet-derived growth factor receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) followed by activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and AP-1 transcription factors (Hu, Y., Bock, G., Wick, G., and Xu, Q. (1998) FASEB J. 12, 1135-1142). Herein, we provide evidence that VSMC response...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) is essential in limiting the proinflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We hypothesized that Mkp-1(-/-) mice would respond to low-dose LPS with a fall in blood pressure due to augmented expression of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS). To test this hypothesis, Mkp-1(-/-) mice and their wild-type littermates were treated ...

We present a novel approach to the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) hierarchy and its modified counterpart, the mKP hierarchy based on factorizations of formal pseudo-differential operators and a matrix-valued Lax operator for the mKP hierarchy. As a result of this framework we obtain new Bäcklund transformations for the KP hierarchy and the possibility of transferring classes of KP solutions into t...

The multiple knapsack problem (MKP) is a classical combinatorial optimization problem. A recent algorithm for some classes of the MKP is bincompletion, a bin-oriented, branch-and-bound algorithm. We investigate mechanisms for detecting and breaking symmetry in the bin-completion search space. We propose path-symmetry and pathdominance, two new symmetry relations which are more powerful generali...

This research addresses sourcing decisions and how those decisions can affect the management of a company's assets. The study begins with a single-plant problem, in which one facility chooses, from a list of parts, which parts to bring in-house. The selection is based on maximizing the value of the selected parts, while remaining within the plant's capacity. This problem is defined as the insou...

PURPOSE Current treatment of glioblastoma after surgery consists of a combination of fractionated radiotherapy and temozolomide. However, it is difficult to completely remove glioblastoma because it has uncertain boundaries with surrounding tissues. Moreover, combination therapy is not always successful because glioblastoma has diverse resistances. To overcome these limitations, we examined the...