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Degradation of immunoglobulins is an effective strategy of bacteria to evade the immune system. We have tested whether human IgG is a substrate for gingipain K of Porphyromonas gingivalis and found that the enzyme can hydrolyze subclass 1 and 3 of human IgG. The heavy chain of IgG(1) was cleaved at a single site within the hinge region, generating Fab and Fc fragments. IgG(3) was also cleaved with

We present a calculation of the meson masses, decay constants and quark-antiquark vacuum expectation value for the three generic QCD-like chiral symmetry breaking patterns SU(N-F) x SU(N-F) -> SU(N-F)(V), SU(N-F) -> SO(N-F) and SU(2N(F)) -> Sp(2N(F)) in the effective field theory for these cases. We extend the previous two-loop work to include effects of partial quenching and finite volume. The ca

Lymphocytic infiltration of different exocrine and non-exocrine epithelia is the pathological hallmark of primary Sjogren's syndrome, whereas involvement of salivary and lachrymal glands with the clinical counterpart of dry eye and dry mouth are the predominant features of the disease, together with fatigue and musculoskeletal pain. In addition, systemic manifestations, like arthritis, skin vascul

Three models were examined to predict C aromaticity (f(a)) of biochars based on either their elemental composition (C, H, N and O) or fixed C (FC) content. Values of f(a) from solid state C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis with Bloch-decay (BD) or direct polarisation (DP) techniques, concentrations of total C, H, N, and organic O, and contents of FC of 60 biochars were either compiled

Mitigation measures, especially municipal energy infrastructure transformation, have been the focus of Sweden’s climate change responses. Recently, adaptation measures have grown in priority and planners are challenged to integrate mitigation and adaptation. In our study, we observe how synergies and conflicts in adaptation, mitigation, and other social and economic dimensions of spatial planning

We present the observed offsets of short-duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) from their putative host galaxies and compare them with the expected distributions of merging compact object binaries, given the observed properties of the hosts. We find that for all but one burst in our sample the offsets are consistent with this model. For the case of bursts with massive elliptical host galaxies, the cir

Aim: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling is frequently altered in invasive tumor cells and is associated with patient outcome. In the present study, we examined VEGF, VEGFR1, and VEGFR2 expression in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), and evaluated the association between VEGF and its receptors with disease characteristics and blad

The most frequently used, and effective, treatment for morbid obesity is Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB), which results in rapid remission of T2D in most cases. To what extent this is accounted for by weight loss or other factors remains elusive. To gain insight into these mechanisms, we investigated the effects of RYGB on ß-cell function and ß-cell mass in the pig, a species highly remini

Aim We compiled data on prey utilization of spiders at a global scale to better understand the relationship between current climate or net primary production (NPP) and diet breadth, evenness and composition in spiders. We test whether the productivity and the diversity–climatic-stability (DCS) hypotheses focusing on diversity patterns may also explain global patterns in prey utilization by web-bui

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the association between body fat and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with an appropriate prospective study design. METHODS: The EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study included 518,108 individuals recruited from the general population across 10 Western European countries. At recrui

High amplitude non-linear acoustic methods have shown potential for the identification of micro damage in brittle materials such as concrete. Commonly, these methods evaluate a non-linearity parameter from the relative change in frequency and attenuation with strain amplitude. Here, a novel attenuation model is introduced to describe the free reverberation from a standard impact resonance frequenc

Introduction: HER2 gene amplification and protein overexpression (HER2+) define a clinically challenging subgroup of breast cancer with variable prognosis and response to therapy. Although gene expression profiling has identified an ERBB2 molecular subtype of breast cancer, it is clear that HER2+ tumors reside in all molecular subtypes and represent a genomically and biologically heterogeneous gro

There is increasing evidence for epigenetically mediated transgenerational inheritance across taxa. However, the evolutionary implications of such alternative mechanisms of inheritance remain unclear. Herein, we show that epigenetic mechanisms can serve two fundamentally different functions in transgenerational inheritance: (i) selection-based effects, which carry adaptive information in virtue of

We present measurements of J/psi yields in d + Au collisions at root S-NN = 200 GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare them with yields in p + p collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements cover a large kinematic range in J/psi rapidity (-2.2 < y < 2.4) with high statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with nuclear shadow

The onset of acute pancreatitis (AP) is characterized by early protease activation followed by inflammation and organ damage, but the mechanisms are poorly understood.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs are given to women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Case reports describing the development of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction and auto-antibodies against GnRH after such treatment suggest a strong association between intestinal dysfunction and GnRH analogs. No experimental model for studying such a relationship is currently at hand. Our main g

Partial migration, where populations of animals are composed of a mixture of resident and migratory individuals, is a widespread phenomenon in nature. It has been reported to occur in all major vertebrate groups, and can have significant ecological consequences. Here we give an overview of the ecology and evolution of partial migration in animals. We firstly review the different types of partial m

Background:The microRNA, miR-34c, is a well-established regulator of tumour suppression. It is downregulated in most forms of cancers and inhibits malignant growth by repressing genes involved in processes such as proliferation, anti-apoptosis, stemness, and migration. We have previously reported downregulation and tumour suppressive properties for miR-34c in prostate cancer (PCa).Methods:In this

BACKGROUND: The method of ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) has been suggested as a reliable means of differentiating between "good" and "poor" pulmonary grafts in marginal donors as, when grafts identified as good by this method are transplanted, the results do not differ from those using lungs fulfilling standard criteria. The EVLP method is also thought to improve pulmonary grafts by reducing lung