Although animal studies have raised concern that the influence of endocrine-disrupting compounds would obstruct the development of the male reproductive system, in general, exposure levels far above those found in humans have been needed to induce reproductive toxicity in animal models. Human data are inconclusive and have evoked the question whether endocrine-disrupting compounds can have any imp

Oxidative stress has been suggested as an underlying mechanism of many human diseases. However, definitive evidence for this association has not been presented due to different shortcomings of the methods used to measure biomarkers of oxidative stress. Persulfates are oxidizing agents known to elicit hypersensitive reactions from the airways and skin. Despite a frequent use of persulfates at many

BACKGROUND: /st> Septic shock includes blood vessel dilatation and activation of innate immunity, which in turn causes release of antimicrobial peptides such as LL-37. It has been shown that LL-37 can attract leucocytes via the lipoxin A(4) receptor (ALX, FPRL1). ALX is also present in vascular endothelial cells. To explore possible ways of pharmacological intervention in septic shock, we investig

Deficiency of laminin alpha2 chain leads to a severe form of congenital muscular dystrophy (MDC1A). Here, we analyzed whether the intrinsic laryngeal muscles (ILM) are spared in the dy(3K)/dy(3K) mouse model of complete laminin alpha2 chain absence. No muscle degeneration was evident; expression of various laminin chains was similar to that of limb muscles, and sustained integrin alpha7B expressio

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. Although it is characterized by progressive motor impairments, cognitive changes and psychiatric disturbances are major components of the disease. In addition, recent studies have shown that other non-motor symptoms such as alterations in sleep pattern, disruption of the circadian rhy

Thyroid hormones influence both normal breast cell differentiation and breast cancer cell proliferation and stimulate the angiogenesis of certain cancer forms. Several cross-sectional studies have measured thyroid hormones / auto antibodies in breast cancer ceases vs. controls, but it is difficult to determine the cause-effect direction in these studies. Only three prospective studies have reporte

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate different biomarkers of exposure to N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), a widely used industrial chemical. For this purpose, differences in toxicokinetics between men and women and between pure and water-mixed NMP were evaluated after dermal absorption. METHODS: Six female and six male volunteers (groups 1 and 2) were topically exposed for 6 hours to 300

Finegoldia magna is a member of the normal human bacterial flora on the skin and other non-sterile body surfaces, but this anaerobic coccus is also an important opportunistic pathogen. SufA was the first F. magna proteinase to be isolated and characterized. Many bacterial pathogens interfere with different steps of blood coagulation, and here we describe how purified SufA efficiently and specifica

Cholesterol-lowering effects of oats have been demonstrated in both animals and human subjects. However, the crucial properties of oat-containing diets that determine their health effects need to be further investigated to optimise their use. A mouse model would be a valuable tool, but few such studies have been published to date. We investigated the effects of oat bran on plasma cholesterol and l

Tumors can induce the generation and accumulation of immunosuppressive cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in a tumor microenvironment, contributing to tumor escape from immunological attack. Although dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines can initiate antitumor immune responses, tumor-educated dendritic cells (TEDCs) involved in the tolerance induction have attracted much attenti

OBJECTIVES: The methyltransferase genotype and pregnancy both influence the arsenic metabolism phenotype, but it is unknown whether these factors interact, explaining the drastic changes in the efficiency of arsenic metabolism observed among pregnant women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of the methyltransferase genotype and pregnancy to the arsenic metabolism phe

BACKGROUND: Phosphoinositide (PI) 3-kinase and its second messenger products, phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3)) and phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4)P(2)), play important roles in signalling processes crucial for cell movement, differentiation and survival. Previously, we isolated a 32kDa PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3)-binding protein from porcine leukocytes. This pr

BACKGROUND: Recently we have shown that serotonin receptors may be involved in prostate cancer development. In ovarian carcinogenesis, oestrogen may play a role. As oestrogen seems to mediate at least some of its biological effects through serotonin, we decided to evaluate if serotonin receptors are expressed in ovary and in ovarian tumours and if the expression is correlated to ovarian tumour dev

Small intestinal lamina propria (SI-LP) CD103(+) dendritic cells (DCs) are imprinted with an ability to metabolize vitamin A (retinol), a property underlying their enhanced capacity to induce the gut-homing receptors CC chemokine receptor-9 and α4β7 on responding T cells. In this study, we demonstrate that imprinting of CD103(+) DCs is itself critically dependent on vitamin A and occurs locally wi

AIM: To assess the prognostic value of repetitive serum samples of neuron specific enolase (NSE) and S-100B in cardiac arrest patients treated with hypothermia. METHODS: In a three-centre study, comatose patients after cardiac arrest were treated with hypothermia at 33 degrees C for 24h, regardless of cause or the initial rhythm. Serum samples were collected at 2, 24, 48 and 72h after the arrest a

We report the purification of betaglycan, a low-abundance membrane proteoglycan with high affinity for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Betaglycan solubilized from rat embryo membrane preparations was purified to near-homogeneity by sequential chromatography through DEAE-Trisacryl, wheat germ lectin-Sepharose, and TGF-beta 1-agarose. Purified betaglycan has properties similar to betagly

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: University-based rehabilitation center. PARTICIPANTS: Tai Chi practitioners (n=24; age+/-SD, 68.5+/-6.6 y) and control subjects (n=20; age, 71.3+/-6.7 y) were recruited. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measures included the following: (1) subjects' intentional weight shifting to 8 different spatial positions within their base of support

Glucose metabolism is subjected to diurnal variation, which might be mediated by alterations in the transcription pattern of clock genes and regulated by hormonal factors, as has been demonstrated for insulin. However, whether also glucagon is involved in the diurnal variation of glucose homeostasis is not known. We therefore examined glucagon secretion after meal ingestion (meal tolerance test) a