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Candida albicans binds and utilizes human complement inhibitors, such as C4b-binding protein (C4BP), Factor H, and FHL-1 for immune evasion. Here, we identify Candida pH-regulated antigen 1 (Pra1) as the first fungal C4BP-binding protein. Recombinant Pra1 binds C4BP, as shown by ELISA and isothermal titration calorimetry, and the Pra1-C4BP interaction is ionic in nature. The Pra1 binding domains w

Recently, a novel mutation in exon 24 of DNAJC13 gene (p.Asn855Ser, rs387907571) has been reported to cause autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD) in a multi-incident Mennonite family.

Fibromodulin regulates collagen fibrillogenesis, but its existence/role(s) in the cornea is controversial. We hypothesize that fibromodulin regulates fibrillogenesis during postnatal development of the anterior eye. Fibromodulin is weakly expressed in the limbus at post-natal day (P) 4, increases and extends into the central cornea at P14, becomes restricted to the limbus at P30, and decreases at

Purpose : To investigate whether mobile phone radiation might affect snail nociception, employing radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) which, to our knowledge, have hitherto not been studied in a snail model. Exposure to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields has however been shown to significantly affect nociceptive responses. Materials and methods : In the present study, we ex

Climate change and disaster pose a serious and growing risk to sustainable urban development planning, with disasters having quadrupled in the last three decades. The extent of the changing climatic conditions, in combination with growing urbanisation, is making both Southern and Northern institutions and associated social security and governance systems increasingly inadequate in dealing with ext

Nickel oxide (NiO), deposited onto the strontium titanate (SrTiO3) (110)-(4 X 1) surface, was studied using photoemission spectroscopy (PES), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and low-energy He+ ion scattering (LEIS), as well as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The main motivation for studying this system comes from the prominent role it plays in photocatalysis. The (4 X 1) reconst

In order to survive, individuals must be able to recognise and eliminate pathogens. The genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) play an essential role in this process in vertebrates as their diversity affects the repertoire of pathogens that can be recognised by the immune system. Emerging evidence suggests that birds within the parvorder Passerida possess an exceptionally high number

Balance control when standing upright is a complex process requiring input from several partly independent mechanisms such as coordination, feedback and feedforward control, and adaptation. Acute alcohol intoxication from ethanol is recognized as a major contributor to accidental falls requiring medical care. This study aimed to investigate if intoxication at 0.06 and 0.10% blood alcohol concentra

Attempted suicide is a risk factor for future suicidal behaviour, but understanding suicidality from the perspective of people who have experienced attempted suicide is limited. The aim of the study was to explore the lived experience of being suicidal and having made a suicide attempt, in order to identify possible implications for health care professionals. Semi-structured individual interviews

Background: Intolerance of uncertainly (IU), cognitive avoidance (CA) and positive beliefs about worry (PB) independently predict worry frequency in older adolescents and adults, and when targeted together in treatment produce significant reductions in both worry and anxiety in this age range. The present study addresses a gap in the literature by testing whether a cognitive model of excessive wor

The objective of this study is to analyze whether the trend towards operating on patients with less severe primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) than earlier is reflected in a change of preoperative presentation and surgical outcome.

This paper investigates the function of metal working fluid (MWF) emulsions in automotive industries in Sweden and looks at how the negative environmental and health impact of their use can be reduced through means of monitoring and system design. Major input to this study has been collected from several of the large companies in Sweden, through a literature review, interviews, questionnaires, fin

Menstrual and reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use have been investigated as pancreatic cancer risk factors in case-control and cohort studies, but results have been inconsistent. We conducted a prospective examination of menstrual and reproductive factors, exogenous hormone use and pancreatic cancer risk (based on 304 cases) in 328,610 women from the EPIC cohort. Then, in a case-control

This article challenges the urge within Actor-Network Theory, posthumanism, and the ontological turn in sociology and anthropology to dissolve analytical distinctions between subject and object, society and nature, and human and non-human. It argues that only by acknowledging such distinctions and applying a realist ontology can exploitative and unsustainable global power relations be exposed. The

The assembly of nucleic acid nanostructures with controlled size and shape has large impact in the fields of nanotechnology, nanomedicine and synthetic biology. The directed arrangement of nano-structures at interfaces is important for many applications. In spite of this, the use of laterally mobile lipid bilayers to control RNA three-dimensional nanostructure formation on surfaces remains largely

The article documents the case of South Africa's struggle to reconcile racially based poverty, a legacy of apartheid, and attempts to conserve the country's unique and important biodiversity. We present an analysis of KwaDapha, a small village in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in terms of the capability approach. Despite So

Genetic case-control association studies often include data on clinical covariates, such as body mass index (BMI), smoking status, or age, that may modify the underlying genetic risk of case or control samples. For example, in type 2 diabetes, odds ratios for established variants estimated from low-BMI cases are larger than those estimated from high-BMI cases. An unanswered question is how to use