The dogroses (Rosa Sect. Caninae) are characterized by a unique meiosis - the canina meiosis - that results in restricted recombination. In the present study, we investigate population differentiation and morphometric diversity within six taxa, of Nordic dogroses, with the help of automated image analysis of leaflet shape and manually-measured reproductive characters. The total morphometric divers

The presence and diversity of IncP-1 plasmids in the influent of a Danish wastewater treatment plant was studied by PCR amplification of the trfA gene in community DNA followed by sequencing. Three sets of PCR primers were designed to amplify a 281 bp fragment of trfA from all currently sequenced IncP-1 plasmids. A neighbor-joining tree, based on a multiple alignment of 72 obtained sequences toget

Perlecan is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan that is expressed in all basement membranes (BMs), in cartilage, and several other mesenchymal tissues during development. Perlecan binds growth factors and interacts with various extracellular matrix proteins and cell adhesion molecules. Homozygous mice with a null mutation in the perlecan gene exhibit normal formation of BMs. However, BMs deteriorate in

A simple method is proposed to quantify volume of potato chips by measuring the displaced volume of a finely granular material (tape seeds) by the volume of the chips. Firstly, compaction of the seeds was studied to evaluate the reproducibility and accuracy of the technique. The results obtained indicate an encouraging potential of the technique to estimate the apparent volume of potato chips and

Six species of Candelariella with polysporous asci are recognized from western North America. The species are: C. borealis sp. nov., C. efflorescens, C. lutella, C. placodizans, C. vitellina and C. xanthostigma. Candelariella vitellina is lectotypified. A key to the polysporous species in western North America is provided and their distribution in the study area is mapped.

Statin treatment inhibits oxidized lipoprotein-induced intracellular lipid accumulation (foam cell formation) and reduces plasma levels of inflammatory markers such as interleukin-1 beta The aim of the present study was to determine if simvastatin affected lipid accumulation in macrophages incubated with aggregated low density lipoproteins (AgLDL) and whether simvastatin had a direct effect on cyt

Using magnetic relaxation dispersion (MRD), we have previously shown that the four internal water molecules in bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) exchange with bulk water on time scales between 10(-8) and 10(-4) s at room temperature. Because this exchange is controlled by the protein structure, internal water molecules can be used to probe rare conformational fluctuations. Here, we report

The loss of beta cells in type 1 diabetes is the consequence of a T cell-dependent autoimmune attack. Autoantibodies against GAD65 (Mr 65.000 isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase), IA-2 (insulinoma-associated protein IA-2) or insulin, alone or in combination, predict disease. Preclinical studies in spontaneously diabetic rodents suggest that immunomodulation with autoantigens might alter the cou

The PHENIX experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured J/psi production for rapidities -2.2 < y < 2.2 in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV. The J/psi invariant yield and nuclear modification factor R-AA as a function of centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity are reported. A suppression of J/psi relative to binary collision scaling of proton-proton reaction

The smooth muscle cells in the vascular wall are constantly exposed to distending forces from the intraluminal pressure. A rise in blood pressure triggers growth of the vessel wall, which is characterized primarily by hypertrophy of smooth muscle cells with maintained differentiation in a contractile phenotype. Growth factor stimulation of dissociated smooth muscle cells, on the other hand, causes

RATIONALE: Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is of central interest in the study of tuberculosis. A number of single-gene mutations have been identified in the IFN-gamma signaling pathway that predispose to severe mycobacterial disease, but the relevance of polymorphism within these genes to the common phenotype of tuberculosis remains unclear. METHODS: A total of 1,301 individuals were included in a l

The purpose of the study was to investigate the expression of Aurora-A in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) and to explore the effects of Aurora-A silencing on invasion and chromosomal instability in laryngeal cancer HEp-2 cells. The expression of Aurora-A mRNA and protein were studied using reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot in LSCC tissues and corresponding normal epithelium

Dermatan sulfate (DS) is a highly sulfated polysaccharide with a variety of biological functions in extracellular matrix organization and processes such as tumorigenesis and wound healing. A distinct feature of DS is the presence of iduronic acid, produced by the two enzymes, DS-epimerase 1 and 2, which are encoded by Dse and Dsel, respectively.

To study waist-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC), sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD), and waist-hip-height ratio (WHHR) as predictors of CVD, in men and women stratified by BMI (cut-off ≥25).

Energy-dense diets that are high in fat are associated with a risk of metabolic diseases. The underlying molecular mechanisms could involve epigenetics, as recent data show altered DNA methylation of putative type 2 diabetes candidate genes in response to high-fat diets. We examined the effect of a short-term high-fat overfeeding (HFO) diet on genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in human skeletal

Affibody molecules are small (7 kDa) nonimmunoglobulin scaffold proteins with favorable tumor-targeting properties. Studies concerning the influence of chelators on biodistribution of (99m)Tc-labeled Affibody molecules demonstrated that the variant with a C-terminal glycyl-glycyl-glycyl-cysteine peptide-based chelator (designated ZHER2:V2) has the best biodistribution profile in vivo and the lowes