Twelve-month resistance and impact exercise program or risedronate provides a relative benefit to hip bone structure in postmenopausal women: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Unlabelled: Bone strength estimates are important for fracture prevention. This study compared bone strength changes in postmenopausal women with low bone mass who were assigned to 12 months of exercise, a bone medication, or control. Exercise and bone medications benefited structure at the hip.

BRCA1 gene polymorphism and finger dermatoglyphic patterns in Ghanaian breast cancer patients: a quantitative cross-sectional approach.

Introduction: breast cancer development is linked to mutant single nucleotide polymorphism of breast cancer type 1 (BRCA1) gene usually harboured within exon 11. It has also been linked to finger dermatoglyphics where certain patterns have been associated with breast cancer. This study suggests a possible relationship between finger dermatoglyphic patterns and single nucleotide polymorphism of BRCA1 gene.

MicroRNA-21 Controls Circadian Regulation of Apoptosis in Atherosclerotic Lesions.

Background: The necrotic core partly formed by ineffective efferocytosis increases the risk of an atherosclerotic plaque rupture. Microribonucleic acids contribute to necrotic core formation by regulating efferocytosis and macrophage apoptosis. Atherosclerotic plaque rupture occurs at increased frequency in the early morning, indicating diurnal changes in plaque vulnerability.

Reduced Serum Circulation of Cell-Free DNA Following Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, with alarming mortalities. Neoadjuvant treatments employ chemotherapy to shrink tumours to a well-defined size for a better surgical outcome. The current means of assessing effectiveness of chemotherapy management are imprecise.

Influence of Lifestyle and Environmental Factors on Semen Quality in Ghanaian Men.

Introduction: Male infertility is known to contribute about half of all infertility cases. In Ghana, the prevalence of male infertility is higher (15.8%) than in females (11.

Prospecting for Breast Cancer Blood Biomarkers: Death-Associated Protein Kinase 1 (DAPK1) as a Potential Candidate.

Background: Breast cancer is the commonest malignancy in women worldwide. It is estimated to affect approximately 1.5 million women annually and responsible for the greatest number of cancer-related mortalities among women.

Microscopic Characteristics Of Scalp Hair Subjected To Cultural Styling Methods In Ghanaian African Females.

Purpose: To provide data for forensic use and provoke ideas to preserve shaft integrity, we studied microstructural alterations of female scalp hair subjected to Ghanaian cultural styling methods. Hence, topographical features of female hairs styled by braiding/weaving, and chemical relaxation sampled from five different scalp regions were assessed and compared with natural (Afro) hair.

Subjects And Methods: Ninety-six indigenous Ghanaian females volunteered 480 hairs, which were analyzed by light microscopy.

Natural cocoa inhibits maternal hypercholesterolaemia-induced atherogenesis in rabbit pups.

Atherosclerosis begins during foetal development and is enhanced by maternal hypercholesterolaemia during pregnancy. This study assessed the effect of natural cocoa on atherosclerosis in offspring conceived in maternal hypercholesterolaemia. Female rabbits were fed a cholesterol-enriched diet for two weeks and hypercholesterolaemia was confirmed, after which they were crossed with normocholesterolaemic males.

Circulating cell-free DNA integrity as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for breast and prostate cancers.

Background: Cancer incidence and its related mortality is rising and is currently the second leading cause of death globally. In Africa, breast and prostate cancer in females and males, respectively, are the worst globally. However, biomarkers for their early detection and prognosis are not well developed.

Light Microscopic Morphology of Indigenous Ghanaian African Hair from Scalp, Eyebrow, Axilla, and Pubic Regions.

Context: Relatively scanty literature on autochthonic African Negroid hair morphology provokes research interest for anthropological, forensic, and cosmetic purposes.

Aims: This study aimed to contribute basic morphological information on Ghanaian African hairs.

Settings And Design: The study was done in selected second-cycle schools in Accra, Ghana, using convenient sampling.

Higher serum concentrations of vimentin and DAKP1 are associated with aggressive breast tumour phenotypes in Ghanaian women.

Background: Breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, exhibits aggressive behavior in indigenous African women evidenced by high histologic grade tumours with low hormone receptor positivity. Aggressive breast cancers grow quickly, easily metastasize and recur and often have unfavourable outcomes. The current study investigated candidate genes that may regulate tumour aggression in Ghanaian women.

Programme of senescence in petals and carpels of Pisum sativum L. flowers and its control by ethylene.

The role of ethylene in the control of senescence of both petals and unpollinated carpels of pea was investigated. An increase in ethylene production accompanied senescence, and the inhibitors of ethylene action were effective in delaying senescence symptoms in different flower verticils. Pollination did not seem to trigger the senescence syndrome in the corolla as deduced from the observation that petals from pollinated and unpollinated flowers and from flowers whose carpels had been removed senesced at the same time.

Inhibition of HIV replication by immunoliposomal antisense oligonucleotide.

The sequence-specific suppression of HIV-1 replication using CD4 monoclonal-antibody-targeted liposomes, containing Rev antisense phosphorothioate oligonucleotides is described. Liposomes were prepared by encapsulating the 20-mer antisense DNA sequence of the rev HIV-1 regulatory gene, in the form of a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide. Specific targeting was accomplished by conjugating anti-CD4 mouse monoclonal antibody to the surface of the liposomes.

Inhibition of HIV-1 replication in H9 cells by nystatin-A compared with other antiviral agents.

Nystatin A was compared in vitro with amphotericin B, AZT, or foscarnet for their respective abilities to inhibit the replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in H9 cells. HIV-1-infected H9 cells were cultured for 7 days in the presence of each of these drugs, at various concentrations. Reverse transcriptase activity and p24 antigen production were quantitated.

Brucella abortus stimulates human T cells from uninfected and HIV-infected individuals to secrete IFN gamma: implications for use of Brucella abortus as a carrier in development of human vaccines.

Brucella abortus has been characterized as a T-independent type 1 antigen/carrier in human and murine antibody responses. In this report it is shown that BA can activate human CD3+ T cells to secrete interferon-gamma (IFN gamma). Unlike mitogens, such as phytohemagglutinin, this stimulation was associated with minimal T-cell proliferation or upregulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor.

Is there a mechanical factor of haemolysis in patients with positive IgG-type direct antiglobulin test?

In autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, the presence of antibodies on the erythrocyte membrane results in haemolysis through an immune process, but does it not alter the rheological properties of red blood cells (RBC), thus adding a mechanical factor to haemolysis? This study was designed to examine the rheological properties of erythrocytes sensitized with IgG-type antibodies. The study involved 20 patients with anaemia and positive direct antiglobulin test, including 12 with straightforward haemolysis, 10 samples sensitized in vitro, and 20 controls. The following haemorheological parameters were studied: erythrocyte filtration, blood and plasma viscosities, titration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and 2-3-DPG, erythrocyte morphology under scanning electron microscopy.

Coxsackievirus-induced disease. CD4+ cells initiate both myocarditis and pancreatitis in DBA/2 mice.

DBA/2 male mice inoculated intraperitoneally with 1.8 X 10(5) plaque-forming units (PFU) coxsackievirus B-3 (CVB3) showed extensive inflammatory cell infiltration of the myocardium and acinar tissue of the pancreas in 7 days. Selective depletion of T lymphocyte subpopulations indicated that CD4 cells were either completely or partially responsible for cell damage in both organs.

Clinical and experimental aspects of viral myocarditis.

Picornaviruses are frequently implicated as the etiological agents of acute myocarditis. This association is based historically on serological evidence of rising antibody titers to specific pathogens and more recently on identification of viral genomic material in endocardial biopsy specimens through in situ hybridization. Only rarely is infectious virus isolated from either the patient or the heart during periods of maximum myocardial inflammation and injury.

Impaired cytokine response in male ICR Swiss mice after infection with D variant of encephalomyocarditis virus.

The basis for the resistance of the female and the susceptibility of the male ICR Swiss mouse to the diabetogenicity of the D variant of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV-D) is unknown. This pattern of disease resistance and susceptibility can be reversed if females are treated with testosterone and males are treated with estrogen before virus infection. As a possible explanation for this sex difference in disease development, differences in early antiviral host responses were explored.

A murine model of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus resulting from the cumulative effects of the nondiabetogenic strain of encephalomyocarditis virus and a single low dose of streptozocin.

The induction of insulin-dependent diabetes in outbred male and female mice was examined using a combination of the usually nondiabetogenic B-variant of encephalomyocarditis (EMC-B) virus and single low doses of streptozocin (STZ). Neither EMC-B virus nor low doses of STZ were overtly diabetogenic when administered alone; however, when these two insults occurred 1 day apart, diabetes resulted in male but not in female mice. The induction of diabetes was dependent on the time interval between these two insults, since EMC-B virus and STZ given 4 days apart did not induce diabetes.