Enterococcus avium Infection After Liver Transplantation in Vietnam: A Case Report.

Background: The infectious complications are the most common and can be life-threatening to liver transplant recipients, in particular, within the first month after transplantation. Early diagnosis of these severe complications and accurate detection of causative etiologies are crucial for the choice of therapeutic strategies and management of liver transplants.

Case Report: We present a case report of a patient with a history of primary sclerosing cholangitis who underwent a liver transplantation (LT) from a living donor.

Challenges faced by teachers in teaching History and Geography in secondary schools-Dataset from Vietnam.

The article summarizes a dataset that highlights teachers' perspectives on issues related the implementation of History and Geography curriculum in Vietnamese secondary schools. It particularly emphasizes the challenges faced by teachers during the initial years of the integrated curriculum implementation. Six key aspects pertaining to the History and Geography curriculum implementation addressed are: (1) teachers' specialized knowledge in their field of instruction, (2) teachers' perceptions of the History and Geography curriculum, (3) the current status of History and Geography teaching assignments in schools, (4) the challenges faced by teachers, (5) factors that cause challenges for teachers, and (6) teachers' expectations for effective History and Geography curriculum implementation.

Phytochemical and immunomodulatory properties of an Echinacea laevigata (Asteraceae) tincture.

Background: Echinacea preparations are consumed for the prevention or treatment of upper respiratory infections.

Objective: The objective of this study was to provide the first data regarding the in vitro immunomodulatory properties of the American federally endangered species Echinacea laevigata (Asteraceae).

Methods: Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured with root tinctures from E.

Comparison of miniaturized time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer and enzyme-coupled luciferase high-throughput screening assays to discover inhibitors of Rho-kinase II (ROCK-II).

Kinases are important drug discovery targets for a wide variety of therapeutic indications; consequently, the measurement of kinase activity remains a common high-throughput screening (HTS) application. Recently, enzyme-coupled luciferase-kinase (LK) format assays have been introduced. This format measures luminescence resulting from metabolism of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) via a luciferin/luciferase-coupled reaction.

Retinoic acid-induced protein ISGylation is dependent on interferon signal transduction.

Interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) is a ubiquitin-like modifier that forms conjugates with target protein substrates. As its name suggests, its expression and conjugation to other proteins are highly regulated by interferon (IFN). It was recently demonstrated that ISG15 expression, ISG15 conjugation, and several enzymes involved in ISG15 modification are upregulated in an acute promyelocytic cell line following treatment with retinoic acid, suggesting a possible retinoic acid induced IFN-independent ISG15 modification pathway.

ISG15 modification of ubiquitin E2 Ubc13 disrupts its ability to form thioester bond with ubiquitin.

ISG15 was the first ubiquitin-like modifier to be identified. However, the function of ISG15 modification has been an enigma for many years. At present, no data are available about the function of ISGylation for any target.

ISG15: a ubiquitin-like enigma.

ISG15 is a 17 kDa protein encoded by an interferon stimulated gene. Described in 1979, it was the first ubiquitin-like modifier to be identified, and its discovery followed the first reports of ubiquitin by only four years. While many important functions for ubiquitin have been reported, the functions for ISG15 and its conjugation are still largely unknown.

Modification of peptide interaction with MHC creates TCR partial agonists.

We report the creation of TCR partial agonists by the novel approach of manipulating the interaction between immunogenic peptide and MHC. Amino acids at MHC anchor positions of the I-E(k)-restricted hemoglobin (64-76) and moth cytochrome c (88-103) peptides were exchanged with MHC anchor residues from the low affinity class II invariant chain peptide (CLIP), resulting in antigenic peptides with altered affinity for MHC class II. Several low affinity peptides were identified as TCR partial agonists, as defined by the ability to stimulate cytolytic function but not proliferation.

A novel single chain I-A(b) molecule can stimulate and stain antigen-specific T cells.

Multimers of soluble major histocompatibility complex class I and II molecules have proven to be useful reagents in quantifying and following specific T cell populations. This study describes the design, generation, and characterization of a novel, single chain I-A(b) molecule which utilizes a unique linker derived from the murine invariant chain. A fragment of the invariant chain, residues 58-85, binds to a region proximal to the class II peptide binding groove and stabilizes occupancy of the class II invariant chain-associated peptide.

Analysis of two acidic P6 pocket residues in the pH dependency of peptide binding by I-E(k).

Peptide binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules is optimal at mildly acidic pH. X-ray crystal structures solved for the murine class II molecule I-E(k) revealed an interesting localization of negatively charged residues within the P6 pocket, which may have implications in the pH dependency of peptide binding. Protonation of these critical residues, under acidic conditions, has been proposed to be important for the formation of stable class II-peptide complexes.