Altered gene expression pattern in peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with arterial hypertension.

The role of various inflammatory mechanisms and oxidative stress in the development of atherosclerosis and arterial hypertension (AH) has been increasingly acknowledged during recent years. Hypertension per se or factors that cause hypertension along with other complications lead to infiltration of activated leukocytes in the vascular wall, where these cells contribute to the development of vascular injury by releasing cytokines, oxygen radicals, and other toxic mediators. However, molecular mechanisms underlying leukocyte activation at transcriptional level in AH are still far from being clear.

[PRKAR1A gene mutations in two patients with myxoma syndrome (Carney complex)].

Carney complex is an autosomic dominant disorder initially described as the association of cardiac myxomas, spotty skin pigmentation and endocrine overactivity and considered as a multiple neoplasia and lentiginosis syndrome. Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene PRKAR1A, coding for the type 1-alpha regulatory subunit of cAMP-depended protein kinase A have been previously identified in about half of the Carney complex kindreds. In this paper we report identification of the molecular defect in PRKARIA gene in two Carney complex patients.

Comparative analysis of partial structures of a peat humic and fulvic acid using one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) resonance integrals obtained from one-dimensional NMR spectra provide semiquantitative contents of humic constituents with limited resolution in structural detail. When supplemented by connectivity information available from homo- and heteronuclear two-dimensional NMR spectra a more reliable assignment of humic substructures becomes available. This is demonstrated with a comparative one- and two-dimensional NMR analysis of a fulvic and a humic acid obtained from Eriophorum peat.

Quantification and prediction of the detoxifying properties of humic substances related to their chemical binding to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Effects of 27 different humic materials on the toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were studied for crustacean Daphnia magna. Sources included isolated humic acids, fulvic acids, and their combination from soil, peat, and freshwater. The PAH used were pyrene, fluoranthene, and anthracene.