The safety profile of alkylphosphocholines in the model of the isolated perfused vertebrate retina.

Background: Alkylphosphocholines (APCs) are synthetic phospholipid derivatives, and have been demonstrated to inhibit ocular cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Currently, they are applied clinically for their antitumoral and antiparasitic properties, but have not yet been implemented for clinical use in proliferative ophthalmic disorders. The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of APC in the ex vivo model of the isolated perfused vertebrate retina.

HDAC1 nuclear export induced by pathological conditions is essential for the onset of axonal damage.

Histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is a nuclear enzyme involved in transcriptional repression. We detected cytosolic HDAC1 in damaged axons in brains of humans with multiple sclerosis and of mice with cuprizone-induced demyelination, in ex vivo models of demyelination and in cultured neurons exposed to glutamate and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Nuclear export of HDAC1 was mediated by the interaction with the nuclear receptor CRM-1 and led to impaired mitochondrial transport.

In-depth analysis of the distinctive effects of norflurazon implies that tetrapyrrole biosynthesis, organellar gene expression and ABA cooperate in the GUN-type of plastid signalling.

Application of norflurazon (NF) damages plastids, induces photobleaching and represses expression of the nuclear LHCB1.2 gene encoding a light-harvesting protein. In genomes uncoupled (gun) mutants, LHCB1.

Professional risk for skin cancer development in male mountain guides--a cross-sectional study.

Objective: For reasons of their outdoor work, mountain guides (MG) are heavily exposed to ultraviolet radiation during their work.

Methods: A standardized interview and examination were performed on 283 male MG (median 41 years) from Germany, Switzerland and Austria and 309 age-matched controls. The median occupation time as MG was 17 years; 39.

Multiple redox and non-redox interactions define 2-Cys peroxiredoxin as a regulatory hub in the chloroplast.

In plants, the highly abundant 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-CysPrx) is associated with the chloroplast and involved in protecting photosynthesis. This work addresses the multiple interactions of the 2-CysPrx in the chloroplast, which depend on its redox state. Transcript co-regulation analysis showed a strong linkage to the peptidyl-prolyl-cis/trans isomerase Cyclophilin 20-3 (Cyp20-3) and other components of the photosynthetic apparatus.

Reduced intercarotid artery distance in acromegaly: pathophysiologic considerations and implications for transsphenoidal surgery.

Background: The objective of this study is to evaluate the significance of reduced intercarotid artery distance in the C5 segment in acromegalic patients and the implications for transsphenoidal surgery.

Methods: The skull base with the carotid canal was examined with a helical CT scan in 45 patients with acromegaly and 45 age group-matched controls. The distances between the inner walls (IWs) of the carotid sulcus (CS), the outer walls (OWs) of the CS, and the diameter of the ICA at the C5 segment were assessed.

The Lambaréné Organ Dysfunction Score (LODS) is a simple clinical predictor of fatal malaria in African children.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum malaria accounts for >1 million deaths annually, mostly among young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Identifying those individuals who are likely to die is crucial. Several factors have been independently associated with death.

Phosphorylation of serine 205 by the protein kinase CK2 persists on Pax3-FOXO1, but not Pax3, throughout early myogenic differentiation.

The myogenic transcription factor Pax3 plays an essential role in early skeletal muscle development and is a key component in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), a childhood solid muscle tumor. ARMS is characterized by a t(2;13) chromosomal translocation resulting in the fusion of the 5' Pax3 sequences to the 3' FOXO1 sequences to encode the oncogenic fusion protein, Pax3-FOXO1. Posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation are common mechanisms by which transcription factors are regulated.

Epidemiological perspectives on type 1 diabetes in childhood and adolescence in germany: 20 years of the Baden-württemberg Diabetes Incidence Registry (DIARY).

Objective: To predict the frequency of type 1 diabetes in childhood and adolescence (<15 years of age) in Germany for the next 20 years.

Research Design And Methods: Data on diabetes onset has been collected by means of a registry in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg (documentation period, 1987-2006; n = 5,108; completeness of data 98.1%).

Detection, validation, and downstream analysis of allelic variation in gene expression.

Common sequence variants within a gene often generate important differences in expression of corresponding mRNAs. This high level of local (allelic) control-or cis modulation-rivals that produced by gene targeting, but expression is titrated finely over a range of levels. We are interested in exploiting this allelic variation to study gene function and downstream consequences of differences in expression dosage.

Three-dimensional assessment of facial development in children with Pierre Robin sequence.

Newborns with Pierre Robin sequence (PRS) have mandibular hypoplasia, glossoptosis, and possibly cleft palate. Their facial appearance is characteristic. The further facial development is controversial.

Redox-dependent regulation of the stress-induced zinc-finger protein SAP12 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The stress-associated protein SAP12 belongs to the stress-associated protein (SAP) family with 14 members in Arabidopsis thaliana. SAP12 contains two AN1 zinc fingers and was identified in diagonal 2D redox SDS-PAGE as a protein undergoing major redox-dependent conformational changes. Its transcript was strongly induced under cold and salt stress in a time-dependent manner similar to SAP10, with high levels after 6 h and decreasing levels after 24 and 48 h.

Function of antioxidant enzymes and metabolites during maturation of pea fruits.

In plant cells, antioxidants keep reactive oxygen species at low concentrations, avoiding oxidative damage while allowing them to play crucial functions in signal transduction. However, little is known about the role of antioxidants during fruit maturation, especially in legumes. Snap pea (Pisum sativum) plants, which have edible fruits, were grown under nodulating and non-nodulating conditions.

Clinical and radiological evaluation of minimally displaced proximal humeral fractures.

Introduction: The purpose of this prospective study was to assess the Constant score and radiographic outcome in 66 patients (mean age 58.7 years/mean follow-up 51 months) with a minimally displaced and/or impacted fracture of the proximal humerus treated with early mobilization.

Method: Special attention was paid to analyze the specific intrinsic parameters (age, gender, ASA grade and length of physiotherapy), injury-related parameters (classification, osteoporosis) and therapy-related parameters (initial fracture displacement, residual bony-deformity after healing, secondary fracture displacement during healing period, non-union, humeral head necrosis and omarthrosis) that may influence the final score.

Dynamic plastid redox signals integrate gene expression and metabolism to induce distinct metabolic states in photosynthetic acclimation in Arabidopsis.

Plants possess acclimation responses in which structural reconfigurations adapt the photosynthetic apparatus to fluctuating illumination. Long-term acclimation involves changes in plastid and nuclear gene expression and is controlled by redox signals from photosynthesis. The kinetics of these signals and the adjustments of energetic and metabolic demands to the changes in the photosynthetic apparatus are currently poorly understood.

Redox characterization of human cyclophilin D: identification of a new mammalian mitochondrial redox sensor?

Mitochondria are metabolically highly active cell organelles that are also implicated in reactive oxygen species production and in cell death regulation. Cyclophilin D, the only human mitochondrial isoform of cyclophilins, plays an essential role in the formation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore leading to cell necrosis. Recently, it has been shown that redox environment modifies structural and functional properties of some plant cyclophilins.

Long-term results after non-plate head-preserving fixation of proximal humeral fractures.

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate displaced proximal humeral fractures treated with a non-plate head-preserving fixation and to detect factors predicting functional outcome. After a median follow-up period of 79.7 months, 105 patients with nine A-fractures, 36 B-fractures and 60 C-fractures (nine two-part-fractures, 41 three-part fractures and 55 four-part fractures) were assessed.

Enlargement of the common bile duct in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease: what does it mean?

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess variations in the diameter of the common bile duct in patients with gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) undergoing abdominal CT after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and to correlate the findings with laboratory results on cholestasis.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the caliber of the common bile duct in 27 adult patients with histologically validated gastrointestinal GVHD who underwent two or more follow-up abdominal CT examinations. Another 25 patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation during the same period at our institution but who did not have GVHD constituted the control group.

[Radical transurethral resection of the prostate. An alternative therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer].

The value of radical transurethral resection of prostate cancer (TURPC) as an alternative therapy was investigated in this prospective study. From January 1995 to July 2008, 533 patients with a median age of 67 years (range 40-89 years) and with clinically localized prostate cancer were resected by the corresponding author with curative intention. The tumor stages were as follows: pT1 8%; pT2 61%; pT3 31%; G1 2%; G2 80%; G3 18%.

The oligomeric conformation of peroxiredoxins links redox state to function.

Protein-protein associations, i.e. formation of permanent or transient protein complexes, are essential for protein functionality and regulation within the cellular context.

Molecular mechanisms of psychostimulant-induced structural plasticity.

Drug addiction is characterized by persistent behavioral and cellular plasticity throughout the brain's reward regions. Among the many neuroadaptations that occur following repeated drug administration are alterations in cell morphology including changes in dendritic spines. While this phenomenon has been well documented, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood.

Coinfections with Schistosoma haematobium, Necator americanus, and Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar in children: chemokine and cytokine responses and changes after antiparasite treatment.

The effect of polyparasite infections on cytokine and chemokine responses as well as the effect of antiparasite treatment was studied in children without parasite infection (the G0 group), in children singly infected with Schistosoma haematobium (the G1 group), and in children multiply infected with S. haematobium/Schistosoma mansoni, Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar, and Necator americanus (the G3+ group). Linear regression analysis disclosed a significant risk for coinfection with hookworm and Schistosoma species.

On the eradicability of infections with partially protective vaccination in models with backward bifurcation.

The SIS model of Hadeler and Castillo-Chavez [9] with a constant transfer rate of susceptibles into a partially protected state has been modified to take into account vaccination at birth. The model shows backward bifurcation (existence of multiple endemic stationary states) for certain values of parameters. Parameter values ensuring the existence and nonexistence of endemic equilibria have been discussed.