Increased Binding of von Willebrand Factor to Sub-Endothelial Collagen May Facilitate Thrombotic Events Complicating Envenomation in Humans.

Consumption coagulopathy and hemorrhagic syndrome exacerbated by blood anticoagulability remain the most important causes of lethality associated with snake envenomation. venom also engages platelet aggregation on the injured endothelium via von Willebrand factor (vWF) interactions. Besides platelet aggregation, some venom toxins may induce qualitative thrombopathy, which has been in part related to the inhibition of vWF activation.

Bothrops lanceolatus snake venom impairs mitochondrial respiration and induces DNA release in human heart preparation.

Introduction: Envenomations by Bothrops snakebites can induce overwhelming systemic inflammation ultimately leading to multiple organ system failure and death. Release of damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs), in particular of mitochondrial origin, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of the deregulated innate immune response.

Objective: To test whether whole Bothrops lanceolatus venom would induce mitochondrial dysfunction and DAMPs release in human heart preparations.

Increased proviral load in HTLV-1-infected patients with rheumatoid arthritis or connective tissue disease.

Background: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load is related to the development of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and has also been shown to be elevated in the peripheral blood in HTLV-1-infected patients with uveitis or alveolitis. Increased proliferation of HTLV-1-infected cells in, or migration of such cells into, the central nervous system is also seen in HAM/TSP. In the present study, we evaluated the proviral load in a cohort of HTLV-1-infected patients with arthritic conditions.

Interleukin-7 induces apoptosis of 697 pre-B cells expressing dominant-negative forms of STAT5: evidence for caspase-dependent and -independent mechanisms.

The transcription factors STAT5A and STAT5B (STAT: signal transducer and activator of transcription) play a major role in the signaling events elicited by a number of growth factor and cytokine receptors. In this work, we aimed to investigate the role of STAT5 in human precursor B cell survival by introducing dominant-negative (DN) forms of STAT5A or STAT5B in the 697 pre-B cell line. All clones expressing DN forms of either transcription factor exhibited a higher spontaneous apoptotic rate that was massively enhanced upon interleukin-7 (IL-7) stimulation.

Antisense transgenesis of tobacco with a flax pectin methylesterase affects pollen ornamentation.

Antisense transgenesis of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) with a partial flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) pectin methylesterase (Lupme3) cDNA sequence yielded plants with altered pollen content. Moreover, the characteristically sculptured cell wall surrounding the pollen grains was modified in transgenic tobacco plants: the wavy ornamentation was dramatically reduced, suggesting the involvement of the demethylation of pectin in the pollen cell wall-specific structure.