Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 is useful as therapeutic efficacy marker in serum but not in saliva of nasopharyngeal cancer patients who underwent radiotherapy.

Introduction: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a multifactorial disease with genetic, viral, environmental and lifestyle-related risk factors. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can promote the oncogenic transformation of an infected cell into malignant. EBV encodes many stimulating products including Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) which plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression and replication of the genome in the latent period of infection.

The Main (Glyco) Phospholipid (MPL) of .

The main phospholipid (MPL) of DSM 1728 was isolated, purified and physico-chemically characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)/differential thermal analysis (DTA) for its thermotropic behavior, alone and in mixtures with other lipids, cholesterol, hydrophobic peptides and pore-forming ionophores. Model membranes from MPL were investigated; black lipid membrane, Langmuir-Blodgett monolayer, and liposomes. Laboratory results were compared to computer simulation.

The Role of Mangiferin in the Prevention of Experimentally Induced Iron Overload in an Animal Model.

Background: The leaves, fruit peels, and bark of mango trees (Mangifera indica L) contain mangiferin as an active compound with known anti-oxidative and iron chelating properties. This study aims to evaluate the benefits of mangiferin in the management of iron overload.

Methods: Thirty rats were divided into five groups: normal control, rats with iron overload, and rats with iron overload treated with oral mangiferin doses of 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg BW, respectively.

Apoptosis of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Induced by Liposomal Soybean Phosphatidylcholine Extract.

Background: Recently, Phosphatidylcholine (PC) has been used as an off-label treatment for lipolysis injection, which is associated with inflammatory reaction due to sodium deoxycholate, an emulsifier, so that inflammation as side effect occurs in those patients. Liposome formulation from lipid was thought to be a better and safer alternative. This study aimed to analyze the mechanism of Liposomal Soybean Phosphatidylcholine (LSPC) extract from Indonesian soybeans (containing 26% PC) to induce Adipose-derived Stem Cells (ASCs) death .

Decreased Expression of CDC25A in Azoospermia as the Etiology of Spermatogenesis Failure.

Background: Spermatogenesis is a tightly regulated developmental process of male germ cells. The stages in spermatogenesis are mitosis, meiosis and spermiogenesis. One of the genes playing a role in meiosis is Cell Division Cycle 25A (CDC25A).

Detection of early DJ-stent encrustation by sonographic twinkling-artifacts - a pilot study.

Introduction: Ureter obstruction caused by a retro-peritoneal tumor is treated by inserting an indwelling ureter splint (DJ-stent). Indwelling duration is limited by cumulative crystalline deposits into the splint, eventually causing the repeated impairment of urine flow. Deciding when a DJ-stent must be replaced is important since belated removal can be accompanied by severe complications.

Effects of Curcumin on Parameters of Myocardial Oxidative Stress and of Mitochondrial Glutathione Turnover in Reoxygenation after 60 Minutes of Hypoxia in Isolated Perfused Working Guinea Pig Hearts.

In cardiovascular surgery ischemia-reperfusion injury is a challenging problem, which needs medical intervention. We investigated the effects of curcumin on cardiac, myocardial, and mitochondrial parameters in perfused isolated working Guinea pig hearts. After preliminary experiments to establish the model, normoxia was set at 30 minutes, hypoxia was set at 60, and subsequent reoxygenation was set at 30 minutes.

A 65 bp deletion in band 3 gene of beta-thalassemia patients in Indonesia.

We investigated whether in addition to the well known genetic alteration in red blood cell membrane band 3 protein, a deletion of 9 amino acids leading to ovalocytosis, other mutations to band 3 also exist. In 12% of our thalassemia major patients investigated, we found two bands in the agarose gel-electrophoresis of PCR products from band 3 gene with a difference of 65 +/- 10 bp, equivalent to a deletion of 20 to 25 amino acids in band 3 protein. Thus, a co-existing band 3-mutant allele in addition to the thalassemic globin gene defects, could also contribute to erythrocyte membrane defects and to the spectrum of clinical symptoms of these thalassemia major patients.

Isolated erythrocyte membranes of transfusion-dependent and non-transfused thalassemia patients in Jakarta, investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Erythrocyte membrane structural parameters were studied in transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia patients, in long-term transfused patients (regularly transfused < 15 years), and in those who had not yet obtained transfusions. Controls were voluntary students up to 30 years of age without diagnosis or clinical signs of thalassemia. Membranes were isolated and investigated by sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy.

Antioxidant activity in vitro of two aromatic compounds from Caesalpinia sappan L.

Two antioxidant compounds were isolated from C. sappan L by multiple steps of column chromatography and thin layer chromatography in succession with superoxide scavenging assay as activity monitor. Structures of the two compounds were determined by spectroscopic methods as 1',4'-dihydro-spiro[benzofuran-3(2H),3'-[3H-2]benzopyran]-1',6',6',7'-tetrol (compound 1) and 3-[[4,5-dihydroxy-2(hydroxymethyl) phenyl]-methyl]-2,3-dihydro-3,6-benzofurandiol (compound 2).