IL-33 acts as a foe to MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer.

IL-33 is a member of the IL-1 family of cytokines, and no study has been performed to address its direct anti-tumor effect. This study is designed to investigate whether IL-33 has any direct effect on pancreatic cancer. Clonogenic survival assay, immunohistochemistry, TUNEL staining, proliferation, caspase-3 activity kits and RT-PCR were used to evaluate the effects of IL-33 on cell survival, proliferation and apoptosis of a pancreatic cancer cell line, MIA PaCa-2.

IL-9 inhibits HTB-72 melanoma cell growth through upregulation of p21 and TRAIL.

Background: IL-9 is a pleiotropic cytokine produced mainly by Th9 cells. IL-9 may have an anti-proliferative role in murine melanoma, however, its effect on human melanoma is unknown.

Methods: We examined the effects of IL-9 on proliferation and apoptosis in four human melanoma cell lines, HTB-65, HTB-72, CRL-11147, and SK-Mel-5.

IL-35 promotes pancreas cancer growth through enhancement of proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis: evidence for a role as an autocrine growth factor.

Interleukin-35 (IL-35), an IL-12 cytokine family member, mediates the immune inhibitory function of regulatory T cells (Treg). We assayed the presence of IL-35 in paraffin-embedded human pancreas cancer (PCAN) and unexpectedly found IL-35 was expressed mainly by epithelial derived PCAN cells, but not by Treg. We further examined the expression and effect of exogenous IL-35 in human PCAN cell lines and found IL-35 promoted growth and inhibited apoptosis in PCAN cell lines.

Hydrogen peroxide enhances radiation-induced apoptosis and inhibition of melanoma cell proliferation.

The efficacy of radiation therapy (RT) for melanoma is limited in part by its radioresistance. Here, we examined the radiosensitizing effect of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) on a radioresistant melanoma cell line, HTB-65. We found that H(2)O(2) synergized with RT to inhibit melanoma cell proliferation and promote apoptosis.

A potential role for resveratrol as a radiation sensitizer for melanoma treatment.

Background: Radiotherapy (XRT) is used to improve local control of melanoma and for palliation of metastatic disease. Clinical use of XRT for melanoma is often limited by extent of disease and the relative radioresistance of melanoma may limit the effectiveness of XRT. Our group and others have previously shown that resveratrol (RSV) enhances radiation sensitivity in radioresistant prostate cancer cell lines.

A potential role for CPY17 as a parameter in differentiation between aldosterone-producing adenoma and nodular hyperplasia in patients with hyperaldosteronism.

Objective: To investigate CYP17 mRNA and protein expressions in aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), nodular hyperplasia (NH) and normal adrenal gland (NAG) and if CPY17 might be used as a potential marker to differentiate between APA and NH in patients with hyperaldosteronism.

Methods: Total RNA and protein were extracted from APA, 12 NH, and 15 NAG tissues. mRNA and protein expressions of CPY17 were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot analysis.

A possible role for perforin and granzyme B in resveratrol-enhanced radiosensitivity of prostate cancer.

Perforin and granzyme B are expressed primarily by activated lymphocytes (cytotoxic T cells, natural killer cells, and natural killer T cells) and function together to induce apoptosis of target cells. Typically, these proteins are not expressed in tumor cells. In the present study, we established the constitutive expression of perforin and granzyme B by the PC-3 and DU145 prostate cancer (PCA) cell lines with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, or a combination of techniques.

Diet-induced obesity and diabetes reduce coronary responses to nitric oxide due to reduced bioavailability in isolated mouse hearts.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine nitric oxide (NO)-mediated coronary vascular responses in a mouse model of obesity and diabetes induced by a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. We hypothesized that endogenous NO bioavailability would be reduced in obese/diabetic mouse hearts due to enhanced superoxide anion production, and that coronary smooth muscle responses to exogenous NO would be reduced.

Methods: Age-matched, male C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control diet or a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.

Inadequate follow-up controller medications among patients with asthma who visit the emergency department.

Study Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency with which primary care physicians add inhaled corticosteroids to the regimen of asthmatic patients after a visit to the emergency department (ED) among patients not previously prescribed inhaled corticosteroids and to determine the rate at which inhaled corticosteroids prescribed in the ED were continued by primary care physicians.

Methods: We conducted a structured retrospective cohort study using electronic medical record review of consecutive patients aged 6 to 45 years, treated for acute asthma exacerbation (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 493.00 through 493.

Asking fathers: a study of psychosocial adaptation.

Although few contemporary studies specifically address paternal adaptation, the theme of paternal estrangement from medical care and from family relationships is pervasive in the psychosocial literature on haemophilia. This estrangement has been shown to have a negative effect on fathers' psychological well-being, marital relationships and the adaptive outcome of their sons who have haemophilia. The goals of this study were to provide contemporary data on the psychosocial adaptation of fathers of boys with haemophilia and to examine specific variables that might influence their adjustment.

Effects of daily dermal application of DEET and epermethrin, alone and in combination, on sensorimotor performance, blood-brain barrier, and blood-testis barrier in rats.

DEET and permethrin were implicated in the development of illnesses in some veterans of the Persian Gulf War. This study was designed to investigate the effects of daily dermal application of these chemicals, alone or in combination, on the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-testes barrier (BTB) and on sensorimotor performance in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Groups of five rats were treated with a dermal daily dose of 4, 40, or 400 mg/kg DEET in ethanol or 0.

Subchronic effects following a single sarin exposure on blood-brain and blood-testes barrier permeability, acetylcholinesterase, and acetylcholine receptors in the central nervous system of rat: a dose-response study.

Subchronic neurotoxic effects of sarin (O-isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate) treatment at various doses in male Sprague Dawley rats were studied. The animals were treated with a single intramuscular (im) injection of 0.01, 0.

Acute sarin exposure causes differential regulation of choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, and acetylcholine receptors in the central nervous system of the rat.

Acute neurotoxic effects of sarin (O:-isopropylmethylphosphonoflouridate) in male Sprague-Dawley rats were studied. The animals were treated with intramuscular (im) injections of either 1 x LD(50) (100 microg/kg), and sacrificed at 0. 5, 1, 3, 6, 15, or 20 h after treatment, or with im injections of either 0.

Recipients of bone marrow transplants: making a smooth transition to an ambulatory care setting.

Health care is changing rapidly due in part to Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs), patients becoming consumer-oriented, and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) crisis. Patients now spend less time in acute care settings and more time recovering in an ambulatory care environment. Patients undergoing bone marrow transplants have a long, stressful, and expensive course of recovery.

Speckled antinuclear factor in African sera.

Speckled antinuclear factor reacting with rat liver nuclei was found in a high proportion of sera from apparently healthy inhabitants of Western Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Liberia and Uganda. A significant relationship was found between the occurrence of the antibody in Nigerian sera and the presence of high levels of malaria antibody and of high levels of IgM. Speckled antinuclear factor was also found in the sera of CBA mice infected with .

Low incidence of rheumatoid factor and autoantibodies in Nigerian patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Sera from 53 Nigerian patients satisfying the American Rheumatism Association criteria for a diagnosis of definite or probable rheumatoid arthritis and sera from sick and healthy Nigerian controls were tested for rheumatoid factor, autoantibodies, and immunoglobulin levels. Rheumatoid factor and autoantibodies were found no more frequently in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than in controls. These findings confirm the clinical impression that Nigerian patients with polyarthritis satisfying the criteria for a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis differ from Caucasian patients with the disease in a number of important respects.