Coxsackieviruses A (CVA) are associated with several clinical manifestations such as aseptic meningitis and paralytic syndromes in humans. Most CVA are difficult-to-cultivate, which impedes their propagation and isolation from clinical material. Here, we tested the ability of cultivable (CVA-13, CVA-14), and difficult-to-cultivate (CVA-6, CVA-22) strains to infect primary cultures of skeletal muscle cells established from newborn mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Psychological troubles are common in multiple sclerosis but their underlying etiology is still controversial.
Methods: The objective of this open, non comparative, multicenter study was to assess changes in global psychological functioning in new multiple sclerosis patients during the first 3 months of treatment with intramuscular interferon beta-1a once weekly (Avonex). This functioning was rated every 4 weeks with the GAF (Global Assessment Functioning) scale.
There is a growing evidence of early changes of blood cells in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have developed an original novel method for quantifying the alteration of protein kinase C (PKC) by its fluorescence spectrum: by using Fim-1, a specific fluorescent probe made for protein kinase C that detects the conformational changes of this. We show that the PKC conformation is altered in red blood cells (RBC) from AD patients as compared to RBC from healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Immunopathol Pharmacol
September 2005
Neurotrophic growth factors are involved in cell survival. However, natural growth factors have a very limited therapeutic use because of their short half-life. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism of action of a non-peptidic neurotrophic drug, Xaliproden, a potential molecule for the treatment of motoneuron diseases, since the transduction pathways of this synthetic 5-HT1A agonist are very poorly understood.
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