A 23-year-old Man with Leptospirosis and Acute Abdominal Pain.

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis caused by the spirochete . Most cases of leptospirosis are mild to moderate, and self-limited. The course of disease, however, may be complicated by multiorgan dysfunction such as in Weil's disease.

The NF-kappaB inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate blocks IL-1beta induced hyaluronan synthase 1 (HAS1) mRNA transcription, pointing at NF-kappaB dependence of the gene HAS1.

The glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan is not merely the simple space filling substance it was long thought to be but is instead being increasingly recognized as a key player in numerous biological processes ranging from embryogenesis to the process of aging. Alterations in hyaluronan syntheses play an important role in ailments associated with aging such as rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis and many forms of cancers, e.g.

Antioxidant protein 2 prevents methemoglobin formation in erythrocyte hemolysates.

Antioxidant protein 2 (AOP2) is a member of a family of thiol-specific antioxidants, recently renamed peroxiredoxins, that evolved as part of an elaborate system to counteract and control detrimental effects of oxygen radicals. AOP2 is found in endothelial cells, erythrocytes, monocytes, T and B cells, but not in granulocytes. AOP2 was found solely in the cytoplasm and was not associated with the nuclear or membrane fractions; neither was it detectable in plasma.