Effects of Lipophilicity and Structural Features on the Antiherpes Activity of Digitalis Cardenolides and Derivatives.

There is growing interest in exploring Digitalis cardenolides as potential antiviral agents. Hence, we herein investigated the influence of structural features and lipophilicity on the antiherpes activity of 65 natural and semisynthetic cardenolides assayed in vitro against HSV-1. The presence of an α,β-unsaturated lactone ring at C-17, a β-hydroxy group at C-14 and C-3β-OR substituents were considered essential requirements for this biological activity.

TWIST1 interacts with β/δ-catenins during neural tube development and regulates fate transition in cranial neural crest cells.

Cell fate determination is a necessary and tightly regulated process for producing different cell types and structures during development. Cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs) are unique to vertebrate embryos and emerge from the neural plate borders into multiple cell lineages that differentiate into bone, cartilage, neurons and glial cells. We have previously reported that Irf6 genetically interacts with Twist1 during CNCC-derived tissue formation.

Human adenovirus replication and persistence in hypertrophic adenoids and palatine tonsils in children.

The role of human adenovirus (HAdV) infection in different acute diseases, such as febrile exudative tonsillitis, conjunctivitis, and pharyngoconjunctival fever is well established. However, the relationships, if any, of HAdV persistence and reactivation in the development of the chronic adenotonsillar disease is not fully understood. The present paper reports a 3-year cross-sectional hospital-based study aimed at detecting and quantifying HAdV DNA and mRNA of the HAdV hexon gene in adenoid and palatine tonsil tissues and nasopharyngeal secretions (NPS) from patients with adenotonsillar hypertrophy or recurrent adenotonsillitis.

A cleft lip and palate gene, Irf6, is involved in osteoblast differentiation of craniofacial bone.

Background: Interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) plays a critical role in embryonic tissue development, including differentiation of epithelial cells. Besides orofacial clefting due to haploinsufficiency of IRF6, recent human genetic studies indicated that mutations in IRF6 are linked to small mandible and digit abnormalities. The function of IRF6 has been well studied in oral epithelium; however, its role in craniofacial skeletal formation remains unknown.

Allele-specific epigenome maps reveal sequence-dependent stochastic switching at regulatory loci.

To assess the impact of genetic variation in regulatory loci on human health, we constructed a high-resolution map of allelic imbalances in DNA methylation, histone marks, and gene transcription in 71 epigenomes from 36 distinct cell and tissue types from 13 donors. Deep whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of 49 methylomes revealed sequence-dependent CpG methylation imbalances at thousands of heterozygous regulatory loci. Such loci are enriched for stochastic switching, which is defined as random transitions between fully methylated and unmethylated states of DNA.

Mandibular Explant Assay for Investigating Extrinsic Stimuli on Bone and Cartilage Development.

A major issue in developmental biology is to determine how embryonic tissues respond to molecular signals in a timely manner and given the position-restricted instructions during morphogenesis, of which Meckel's cartilage is a classical example. The explant model is a practical and convenient system that allows investigation of bone and cartilage responses to specific stimuli under a controlled manner that closely mimics the conditions. In this protocol, the explant model was applied to test whether Meckel's cartilage and surrounding tissues are responsive to the Endothelin1 (Edn1) signaling molecule and whether it would rescue the phenotype of genetic mutations.

Cytotoxic factor secreted by Escherichia coli associated with sepsis facilitates transcytosis through human umbilical vein endothelial cell monolayers.

Culture supernatant of sepsis-associated Escherichia coli (SEPEC) isolated from patients with sepsis caused loss of intercellular junctions and elongation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The cytotoxic factor was purified from culture supernatant of SEPEC 15 (serogroup O153) by liquid chromatography process. PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) showed that the purified SEPEC cytotoxic factor had a molecular mass of ∼150kDa and consisted of at least two subunits.

Molecular characterisation of the NSP4 gene of group A human rotavirus G2P[4] strains circulating in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1994 and 2006 to 2010.

Group A human rotaviruses (HuRVA) are causative agents of acute gastroenteritis. Six viral structural proteins (VPs) and six nonstructural proteins (NSPs) are produced in RV-infected cells. NSP4 is a diarrhoea-inducing viral enterotoxin and NSP4 gene analysis revealed at least 15 (E1-E15) genotypes.

Antiherpes activity of glucoevatromonoside, a cardenolide isolated from a Brazilian cultivar of Digitalis lanata.

Cardiac glycosides, known ligands of the sodium pump, are widely used in the treatment of heart failure, such as digoxin and digitoxin. Besides this important activity, other biological activities, such as the antiviral activity, have been described for this group. HSV are responsible for many infections of oral, ocular and genital regions.