Functional characterization of two defensins, HlDFS1 and HlDFS2, from the hard tick Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Background: Ticks are second to mosquitoes as vectors of human arthropod-borne diseases. Ticks rely heavily on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to defend against microbes and defensins are major components of innate immunity in ticks.

Results: Two novel defensin genes, named HlDFS1 and HlDFS2, were identified from a cDNA library of the hard tick Haemaphysalis longicornis collected in southeast China.

Automated detection of genetic abnormalities combined with cytology in sputum is a sensitive predictor of lung cancer.

Detection of lung cancer by sputum cytology has low sensitivity but is noninvasive and, if improved, could be a powerful tool for early lung cancer detection. To evaluate whether the accuracy of diagnosing lung cancer by evaluating sputa for cytologic atypia and genetic abnormalities is greater than that of conventional cytology alone, automated scoring of genetic abnormalities for 3p22.1 and 10q22.