Brain dynamics of recommendation-based social influence on preference change: A magnetoencephalography study.

People change their preferences when exposed to others' opinions. We examine the neural basis of how peer feedback influences an individual's recommendation behavior. In addition, we investigate if the personality trait of 'agreeableness' modulates behavioral change and neural responses.

Arthroscopic Coracoclavicular Ligament Reconstruction of Chronic Acromioclavicular Dislocations Using Autogenous Semitendinosus Graft: A Two-Year Follow-up Study of 58 Patients.

Purpose: To determine the results of operatively treated chronic acromioclavicular (AC) joint dislocations after 2-year follow-up.

Methods: Fifty-eight patients with chronic acromioclavicular separations underwent arthroscopic coracoclavicular ligament reconstructions using semitendinosus autografts. Constant and Simple Shoulder Test scores were determined before and 2 years after surgery as a part of standard clinical practice.

Recovering TMS-evoked EEG responses masked by muscle artifacts.

Combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) often suffers from large muscle artifacts. Muscle artifacts can be removed using signal-space projection (SSP), but this can make the visual interpretation of the remaining EEG data difficult. We suggest to use an additional step after SSP that we call source-informed reconstruction (SIR).

Quality of life among pulmonary hypertension patients in Finland.

Background: The purpose of the study was to examine pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients' quality of life (QOL) for the first time in Finland.

Methods: This was a non-interventional, cross-sectional study. The SF-36v2 questionnaire was sent to the PH patients who had been referred to or followed up on at the Helsinki University Central Hospital's pulmonary clinic for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (APAH), or chronic thromboembolic PH (CTEPH).

Genes involved in innate immunity associated with asbestos-related fibrotic changes.

Objectives: To determine whether genetic polymorphisms in several candidate genes related to innate immunity and protease-antiprotease balance modify individual susceptibility to develop asbestos-related fibrotic pleuropulmonary changes.

Methods: Sixteen polymorphisms from nine genes (NLRP3, CARD8, TNF, TGFB1, GC, MMP1, MMP9, MMP12 and TIMP2) were genotyped from 951 Finnish asbestos-exposed workers. The genotype/haplotype data were compared to signs of fibrosis and pleural thickenings using linear and logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders.

Association of genes of protease-antiprotease balance pathway to lung function and emphysema subtypes.

Background: The imbalance between proteases and antiproteases has been proposed to participate to the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. Gene level variation in different metalloproteinases, metalloproteinase inhibitors, and cytokines affecting them may contribute to this imbalance and destruction of the lung parenchyma. We investigated whether polymorphisms in selected protease-antiprotease balance pathway genes predispose to different emphysema subtypes (centrilobular, paraseptal, panlobular, and bullae) and airflow limitation among Finnish construction workers.

Phylogenetic group-associated differences in regulation of the common colonization factor Mat fimbria in Escherichia coli.

Heterogeneity of cell population is a key component behind the evolutionary success of Escherichia coli. The heterogeneity supports species adaptation and mainly results from lateral gene transfer. Adaptation may also involve genomic alterations that affect regulation of conserved genes.

2.8 million years of Arctic climate change from Lake El'gygytgyn, NE Russia.

The reliability of Arctic climate predictions is currently hampered by insufficient knowledge of natural climate variability in the past. A sediment core from Lake El'gygytgyn in northeastern (NE) Russia provides a continuous, high-resolution record from the Arctic, spanning the past 2.8 million years.

TRPA1 contributes to the acute inflammatory response and mediates carrageenan-induced paw edema in the mouse.

Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) is an ion channel involved in thermosensation and nociception. TRPA1 is activated by exogenous irritants and also by oxidants formed in inflammatory reactions. However, our understanding of its role in inflammation is limited.

SERPINE2 haplotype as a risk factor for panlobular type of emphysema.

Background: SERPINE2 (serpin peptidase inhibitor, clade E, member 2) has previously been identified as a positional candidate gene for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has subsequently been associated to COPD and emphysema in several populations. We aimed to further examine the role of SERPINE2 polymorphisms in the development of pulmonary emphysema and different emphysema subtypes.

Methods: Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SERPINE2 were analyzed from 951 clinically and radiologically examined Finnish construction workers.

Genetic polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes influence the risk of pulmonary emphysema.

Background: Pulmonary emphysema is a smoking-induced condition of the lung. Genetically determined differences in the activities of enzymes that metabolize oxidative agents are suspected to modify individual susceptibility to emphysema, as well as other smoking-related pulmonary disorders.

Objectives: We investigated whether polymorphisms in selected xenobiotic-metabolizing enzyme genes predispose to emphysematous changes and airflow limitation among Finnish Caucasian construction workers.

Genetic susceptibility to asbestos-related fibrotic pleuropulmonary changes.

The objective of this study was to determine whether genetic polymorphisms in enzymes that metabolise oxidative agents modify the individual susceptibility to developing asbestos and smoking-related pleuropulmonary changes. Nine polymorphisms of six genes (EPHX1, GSTM1, GSTM3, GSTP1, GSTT1 and NAT2) were genotyped from 1,008 Finnish asbestos-exposed workers. The genotype data were compared to signs of lung fibrosis and pleural thickenings, as well as with total lung capacity, single-breath diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (D(L,CO)) and specific diffusing capacity (expressed as D(L,CO) per unit of alveolar volume (V(A))).

Leptin enhances synthesis of proinflammatory mediators in human osteoarthritic cartilage--mediator role of NO in leptin-induced PGE2, IL-6, and IL-8 production.

Obesity is an important risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) in weight-bearing joints, but also in hand joints, pointing to an obesity-related metabolic factor that influences on the pathogenesis of OA. Leptin is an adipokine regulating energy balance, and it has recently been related also to arthritis and inflammation as a proinflammatory factor. In the present paper, the effects of leptin on human OA cartilage were studied.

The single substitution I259T, conserved in the plasminogen activator Pla of pandemic Yersinia pestis branches, enhances fibrinolytic activity.

The outer membrane plasminogen activator Pla of Yersinia pestis is a central virulence factor in plague. The primary structure of the Pla beta-barrel is conserved in Y. pestis biovars Antiqua, Medievalis, and Orientalis, which are associated with pandemics of plague.

Alternative mRNA splicing of SAP30L regulates its transcriptional repression activity.

Covalent modification of histones regulates chromatin structure and gene expression. Sin3A mediates the association of histone deacetylase enzymes with a large number of sequence-specific transcriptional repressors. In this study we characterized three novel transcripts of SAP30L, a recently identified Sin3A-associated protein.

Using every trick in the book: the Pla surface protease of Yersinia pestis.

The Pla surface protease of Yersinia pestis, encoded by the Y. pestis-specific plasmid pPCP1, is a versatile virulence factor. In vivo studies have shown that Pla is essential in the establishment of bubonic plague, and in vitro studies have demonstrated various putative virulence functions for the Pla molecule.

Activation of pro-matrix metalloproteinase-9 and degradation of gelatin by the surface protease PgtE of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.

Mammalian matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade collagen networks in extracellular matrices by cleaving collagen and its denatured form gelatin, and thus enhance migration of mammalian cells. The gastrointestinal pathogen Salmonella enterica survives and grows within host macrophages and dendritic cells, and can disseminate in the host by travelling within infected host cells. Here, we report that S.

SAP30L interacts with members of the Sin3A corepressor complex and targets Sin3A to the nucleolus.

Histone acetylation plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. The chromatin structure and accessibility of genes to transcription factors is regulated by enzymes that acetylate and deacetylate histones. The Sin3A corepressor complex recruits histone deacetylases and in many cases represses transcription.

Evaluation of O-antigen inactivation on Pla activity and virulence of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis harbouring the pPla plasmid.

Yersinia pestis is a species that emerged recently from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and gained an exceptional pathogenicity potential. Among the major genetic differences between the plague bacillus and its ancestor is the acquisition of the pPla plasmid, which has been associated with the increased virulence of Y. pestis.

The omptin family of enterobacterial surface proteases/adhesins: from housekeeping in Escherichia coli to systemic spread of Yersinia pestis.

The omptins are a family of enterobacterial surface proteases/adhesins that share high sequence identity and a conserved beta-barrel fold in the outer membrane. The omptins are multifunctional, and the individual omptins exhibit differing virulence-associated functions. The Pla plasminogen activator of Yersinia pestis contributes by several mechanisms to bacterial invasiveness and the systemic, uncontrolled proteolysis in plague.

Lack of O-antigen is essential for plasminogen activation by Yersinia pestis and Salmonella enterica.

The O-antigen of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a virulence factor in enterobacterial infections, and the advantage of its genetic loss in the lethal pathogen Yersinia pestis has remained unresolved. Y. pestis and Salmonella enterica express beta-barrel surface proteases of the omptin family that activate human plasminogen.

The Pla surface protease/adhesin of Yersinia pestis mediates bacterial invasion into human endothelial cells.

The plasminogen activator Pla of Yersinia pestis belongs to the omptin family of enterobacterial surface proteases and is responsible for the highly efficient invasion of the plague bacterium from the subcutaneous infection site into the circulation. Y. pestis has been reported to invade human epithelial cells.