Questionnaire-based real-world survey of diagnosing food allergy in children: Utilization of oral food challenge tests and other diagnostic methods.

Background: Oral food challenge tests are considered the reference standard for diagnosing food allergies; however, studies on their real-world implementation rates are limited.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the proportion of school-age children who underwent the oral food challenge test and to understand the motivations behind food elimination and utilization of various health care services.

Methods: The questionnaire-based survey for the parents of the students who submitted the "Certificate for School Life Management (For Allergic Diseases)" was conducted across public elementary and junior high schools in Gifu prefecture, Japan.

Topical Administration of 15-Deoxy- -Prostaglandin J Using a Nonionic Cream: Effect on UVB-Induced Skin Oxidative, Inflammatory, and Histopathological Modifications in Mice.

UVB radiation is certainly one of the most important environmental threats to which we are subjected to. This fact highlights the crucial protective role of the skin. However, the skin itself may not be capable of protecting against UVB depending on irradiation intensity and time of exposition.

Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 2 (TDP2) repairs topoisomerase 1 DNA-protein crosslinks and 3'-blocking lesions in the absence of tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (TDP1).

Topoisomerase I (TOP1) resolves DNA topology during replication and transcription. The enzyme forms an intermediate TOP1 cleavage complex (TOP1cc) through transient TOP1-DNA-protein crosslinks. Camptothecin is a frontline anticancer agent that freezes this reaction intermediate, leading to the generation of irreversible TOP1ccs that act as 3'-blocking lesions.

Effects of essential oil exposure on salivary estrogen concentration in perimenopausal women.

Objectives: The menopausal transition is the time from the onset of menstrual changes until one year after the final menstrual period. During this phase, perimenopausal women experience a variety of health-related symptoms, which seemingly derive from declining level of estrogen secretion. It has long been recognized that some essential oils have the efficacy of alleviating menopausal symptoms.

The importance of an oral digestion step in evaluating simulated in vitro digestibility of starch from cooked rice grain.

To examine the effect of oral digestion step in a simulated in vitro starch digestion model, the digestibility of intact, homogenized and actual chewed cooked rice grains was investigated and analyzed. The kinetics of starch digestibility were calculated from changes in the hydrolysis percent of starch that were achieved during simulated small intestinal digestion stage. Morphological and histological microscopic tissue structures were also examined.

Black tea high-molecular-weight polyphenol stimulates exercise training-induced improvement of endurance capacity in mouse via the link between AMPK and GLUT4.

Aerobic exercise can promote "fast-to-slow transition" in skeletal muscles, i.e. an increase in oxidative fibers, mitochondria, and myoglobin and improvement in glucose and lipid metabolism.

Increased promoter methylation of the immune regulatory gene SHP-1 in leukocytes of multiple sclerosis subjects.

The protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-1, is a negative regulator of proinflammatory signaling and autoimmune disease. We have previously reported reduced SHP-1 expression in peripheral blood leukocytes of subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS). Recent evidence indicates that virus-induced DNA methylation of the SHP-1 promoter is responsible for aberrant silencing of SHP-1 expression and function in hematopoietic cells that might relate to inflammatory diseases.

Sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitor, improves psoriasis.

A patient with a 17-year history of plaque psoriasis accompanied by type 2 diabetes mellitus discontinued cyclosporine and steroid ointment given for treatment of psoriasis because she was dissatisfied with the effects of the drugs. After sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitor, was administered for control of blood glucose, psoriatic skin lesions were gradually diminished, although HbA1c did not improve. Three months after the administration of sitagliptin, infiltration, scales and erythema on all psoriatic plaques disappeared, leaving pigmentation on flat skin.

Adenomyoma associated with high level of CA 125 and CA 19-9: case report.

Purpose Of Investigation: A rare case of increasing CA 125 and CA 19-9 levels increasing in a woman with adenomyoma is described.

Methods: A 39-year-old nullipara woman with CA 125 = 1,796 U/ml and CA 19-9 = 177 U/ml was submitted to abdominal and pelvic MRI, gastric endoscopy, colonoscopy, hysteroscopy, pelvic Doppler and PET scan. None of the exams revealed any apparent malignant disease.

Three heterotrimeric laminins produced by human keratinocytes.

Laminins are a family of glycoproteins composed of alpha,beta and gamma chains. Five alpha(alpha1-alpha5), three beta (beta1-beta3) and twogamma (gamma1 and gamma2) chains have been cloned fromhuman and their replaceable assembly into heterotrimers producesthe variety of laminins. Reverse transcription-polymerase chainreaction of mRNAs showed that human keratinocytes express thealpha3, alpha5, beta1, beta3, gamma1 andgamma2 genes at high level among the ten cloned lamininchains.

The Chinese hamster dihydrofolate reductase replication origin decision point follows activation of transcription and suppresses initiation of replication within transcription units.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells select specific replication origin sites within the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus at a discrete point during G1 phase, the origin decision point (ODP). Origin selection is sensitive to transcription but not protein synthesis inhibitors, implicating a pretranslational role for transcription in origin specification. We have constructed a DNA array covering 121 kb surrounding the DHFR locus, to comprehensively investigate replication initiation and transcription in this region.

Isolation of a new lytic enzyme for hiochi bacteria and other lactic acid bacteria.

A microorganism producing a lytic enzyme preparation that could rapidly lyse bacterial cells such as hiochi bacteria and other lactic acid bacteria was screened. The microorganism was identified as Streptomyces fulvissimus. The enzyme produced by this organism lysed boil-denatured cells quicker than intact cells of hiochi bacteria.

Effect of 17beta-estradiol on tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced cytotoxicity in the human peripheral T lymphocytes.

We determined the effect of 17beta-estradiol on tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced cytotoxicity in human peripheral T lymphocytes (T cells) using lactate dehydrogenase assay. Treatment with 17beta-estradiol (1-100 nM) for 24 h showed dose-dependent reduction of TNF-alpha-induced cytotoxicity in T cells. To further evaluate the mechanism of 17beta-estradiol on TNF-alpha-induced cytotoxicity in T cells, we identified estrogen receptor (ER) protein in T cells using immunocytochemistry and used the pure ER antagonist ICI 172,780.

Modulation of interleukin-1 receptors followed by endotoxin lipopolysaccharide treatment in the mouse AtT-20 pituitary tumor cell line.

Objective: We have previously reported the characterization and regulation of interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptors utilizing [125I]IL-1 binding assay in male C57BL/6 mice and the mouse AtT-20 pituitary tumor cells. In the present study, we examine IL-1 receptors using an immunoblotting method to further characterize the mechanisms regulating the interactions of IL-1 receptors with endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Methods: We established Western blotting for IL-1 receptors using AtT-20 mouse pituitary tumor cells.

Cloning, nucleotide sequencing, and expression of the beta-galactosidase-encoding gene (lacA) from Aspergillus oryzae.

lacA coding for beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) was cloned from the genomic DNA of Aspergillus oryzae RIB40. There were 9 exons in lacA and the coding region of 3,015 bp encoded a protein of 1,005 aa with a deduced molecular mass of 109,898. A.

A Drosophila haemocyte-specific protein, hemolectin, similar to human von Willebrand factor.

We identified a novel Drosophila protein of approximately 400 kDa, hemolectin (d-Hml), secreted from haemocyte-derived Kc167 cells. Its 11.7 kbp cDNA contains an open reading frame of 3843 amino acid residues, with conserved domains in von Willebrand factor (VWF), coagulation factor V/VIII and complement factors.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a transcriptional activator gene, amyR, involved in the amylolytic gene expression in Aspergillus oryzae.

A gene, designated amyR, coding for a transcriptional activator involved in amylolytic gene expression has been cloned from Aspergillus oryzae by screening for a clone that enabled to reverse the reduced expression of the alpha-amylase gene (amyB) promoter. amyR encodes 604 amino acid residues of a putative DNA-binding protein carrying a zinc binuclear cluster motif (Zn(II)2Cys6) belonging to the GAL4 family of transcription factors. The amyR gene disruptants showed a significant restricted growth on starch medium and produced little of the amylolytic enzymes including alpha-amylase and glucoamylase compared with a non-disruptant, indicating that amyR is a transcriptional activator gene involved in starch/maltose-induced efficient expression of the amylolytic genes in A.

Molecular and enzymic properties of recombinant 1, 2-alpha-mannosidase from Aspergillus saitoi overexpressed in Aspergillus oryzae cells.

For the construction of an overexpression system of the intracellular 1,2-alpha-mannosidase (EC 3.2.1.

Insertion analysis of putative functional elements in the promoter region of the Aspergillus oryzae Taka-amylase A gene (amyB) using a heterologous Aspergillus nidulans amdS-lacZ fusion gene system.

Expression of the Taka-amylase A gene (amyB) of Aspergillus oryzae is induced by starch or maltose. The A. oryzae amyB gene promoter contains three highly conserved sequences, designated Regions I, II, and III, compared with promoter regions of the A.

Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the alcohol acetyltransferase II gene (ATF2) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kyokai No. 7.

The ATF2 gene, which encodes alcohol acetyltransferase II (AATase II), was cloned from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kyokai No. 7 (sake yeast). The ATF2 gene coded for a protein of 535 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 61,909 daltons.