Introduction: Schwannomas are benign neurogenic tumors that make up less than 1 percent of all gastrointestinal tumors. Schwannoma can occur along peripheral nerves anywhere throughout the body. Gastrointestinal schwannoma is relatively rare and most commonly occurs in the stomach, small intestine, and colon, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnti-citrullinated peptide/protein antibodies (ACPAs) are highly sensitive and specific markers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Identification of peptide epitopes that may detect different subgroups of RA patients might have diagnostic and prognostic significance. We have investigated citrulline- and arginine-containing peptide pairs derived from filaggrin, collagen or vimentin, and compared this citrulline-peptide panel with the serological assays conventionally used to detect ACPAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymorphisms of the peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PADI4) gene encoding for the isoenzyme that converts arginyl into citrullyl residues have been shown to contribute to susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), depending on the population studied. We aimed at determining whether PADI4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with RA in a Hungarian population. The relationship between anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) production and HLA-DRB1 alleles encoding the shared epitope (SE) was also investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Activity of cytoplasmatic superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase,- and reductase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and expression of macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 and macrophage inhibitory protein-1alpha was determined in primary culture of rat alveolar macrophages and type II pneumocytes after exposure to stone-wool, wollastonite and crocidolite (blue asbestos).
Methods: The activity of redox enzymes was examined by RANDOX kits, chemokines were studied by ELISA.
Results: The UICC crocidolite (positive control) decreased the activity of all redox enzymes and increased the expression of chemokines, whereas the two asbestos substituents did not alter the activity of redox enzymes either in the alveolar macrophages or pneumocytes.
Refractory ceramic fibres (RCF) were studied in male SPRD rats by both in vivo long term sequential and in vitro methods. RCF was administered by single intratracheal instillation and the lungs were examined at the end of months 1, 3 and 6 after exposure. In addition, the direct toxicity of the fibres was examined in a primary culture of alveolar macrophages (AM) and in pneumocytes type II (T2).
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