Compared with the ancestral C3 state, C4 photosynthesis occurs at higher rates with improved water and nitrogen use efficiencies. In both C3 and C4 plants, rates of photosynthesis increase with light intensity and are maximal around midday. We determined that in the absence of light or temperature fluctuations, photosynthesis in maize (Zea mays) peaks in the middle of the subjective photoperiod.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmunotherapy with BCG is an effective and widely used treatment for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. BCG sepsis is a rare but life-threatening and frequently not a straightforward complication of this treatment; in cases with a high index of suspicion, anti-bacillary treatment should not wait for laboratory confirmation and be instituted immediately. We report a severe case of BCG sepsis, in which timely diagnosis and initiation of antituberculosis agents enabled a full recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpatial separation of the photosynthetic reactions is a key feature of C metabolism. In most C plants, this separation requires compartmentation of photosynthetic enzymes between mesophyll (M) and bundle sheath (BS) cells. The upstream region of the gene encoding the maize PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE 1 (ZmPEPC1) has been shown sufficient to drive M-specific gene expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure is a neuromuscular disease with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. Clinical presentation is characterised by proximal and distal muscle weakness, exertional dyspnoea and generalised fatigue. There is no disease-modifying therapy and the prognosis is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiterature is scarce on how players with poorly and well developed physical qualities respond to different combinations of strength-power training during in-season. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of (i) compound training performed by stronger athletes at different days and (ii) complex training performed by weaker athletes within the same training session. Twenty male handball players were classified as strong or weak according to countermovement jump performance and assigned to a 12-week training programme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompartmentation of photosynthetic reactions between mesophyll and bundle sheath cells is a key feature of C photosynthesis and depends on the cell-specific accumulation of major C enzymes, such as phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase 1. The ZmPEPC1 upstream region, which drives light-inducible and mesophyll-specific gene expression in maize, has been shown to keep the same properties when introduced into rice (C plant), indicating that rice has the transcription factors (TFs) needed to confer C -like gene expression. Using a yeast one-hybrid approach, we identified OsbHLH112, a rice basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) TF that interacts with the maize ZmPEPC1 upstream region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFC4 photosynthesis has evolved repeatedly from the ancestral C3 state to generate a carbon concentrating mechanism that increases photosynthetic efficiency. This specialized form of photosynthesis is particularly common in the PACMAD clade of grasses, and is used by many of the world's most productive crops. The C4 cycle is accomplished through cell-type-specific accumulation of enzymes but cis-elements and transcription factors controlling C4 photosynthesis remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Clinical data supporting the use of targeted agents for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are based predominantly on patients with clear cell histology. Little is known about the efficacy of these drugs in non-clear cell variants.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of different clear cell RCC (ccRCC)-approved targeted agents among patients with non-ccRCC compared with ccRCC.
Background: The androgen receptor (AR) is expressed frequently in breast cancer, but its prognostic significance is unclear. Preclinical data suggest that expression of AR may modify clinical outcomes in early breast cancer with improved prognosis in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease and poorer prognosis in ER-negative disease.
Methods: A systematic review of electronic databases was conducted to identify studies published between 1946 and July 2012 and to explore the association between AR expression and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in women diagnosed with early breast cancer.
Antigenic variation to evade host immunity has long been assumed to be a driving force of diversifying selection in pathogens. Colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is central to the organism's transmission and therefore evolution, is limited by two arms of the immune system: antibody- and T cell- mediated immunity. In particular, the effector activity of CD4(+) T(H)17 cell mediated immunity has been shown to act in trans, clearing co-colonizing pneumococci that do not bear the relevant antigen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt least five phylogenetic groups have been reported for Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3). The p19.7 protein encoded by the GLRaV-3 was previously identified as an RNA silencing suppressor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStreptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of mortality in young children. While successful conjugate polysaccharide vaccines exist, a less expensive serotype-independent protein-based pneumococcal vaccine offers a major advancement for preventing life-threatening pneumococcal infections, particularly in developing nations. IL-17A-secreting CD4+ T cells (T(H)17) mediate resistance to mucosal colonization by multiple pathogens including S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome or unilateral hyperlucent lung syndrome is a rare entity associated with postinfectious bronchiolitis obliterans occurring in childhood. It is characterized by hypoplasia and/or agenesis of the pulmonary arteries resulting in pulmonary parenchyma hypoperfusion.
Case Presentation: Here we report the case of a 53-year-old Caucasian woman with Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome found in the differential diagnosis workup for a new onset of heart failure, secondary to pulmonary arterial hypertension complicated by a patent ductus arteriosus.
The genetic variability and population structure of grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3) variants were updated by examining the diversity within the viral coat protein (CP) gene among 174 isolates belonging to a collection of Vitis vinifera representing most of the Portuguese varieties. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the existence of five well-defined clusters. Three of these correspond to previously defined groups, another corresponds to variants from Chile for which only one sequence has been previously identified, and an additional new group includes only Portuguese variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors present the case of a 45 -year -old female patient with Down syndrome, and known past medical history of COPD with multiple hospital admissions in the context of exacerbation of his lung disease. The facts refer to his latest hospitalization, whose motive, prior interpreted as a further exacerbation episode, after careful clinical reassessment and use of appropriate additional means of diagnosis, appeared to be due to an unusual cause. By presenting this case, the authors call the attention to the difficulty presented by particular situations, as well as to the risks of uncritical acceptance of common diagnoses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF