Erythropoietin receptor transcription is neither elevated nor predictive of surface expression in human tumour cells.

Erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) has been reported to be overexpressed in tumours and has raised safety concerns regarding the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) to treat anaemia in cancer patients. To investigate the potential for EpoR to be overexpressed in tumours, we have evaluated human tumours for amplification of the EPOR locus, levels of EPOR transcripts, and expression of surface EpoR protein. Gene amplification analysis of 1083 solid tumours found that amplification of the EPOR locus was rare with frequencies similar to other non-oncogenes.

The Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity and Severity Index: expansion for rheumatology and dermatology.

Objective: To evaluate the validity of the Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index (CLASI) for use by rheumatologists via reliability testing, and to extend the validation for dermatologists.

Methods: Fourteen subjects with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE; n = 10), a mimicker skin disease only (a cutaneous lesion that may appear clinically similar to CLE; n = 1), or both (n = 3) were rated with the CLASI by academic-based dermatologists (n = 5) and rheumatologists (n = 5).

Results: The dermatology intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.

The effect of modafinil following acute CPAP withdrawal: a preliminary study.

Daytime symptoms resulting from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) include impaired neurobehavioural performance and increased sleepiness. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) reduces these symptoms. However, even compliant users may temporarily withdraw from CPAP treatment resulting in an immediate return of OSA.

Comparative toxicity of nanoparticulate ZnO, bulk ZnO, and ZnCl2 to a freshwater microalga (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata): the importance of particle solubility.

Metal oxide nanoparticles are finding increasing application in various commercial products, leading to concerns for their environmental fate and potential toxicity. It is generally assumed that nanoparticles will persist as small particles in aquatic systems and that their bioavailability could be significantly greater than that of larger particles. The current study using nanoparticulate ZnO (ca.

Anatomical patterning of visceral adipose tissue: race, sex, and age variation.

Objective: We tested sex, race, and age differences in the patterning of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue.

Research Methods And Procedures: Contiguous 1-cm-thick magnetic resonance (MR) images of the abdomen were collected from 820 African-American and white adults. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the effects of image location, sex, race, and age (>or=50 vs.

Control of apoptosis in autoimmunity.

Apoptosis and the subsequent removal of apoptotic cells underpin a healthy immune system. They are crucial for both the maintenance of self-tolerance and the contraction of clonally expanded lymphocytes at the conclusion of immune responses. Aberrant apoptosis and the disposal of apoptotic cells is implicated in the development of both systemic and organ-specific autoimmune disease and is a major contributing factor in disease susceptibility.

Functional fitness gain varies in older adults depending on exercise mode.

Unlabelled: Various exercise modes are available to improve functional fitness (FF) in older adults. However, information on the comparative capability of different exercise modes to improve FF is insufficient.

Purpose: To compare the effects of aerobic, resistance, flexibility, balance, and Tai Chi programs on FF in Japanese older adults.

Let the dead teach the living: the rise of body bequeathal in 20th-century America.

America's medical schools have long used human cadavers to teach anatomy, but acquiring adequate numbers of bodies for dissection has always been a challenge. Physicians and medical students of the 18th and 19th centuries often resorted to robbing graves, and this history has been extensively examined. Less studied, however, is the history of body acquisition in the 20th century, and this article evaluates the factors that coalesced to transition American society from body theft to body donation.

An investigation to assess the potential of CD25highCD4+ T cells to regulate responses to donor alloantigens in clinically stable renal transplant recipients.

Regulatory T cells are enriched within CD25(high)CD4(+) leukocytes, however their role in renal transplant recipients with stable function vs. recipients with biopsy-proven chronic allograft dysfunction remains unclear. We therefore studied the number, phenotype, and function of CD25(high)CD4(+) cells in the peripheral blood of 30 renal transplant recipients of living-related grafts, comprising 15 rejection-free recipients with stable graft function (Group A) and 15 with biopsy-proven chronic graft dysfunction (Group B).

Monocytosis in BXSB mice is due to epistasis between Yaa and the telomeric region of chromosome 1 but does not drive the disease process.

The BXSB murine model of systemic lupus erythematosus is differentiated from other murine models of lupus by a severe monocytosis. The recently identified Y-linked autoimmune accelerator locus, Yaa, which is fundamental to accelerated disease in male BXSB mice, is required for the monocytic phenotype in BXSB. It has also recently been shown to induce monocytosis in combination with the Nba2 locus from NZB.

Feasibility and acceptability of a mental health screening tool and training programme in the youth alcohol and other drug (AOD) sector.

The high prevalence of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in young people is well established. Despite this, there are low rates of detection of co-occurring disorders across alcohol and other drug (AOD) services within Australia. This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a mental health screening tool and training programme within the youth AOD sector.

BXSB/long-lived is a recombinant inbred strain containing powerful disease suppressor loci.

The BXSB strain of recombinant inbred mice develops a spontaneous pathology that closely resembles the human disease systemic lupus erythematosus. Six non-MHC loci, Yaa, Bxs1-4, and Bxs6, have been linked to the development of aspects of the disease while a further locus, Bxs5, may be a BXSB-derived disease suppressor. Disease development is delayed in a substrain of BXSB, BXSB/MpJScr-long-lived (BXSB/ll).

Actions of anti-Mullerian hormone on the ovarian transcriptome to inhibit primordial to primary follicle transition.

The oocytes found within the primordial follicles of mammalian ovaries remain quiescent for months to years until they receive the appropriate signals to undergo the primordial to primary follicle transition and initiate folliculogenesis. The molecular mechanisms and extracellular signaling factors that regulate this process remain to be fully elucidated. The current study investigates the mechanisms utilized by anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH; i.

Transmission of toxoplasmosis in two renal allograft recipients receiving an organ from the same donor.

Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite. After acute infection it continues to exist as cysts in the muscles and brain. Recipients of organ allografts are susceptible to the disease as a result of reactivation of quiescent infection either by transmission from the organ donor or by consumption of undercooked meat.

Sex differences in young adulthood metabolic syndrome and physical activity: the Fels longitudinal study.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of habitual physical activity (PA) on the metabolic syndrome (MS) in young adult men and women.

Research Methods And Procedures: Cross-sectional PA data were utilized from 249 women and 237 men, aged 18-40 years in the Fels Longitudinal Study. MS components--abdominal circumference (AC), triglycerides (TG), HDL, blood pressure (BP), and fasting glucose (FG)--were dichotomized according to the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III revised criteria.

Northern Australian kidney transplant unit: a viable option?

Aims: Kidney transplant units in Australia are confined to large hospitals in major metropolitan areas, yet this may limit access and diminish outcomes in people who do not live in these large centres. The authors examined the viability of a kidney transplant unit located in northern Australia (NA), with particular emphasis on recipient outcomes and the number of donors.

Methods: 'Northern Australia' was arbitrarily defined as 'north of the tropic of Capricorn' for Queensland and Western Australia and included the entire Northern Territory.

New saliva DNA collection method compared to buccal cell collection techniques for epidemiological studies.

Epidemiological studies may require noninvasive methods for off-site DNA collection. We compared the DNA yield and quality obtained using a whole-saliva collection device (Oragene DNA collection kit) to those from three established noninvasive methods (cytobrush, foam swab, and oral rinse). Each method was tested on 17 adult volunteers from our center, using a random crossover collection design and analyzed using repeated-measures statistics.

A systematic review of the neurobehavioural and physiological effects of shiftwork systems.

Shiftwork is a common experience for many workers. There are a wide range of shift systems in use, with a number of general approaches and myriad variations of each one. Many aspects of shift systems have been studied, but attempts to reach definitive conclusions about appropriate designs have been hampered by a number of methodological issues.

Perilipin regulates the thermogenic actions of norepinephrine in brown adipose tissue.

In response to cold, norepinephrine (NE)-induced triacylglycerol hydrolysis (lipolysis) in adipocytes of brown adipose tissue (BAT) provides fatty acid substrates to mitochondria for heat generation (adaptive thermogenesis). NE-induced lipolysis is mediated by protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation of perilipin, a lipid droplet-associated protein that is the major regulator of lipolysis. We investigated the role of perilipin PKA phosphorylation in BAT NE-stimulated thermogenesis using a novel mouse model in which a mutant form of perilipin, lacking all six PKA phosphorylation sites, is expressed in adipocytes of perilipin knockout (Peri KO) mice.

Race and the politics of polio: Warm Springs, Tuskegee, and the March of Dimes.

The Tuskegee Institute opened a polio center in 1941, funded by the March of Dimes. The center's founding was the result of a new visibility of Black polio survivors and the growing political embarrassment around the policy of the Georgia Warm Springs polio rehabilitation center, which Franklin Roosevelt had founded in the 1920s before he became president and which had maintained a Whites-only policy of admission. This policy, reflecting the ubiquitous norm of race-segregated health facilities of the era, was also sustained by a persuasive scientific argument about polio itself: that Blacks were not susceptible to the disease.

Calcific uremic arteriolopathy: advances in pathogenesis and treatment.

Calcific uremic arteriolopathy (CUA) is a rare but serious life-threatening complication of CRF that manifests as painful nonhealing eschars in association with panniculitis and dermal necrosis. This condition is being increasingly recognized and reported as a contributing factor to death in dialysis patients. The pathognomic lesion is vascular calcification with intimal arterial hypertrophy and superimposed small vessel thrombosis.

The Bxs6 locus of BXSB mice is sufficient for high-level expression of gp70 and the production of gp70 immune complexes.

High levels of the retroviral envelope protein gp70 and gp70 immune complexes have been linked to a single locus on chromosome 13 (Bxs6) in the BXSB model, to which linkage of nephritis was also seen. Congenic lines containing the BXSB Bxs6 interval on a non-autoimmune C57BL/10 background were bred in the presence or absence of the BXSB Y chromosome autoimmune accelerator gene (Yaa), which accelerates disease in male mice. In these mice, we have shown that Bxs6 is sufficient to cause high-level expression of gp70 and the production of gp70 autoantibodies, independently of Yaa, with gp70 immune complex levels enhanced by Yaa.