From Layer-by-Layer Growth to Nanoridge Formation: Selective Area Epitaxy of GaAs by MOVPE.

Selective area epitaxy at the nanoscale enables fabrication of high-quality nanostructures in regular arrays with predefined geometry. Here, we investigate the growth mechanisms of GaAs nanoridges on GaAs (100) substrates in selective area trenches by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE). It is found that pre-growth annealing results in the formation of valley-like structures of GaAs with atomic terraces inside the trenches.

Melanoma inhibitory activity in Brazilian patients with cutaneous melanoma.

Background: Melanoma inhibitory activity is a protein secreted by melanoma cells and has been used as a tumor marker. Increased Melanoma inhibitory activity serum levels are related to metastatic disease or tumor recurrence. Currently there are no studies on Melanoma inhibitory activity and cutaneous melanoma involving Brazilian patients.

Epigenetic responses to heat stress at different time scales and the involvement of small RNAs.

The hypothesis that plants can benefit from a memory of past stress exposure has recently attracted a lot of attention. Here, we discuss two different examples of heat stress memory to elucidate the potential benefits that epigenetic responses may provide at both the level of acclimation of the individual plant and adaptation at a species-wide level. Specifically, we discuss how microRNAs regulate the heat stress memory and thereby increase survival upon a recurring heat stress.

The first myriapod genome sequence reveals conservative arthropod gene content and genome organisation in the centipede Strigamia maritima.

Myriapods (e.g., centipedes and millipedes) display a simple homonomous body plan relative to other arthropods.

Preliminary observations on whole-ovary xenotransplantation as an experimental model for fertility preservation.

Ovarian tissue preservation and retransplantation is a promising strategy to restore fertility in cancer survivors. Ischaemia accompanying ovarian tissue grafting, however, can lead to significant follicle loss. Transplantation of the whole ovary by vascular anastomosis has been considered as an alternative to prevent widespread ischaemic damage.

Arabidopsis miR156 Regulates Tolerance to Recurring Environmental Stress through SPL Transcription Factors.

Plants are sessile organisms that gauge stressful conditions to ensure survival and reproductive success. While plants in nature often encounter chronic or recurring stressful conditions, the strategies to cope with those are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate the involvement of ARGONAUTE1 and the microRNA pathway in the adaptation to recurring heat stress (HS memory) at the physiological and molecular level.

Long-term gene therapy with thrombospondin 2 inhibits TGF-β activation, inflammation and angiogenesis in chronic allograft nephropathy.

We recently identified Thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) as a regulator of matrix remodelling and inflammation in experimental kidney disease by using TSP-2 null mice and successfully proved TSP-2 overexpression as a therapeutic concept in a short term glomerulonephritis model in the rat. In this current study, we investigated if long-term TSP-2 overexpression is also capable to ameliorate the progression of chronic kidney disease in the setting of the chronic allograft nephropathy F344-Lewis model in the rat. Two weeks after renal transplantation, two rat thigh muscles were transfected once only with either a TSP-2 overexpressing plasmid (n = 8) or a luciferase-expressing plasmid as control (n = 8).

Injured kidney endothelium is only marginally repopulated by cells of extrarenal origin.

The role of bone marrow marrow-derived cells after kidney endothelial injury is controversial. In this study, we investigated if and to what extent extrarenal cells incorporate into kidney endothelium after acute as well as during chronic endothelial injury. Fischer F-344wt (wild type) rat kidney grafts were transplanted into R26-hPAP (human placental alkaline phosphatase) transgenic Fischer F-344 recipient rats to allow identification of extrarenal cells by specific antibody staining.

Hepatitis B virus infection in a population exposed to occupational hazards: firefighters of a metropolitan region in central Brazil.

Introduction: By the nature of their activities, firefighters are exposed to a high risk of contracting hepatitis B virus (HBV) as most of the Fire Brigade occurrences in Campo Grande, State of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil, are related to the rescue of victims of traffic accidents and the transportation of clinical and psychiatric emergencies. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroepidemiological profile of HBV infection in firefighters from the City of Campo Grande, central Brazil.

Methods: The research involved 308 firefighters.

Analysis of working conditions focusing on biological risk: firefighters in Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.

Unlabelled: Firefighters are exposed to a wide range of risks, among them, biological risk. The objective was to analyze working conditions of firefighters in the city of Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, focusing on risk conditions of exposure to biological material. Three hundred and seven (307) firefighters were interviewed for data collection and observed for ergonomic job analysis (AET).

Hepatitis C virus infection among pregnant women in Central-Western Brazil, 2005-2007.

The study was aimed at estimating the prevalence of infection with and the genotype of hepatitis C virus (HCV), and to determine the extent of underreporting of HCV cases. A total of 115,386 pregnant women seen by the Program for Protection of Pregnancy [Programa Estadual de Proteção à Gestante] of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Central-Western Brazil, were tested for anti-HCV antibodies between 2005 and 2007. Prevalence of HCV infection was 1.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus infection and associated factors among prison inmates in state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Introduction: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of HBV infection and associated factors among prison inmates in Campo Grande, MS.

Methods: A total of 408 individuals were interviewed regarding sociodemographic characteristics, associated factors and HBV vaccination using a standardized questionnaire. Blood samples were collected from all participants and serological markers for HBV were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Bortezomib and sirolimus inhibit the chronic active antibody-mediated rejection in experimental renal transplantation in the rat.

Background: To date, no effective immunosuppressive standard for the prevention or treatment of alloantibody production in acute and chronic rejection of renal transplants has been established. Alloantibody formation has been recognized in the well-established rat model of Fischer to Lewis renal transplantation. We used this renal allotransplantation model to test the effectiveness of sirolimus (SRL), bortezomib (BZ) or their combination in an already established humoral rejection situation.

Long-term treatment of sirolimus but not cyclosporine ameliorates diabetic nephropathy in the rat.

Background: Not just de novo induction of diabetes mellitus, but also the progression of diabetic nephropathy may be enhanced under immunosuppressive therapy after organ transplantation. We evaluated whether sirolimus (SRL) or cyclosporine A (CsA) therapy would be a superior immunosuppressant in streptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy.

Methods: Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of streptozotozin (60 mg/kg body weight) in 26 male Sprague-Dawley rats.

Oncolytic virotherapy for multiple myeloma.

Background: Current therapies for multiple myeloma (MM) are not curative, thus novel targeted therapeutics are being developed. One such targeted therapy is oncolytic virotherapy, wherein viruses specifically infect and kill the malignant plasma cells, leaving normal cells intact.

Objective: This review provides an overview of the mechanisms and results of the oncolytic viruses being used to date and discusses the recent advances in the field of virotherapy for MM.

Evaluation of the new LCx HIV RNA quantitative assay: comparison with the Cobas Amplicor HIV Monitor assay.

In the present study we evaluated the performance of the new LCx HIV RNA quantitative kit (Abbott Laboratories, Delkenheim, Germany) for the quantitative detection of HIV-1 RNA in human plasma in comparison to the Cobas Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor assay (Roche Diagnostics, Branchburg, N.J.), including samples containing a variety of HIV-1 subtypes.

Generation of chimeric monoclonal antibodies from mice that carry human immunoglobulin Cgamma1 heavy of Ckappa light chain gene segments.

Gene targeting in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells was used to replace (i) the mouse immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) Cgamma2a gene segment (mCgamma2a) with the human Cgamma1 gene segment (hCgamma1), and (ii) the mouse immunoglobulin light chain (IgL) Ckappa gene segment (mC kappa) with its human counterpart (hC kappa). ES cells carrying these gene conversions were used to generate chimeric mice that transmitted the human alleles through the germ line. Mice homozygous for both gene alterations were generated by breeding.

Dynamin genes Dnm1 and Dnm2 are located on proximal mouse chromosomes 2 and 9, respectively.

Dynamins, microtubule-binding GTPases, are encoded by at least three genes in mammals. Two distinct gene-specific cDNAs were used to analyze the segregation of dynamin genes Dnm1 and Dnm2 in a mouse interspecies backcross. The nervous system-expressed gene Dnm1 was localized to Chr 2 between the genes for vimentin and nebulin, within a chromosomal region of conserved synteny to human chromosome 9q, consistent with the localization of the human dynamin-1 gene by FISH (see accompanying paper by Newman-Smith et al.

Identification of cis-acting elements as DNase I hypersensitive sites in lysozyme gene chromatin.

DNase I hypersensitive sites in chromatin of eukaryotic cells mark the positions of multifactorial cis-acting elements. Mapping DH sites by indirect end labeling is a convenient procedure used for identifying regulatory elements within extensive regions of chromatin and for gaining information about their functional specificity as well as their fine structure.

Role of LFB3 in cell-specific cAMP induction of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator gene.

In previous work we suggested that a kidney-specific transcription factor LFB3 cooperates with cAMP-response element (CRE)-binding proteins within a cAMP regulatory unit comprised of three protein-binding domains and located 3.4 kilobase pairs upstream of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) gene in LLC-PK1 cells (Menoud, P.-A.

Mice deficient in CD23 reveal its modulatory role in IgE production but no role in T and B cell development.

To assess roles of CD23 in lymphocyte development and immune function in vivo, CD23-deficient mice (CD23-/-) were generated. Mice heterozygous with respect to the defective allele (CD23+/-) display 50% reduced levels of CD23 expression on CD23+ cell types. This pattern is consistent with a lack of parental or tissue-specific imprinting of the CD23 gene.

The -6.1-kilobase chicken lysozyme enhancer is a multifactorial complex containing several cell-type-specific elements.

In the chromatin domain of the chicken lysozyme gene of myeloid and oviduct cells, which both have the potential to activate the gene, a developmentally stable DNase I-hypersensitive site is formed around 6.1 kb upstream of the gene. This implies that this DNA region, which has previously been demonstrated to function as a transcriptional enhancer element in myeloid cells, is intimately involved in the cell-type-specific activation of the lysozyme gene locus.

A nuclear DNA attachment element mediates elevated and position-independent gene activity.

The transcriptional activity of genes that have randomly integrated into the genomes of transfected cells and transgenic organisms is in general unpredictable, varying with the chromosomal site of the insertion. This effect of chromosomal position on gene expression may reflect the organization of chromosomes into topologically constrained loops and functional domains. To assess the biological significance of these loop domains, the anchorage of DNA to the nuclear scaffold has been studied at specific gene loci.