Opening of shortcut circuits between visual and retrosplenial granular cortices of rats.

Traveling neural signals may try to find suitable paths of propagation in cortical circuits. We examined the behavior of electrically evoked signals from primary visual cortex (Oc1) to granular retrosplenial cortex (RSG) in rat brain slices under caffeine application. With continued electrical stimulation, evoked signals propagated from Oc1 to RSG along the upper layer of the secondary visual cortex (Oc2) and agranular retrosplenial cortex (RSA), but on further continuation of stimulation, a new shortcut pathway along the deep layer between Oc2 and RSG was opened.

Prognostic factors in arthrocentesis of the temporomandibular joint: Comparison of bradykinin, leukotriene B4, prostaglandin E2, and substance P level in synovial fluid between successful and unsuccessful cases.

Purpose: To compare levels of bradykinin (BK), leukotriene B4 (LTB4), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and substance P (SP) between successful and unsuccessful cases of arthrocentesis of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs).

Patients And Methods: A total of 66 joints in 66 patients with TMDs who underwent arthrocentesis were evaluated in this study. Synovial fluid diluted with saline solution was aspirated from the superior joint compartment before arthrocentesis and their concentrations of BK, LTB4, PGE2, and SP were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Anchored disc phenomenon with a normally positioned disc in the temporomandibular joint: characteristics and behaviour.

We aimed to elucidate the pathogenesis and evaluate the therapeutic behaviour of patients with an anchored disc phenomenon but a normally positioned disc of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Fourteen patients with internal derangement including closed lock of one TMJ were examined. All had normally positioned discs.

The oncoprotein gankyrin binds to MDM2/HDM2, enhancing ubiquitylation and degradation of p53.

Gankyrin is an ankyrin repeat oncoprotein commonly overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinomas. Gankyrin interacts with the S6 proteasomal ATPase and accelerates the degradation of the tumor suppressor Rb. We show here that gankyrin has an antiapoptotic activity in cells exposed to DNA damaging agents.

A cleaved form of MAGE-A4 binds to Miz-1 and induces apoptosis in human cells.

Gankyrin, a recently discovered oncoprotein, is a promising target for drug therapy because it is overexpressed in most hepatocellular carcinomas. Since gankyrin interacts with MAGE-A4, we made several MAGE-A4 mutants and assessed their effects on cell growth. We found that the C-terminal 107 amino acids of MAGE-A4 (MAGE-A4DeltaN1) induced p53-dependent and p53-independent apoptosis.

Engineered long terminal repeats of retroviral vectors enhance transgene expression in hepatocytes in vitro and in vivo.

To analyze the important elements for retroviral expression in hepatocytes, cis-acting elements in the U3 region of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of the polycythemic strain of spleen focus-forming virus (SFFVp) were analyzed in a hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. Two cis-acting elements located within the upstream region of the direct repeat, which positively regulated retroviral expression, were identified. Transcription factors NFAT5 and Sp1, which are ubiquitously expressed in a variety of tissues, bound to these elements.

MAGE-A4 interacts with the liver oncoprotein gankyrin and suppresses its tumorigenic activity.

Hepatocellular carcinoma ranks among the most common malignancies in Southeast Asia and South Africa. Although there are many modalities of treatment, the recurrence and metastasis rates are high, and the prognosis is unsatisfactory. Gankyrin, a recently found oncoprotein, is a promising target for drug therapy because it is overexpressed in all studied hepatocellular carcinomas.

A novel protein overexpressed in hepatoma accelerates export of NF-kappa B from the nucleus and inhibits p53-dependent apoptosis.

NF-kappa B is a transcription factor that can protect from or contribute to apoptosis. Here we report identification of HSCO that binds to NF-kappa B and inhibits apoptosis. HSCO mRNA was overexpressed in 20 of 30 hepatocellular carcinomas analyzed.