Publications by authors named "Ulrich Loos"

Cefditoren is a broad-spectrum, oral cephalosporin that is highly active against clinically relevant respiratory tract pathogens, including multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. This study described its pharmacodynamic profile in plasma and epithelial lining fluid (ELF). Plasma and ELF pharmacokinetic data were obtained from 24 patients under fasting conditions.

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The novel heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone thyrostimulin consists of two unique subunits, A2 and B5. To understand its yet unknown transcriptional regulation, we characterised the 3.1-kb immediate 5'-flanking region of the human A2 gene localised on chromosome 11q13.

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The diesters of benzene-1,2-dicarboxylic (phthalic) acid, the phthalates, are used to make plastics flexible and can comprise 40% of the weight of plastic. Human exposure to phthalates can occur via ingestion, inhalation and dermal routes, as well as through parenteral exposure from medical devices containing phthalates. Since earlier morphological studies showed that some phthalates induced thyroid hyperactivity, we thought it important to investigate possible effects of six major phthalates on the transcriptional activity of sodium/iodide symporter (NIS).

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Graves' thyroid tissue has been shown to express elevated levels of human sodium/iodide symporter (hNIS) mRNA and protein. In the present work, we demonstrate for the first time that hNIS gene expression in Graves' disease (GD) is up-regulated by Graves' IgG. Here, in transient transfection experiments using FRTL-5 cells, hNIS promoter and enhancer/luciferase construct showed an up to six-fold increase in transcriptional activity after incubation with purified Graves' IgG.

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This study shows that organification of radioiodide into proteins of thyroid cancer cells exogenously co-expressing the thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) is independent of NIS function. When administering (125) I to cells constitutively expressing either NIS, or TPO or NIS/TPO, next to iodide accumulation due to NIS activity, organification was exclusively observed in TPO expressing/co-expressing cells. The use of specific inhibitors for TPO and NIS showed that organification is strictly dependent of TPO and not of NIS.

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We describe the cloning and characterization of a human sodium iodide (NIS) upstream enhancer (NUE). This putative enhancer was cloned based on its sequence homology (69% identity) to the rat NUE. A 296 base pair (bp) genomic DNA fragment, which is located 9000 bp upstream from the human hNIS gene, was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and inserted into a luciferase reporter gene in front of both the homologous NIS promoter and the heterologous SV40 promoter.

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