Filaggrin mutations may confer susceptibility to chronic hand eczema characterized by combined allergic and irritant contact dermatitis.

Background: The pathogenesis of chronic hand eczema (CHE) is multifactorial and involves both endogenous predisposition and environmental triggers.

Objectives: Filaggrin is a structural protein of the cornified envelope and important for the formation of the epidermal skin barrier. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the role of mutations in the filaggrin gene (FLG) in the development of CHE.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha is up-regulated by oncostatin M and participates in oncostatin M signaling.

Unlabelled: The interleukin-6-type cytokine oncostatin M (OSM) acts via the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway as well as via activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and is known to critically regulate processes such as liver development and regeneration, hematopoiesis, and angiogenesis, which are also determined by hypoxia with the hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF1alpha) as a key component. Here we show that treatment of hepatocytes and hepatoma cells with OSM leads to an increased protein level of HIF1alpha under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, the OSM-dependent HIF1alpha increase is mediated via Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathways.

L-Arginine, ADMA, SDMA, creatinine, MDRD formula: detour to renal function testing.

We report the case of a 50-year-old woman in whom a laboratory work-up for a suspected L-arginine deficiency and the concomitant determination of elevated symmetrical dimethylarginine (SDMA) led to a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. This diagnosis had been missed due to the '';normal'' serum creatinine. This case illustrates that patients and physicians, while perusing non-evidence-based treatment strategies, such as L-arginine supplementation, fail to recognize the importance of evidence-based medicine, such as renal function testing.

Natural disease resistance in threatened staghorn corals.

Disease epidemics have caused extensive damage to tropical coral reefs and to the reef-building corals themselves, yet nothing is known about the abilities of the coral host to resist disease infection. Understanding the potential for natural disease resistance in corals is critically important, especially in the Caribbean where the two ecologically dominant shallow-water corals, Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, have suffered an unprecedented mass die-off due to White Band Disease (WBD), and are now listed as threatened under the US Threatened Species Act and as critically endangered under the IUCN Red List criteria.

Membrane protein identifications by mass spectrometry using electrocapture-based separation as part of a two-dimensional fractionation system.

A two-dimensional (2D) separation method was used to decrease sample complexity in analysis of tryptic peptides from glomerular membrane proteins by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The first dimension was carried out by electrocapture (EC), which fractionates peptides according to electrophoretic mobility. The second dimension was reverse-phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC), in which EC fractions were further separated and analyzed online by MS/MS.

MLST of housekeeping genes captures geographic population structure and suggests a European origin of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Lyme borreliosis, caused by the tick-borne bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, has become the most common vector-borne disease in North America over the last three decades. To understand the dynamics of the epizootic spread and to predict the evolutionary trajectories of B. burgdorferi, accurate information on the population structure and the evolutionary relationships of the pathogen is crucial.

Object continuity and the transsaccadic representation of form.

Transsaccadic object file representations were investigated in three experiments. Subjects moved their eyes from a central fixation cross to a location between two peripheral objects. During the saccade, this preview display was replaced with a target display containing a single object to be named.

Interspecific hybridization and restricted trans-Pacific gene flow in the Tropical Eastern Pacific Pocillopora.

Coral reefs in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) are among the most isolated in the world. This isolation has resulted in relatively low species diversity but comparatively high endemism. The dominant reef-building corals of the TEP are the Pocillopora corals, a ubiquitous Indo-Pacific genus commonly regarded as inferior reef-builder.

Peptide enrichment by microfluidic electrocapture for online analysis by electrospray mass spectrometry.

Identification of peptides from a complex mixture can be difficult because of the wide concentration range and the different ionization efficiencies of peptides during analysis by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry (MS). Preconcentration methods are necessary to allow low-abundance and low-intensity peptides to reach the ionization threshold of the mass spectrometer. Here we demonstrate peptide enrichment based on electroimmobilization.

Formation of stable stacking zones in a flow stream for sample immobilization in microfluidic systems.

Electrocapture is a multifunctional microfluidic tool that can be used for concentration, sample cleanup, multistep reactions, and separation of biomolecules. Herein, we investigate the mechanisms underlying the electrocapture principle. A microfluidic electrocapture device was found to be capable of generating regions of different electric field, which are maintained in the flow by electric and hydrodynamic forces, with the zones of lower electric field strength upstream of those with higher strength.

Restricted gene flow in the Caribbean staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis: implications for the recovery of endangered reefs.

Coral reef conservation requires information about the distance over which healthy reefs can rescue damaged reefs through input of coral larvae. This information is desperately needed in the Caribbean where the 2 dominant shallow water corals Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata have suffered unprecedented declines. Here we compare the population genetic structure in the staghorn coral A.

Identical TCR beta-chain rearrangements in streptococcal angina and skin lesions of patients with psoriasis vulgaris.

Tonsillar infection with Streptococcus pyogenes may induce several nonsuppurative autoimmune sequelae. The precise pathogenetic mechanisms behind this clinically well-established association are still unresolved. Using TCR analysis, we sought to identify a link between streptococcal tonsillitis and the T cell-mediated autoimmune response in psoriasis.

Microfluidic electrocapture for separation of peptides.

A separation method based on electroimmobilization and sequential release of captured molecules is reported. A microfluidic electrocapture device is utilized to immobilize peptides in a microflow stream. After capture, the electric field is decreased in a stepwise manner, causing sequential release of the captured peptides according to their electrophoretic mobility.

Chemical inhibitors when timing is critical: a pharmacological concept for the maturation of T cell contacts.

Cellular signal transduction proceeds through a complex network of molecular interactions and enzymatic activities. The timing of these molecular events is critical for the propagation of a signal and the generation of a specific cellular response. To define the timing of signalling events, we introduce the combination of high-resolution confocal microscopy with the application of small-molecule inhibitors at various stages of signal transduction in T cells.

Testing the utility of internally transcribed spacer sequences in coral phylogenetics.

Reef-building corals often possess high levels of intraindividual and intraspecific ribosomal DNA (rDNA) variation that is largely polyphyletic between closely related species. Polyphyletic rDNA phylogenies coupled with high intraindividual rDNA variation have been taken as evidence of introgressive hybridization in corals. Interpreting the data is problematic because the rDNA cluster evolves in a complex fashion and polyphyletic lineages can be generated by a variety of processes--such as incomplete lineage sorting and slow concerted evolution--in addition to hybridization.

Isolation and quantification of chitin-binding mistletoe lectin from mistletoe extracts and validation of this method.

A method was established to isolate and quantify small amounts of chitin-binding mistletoe lectin (cbML) from extracts of the mistletoe (Viscum album L.) by affinity and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. A validation, according to ICH guidelines, of this analytical method was carried out and showed that specificity, robustness and precision are guaranteed.

The primary properties?

Science is concerned not just with objects but also with their various aspects, such as their colors, temperatures, sizes, and shapes. These aspects, or properties, are generally thought to be of at least two kinds: primary properties, such as shape, size, and motion and secondary ones, such as temperature and color. However, there is little agreement on just what the difference is between these two kinds of properties.

Hybridization and the evolution of reef coral diversity.

Hundreds of coral species coexist sympatrically on reefs, reproducing in mass-spawning events where hybridization appears common. In the Caribbean, DNA sequence data from all three sympatric Acropora corals show that mass spawning does not erode species barriers. Species A.

Dominant lesional T cell receptor rearrangements persist in relapsing psoriasis but are absent from nonlesional skin: evidence for a stable antigen-specific pathogenic T cell response in psoriasis vulgaris.

In a previous study we reported that clonally expanded T cell receptor beta-chain rearrangements characterized the T cell receptor usage in skin lesions of psoriasis vulgaris and indicated antigen-specific T cell selection. To assess the relevance of clonal T cell expansion for disease progression, we now determined if select clonal T cell receptor rearrangements persisted over time and were present in nonlesional skin. Sequential biopsies were taken from psoriatic skin lesions of two patients.

A DEFICIENS homolog from the dioecious tree black cottonwood is expressed in female and male floral meristems of the two-whorled, unisexual flowers.

We isolated PTD, a member of the DEFICIENS (DEF) family of MADS box transcription factors, from the dioecious tree, black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa). In females, in situ hybridization experiments showed that PTD mRNA was first detectable in cells on the flanks of the inflorescence meristem, before differentiation of individual flowers was visually detectable. In males, the onset of PTD expression was delayed until after individual flower differentiation had begun and floral meristems were developing.

Allometric scaling in small colonies of the scleractinian coral Siderastrea siderea (Ellis and Solander).

Although most physiological traits scale allometrically in unitary organisms, it has been hypothesized that modularity allows for isometric scaling in colonial modular taxa. Isometry would allow increases in size without functional constraints, and is thought to be of central importance to the success of a modular design. Yet, despite its potential importance, scaling in these organisms has received little attention.

Freezing Temperature Effect on Survival of Puccinia graminis subsp. graminicola in Festuca arundinacea and Lolium perenne.

The Willamette Valley in Oregon is a major seed production area for cool-season grasses. Puccinia graminis subsp. graminicola survives over winter on its hosts as uredinial infections and causes epidemics of stem rust, the area's major disease on perennial ryegrass and tall fescue.