Sexual Dysfunctions in Men and Women with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The Influence of IBD-Related Clinical Factors and Depression on Sexual Function.

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is likely to have an impact on sexual function because of its symptoms, like diarrhea, fatigue, and abdominal pain. Depression is commonly reported in IBD and is also related to impaired sexual function. This study aimed to evaluate sexual function and its association with depression among patients with IBD compared with controls.

In vivo imaging of gene transfer to the respiratory tract.

Imaging of in vivo gene expression using luciferase expression in various organs has been used for several years. In contrast to other organs, in vivo imaging of the lung, particularly after non-viral gene transfer has not been extensively studied. The aim of this study was to address several questions: (1) Does in vivo light emission correlate with standard tissue homogenate-based luciferase detection in a dose-dependent manner? Recombinant Sendai virus (SeV) transduces airway epithelial cells very efficiently and was used to address this question, (2) Is the sensitivity of the assay sufficient to detect non-viral gene transfer? We treated mice with SeV-Lux vector using our standard "sniffing" protocol, a method that predominantly results in lung deposition.

Expression of activated Fc gamma RII discriminates between multiple granulocyte-priming phenotypes in peripheral blood of allergic asthmatic subjects.

Background: Allergic asthma is associated with chronic airway and systemic immune responses. Systemic responses include priming of peripheral blood eosinophils, which is enhanced after allergen challenge. In a subpopulation of asthmatic subjects, neutrophils are associated with bronchial inflammation.

Differential regulation of TNFalpha and GM-CSF induced activation of P38 MAPK in neutrophils and eosinophils.

P38 MAPK is a central mediator in cytokine signalling in human leukocytes. P38 MAPK is activated by phosphorylation of a conserved Thr180-X-Tyr182 motif by dual phosphorylation via the upstream kinases MKK3 and MKK6. Alternatively, P38 MAPK can be activated via autophosphorylation when associated with TAB1.

Rapid selective priming of FcalphaR on eosinophils by corticosteroids.

Preactivation or priming of eosinophils by (proinflammatory) cytokines is important in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. Several priming-dependent eosinophil responses, such as migration and adhesion, are reduced by treatment with corticosteroids. Many inhibitory effects of corticosteroids are mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor via genomic mechanisms, which are evident only after prolonged interaction (>30 min).