beta-Casomorphin-7 regulates the secretion and expression of gastrointestinal mucins through a mu-opioid pathway.

We have recently shown that beta-casomorphin-7, a milk opioid peptide, strongly stimulates mucin secretion in the rat jejunum through a nervous pathway and opioid receptor activation. In this study, the hypothesis that beta-casomorphin-7 may also act directly on intestinal goblet cells was investigated in vitro in rat and human intestinal mucin-producing cells (DHE and HT29-MTX) using quantitative and semiquantitative RT-PCR and ELISA. The presence of mu-opioid receptors was demonstrated in rat goblet cells in the upper half of the colonic crypt and in the two cell lines by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR.

Nocardia ignorata, a new agent of human nocardiosis isolated from respiratory specimens in Europe and soil samples from Kuwait.

Nocardia ignorata is a recently described species identified on the basis of a single isolate of unknown origin. Here we describe the epidemiological, phenotypic, and phylogenetic characteristics of this new species, based on five new clinical and soil isolates.

Effect of IGL-1, a new preservation solution, on kidney grafts (a pre-clinical study).

Ischemia-reperfusion injury conditions short-term and long-term graft function. The effects of the inversion of K+ and Na+ concentrations and substitution with polyethylene glycol for hydroxyethyl starch in University of Wisconsin (K-UW) solution were evaluated in isolated perfused rat kidneys and in autotransplanted pig kidneys. In the rat model kidneys were cold-stored for 24 h in K-UW or Na-UW or Na-PEG UW solutions (IGL-1 solution).

Infected immature teeth treated with surgical endodontic treatment and root-reinforcing technique with glass ionomer cement.

The authors propose surgical endodontic treatment of immature teeth characterized by necrosis and infection, especially after failure of apexification or in the presence of older, fibrous, and extensive lesion. A glass ionomer cement, autopolymerizable and condensable, is used as retro-filling material and as a reinforcement material for the canal walls. The variety of different cases presented here show that this rapid technique is reliable and reproducible.

In-vivo modulation of central 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT1A) receptor-mediated responses by the cholinergic system.

The aim of the present study was to investigate a putative modulation of rat 5-HT system by the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine using in-vivo electrophysiological and behavioural techniques. In the dorsal raphe nucleus, administration of atropine (1 mg/kg i.v.

Multidisciplinary approach to the immediate esthetic repair and long-term treatment of an oblique crown-root fracture.

This case report describes the esthetic management of a dental trauma at the first visit and its subsequent treatments to restore the esthetics and function. Today, patients expect adequate esthetics and the ability to confidently smile immediately after the first appointment. In addition, they require that esthetics is maintained throughout the definitive treatment phase as well.

Outcome assessment of the French internship graduate programme.

In 1995, the first dental postgraduate residency programme was established in France. Selection of the applicants was performed by means of a selective national competitive examination among dental students in the final year of the undergraduate studies. The main objective of this 3-year general practice internship was to provide a clinical training for future academic dentists.

Variations in primer sequences are the origin of allele drop-out at loci D13S317 and CD4.

STRs have become almost the exclusive tool of genetic scientists in forensic typing work. Consequently, large numbers of samples are genotyped and the detection of rare abnormalities is to be expected. We found rare losses of alleles, also known as drop-out, at the two STR loci D13S317 and CD4.

A procedure for fractionation of sphingolipid classes by solid-phase extraction on aminopropyl cartridges.

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods are easy, rapid, and reliable. Their growing popularity is in part due to their operational simplicity and cost reduction in solvents, and partly because they are easier to automate. Sphingolipids are implicated in various cellular events such as growth, differentiation, and apoptosis.

Phytosphingosine biosynthesis differs from sphingosine in fish leukocytes and involves a transfer of methyl groups from [3H-methyl]methionine precursor.

We have studied the incorporation of radioactivity from either [3-3H]serine as the direct or [3H-methyl]methionine as the indirect precursor into sphingoid bases of free ceramides in lymphocytes from fish. Radioactivity from serine was incorporated mostly in the sphingosine moiety of ceramides. In contrast, the radioactivity from methionine was exclusively incorporated into phytosphingosine base (i.

Decreased heat- and tumor necrosis factor-mediated hsp28 phosphorylation in thermotolerant HeLa cells.

Heat shock or tumor necrosis factor rapidly stimulated the phosphorylation of the mammalian low molecular weight stress protein hsp28. We have found that both phenomena are greatly decreased in cells which are made tolerant to heat. This observation correlated with a better survival of thermotolerant cells exposed to either heat or TNF treatment.

Circadian rest-activity rhythms in the anophthalmic, monocular and binocular ZRDCT/An mice. Retinal and serotoninergic (raphe) influences.

In the present study, two strains of mice were used: the control C57 Black/6 and the experimental ZRDCT/An, composed of anophthalmic (AN), monocular (mono) and binocular (bi) animals. The circadian rest-activity rhythms of these mice, submitted to a 12 h/12 h light/dark (L/D) cycle, present different characteristics. In C57 Black/6 animals the rhythms are classically synchronized to the L/D cycle with a maximal activity during the dark period, mainly at its beginning.