Background Mastocytosis is a disease characterized by abnormal growth and accumulation of mast cells (MC) in different tissues. The disease can be classified as cutaneous (CM), when MC infiltrate is limited to the skin, and systemic mastocytosis (SM) when MC proliferate in other organs such as the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, lung, liver, spleen or lymph-nodes. Clinical symptoms of CM a...

Microcystins (MCs) are cyanobacterial toxins which place the public at risk via exposure to MC contaminated water, food or algal food supplements. Subsequent to the fatal intravenous exposure of dialysis patients in Caruaru, Brazil, several techniques (LC-MS, GC-MS and ELISA) were adapted to detect MCs in human serum. As patients chronically exposed to low concentrations of MCs also present wit...

In this study, joint source–channel decoding for non-binary source samples is conducted. The non-binary source samples can be modelled as the output of a multi-state Markov chain (MC). As the source samples are directly transmitted after channel coding without source compression, the transmitted signals can be highly correlated. At the receiver, the multistate MC module can be designed to explo...

Macrophages have crucial functions in initiating the inflammatory reaction in a strict temporal and spatial manner to provide a "clear-up" response required for resolution. Hormonal peptides such as melanocortins modulate macrophage reactivity and attenuate inflammation ranging from skin inflammation to joint disease and reperfusion injury. The melanocortins (e.g., adrenocorticotrophin, ACTH an...

We have established a unique variant cell line, MC/9.IL-4, which continuously proliferates in the presence of interleukin-4 (IL-4), from a murine interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent mast cell line, MC/9 (referred to as MC/9.IL-3). Compared with MC/9.IL-3 cells, MC/9.IL-4 cells are smaller, lack cytoplasmic granules and metachromasia, carry a very small amount of histamine, and express fewer high-aff...

In efficacy trials male circumcision (MC) protected men against HIV infection. Planners need information relevant to MC programmes in practice. In 2008, we interviewed 2915 men and 4549 women aged 15-29 years in representative cluster samples in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland, asking about socio-economic characteristics, knowledge and attitudes about HIV and MC and MC history. We tested finger...

The objective of this study was to examine the binding of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in well-characterized nuclear subfractions from transformable cells in culture. A cloned line of AKR mouse embryo cells was exposed to culture medium containing [3H]-3-methyl-cholanthrene (MC) (0.4 mug/ml) 670 Ci/mole). Cellular uptake and nuclear binding were determined after 4 hr of exposur...

We combine molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to study the properties of gas molecules confined between two hard walls of a microchannel or nanochannel. The coupling between MD and MC simulations is introduced by performing MD near the boundaries for accuracy and MC in the bulk because of the low computational cost. We characterize the influence of different densities and ...

BACKGROUND All-polymer bearings involving polyetheretherketone (PEEK) have been proposed for orthopaedic applications because they may reduce stress shielding, reduce weight of the implants, reduce wear and risk of osteolysis, and prevent release of metal ions by replacing the metal articulating components. Little is known about the biotribology of all-polymer PEEK bearings, including the effec...

We have established a unique variant cell line, MC/9.IL-4, which continuously proliferates in the presence of interleukin-4 (IL-4). from a murine interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent mast cell line, MC/9 (referred t o as MC/9.IL-3). Compared with MC/9.IL-3 cells, MC/9.IL-4 cells are smaller, lack cytoplasmic granules and metachromasia, carry a very small amount of histamine, and express fewer high-af...