Arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)) and cisplatin (CDDP) are clinically relevant chemotherapeutics which modulate the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) by different mechanisms: As(2)O(3) depletes intracellular calcium stores while CDDP triggers an influx of Ca(2+). We investigate whether co-application of As(2)O(3) and CDDP has an effect on [Ca(2+)](i) homeostasis, resulting in an incr...

The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a key survival factor for neural cells. In particular, in neuroblastoma tumour cells, expression of the BDNF/TrkB autocrine signalling system promotes a more malignant phenotype and resistance to chemotherapy. The human BDNF gene contains two clusters of upstream exons encoding the 5'UTR (exon 1 to exon 3 and exon 4 to exon 9a), these...

OBJECTIVE The higher risk of developing new cancers in breast cancer survivors is a public health concern. Our aim was to examine risk of second primary cancers among women diagnosed with breast cancer. METHODS We studied two cohorts of female cancer patients identified in a population-based cancer registry in Granada (Spain): women first diagnosed with a primary breast cancer (n=5897) and th...

PURPOSE To predict individual survival times for neuroblastoma patients from gene expression data using the cancer survival prediction using automatic relevance determination (CASPAR) algorithm. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN A first set of oligonucleotide microarray gene expression profiles comprising 256 neuroblastoma patients was generated. Then, CASPAR was combined with a leave-one-out cross-validat...

BACKGROUND A major problem of venom-specific immunotherapy (VIT) is the absence of reliable parameters for deciding treatment discontinuation. AIM OF THE STUDY Intracutaneous tests (ICTs), the basophil activation test (BAT), specific IgEs (sIgEs) and blocking factor (BF) activity were measured during VIT. We made an evaluation by means of a protective index (PI) including ICT, BAT and BF valu...

This study focused on the in vitro infection of mouse and human neuroblastoma cells and the in vivo infection of the murine central nervous system with a recombinant measles virus. An undifferentiated mouse neuroblastoma cell line (TMN) was infected with the vaccine strain of measles virus (MVeGFP), which expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). MVeGFP infected the cells, and cell-t...

UNLABELLED Power toothbrushes (PTBs), in combination with abrasive dentifrices, may encourage wear of dental cements at crown margins. PURPOSE The objective of this in vitro simulation was to control the clinical variables associated with PTB use and measure the potential side effects of PTBs with mild and abrasive dentifrices. METHODS AND MATERIALS Four PTBs ( Braun-Oral-B-Professional Car...

BACKGROUND Abnormal zinc homeostasis is involved in β-amyloid (Aβ) plaque formation and, therefore, the zinc load is a contributing factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the involvement of zinc in amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing and Aβ deposition has not been well established in AD animal models in vivo. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In the present study, APP and presenilin...

A randomized controlled trial of high glycemic load (HG) and low glycemic load (LG) diets with food provided for 6 months and self-administered for 6 additional months at 30% caloric restriction (CR) was performed in 29 overweight adults (mean+/-SD, age 35+/-5y; BMI 27.5+/-1.5 kg/m(2)). Total energy expenditure (TEE), resting metabolic rate (RMR), fat and fat free mass (FFM), were measured at 3...