BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Present treatment strategies for kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis, VL) include use of first line drug sodium antimony gluconate (SAG) to all patients but a large number of patients do not get relief with this drug. If a patient does not respond to a full course of SAG, a second or third line drug is given. We undertook this study to test whether an improved outcome can b...

The absence of endogenous mouse mammary tumor viruses (MMTVs) in the congenic mouse strain, BALB/Mtv-null, restricts the early steps of exogenous C3H MMTV infection, preventing the superantigen (Sag) response and mammary tumorigenesis. Here we demonstrate that BALB/Mtv-null mice also resist tumor induction by FM MMTV, which encodes a stronger Sag compared to C3H MMTV. In contrast to infections ...

Voltage sag is the major power quality problem and receives wide attention. Although wavelet analysis works well for detecting voltage sag features, the existence of noise can reduce the advantages of wavelet method or even make it ineffective. To solve the problem, the paper uses multi-scale wavelet information by multiplying the results of several scales, and then searches the local maxima fr...

We test the hypothesis that cytosolic inorganic phosphate (Pi) can account for the contraction-induced reductions in twitch duration which impair summation and cause force to decline (sag) during unfused tetanic contractions of fast-twitch muscle. A five-state model of crossbridge cycling was used to simulate twitch and unfused tetanic contractions. As Pi concentration ([Pi]) was increased from...

Statoacoustic ganglion (SAG) neurons project sensory afferents to appropriate targets in the inner ear to form functional vestibular and auditory circuits. Neuropilin1 (Npn1), a receptor for class 3 semaphorins, is required to generate appropriate afferent projections in SAG neurons; however, the ligands and coreceptors involved in Npn1 functioning remain unknown. Here we show that both plexinA...

This paper investigates pathogenic mechanisms of the Streptococcus anginosus group (SAG) of bacteria which influence the biological activity of periodontal ligament (PDL) cells, endothelial cells and also how matrix proteins produced by these host cells influence bacterial virulence factors. Isolates of SAG species, designated S. anginosus, S. constellatus and S. intermedius, were derived from ...

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) infection of adult mice induces a strong response to superantigen (Sag) in their draining lymph nodes, which results from the presentation of Sag by MMTV-infected B cells to Sag-reactive T cells. To date, infection with physiologically relevant doses of MMTV can be detected in vivo only after several days of Sag-mediated T-cell-dependent amplification of infecte...

SAG/RBX2 is the RING (really interesting new gene) component of Cullin-RING ligase, which is required for its activity. An organ-specific role of SAG in tumorigenesis is unknown. We recently showed that Sag/Rbx2, upon lung-targeted deletion, suppressed Kras(G12D)-induced tumorigenesis via inactivating NF-κB and mammalian target of rapamycin pathways. In contrast, we report here that, upon skin-...

B cells encounter both soluble Ag (sAg) and membrane-associated Ag (mAg) in the secondary lymphoid tissue, yet how the physical form of Ag modulates B cell activation remains unclear. This study compares actin reorganization and its role in BCR signalosome formation in mAg- and sAg-stimulated B cells. Both mAg and sAg induce F-actin accumulation and actin polymerization at BCR microclusters and...

Salicylic acid beta-glucoside (SAG) is a storage form of a defense signal against pathogens, releasing free salicylic acid (SA), to meet the requirements in plants. Since excess SA induces locally restricted cell death following oxidative burst and Ca2+ influx in plants, the effects of SAG on cell viability, Ca2+ influx, and generation of superoxide (O2*-) were examined in suspension-cultured t...