Abstract Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is a commonly diagnosed canine heart characterized by thickening of the valve. While it affects dogs all genetic backgrounds, breeds most affected include small to medium dogs. The underlying causes MMVD are not clear but pathological changes alterations in extracellular matrix and collagen, activation metalloproteinases (MMPs), leading subsequent...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Several genes involved in the lymphotoxin-alpha cascade (LTA, LGALS2, and PSMA6) have been linked with the risk of myocardial infarction. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of these genes in patients with ischemic stroke (IS). METHODS Twenty-three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from LTA, LGALS2, and PSMA6 were genotyped in 601 German IS patients and 736 m...

background: a. bovis and a. phagocytophilium are leukocytotropic agents of bovine anaplasmosis. they are obligate intracellular bacteria that can infect and cause anaplasmosis in human and animals. therefore, this study was carried out to detect a. bovis and a. phagocytophilum in naturally infected dairy cattle in isfahan using molecular techniques. materials and methods: in this study a total ...

Follicular dendritic cell networks are said to be pivotal to both the formation of germinal centers (GCs) and their functions in generating antigen-specific antibody affinity maturation and B cell memory. We report that lymphotoxin beta-deficient mice form GC cell clusters in the gross anatomical location expected of GCs, despite the complete absence of follicular dendritic cell networks. Furth...

Human genes encoding tumor necrosis factor (TNF-a) and lymphotoxin (TNF-/3) are tandemly arranged (1) and located at 6p21.3 (2, 3). Their precise position within MHC has been determined (4, 5). We recently sequenced a 820 bp fragment located 3.5 kb upstream to TNF genes centromeric to HLA-B and used the sequence surrounding the two linked microsatellites to study TNF gene polymorphism (6). We n...

The efficiency of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer is now well established. However, the cellular and the humoral immune responses triggered by vector injection lead to the rapid elimination of the transduced cells and preclude any efficient readministration. The present investigation focuses on the role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), a proinflammatory cytokine, and the related cy...