BACKGROUND Studies of associations between plasma GSH-Px activity and cardiovascular risk factors have been done in humans, and contradictory results have been reported. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the scavenger antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in plasma and the presence of novel and classical cardiovascular risk factors in elderly patie...

BACKGROUND Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been shown to survive on ambient surfaces for extended periods of time. Leftover MRSA environmental contamination in a hospital room places future patients at risk. Manual disinfection supplemented by pulsed xenon ultraviolet (PX-UV) light disinfection has been shown to greatly decrease the MRSA bioburden in hospital rooms. Howev...

Two mesophilic streptomycetes (S. violaceoruber and S. spiroverticillatus) were selected to study their Poly R-478 decolorization ability and lignocellulose solubilizing activity. Both strains were able to degrade Poly R-478 dye and ferulic acid during growth on a minimal salts medium. The Poly R-478 decolorizing activities of both strains were induced by adding different carbon sources to the ...

We factor the virtual Poincaré polynomial of every homogeneous space G/H , where G is a complex connected linear algebraic group and H is an algebraic subgroup, as t(t − 1)QG/H(t ) for a polynomial QG/H with non-negative integer coefficients. Moreover, we show that QG/H(t ) divides the virtual Poincaré polynomial of every regular embedding of G/H , if H is connected. Introduction and statement ...

A Bacillus subtilis promoter, Px, that functions in a convergent manner with the sigA operon promoter P3 has been found in the sigA operon. Promoter Px is turned on at the same time as promoter P3 during early sporulation. The transcript from promoter Px codes for a small protein with partial homology to the OmpR protein from Escherichia coli and also carries an untranslated sequence at its 3' ...

We consider long-range percolation in dimension d ≥ 1, where distinct sites x and y are connected with probability px,y ∈ [0, 1]. Assuming that px,y is translation invariant and that px,y = ‖x−y‖ −s+o(1) with s > 2d, we show that the graph distance is at least linear with the Euclidean distance.

Transgenic rats expressing the env-pX gene of human T cell leukemia virus type-I under the control of the viral long terminal repeat promoter (env-pX rats) developed systemic autoimmune diseases. Prior to disease manifestation, the immunosuppressive function of CD25(+)CD4(+) T (T-reg) cells was impaired in these rats. Since T cell differentiation appeared to be disordered in env-pX rats, we ass...

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between selenium concentration and activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the whole blood of sheep and reference ranges for the activity of GSH-Px for evaluation of the selenium status of sheep in the Czech Republic. Selenium concentration and activity of glutathione peroxidase were determined in whole blood samples collected from ...

Although previous work has shown that the hepatitis B virus X protein (pX) stabilizes complexes between basic region leucine zipper (bZIP) proteins and target DNA, the relationship between enhanced binding and transcriptional activation has not been established. Here we show that interactions between CREB and pX, which coincidentally enhance DNA affinity, are necessary but not sufficient for in...

This EM review article focuses on parameter expansion, a simple technique introduced in the PX-EM algorithm to make EM converge faster while maintaining its simplicity and stability. The primary objective concerns the connection between parameter expansion and efficient inference. It reviews the statistical interpretation of the PX-EM algorithm, in terms of efficient inference via bias reductio...