To examine anti-tumor immunity in uremic patients undergoing regular hemodialysis, we designed this study using in vitro mononuclear cell (MNC) cultures, with human leukemic U937 cells as the target. MNC were collected and cultured from uremic subjects and age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Conditioned media from the cultures (MNC-CM) were collected after stimulation with various concent...

The research described in this present study was part of a larger effort focused on developing a dual substrate, dual fermentation process to produce Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). The focus of this study was developing and optimizing a strategy for feeding a mixture of SCFAs (simulated ARF) and maximizing PHA production in a cost-effective way. Three different feeding strategies were examined in ...

The expression of phaseolin and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the developing cotyledons of a normal (Greensleeves) and a PHA-deficient (Pinto 111) cultivar of Phaseolus vulgaris was investigated. Phaseolin mRNA translational activity and abundance were present at similar levels in both cultivars. In contrast, PHA mRNA translational activity and abundance in Pinto 111 were less than 1% of the leve...

Assays were performed that measured both the rate and extent (or total capacity) of transfer RNA methylases in extracts of lymphocytes cultured in the presence and absence of phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The tRNA methylases of human peripheral blood lymphocytes undergoing blastogenesis in culture with PHA had a fiveto sixfold increase in rate and a threeto sevenfold increase in extent of methylati...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial polyesters produced by various microorganisms. Many of these bacteria when fed with suitable carbon sources can produce PHAs up to about 30 wt% of the cell dry weight (CDW) and a few such as Ralstonia eutropha can accumulate PHAs up to almost 90 wt% of the CDW. In cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), the PHA content is usually about 5 wt% of the CDW. In t...

Human overpopulation combined with the current lifestyle urges the rational, efficient and sustainable use of natural resources to produce environmentally friendly plastic materials such as polyhydroxyalkanoic acids (PHA), whose production/degradation cycle reduces undesirable wastes and emissions. In this issue Sabirova et al. (15) presents results of paramount importance: a PHA hyper-producer...

Pseudomonas oleovorans is capable of producing poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) as intracellular storage material. To analyze the possible involvement of phaD in medium-chain-length (MCL) PHA biosynthesis, we generated a phaD knockout mutant by homologous recombination. Upon disruption of the phaD gene, MCL PHA polymer accumulation was decreased. The PHA granule size was reduced, and the number...

PURPOSE Aurora kinases play critical roles during mitosis in chromosome segregation and cell division. The aim of this study was to determine the preclinical profile of a novel, highly selective Aurora kinase inhibitor, PHA-680632, as a candidate for anticancer therapy. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The activity of PHA-680632 was assayed in a biochemical ATP competitive kinase assay. A wide panel of ce...

Together with other so-called "bio-plastics", Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are expected to soon replace established polymers on the plastic market. As a prerequisite, optimized process design is needed to make PHAs attractive in terms of costs and quality. Nowadays, large-scale PHA production relies on discontinuous fed-batch cultivation in huge bioreactors. Such processes presuppose numerous s...

BACKGROUND Availability of antiretroviral therapies has transformed AIDS into a manageable chronic condition and improved well-being among people living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) in developed countries. In developing countries however, such transformations are yet to occur due to socio-economic, systemic and environmental constraint. This study examined the impact of social, economic, psychological a...