BACKGROUND Needle exchange programmes (NEP) provide injection drug users (IDU) with sterile injection equipment and receive used needles in exchange. In this paper we describe the use of new syringes and NEP by IDU and characteristics associated with using NEP in 1993. METHODS Street-recruited IDU were interviewed in five US locations: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, and Los An...

Extracts from Xenopus eggs capable of nuclear envelope assembly in vitro were fractionated by differential and density gradient centrifugation. Nuclear envelope assembly was found to require soluble components in the cytosol and two distinct particulate fractions, which we have called nuclear envelope precursor fractions A and B (NEP-A and NEP-B). Both NEP-A and NEP-B are sensitive to treatment...

Some studies have indicated that needle exchange programs (NEPs) can be effective in reducing drug-related risks for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversion; however, others have reported higher HIV incidence rates among NEP attendees. Since many studies rely on self-reports of NEP attendance, the authors investigated the extent to which differential misreporting of NEP attendance cou...

PURPOSE Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) is a cell-surface peptidase that inactivates neuropeptide growth factors implicated in prostate cancer progression. The clinical significance of decreased NEP expression observed in prostate cancer is unclear. We investigated whether decreased NEP expression in localized prostate cancers is associated with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) relapse after radical...

Amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide accumulation in the brain is a pathological hallmark of all forms of Alzheimer's disease. An imbalance between Aβ production and clearance from the brain may contribute to accumulation of neurotoxic Aβ and subsequent synaptic loss, which is the strongest correlate of the extent of memory loss in AD. The activity of neprilysin (NEP), a potent Aβ-degrading enzyme, is dec...

Neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP) is a cell surface peptidase expressed by prostatic epithelial cells that cleaves and inactivates neuropeptide growth factors implicated in the growth of androgen-independent prostate cancer (PC). Decreased NEP expression in hormone-refractory metastatic PCs can result from hormonal therapies because NEP transcription is induced by androgens and down-regulated b...