Numerous agents of endogenous and exogenous origin damage DNA in our genome. There are several DNA-repair pathways that recognize lesions in DNA and remove them through a number of diverse reaction sequences. Defects in DNA-repair proteins are associated with several human hereditary syndromes, which show a marked predisposition to cancer. Although DNA repair is essential for a healthy cell, DN...

The discovery of nitric oxide (NO) as a signalling molecule in various physiological and pathological pathways has spurred research in the design of exogenous NO donors as drugs. In recent years, metal nitrosyls (NO complexes of metals) have been investigated as NO-donating agents. Results from our laboratory during the past few years have demonstrated that metal nitrosyls derived from designed...

Recent developments in structural equation modeling have produced several methods that can usually distinguish cause from effect in the two-variable case. For that purpose, however, one has to impose substantial structural constraints or smoothness assumptions on the functional causal models. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining the causal direction from a related but different...

Blood carries a wide array of biomolecules, including nutrients, hormones, and molecules that are secreted by cells for specific biological functions. The recent finding of stable RNA of both endogenous and exogenous origin in circulation raises a number of questions and opens a broad, new field: exploring the origins, functions, and applications of these extracellular RNA molecules. These find...

BACKGROUND Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) was originally described in the nervous system but has been shown to be expressed in ovary tissues recently, acting as a paracrine/autocrine regulator required for developments of follicles and oocytes. Although it is generally accepted that chronic stress impairs female reproduction and decreases the expression of BDNF in limbic structures of ...

The purpose of this study is to provide a macroeconomic analysis of fiscal policy in the Czech Republic during the transformation period 1989-1995. In contrast to those studies which are based on “decline accounting”, disentangling different factors from each other and ascribing to them specific roles in the overall decline, this study focuses exclusively on fiscal policy and tries to identify ...

Fungal interactions with plants can involve specific morphogenetic developments to access host cells, the suppression of plant defenses, and the establishment of a feeding lifestyle that nourishes the colonizer often-but not always-at the expense of the host. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism is central to the infection process, and the stage-specific production and/or neutralization of ...

Mast cells are well known for their role in allergic inflammation where, upon aggregation of the high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptor, they release mediators such as histamine that cause classical allergic symptoms. Mast cells are located in almost all tissues and are especially numerous in organs that interface with the environment. Given this strategic location and the more recent notion t...

the leisure is a new phenomenon has emerged of the industrial revolution and socio-economic developments of the current world. how the people of a society spend their leisure times could in a large extent show the cultural characteristics and lifestyle of the community. the most important aspects of the lifestyle which emerged of urban development and modernity, is the mode of spending the leis...

Non-invasive fluorescence imaging has the potential to provide in vivo diagnostic information for many clinical specialties. Techniques have been developed over the years for simple ocular observations following UV excitation to sophisticated spectroscopic imaging using advanced equipment. Much of the impetus for research on fluorescence imaging for tissue diagnostics has come from parallel dev...