Originally identified as regulators of the type I Interferon system, the nine mammalian members of the Interferon Regulatory Factor (IRF) family are transcriptional regulators with multiple biologic functions, among which the best known are those involved in initiating and regulating many aspect of host immunity, downstream pattern recognition receptors in response to cell injuries. In addition...

BACKGROUND Epithelial cells(EC)-derived interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays a crucial role in control of development and homeostasis of neighboring intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL), and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) exerts protective effects on intestinal epithelial cells and up-regulates EC-derived IL-7 expression through KGFR pathway. This study was to further investigate the molecular mechanism i...

BACKGROUND The provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to migrant populations raises particular challenges with respect to ensuring adequate treatment support, adherence, and retention in care. We assessed rates of loss to follow-up for migrant workers compared with non-migrant workers in a routine treatment programme in Morjia, Lesotho. DESIGN All adult patients (≥18 years) initiating ART ...

Correspondence to: Dr Paul R Roberts, Southampton University Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton. SO16 6YD, UK; [email protected]. uk _________________________ P acemaker implantation is only the initial phase in the lifelong management of the patient with a pacemaker. The challenge of this treatment lies in the comprehensive follow up of the device. As the number of implanted devices...

AIMS To evaluate a parental questionnaire as a means of providing outcome measures for a multicentre randomised controlled trial of treatment for post-haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation. METHODS The parents of 88 survivors were sent a questionnaire before a paediatric assessment at the age of 30 months. The parents' responses to individual questions taken mainly from the Griffiths' mental de...

Viruses have evolved elaborate mechanisms to evade or inactivate the complex system of sensors and signaling molecules that make up the host innate immune response. Here we show that human coronavirus (HCoV) NL63 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV papain-like proteases (PLP) antagonize innate immune signaling mediated by STING (stimulator of interferon genes, also known as MITA/ER...

Interferon regulatory factors IRF-3 and IRF-7 are transcription factors essential in the activation of interferon-β (IFN-β) gene in response to viral infections. Although, both proteins recognize the same consensus IRF binding site AANNGAAA, they have distinct DNA binding preferences for sites in vivo. The X-ray structures of IRF-3 and IRF-7 DNA binding domains (DBDs) bound to IFN-β promoter el...

Editor, Van Brakel et aI. have recently made a strong case for using the EHF score (Eye-Hand-Foot score) as a means of monitoring changes in impairment status in individuais or groups of people over time. lt would provide at least a crude measure of the effectiveness of prevention of impairment activities . ! It is a simple score, the components of which are already collected in most leprosy co...