Idiopathic pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (I-PAP) is a rare disease of unknown etiology in which the alveoli fill with lipoproteinaceous material. We report here that I-PAP is an autoimmune disease with neutralizing antibody of immunoglobulin G isotype against granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The antibody was found to be present in all specimens of bronchoalveolar lava...

A Pap smear, also known as Papanicoloau smear, is a microscopic examination of cells scraped from the cervix and is used to detect cancerous or pre-cancerous conditions of the cervix or other medical conditions. It was named after Dr. George N. Papanicoloau, who first described it in 1928 and since its introduction, the Pap smear has helped reduce cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates b...

INTRODUCTION The uptake of Pap smear among Iranian women is low, resulting in a high rate of casualties from cervical cancer in Iran. The present study used the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Stages of Change theory as theoretical frameworks for understanding the predictors of the behaviour of Iranian Women Health Volunteers (WHVs) with respect to cervical cancer screening. METHODS Data fr...

We have cloned the gene for polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP), the enzyme that catalyzes phosphorylation of AMP to ADP at the expense of polyphosphate [poly(P)] in Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A. A genomic DNA library was constructed in Escherichia coli, and crude lysates of about 6,000 clones were screened for PAP activity. PAP activity was evaluated by measuring ATP produced by the cou...

Cervical cancer is an important woman's health problems worldwide, especially in low socio-economic countries. The aim of this study was to compare the Pap smear screening results between Akha hill tribe and urban women who live in Chiang Rai province, Thailand. Screening was conducted for 1,100 Akha women and 1,100 urban women who came to have the Pap smear at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital a...

Two groups of sterilized women, 3307 by phenol-atabrine-paste (PAP) instillation and 1026 by mini-lap technique, were follow-up interviewed to determine their relative effectiveness. PAP, if successfully performed, was as effective as the mini-lap. The life table pregnancy rates among successful PAP women were 0.21 and 0.28 at 12 and 24 months, respectively. The rates among the unsuccessful PAP...

Compartmentation of the eukaryotic cell requires a complex set of subcellular messages, including multiple retrograde signals from the chloroplast and mitochondria to the nucleus, to regulate gene expression. Here, we propose that one such signal is a phosphonucleotide (3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphate [PAP]), which accumulates in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to drought and high light (HL) ...

We have cloned human poly(A) polymerase (PAP) mRNA as cDNA in Escherichia coli. The primary structure of the mRNA was determined and compared to the bovine PAP mRNA sequence. The two sequences were 97% identical at the nucleotide level, which translated into 99% similarity at the amino acid level. Polypeptides representing recombinant PAP were expressed in E. coli, purified, and used as antigen...

The HIP/PAP (=human Reg-2) C-type lectin encoding gene is activated in primary liver cancers. In normal liver, the protein is undetectable in normal mature hepatocytes and found only in some ductular cells, representing potential hepatic progenitor cells. The aim of this study was to examine the consequences of human HIP/PAP expression in the liver of transgenic mice. We demonstrated that HIP/P...

CD73, ecto-5'-nucleotidase, is the key enzyme catalyzing the conversion of extracellular AMP to adenosine that controls vascular permeability and immunosuppression. Also prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) possesses ecto-5'-nucleotidase/AMPase activity and is present in leukocytes. However, its role related to immune system is unknown. Therefore, we analyzed enzymatic activities and leukocyte subt...