BACKGROUND The control of the functional pancreatic β-cell mass serves the key homeostatic function of releasing the right amount of insulin to keep blood sugar in the normal range. It is not fully understood though how β-cell mass is determined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Conditional chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII)-deficient mice were generated and...

We read with interest the article by Chang et al. (1), who were the first group to report a novel allelic association (rs290487) of the TCF7L2 gene with type 2 diabetes in the Han Chinese population (1). The link between the TCF7L2 gene and type 2 diabetes in Caucasians was first reported by deCODE genetics through the fine-mapping of a previously identified suggestive linkage region on chromos...

alterations in the expression of micrornas (mirnas) have been proposed to play a role in the pathogenesis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (all) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (cll). dicer is one of the main regulators of mirna biogenesis, and deregulation of its expression has been indicated as a possible cause of mirna alterations observed in various cancers. our aim was to analyze the expre...

background: the multifunctional transforming growth factor beta (tgf-β) is a glycoprotein that exists in three isoforms. tgf-β3 expression increases in fetal wound healing and reduces fibronectin and collagen i and iii deposition, and also improves the architecture of the neodermis which is a combination of blood vessels and connective tissue during wound healing. fibroblasts are key cells in t...

background: angiogenesis is an important process in various physiologic and pathologic states. the most significant stimulator of angiogenesis is vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf). in contrast, vasohibin1 acts as an angiogenesis inhibitor which specifically inhibits new vessels formation. the aim of the present study was cloning and expression of vasohibin1 gene in e. coli as well as pu...

objective: aflatoxin is important in the food industry, in animal husbandry and the medical area; there are enormous negative economic impacts due to this toxin. numerous studies have researched extracts and plant compounds with the intent to reduce the growth of aflatoxin-producing organisms, inhibit toxin production and suppress the major toxin encoded genes (i.e., aflr) in these organisms. l...

background & objective: streptococcosis is one of the bacterial infections in fish, especially rainbow trout which infects brain and nervous systems of fish and is caused by s. iniae . estimation of the impact of disease prevalence by s. iniae in fish farming in some countries is reported about 100 million dollars per year. some of the most effective proteins in pathogenicity of these bacteria ...

Emerging evidence indicates that variation in the transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene may play a role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. In a prospective, nested, case-control study (n = 3,520) within the Nurses' Health Study (687 type 2 diabetic case and 1,051 control subjects) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (886 case and 896 control subjects), we examined the associ...

Numerous studies have evaluated the association between TCF7L2 gene polymorphisms (rs12255372 and rs7903146) and breast cancer risk. However, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, in the current study, we performed a meta-analysis. A systematically literature search of the PubMed and EMBASE databases was conducted in November 2013, and the reference lists of articles were retrieved. A ...