Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rates of all cancer types. One potential explanation for the aggressiveness of this disease is that cancer cells have been found to communicate with one another using membrane-bound vesicles known as exosomes. These exosomes carry pro-survival molecules and increase the proliferation, survival, and metastatic potential of recipient cells, suggesting t...

Comparisons of 2D and 3D cell culture models in literature have indicated differences in cellular morphology and metabolism, commonly attributed the better representation of in vivo conditions of the latter cell culture environment. Thus, interest in the use of 3D collagen gels for in vitro analysis has been growing. Although comparative studies to date have indicated an enhanced resistance of ...

Emerging evidence has indicated that apoptotic cells have a compensatory effect on the proliferation of neighboring cells. However, the potential role of dying vascular endothelial cells (ECs) in glioma tumor proliferation remains unclear. In the present study, three glioma cell lines were cocultured with dying ECs under various conditions to evaluate the effect of dying ECs on tumor proliferat...

BACKGROUND Leptospirosis, one of the most widespread zoonotic infectious diseases worldwide, is caused by spirochetes bacteria of the genus Leptospira. The present study examined inhibitory activity of purified xanthones and crude extracts from Garcinia mangostana against both non-pathogenic and pathogenic leptospira. Synergy between γ-mangostin and penicillin G against leptospires was also det...

Nocardia species are ubiquitous in natural environments and can cause nocardiosis. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole has long been the monotherapy treatment of choice, but resistance to this treatment has recently emerged. In this study, we used microplate Alamar Blue assays to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of 65 standard Nocardia isolates, including 28 type strains and 20 cli...

BACKGROUND The current techniques for quantifying trophoblast viability, migration and invasion are mainly limited by the need to sacrifice the cells during the test procedure. In this study, the vital dye AB (AB) was used to quantify cell number and viability of BeWo and JEG-3 choriocarcinoma cells, as well as their migration and invasion through fibronectin-coated filters. METHODS AB was di...