In acute pancreatitis, local as well as systemic organ complications are mediated by the activation of various inflammatory cascades. The role of complement in this setting is unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine the level of complement activation in experimental pancreatitis, to evaluate the interaction of complement and leukocyte-endothelium activation, and to assess the eff...

Gene therapy with viral vectors has shown some promise in nude mice models and in initial Phase I trials of patients with extensive metastatic cancer. A Phase I clinical trial (D. L. Tait et al., Clin. Cancer Res., 3: 1959-1968, 1997) of ovarian cancer patients treated with i.p. retroviral LXSN-BRCA1sv gene therapy reported stable vector, minimal antibody response, and tumor reduction. We initi...

Perfluorocarbons have shown promise as clinical blood substitutes. Although early experience in Japan with one such product--Fluosol-DA--has been uncomplicated, we observed an adverse pulmonary reaction in the first American patient to receive it and know of similar reactions in two other Americans so treated. Postulating that activation of plasma complement (C) by the perfluorocarbon emulsion ...

Case report A 32 year-old male presented with fever and pharyngitis. Amoxicillin was prescribed and 5 days into therapy he developed a petechial rash on the lower extremities, arthritis of the ankles, wrists and elbows, and loose stools. He completed the amoxicillin with no worsening of symptoms. A vasculitis assessment in the Internal Medicine Clinic found a slightly elevated ANA and normal AN...

In 1978, an 11-year-old boy began to notice proximal weakness in his limbs together with facial erythema; palpebral violaceous edema; and erythematous papules on his elbows, knees, and over the metacarpophalangeal joints. A diagnosis of polymyositis/dermatomyositis was made. He was treated with oral prednisone, which caused the symptoms to disappear promptly. In 1980, proximal weakness, dysphag...

The brain contains glial cells. Astrocytes, a type of glial cell, have long been known to provide a passive supportive role to neurons. However, increasing evidence suggests that astrocytes may also actively participate in brain function through functional interactions with neurons. However, many fundamental aspects of astrocyte biology remain controversial, unclear and/or experimentally unexpl...

The relationship among complement consumption, C3 deposition, and C3 fragmentation pattern was compared for serum-sensitive (Sers) and serum-resistant (Serr) strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Sers strains, which were mucoid strains derived from patients with cystic fibrosis, had lipopolysaccharide deficient in O-antigen side chains. These organisms generally activated much less complement ...

Biomass is a promising renewable energy option that provides a more environmentally sustainable alternative to fossil resources by reducing the net flux of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. Yet, allometric models that allow the prediction of aboveground biomass (AGB), biomass carbon (C) stock non-destructively have not yet been developed for tropical perennial C4 grasses currently under cons...

Engineering C3 plants to increase their efficiency of carbon fixation as well as of nitrogen and water use simultaneously may be facilitated by understanding the mechanisms that underpin the C4 syndrome. Existing experimental studies have indicated that the emergence of the C4 syndrome requires co-ordination between several levels of cellular organization, from gene regulation to metabolism, ac...

Alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) has been studied in a variety of organisms due to the involvement of this enzyme in mammalian processes such as non-alcoholic hepatocellular damage, and in plant processes such as C4 photosynthesis, post-hypoxic stress response and nitrogen use efficiency. To date, very few studies have made direct comparisons of AlaAT enzymes and fewer still have made direct co...