Invasive plants often experience rapid changes in biological interactions by escaping from their original herbivores at their new habitats, and sometimes re-associating with those herbivores afterwards. However, little is known about whether the temporal changes in herbivorous impact work as a selective agent for defensive traits of invaded plants. Solidago altissima (goldenrod) is a North Amer...

Undiagnosed and untreated thyroid disease can be a cause for infertility as well sub-fertility. Both these conditions have important medical, economical, psychological implications in our society. Thyroid dysfunction affect fertility various ways resulting anovulatory cycles, luteal phase defect, high prolactin (PRL) levels, sex hormone imbalance. hormones are instrumental reproductive physiolo...

A novel protein, Smsp-72k, was found to be selectively expressed in the silk gland of aquatic larvae of the Stenopsychid caddisfly (Stenopsyche marmorata). The protein was characterized by an abundance of cysteine (13.97%) and charged residues (47.21%). Amino acids with hydroxyl side-chains accounted for an additional 10% of the Smsp-72k protein, with serine at 4.4% and threonine at 5.6%. A cys...

Cutis laxa is a term that refers to markedly loose skin that is not hyperelastic. It is regarded as a genetically heterogeneous group of diseases and is presently divided into five types. We report a male patient with type II autosomal recessive disease. The patient was the third child of first-cousin consanguineous, healthy parents. His two siblings died a few hours after birth. One of the sib...

Methods Pediatric patients of Caucasian Italian origin with the following diseases/manifestations were included in the study: i) histologically confirmed polyartiritis nodosa (PAN) or cutaneous polyartiritis nodosa (cPAN), ii) persistent livedo reticularis with elevation of acute phase reactants, iii) ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes with systemic inflammation. Direct sequencing of CECR1 gene (e...

Three cases are described in which extensive livedo reticularis was associated with premature cerebrovascular disease. The patients presented with transient cerebral ischaemic attacks and gradually developed permanent neurological damage with intellectual impairment. The value of detailed neuropsychological testing to identify bilateral cortical abnormalities is demonstrated. CAT scanning may r...

Increased levels of IgG anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) were found in 23 of 98 patients (23%) with systemic lupus erythematosus. Increased levels of IgM ACA were found less frequently (5%). All four patients with major cerebrovascular events had increased IgG ACA, including the two with highest levels, both of whom were men. Six of nine patients with livedo reticularis had increased IgG ACA. I...

Plasma cell leukemia is an uncommon, aggressive variant of leukemia that may occur de novo or in association with multiple myeloma. Leukemia cutis is the cutaneous manifestation of leukemia, and indicates an infiltration of the skin by malignant leukocytes or their precursors. Plasma cell leukemia cutis is a rare clinical presentation of leukemia. We present a man who developed plasma cell leuk...

Aleukemic leukemia cutis is a rare condition characterized by the invasion of leukemic blasts into the skin before their appearance in the peripheral blood. Leukemia cutis usually occurs in patients with myeloid leukemia, especially the myelomonocytic and monocytic types of acute myeloblastic leukemia. We describe the case of a 62-year-old woman with aleukemic leukemia cutis who developed Phila...