AIMS To investigate the myxovirus-resistance protein A (MxA) and double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) genetic response to interferon (IFN) therapy in hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 4-infected patients. Moreover, we studied the association between suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) gene expression and therapy resistance in genotype 4. Finally, we investigated the novel li...

The pathogenesis of preeclampsia involves many environmental and genetic factors. An excessive inflammatory response during pregnancy could cause an imbalance in the immune system, and thus contributes to the development of preeclampsia. Inflammatory cytokines produced by T-helper 2 cells, such as IL-4, contribute to inhibiting cellular immunity and inducing the placental growth. Two common gen...

The aim of the study: evaluation impact long-term effects repeated courses Actovegin therapy on indicators minimal cognitive dysfunction (MCD) in relatives patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Study participant: 76 people signs objectively confirmed by clinical and neuropsychological examination, who are 1st degree AD. design: a prospective comparative study (4 total) three-month oral (at da...

Dengue fever is the most important viral neglected tropical disease [1], and during 2008 more than 865,000 cases of dengue infection were reported in the American continent. Brazil is experiencing severe yearly outbreaks of dengue virus (DENV) serotypes 1 to 3 [2]. Since its brief incursion into the eastern Brazilian Amazon in 1982 [3], DENV-4 has not been detected or known to have caused outbr...

Oat is used for food, in animal feeding and non-food products. Twenty-five oat genotypes were evaluated at six different environments to determine high-yielding, good-quality stable genotypes. Experiments conducted randomized blocks design with 4 replications. Grain yield, plant height, test weight, thousand-grain screening percentage, groat protein, ?-glucan starch contents 25 Genotype, enviro...

Egypt has one of the world's highest prevalences of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with a majority of genotype 4 infections. To explore the genetic diversity of HCV in Egypt, sera from 131 Egyptians [56 from community studies, 37 chronic hepatitis patients, 28 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and 10 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma] were genotyped by restriction fragment-length p...

BACKGROUND Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) is a potent immunoregulatory molecule that suppresses antitumor response by downregulating T cell activation. The most studied +49A>G polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene has been associated with several autoimmune diseases. However, little is known about the association between this functional polymorphism of CTLA-4 and cancer prognosis. OBJECT...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated whether measures of waking or diurnal cortisol secretion, or self-reported psychological disturbances differed among police officers with a Period3 (PER3) clock gene length polymorphism. METHODS The cortisol awakening response was characterized via the area under the salivary cortisol curve with respect to the increase (AUCI) or total waking cortisol (AUCG). Diu...

OBJECTIVE Cysteinyl leukotrienes are involved in inflammation and possibly in early carotid atherosclerosis. We tested the hypothesis that the -444 A/C and -1072 G/A polymorphisms of the leukotriene C(4) synthase associate with risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease. METHODS AND RESULTS We genotyped 10 592 individuals from the Danish general population, the Copenhagen City Heart Study. Duri...

BACKGROUND Recent data suggest that the prevalence of genotype 4 HCV strains among Spanish carriers is increasing. OBJECTIVE To assess changes in the prevalence of HCV genotypes in Spain during the last nine years. METHODS HCV RNA was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction from 3161 serum samples from unselected, anti-HCV-positive individuals, and the HCV genotype was identified by a re...