The accumulation and infiltration of mast cells are found in osteoarthritic lesions in humans and rodents. Nonetheless, the roles of mast cells in osteoarthritis are almost unknown. Although Viscum coloratum has various beneficial actions, its effect on allergic and osteoarthritic responses is unknown. In this study, we established an in vitro model of mast cell-mediated osteoarthritis and inve...

BACKGROUND For a safe 'in vivo' biomedical utilization of nanoparticles, it is essential to assess not only biocompatibility, but also the potential to trigger unwanted side effects at both cellular and tissue levels. Mastocytes (cells having secretory granules containing cytokines, vasoactive amine, and proteases) play a pivotal role in the immune and inflammatory responses against exogenous t...

IgE-dependent activation of mast cell activation is often associated with symptoms attributed to activation of sensory nerves. Depending on the tissues involved such symptoms include itching, sneezing, irritation, vasodilation, and reflex secretions. In the present study, we hypothesize that sensory neuroactive mediators released from mast cells may include agonists of recently discovered orpha...

The antimicrobial and proinflammatory neutrophil granule protein cathepsin G (CaG) has been reported as a chemoattractant for human phagocytic leukocytes by using a putative G protein coupled receptor. In an effort to identify potential CaG receptor(s), we found that CaG-induced phagocyte migration was specifically attenuated by the bacterial chemotactic peptide fMLP, suggesting these two chemo...

We present calculations of the auroral radio powers expected from exoplanets with magnetospheres driven by an Earth-like magnetospheric interaction with the solar wind. Specifically, we compute the twin cell-vortical ionospheric flows, currents, and resulting radio powers resulting from a Dungey cycle process driven by dayside and nightside magnetic reconnection, as a function of planetary orbi...

This paper presents a new method for the determination of imidacloprid in water samples; one of the most widely used neonicotinoid pesticides in the farming industry. The method is based on the measurement of excitation-emission spectra of photo-induced fluorescence (PIF-EEMs) associated with second-order multivariate calibration with a parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and unfolded partial le...

The granules of mast cells contain a myriad of mediators that are stored and protected by the sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains that decorate proteoglycans. Whereas heparin is the GAG predominantly associated with mast cells, mast cell proteoglycans are also decorated with heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate (CS). This study investigated a unique CS structure produced by mast cells th...

The mechanism behind natural tumor resistance conveyed by a H-2Dd transgene to C57Bl/6 (B6) mice was investigated. Transgenic D8 mice were more efficient than control mice in natural killer (NK) cell mediated rapid elimination of intravenously inoculated radiolabeled lymphoma cells of B6 origin, such as RBL-5. There was no difference between D8 and B6 mice when elimination of YAC-1 targets was ...

In this paper the E-mail Directory Harvest Attacks (DHA) are investigated. The goal of the DHA attacker is to identify valid e-mail addresses in a system, which addresses can be sold or used for spanming purposes. To achieve the goal the attacker tries numerous different addresses and selects valid addresses according to the response of the e-mail server. We elaborated a method for optimizing t...

Mast cells rely on Ca(2+) signaling to initiate activation programs leading to release of proinflammatory mediators. The interplay between Ca(2+) release from internal stores and Ca(2+) entry through store-operated Ca(2+) channels has been extensively studied. Using rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) mast cells and murine bone marrow-derived mast cells, we examine the role of Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchangers...