Cumulative evidence indicates that osteoblasts and adipocytes share a common mesenchymal precursor and that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) can induce both osteoblast and adipocyte differentiation of this precursor. In the present study, we investigated the roles of BMP receptors in differentiation along these separate lineages using a well-characterized clonal cell line, 2T3, derived from t...

Background: Avian infectious bronchitis (IB), with avianinfectious bronchitis virus (IBV) as the causing agent, is a ubiquitous endemicdisease of the chicken with devastating effects on its industry. A viralmembrane surface protein called S  notonly induces neutralizing antibodies but also plays an important role in virusbinding and entry to host cells. Technically, S1 protein gene sequencing a...

Thrombin is a physiological agonist that promotes platelet aggregation and secretion. In this study we observed that thrombin can also inhibit a function of platelets related to primary hemostasis. Platelet stimulation by thrombin decreased the binding of von Willebrand factor (vWF) to glycoprotein (GP) Ib and decreased ristocetin-induced agglutination, in vitro reactions that correlate with in...

Submillisecond mixing experiments and tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy are used to address two questions raised in earlier stopped-flow studies of the folding and unfolding kinetics of sperm whale apomyoglobin. A study of the pH 4 folding intermediate (I) revealed, surprisingly, that its folding and unfolding kinetics are measurable and fit the two-state model except for a possible burst ph...

This study aimed at determining the possible exposure of wild birds to avian influenza (AI), infectious bronchitis (IB) and Newcastle disease (ND) viruses. Apparently healthy species of free flying wild birds were captured using locally-made baited traps set at strategic watering and feeding locations and in poultry farms. Few species of captive wild birds in households and live bird markets (L...

The advent of Internet has provided banks an opportunity to reduce costs, increase customer base, and mass customize by delivering their products and services through this medium. A flurry of studies on Internet banking (IB) has since emerged. The majority of these studies, however, have been directed to either IB adoption or IB service quality delivery. With few exceptions, the impact that cus...

A typical symptom of postharvest chilling injury (PCI) in pineapple fruit (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) is internal browning (IB) near the fruit core. Since vascular bundles (VBs) are localized to this region, it was hypothesized that the VBs might be the site of IB. To test this, the anatomy and histochemistry of VBs during chilling stress in four pineapple cultivars with different levels of sen...

1. The effect of treatment with a thiazide-like diuretic alone or combined with a beta-adrenoceptor blocker on serum lipoproteins was investigated in 35 patients with essential hypertension. 2. In group I (18 patients), serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was increased (P less than 0.001) during monotherapy with chlorthalidone (100 mg/day) but not during combined chlorthalidone--beta-bloc...

Lactic dehydrogenase virus (LDV) associated with transplantable line Ib lymphocytic leukemia in C58iWm mice, K36 lymphocytic leukemia in AKRiJ mice, and the Gardner lymphosarcoma in C3HIHeJ mice elicited a fatal neuroparalytic disease when injected ip into 7to g-month-old X-irradiated indicator C58 mice. LDV associated with the WEHI-3B line of transplantable myelomonocytic leukemia or the Hardi...

Small-diameter sensory neurons that are primarily nociceptors can be divided neurochemically into two populations: isolectin B(4) (IB(4))-positive nonpeptidergic neurons, and IB(4)-negative peptidergic neurons. It has been shown that IB(4)-positive neurons depend on glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), whereas IB(4)-negative neurons depend on NGF for survival during postnatal development (...