This paper studies kinship band networks as capital market institutions. Membership in a community where individuals are dynastically linked has two effects on informal credit transactions. First, the non-anonymity of the dynastic link allows to sanction the defaulters' offspring and induce compliance even in short-term interactions (social enforcement). Second, preferential agreements can aris...

A series of low band gap, highly soluble alternating conjugated copolymers, comprised of 11,11,12,12-tetrahexylindenofluorene and thiophene derivatives (P1-P4), were synthesized via Pd-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction with very good yields. Described here are the synthesis, thermal, optical, and electrochemical properties of these new copolymers as potential new active materials for electroni...

Parasite of the genus Leishmania is reliant on the salvage pathway for recycling of ribonucleotides. A class I nuclease enzyme also known as P4 nuclease is involved in salvage of purines in cutaneous Leishmania species but the relevant enzymes have not been characterized in Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). The aim of this study was to clone and characterize the gene encoding class I nuclease ...

The potential adverse effect of synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone therapy on the developing heart remains unknown. The present study investigated the effects of dexamethasone on cardiomyocyte proliferation and binucleation in the developing heart of newborn rats and evaluated DNA methylation as a potential mechanism. Dexamethasone was administered intraperitoneally in a three day tapered ...

Triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are highly aggressive and grow in response to sex steroid hormones despite lacking expression of the classical estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4) receptors. Since P4 receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) is expressed in breast cancer tumors and is known to mediate P4-induced cell survival, this study was designed to determine the expression of PGRMC1 in ...

Chloride permeability pathways and progesterone (P4) secretion elicited by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in human granulosa cells were studied by electrophysiological techniques and single-cell volume, membrane potential and Ca2+i measurements. Reduction in extracellular Cl(-) and equimolar substitution by the membrane-impermeant anions glutamate or gluconate significantly increased hCG-st...

New treatments against severe bacterial infections are needed because the response to antibiotic treatment is slow in acute settings and is becoming less effective owing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. P4-mediated antibody therapy offers a unique treatment strategy that combines exogenous immunoglobulin with the immunoactivating peptide P4. In an acute model of pneumococcal ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW P4 medicine denotes an evolving field of medicine encompassing predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory medicine. Using the example of kidney allograft rejection because of donor-recipient incompatibility in human leukocyte antigens, this review outlines P4 medicine's relevance to the various stages of the kidney transplant cycle. SOURCES OF INFORMATION A sear...

We investigated the kinetics of 4N-acetyl-pentapeptides, Ac-P1, Ac-P2, Ac-P3, and Ac-P4, regarding inhibition of mushroom tyrosinase activity. The peptides sequences of Ac-P1, Ac-P2, Ac-P3, and Ac-P4 were Ac-RSRFK, Ac-KSRFR, Ac-KSSFR, and Ac-RSRFS, respectively. The 4N-acetyl-pentapeptides were able to reduce the oxidation of l-DOPA by tyrosinase in a dose-dependent manner. Of the 4N-acetyl-pen...

Several inositol-containing compounds play key roles in receptor-mediated cell signaling events. Here, we describe a function for a specific inositol polyphosphate, D-myo-inositol 1,4,5,6-tetrakisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5,6)P4], that is produced acutely in response to a receptor-independent process. Thus, infection of intestinal epithelial cells with the enteric pathogen Salmonella, but not with oth...