BACKGROUND alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) is a glycoprotein involved in delivery of growth factors, regulation of matrix degrading enzymes and modulation of fibrinolysis factors, all of which are considered as important pathogenic mechanisms of glomerular injury. However, the role of alpha 2M in glomerular disease has not been extensively studied. The amount, frequency and local distribution ...

beta-2-Microglobulin (beta 2M) is a major protein component found in the amyloid deposits of dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA) patients. Evidence has been shown that the advanced glycosylated end-products (AGEs) of beta 2M present in sera were related to DRA. We demonstrated that matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is a useful tool to investigate the nature...

Let G be a graph with n(G) vertices and m(G) be its matching number. The nullity of G, denoted by η(G), is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero of adjacency matrix of G. It is well known that if G is a tree, then η(G) = n(G)− 2m(G). Guo et al. [Jiming GUO, Weigen YAN, Yeongnan YEH. On the nullity and the matching number of unicyclic graphs. Linear Alg. Appl., 2009, 431: 1293–1301] proved tha...

Beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2M) has been proposed as a prognostic factor in multiple myeloma (MM), but beta 2M levels are reported to correlate with other prognostic indicators such as stage and creatinine level. This study addressed the independent prognostic values of these and other variables, including plasma cell labeling indices (LI), in patients with newly diagnosed MM. beta 2M levels wer...

Let (X,D) and (X?,D?) be two compact Riemann surfaces of genus g?4 with the set marked points D?X D??X?. Fix a parabolic line bundle L trivial structure. NSp(2m,?,L) NSp?(2m,?,L) moduli spaces stable symplectic Higgs bundles over X X? respectively, rank 2m fixed structure ?, form taking values in L. We prove that if is isomorphic to NSp?(2m,?,L), then there exist an isomorphism between sending ...

Let I7 = Sp(2m, 2) and I’ = X7, where Z is the translation group of the affine space AG(2m, 2). 17 acts 2-transitively on the cosets of each orthogonal subgroup G@(2m, 2), E = *l, and r has a second class of subgroups isomorphic to 17 ([lo, pp. 236, 2401, [6], and [14]). By considering a certain symmetric design P(2m) having r as its full automorphism group, we will prove these results. The sym...

Attempts to measure the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in human plasma resulted in the discovery of a specific plasma binding protein. The 125I-labeled PDGF (125I-PDGF)-plasma binding protein complex retained mitogenic activity but lost reactivity against rabbit anti-PDGF antiserum. Copurification of the plasma binding protein and alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) in human plasma, the for...

Alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) may function as a proteinase inhibitor in vivo. Levels of this protein are decreased in sepsis, but the reason these levels are low is unknown. Therefore, we analyzed the behavior of alpha 2M in a baboon model for sepsis. Upon challenge with a lethal (4 baboons) or a sublethal (10 baboons) dose of Escherichia coli, levels of inactivated alpha 2M (i alpha 2M) ste...

We consider the 2m-th order elliptic boundary value problem Lu = f(x, u) on a bounded smooth domain Ω ⊂ R with Dirichlet boundary conditions u = ∂ ∂ν u = . . . = ( ∂ ∂ν )u = 0 on ∂Ω. The operator L is a uniformly elliptic operator of order 2m given by L = ( − ∑N i,j=1 aij(x) ∂ ∂xi∂xj )m + ∑ |α|≤2m−1 bα(x)D . For the nonlinearity we assume that lims→∞ f(x,s) sq = h(x), lims→−∞ f(x,s) |s|q = k(x)...