The pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration involves chronic oxidative stress, impaired degradation of membranous discs shed from photoreceptor outer segments and accumulation of lysosomal lipofuscin in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. It has been estimated that a major part of cellular proteolysis occurs in proteasomes, but the importance of proteasomes and the other proteolyti...

OBJECT Recent studies have suggested that intrinsic apoptotic signaling cascade is involved in endothelial barrier dysfunction following hemorrhagic shock (HS), which results in vascular hyperpermeability. Our previous study demonstrated that ulinastatin (UTI) inhibits oxidant-induced endothelial hyperpermeability and apoptotic signaling. In present study, we hypothesized that UTI would improve...

Nasopharyngeal swab samples from patients with an acute flu-like illness were evaluated for the presence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) from October 1996 to March 1998. The relative frequency and seasonal distribution of RSV was assessed. In addition, the virus correlated with specific clinical signs and symptoms. During the study, 268 samples were collected from children under the a...

Background The study presents data on a sample of children under one year of age hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in Lithuania and Estonia. Subjects and methods This large, retrospective, cross-sectional, observational epidemiologic survey was conducted in 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Eligible subjects were under one year of age, hospitalized for LRT...

PURPOSE The pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration involves impaired protein degradation in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and the lysosomal pathway including autophagy are the major proteolytic systems in eukaryotic cells. Prior to proteolysis, heat shock proteins (HSPs) attempt to refold stress-induced misfolded proteins and thus prevent the...

BACKGROUND Cerebral toxoplasmosis (CT) continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients in Brazil. In clinical practice, the initial diagnosis is usually presumptive and alternative diagnosis tools are necessary. Our objective was to evaluate whether the detection of high titers of IgG anti-Toxoplasma gondii and T. gondii DNA in bloo...

BACKGROUND Monocyte/macrophages are known to infiltrate the brain of patients with HIV-1 encephalitis (HIVE). In Alzheimer's disease brain, the origin of activated microglia has not been determined. MATERIALS AND METHODS We employed the antigen retrieval technique, immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescense, and confocal microscopy to identify macrophages and microglia in relation to amyloid-bet...

The critical obstacle in developing of an effective human influenza vaccine is continuous antigenic variation of influenza A viruses occurred each year. Conserved antigens are important candidates for vaccines because it is not necessary to match the designed strains with circulating strains. M2 as an ion channel protein induce protective immunity. On the other hand, HSP70 is a molecular chaper...

The formation of nascent secretory vesicles from the transGolgi network (TGN) involves the coordinated participation of multiple enzymes, coat proteins, and cytoskeletal elements. Currently, the mechanisms that liberate nascent budding vesicles from the TGN are undefined. The large GTPase dynamin is an attractive candidate to participate in this function for several reasons. It is a mechanoenzy...