We report on a comprehensive set of observations of Gamma Ray Burst 050716, detected by the Swift satellite and subsequently followed-up rapidly in X-ray, optical and near infra-red wavebands. The prompt emission is typical of long-duration bursts, with two peaks in a time interval of T90 = 68 seconds (15 – 350 keV). The prompt emission continues at lower flux levels in the X-ray band, where se...

Betacellulin (BTC) induces differentiation of pancreatic beta-cells and promotes regeneration of beta-cells in experimental diabetes. The present study was conducted to determine if BTC improved glucose metabolism in severe diabetes induced by a high dose of streptozotocin (STZ) in mice. Male ICR mice were injected with 200 microg/g ip STZ, and various doses of BTC were administered daily for 1...

Obesity and its associated health risks have been identified as areas of concern for First Nations women, however, very little is known about the cultural, gendered and historical meanings or experiences of healthy body weight and healthy body image from the perspectives of First Nations women. This article describes the first phase of a project that explores these issues from the perspective o...

Akiyama and Goto have proposed a cryptosystem based on rational points on curves over function fields (stated in the equivalent form of sections of fibrations on surfaces). It is easy to construct a curve passing through a few given points, but finding the points, given only the curve, is hard. We show how to break their original cryptosystem by using algebraic points instead of rational points...

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is important for the proliferation and differentiation of gastric mucosal cells. Betacellulin (BTC) is a novel ligand for EGFR Since their role is unclear in the ulcer healing process, we investigated their expression. Gastric ulcers in 30 Sprague-Dawley rats were induced by acetic acid. RT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect EGFR and BTC. I...

Activin A and betacellulin (BTC) are thought to regulate differentiation of pancreatic beta-cells during development and regeneration of beta-cells in adults. In the present study, we used neonatal rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ) to investigate the effects of activin A and BTC on regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells. One-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with STZ (85 micro g/g) ...

BACKGROUND Liver transplantation is an important treatment option for patients with liver-originated tumors including biliary tract carcinomas (BTCs). Post-transplant tumor recurrence remains a limiting factor for long-term survival. The mammalian target of rapamycin-targeting immunosuppressive drug rapamycin could be helpful in lowering BTC recurrence rates. Therein, we investigated the antipr...

Directed delivery of EGF receptor (EGFR) ligands to the apical or basolateral surface is a crucial regulatory step in the initiation of EGFR signaling in polarized epithelial cells. Herein, we show that the EGFR ligand betacellulin (BTC) is preferentially sorted to the basolateral surface of polarized MDCK cells. By using sequential truncations and site-directed mutagenesis within the BTC cytop...

Betacellulin (BTC), a member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family of peptide growth factors, was purified from a growth-factor-enriched whey fraction of bovine milk by a combination of ion-exchange chromatography, gel-filtration chromatography, affinity chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. Bovine BTC (bBTC) had an apparent molecular mass of 21-22 kDa on SDS/PAGE and exists in a glycosy...