This experiment aimed to study the effects on liver tissue structure and immune performance of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus when common reed Phragmites australis is in its diet, instead wheat Triticum aestivum L. Seventy-two healthy carps (145.52 ± 2.56 g) were randomly divided into three groups according their body weight. Fishes each group fed an essential diet with 0% (control group),...

The purpose of this study was to examine the molecular parameters necessary for initiation of complement fixation by IgM proteins. To determine why some IgM molecules are capable of complement fixation while others are not, several different Waldenström IgM proteins were examined for their ability to fix total hemolytic complement in the CH(50) assay. Subsequently, the C1 fixing ability of a 56...

FUT-175 inhibited the zymosan-induced rat paw edema in a dose-dependent manner, while indomethacin exhibited no significant activities in this model. FUT-175 also inhibited the decrease in hemolytic complement (CH50) induced by zymosan in vitro, and indomethacin was inactive. These results suggest that FUT-175 has potent in vitro and in vivo inhibitory activity against the activation of the com...

BACKGROUND Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is characterized as a form of hepatitis in which, despite of absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in patient's peripheral blood. The aim of this study was to investigate components of humoral immunity during OBI as a possible measure of how patients respond to Hepatitis B viral infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this study, HBsAg-/anti...

OBJECTIVES Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) is a pattern-associated receptor functioning in innate immunity that may be involved in the recognition of self-antigens and the production of pathogenic auto-antibodies. Therefore, we examined the expression of TLR9 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to determine whether TLR9 is involved in the production of pathogenic auto-antibodies. METHODS B cell...

We report a CCSD(T)/cc-pCV5Z quartic force field (QFF) and a semi-global CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pVTZ potential energy surface (PES) for singlet, cyclic C4. Vibrational fundamentals, combinations, and overtones are obtained using vibrational second-order perturbation theory (VPT2) and the vibrational configuration-interaction (VCI) approach. Agreement is within 10 cm(-1) between the VCI calculated ...

BACKGROUND The clinical significance of complement is unclear in patients with unexplained recurrent miscarriage, though low levels of complement 3 (C3) and/or complement 4 (C4) are reported to be associated with the antiphospholipid syndrome (aPS). We therefore investigated whether C3 and C4 have a predictive value for subsequent miscarriages. METHODS In total, 215 patients with a history of...

OBJECTIVE To study immunological markers and compare these markers with standard measures for the clinical and immunological follow up of vasculitis activity in hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis (CV). METHODS Serial serum samples from eight patients with newly diagnosed HCV associated CV were followed during interferon alpha treatment induced remission of the CV....