Identification of the physiological roles and elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involving tumor suppressor genes and their gene products are important for a more comprehensive understanding of cancer pathogenesis. Since the Knudson’s statistical studies on retinoblastoma, neuroblastoma, and pheochromocytoma, which led to the conclusion that the occurrence of these tumors fits a two-mutati...

An iconic, visionary giant in medical science, Alfred G. Knudson, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. died July 10, 2016, one month short of his 94 birthday. Often referred to as the ‘‘Mendel of cancer genetics’’—Al was widely known for his groundbreaking ‘‘two-hit’’ hypothesis of cancer development and his prediction of recessiveacting tumor suppressor genes. His revolutionary two-hit hypothesis envisaged that c...

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) induces migration, proliferation, and branching in renal epithelial cells from the inner medullary collecting duct (mIMCD-3 cells). Microarray analysis after HGF stimulation of these cells revealed upregulation of the chemokine KC. We found that both the message and protein levels of KC are increased after HGF treatment and that mIMCD-3 cells express the KC recept...

Given a sequence of complex numbers ρn, we study the asymptotic distribution of the sets of parameters c ∈ C such that the quadratic maps z2+c has a cycle of period n and multiplier ρn. Assume 1 n log |ρn| → L. If L ≤ log 2, they equidistribute on the boundary of the Mandelbrot set. If L > log 2 they equidistribute on the equipotential of the Mandelbrot set of level 2L− 2 log 2. Introduction In...

for X a variety and L a line bundle on X. Denoting by Kp,q(X,L) the cohomology at the middle of the sequence above, one sees immediately that the surjectivity of the map μ0 is equivalent to K0,2(C, KC) = 0, and that if this is the case, the ideal I is generated by quadrics if and only if K1,2(C, KC) = 0. On the other hand, C being non hyperelliptic is equivalent to the fact that the Clifford in...

We show that the class of unital C-algebras is an elementary class in the language of operator systems. As a result, we have that there is a definable predicate in the language of operator systems that defines the multiplication in any C-algebra. Moreover, we prove that the aforementioned class is ∀∃∀-axiomatizable but not ∀∃-axiomatizable nor ∃∀-axiomatizable. Recall that a C∗-algebra is a ∗-s...

for X a variety and L a line bundle on X. Denoting by Kp,q(X,L) the cohomology at the middle of the sequence above, one sees immediately that the surjectivity of the map μ0 is equivalent to K0,2(C,KC) = 0, and that if this is the case, the ideal I is generated by quadrics if and only if K1,2(C,KC) = 0. On the other hand, C being non hyperelliptic is equivalent to the fact that the Clifford inde...

The intravenous injection of LPS rapidly evokes fever. We have hypothesized that its onset is mediated by prostaglandin (PG)E(2) quickly released by Kupffer cells (Kc). LPS, however, does not stimulate PGE(2) production by Kc as rapidly as it induces fever; but complement (C) activated by LPS could be the exciting agent. To test this hypothesis, we injected LPS (2 or 8 microg/kg) or cobra venom...

Inhalation of fungal spores has been shown to cause primary or secondary infection and respiratory inflammation and diseases such as allergic alveolitis, atopic asthma, and organic dust toxic syndrome, which are rarely reported in the absence of predisposing factors. Biochemical and molecular markers of inflammation were measured in rat bronchial alveolar lavage cells (> 95% macrophages) follow...

The importance of VP7 of bluetongue virus (BTV) in the binding of BTV to membrane proteins of the BTV vector Culicoides variipennis was investigated. Core BTV particles, prepared from whole viruses, lacked outer proteins VP2 and VP5 and had VP7 exposed. More core particles and whole viruses bound to membrane preparations of adults of C. variipennis and KC cells, which were cultured from this ve...