Adipose stem cells, which reside in a vascular niche, are essential to the development and maintenance of adipose tissue. Data from humans and rodents show that maintenance of adult adipose tissue is a dynamic process. Adipocyte turnover in young adult mice is estimated to be greater than 10% per month. The adipose stem cell niche is just as active, generating new adipocytes and replenishing th...

First recognised as 'schizonts' of Trypanosoma cruzi, Pneumocystis organisms are now considered as part of an early-diverging lineage of Ascomycetes. As no robust long-term culture model is available, most data on the Pneumocystis cell cycle have stemmed from ultrastructural images of infected mammalian lungs. Although most fungi developing in animals do not complete a sexual cycle in vivo, Pne...

Papillomaviruses infect epithelial cells, and depend on epithelial differentiation for completion of their life cycle. The expression of viral gene products is closely regulated as the infected basal cell migrates towards the epithelial surface. Expression of E6 and E7 in the lower epithelial layers drives cells into S-phase, which creates an environment that is conducive for viral genome repli...

Globally, WHO estimates that 350 million individuals are infected with HBV and that HBV is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and regions of Asia. Hepatitis B is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatitis B is treated with oral nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Bolognese J. Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Med J Therapeut Africa. 2007;3:229-3.