Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) causes ~80% of primary and metastatic Merkel cell carcinomas (MCCs). By comparing digital transcriptome subtraction deep-sequencing profiles, we found that transcripts of the cellular survivin oncoprotein [BIRC5a (baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis repeat-containing 5)] were up-regulated sevenfold in virus-positive compared to virus-negative MCC tumors. Knockdown ...

Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV), the only member of the Molluscipoxvirus genus, causes benign papules in healthy people but disfiguring lesions in immunocompromised patients. The sequence of MCV has been completed, revealing that MCV encodes a probable type I topoisomerase enzyme. All poxviruses sequenced to date also encode type I topoisomerases, and in the case of vaccinia virus the topoiso...

Climatological characteristics of mesoscale convective vortices (MCVs) occurring in the state of Oklahoma during the late spring and summer of four years are investigated. The MCV cases are selected based on vortex detection by an objective algorithm operating on analyses from the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model. Consistent with a previous study, true MCVs represent only about 20% of the mesosca...

The cell volumes of mononuclear cells, T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, and monocytes from the peripheral blood of 20 normal individuals were compared to neoplastic lymphoid cells from 14 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), 20 individuals with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL), and 18 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Normal T cells were obtained by rosetting mononuclear cells ...

BACKGROUND Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was recently shown to be age-dependent when using Sysmex XE-2100 hematology analyzers. As measuring RDW is subject to technology, we have investigated if this relation also exists when using a different hematology analyzer, Abbott CELL-DYN Sapphire. In addition, as RDW is generally expressed relative to mean red blood cell volume (MCV), we have...

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive and lethal type of neuroendocrine skin cancer. Mutated Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is commonly found in MCC, and leads to upregulation of the survivin oncogene. However, ∼20% of MCC tumors do not have detectable MCV, suggesting alternative etiologies for this tumor type. In this study, our aim was to evaluate microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles a...