BACKGROUND During the past 15 years, closure of a secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) has moved from a surgical to a percutaneous transcatheter approach. Few long-term studies of the efficacy and safety of closure of an ASD by an Amplatzer septal occluder (ASO) exist. METHODS To examine the long-term results of secundum ASD closure using the ASO, data on 94 patients who underwent secundum ASD...

Formation of Fe(II)-As(III) solids is suspected to limit dissolved As concentrations in anaerobic environments. Iron(II) precipitates enriched in As(III) have been observed after microbial reduction of As(V)-loaded lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) and symplesite (Fe(II)(As(V)O)]·8HO) and upon abiotic reaction of Fe(II) with As(III). However, the conditions favorable for Fe(II)-As(III) precipitation and ...

Insulin exerts its potent effects on hepatic glucose fluxes via direct and indirect mechanisms. Whereas a liver-specific insulin receptor (IR) knockout (LIRKO) mouse exhibits glucose intolerance as well as insulin resistance, it is unclear whether a more acute decrease in the expression of hepatic IR would be sufficient to induce hepatic insulin resistance. Here we report that the downregulatio...

Uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) reduces oxidative stress by facilitating the influx of protons into mitochondrial matrix, thus dissociating mitochondrial oxidation from ATP synthesis. UCP2 is expressed abundantly in brain areas and plays a key role in neuroprotection. Here, we sought to determine if UCP2 deficiency produces cognitive impairment and anxiety in young mice, and to determine if hippoca...

This study is designed to evaluate the immune status of schoolchildren with respect to Streptococcus pyogenes, and to ascertain the usefulness of antideoxyribonuclease B (ADNase B). Antistreptolysin O (ASO) and ADNase B concentrations were measured quantitatively in 266 serum samples from healthy elementary school children in Seoul. Simultaneously, throat cultures were taken in order to isolate...

Recent reports underscore the unparalleled potential of antisense-oligonucleotide (ASO)-based approaches to ameliorate various pathological conditions. However, in vivo studies validating the effectiveness of a short ASO (<10-mer) in the context of a human disease have not been performed. One disease with proven amenability to ASO-based therapy is spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a neuromu...

To understand how the balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic signals influences effector function in the immune system, we studied the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), an endogenous regulator of cellular apoptosis. Real-time PCR showed increased XIAP expression in blood of mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, correlating with disease severity. Daily administration (10 mg...

BACKGROUND Sympathetic cardiopulmonary nerves arise from the cervical sympathetic trunks and the stellate ganglia and subsequently course along the origin of the great arteries and the coronary arteries to innervate the ventricles. Therefore, the sympathetic nerves may be obligatorily interrupted by the arterial switch operation (ASO) for complete transposition of the great arteries. METHODS ...

After the publication of this work [1], we noticed that we had incorrectly used the term ‘OGX-011’. All instances of OGX-011 in the manuscript should be changed to ‘ASO-CLU’, apart from the last paragraph in the Introduction section which should remain as published. We also noticed in the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Materials and methods section we mistakenly stated that OGX-0...

We describe a novel assay for detection of point mutations. The method combines the specificity and sensitivity of the potymerase chain reaction (PCR) and allele-specific oligonucleotides (ASO) with highly sensitive timeresolved fluorometry. ASO probes differing by a single base substitution and labeled with europium (Eu) chelates were hybridized in solution simultaneously with a biotinylated o...