PURPOSE Fas-Fas ligand (FasL)-mediated death pathway is important in the life and death of immune cells and, therefore, influences immune surveillance of carcinogenesis. This study examined the association between functional variants of Fas (-1377G-->A and -670A-->G), FasL (-844T-->C), and caspase-8 (CASP8) six-nucleotide deletion polymorphism (-652 6N ins-->del) and risk of pancreatic cancer. ...

Clone 46 was recently shown by both immunologic and genetic criteria (Negishi, M., Swan, D. C., Enquist, L. W., and Nebert, D. W. (1981) h c . Natl. Acad Sci. U. S. A. 78, 800-804) to represent a cloned DNA sequence encoding 3-methylcholanthrene-induced cytochrome P1-450, a structural gene product of the [Ah] complex. Liver DNA from control, 3-methylcholanthrene-treated and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorod...

Despite indications that hearts from the C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J mouse substrains differ in terms of their contractility and their responses to stress-induced overload, no information is available about the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms. We tested whether subacute (48 hours) and chronic (14 days) administration of angiotensin II (500 ng/kg per day) had different effects on the left...

C57BL/6N mice are inbred strains widely used in biomedical research. Hence, a large amount of basic data has been accumulated. However, in the field of histopathology, spontaneous data for relatively younger mice that are used more frequently are not yet abundant, in contrast to data for older mice and their neoplastic lesions. To acquire the essential background data required by various resear...

A series of fused tricyclic coumarin derivatives bearing iminopyran ring connected to various amido moieties were developed as potential multifunctional anti-Alzheimer agents for their cholinesterase inhibitory and radical scavenging activities. In vitro studies revealed that most of these compounds exhibited high inhibitory activity on acetylcholinesterase (AChE), with IC50 values ranging from...

Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) offers a unique approach for addressing both the function and structure of an organ in near-real time in the live animal. The method however is limited by the tissue-specific penetration depth of the excitation laser. In the kidney, structures in the range of 100 µm from the surface are accessible for MPM. This limitation of MPM aggravates the investigation of the f...

We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional associations of serum fatty acid (FA) and related Δ-desaturase with hypertension among 2,447 community-dwellers aged 35-79 years living in Zhejiang Province, China. Individual FA was determined in serum, Δ(5)-desaturase (D5D) and Δ(6)-desaturase (D6D) activities were indirectly estimated by FA product/precursor ratios. Participants in the highest quar...

PURPOSE Caspase-8 (CASP8) is a key regulator of apoptosis or programmed cell death, an essential defense mechanism against hyperproliferation and malignancy. We hypothesized that the variants in the CASP8 gene are associated with risk of bladder cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN In a hospital-based case-control study of 365 case patients with newly diagnosed bladder transitional cell carcinoma and ...

Using an in vivo plasmid transformation method, we have determined the DNA sequences recognized by the KpnAI, StySEAI, StySENI and StySGI R-M systems from Klebsiella oxytoca strain M5a1, Salmonella eastbourne, Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella gelsenkirchen, respectively. These type I restriction-modification systems were originally identified using traditional phage assay, and described he...