The inability of sodium antimony gluconate (SAG)-unresponsive kala-azar patients to clear Leishmania donovani (LD) infection despite SAG therapy is partly due to an ill-defined immune-dysfunction. Since dendritic cells (DCs) typically initiate anti-leishmanial immunity, a role for DCs in aberrant LD clearance was investigated. Accordingly, regulation of SAG-induced activation of murine DCs foll...

We devised a method for assaying serum lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 (LD-1) activity specifically by preincubation with alpha-chymotrypsin and guanidine. Cleavage of phenylalanine bonds in the loop of A and B subunits of LD-3, LD-4, and LD-5 isoenzymes (residues 117-119) by incubation with alpha-chymotrypsin for a short time completely inactivated these isoenzymes and partially inactivated ...

OBJECTIVE To determine physicians' level of awareness and knowledge of Lyme disease (LD) in a low-prevalence area and whether physicians' practices align with current guidelines for treatment of LD. DESIGN A 23-item questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics, general knowledge about LD, laboratory testing for LD, and responses to 3 clinical scenarios. SETTING British Columbia (BC)....

SUMMARY BMapBuilder builds maps of pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) in either two or three dimensions. The optimized resolution allows for graphical display of LD for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a whole chromosome. AVAILABILITY The program is coded in Java, which runs on all relevant operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux, and is available from http://bios....

Toxoplasma is an obligate intracellular parasite that replicates in mammalian cells within a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) that does not fuse with any host organelles. One mechanism developed by the parasite for nutrient acquisition is the attraction of host organelles to the PV. Here, we examined the exploitation of host lipid droplets (LD), ubiquitous fat storage organelles, by Toxoplasma. We ...

The biogenesis of lipid droplets (LD) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was theoretically investigated on basis of a biophysical model. In accordance with the prevailing model of LD formation, we assumed that neutral lipids oil-out between the membrane leaflets of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), resulting in LD that bud-off when a critical size is reached. Mathematically, LD were modeled as...

In 385 patients with acute myocardial infarction, lactate dehydrogenase (LD; EC 1.1.1.27) isoenzymes were determined electrophoretically 24, 48, and 72 h after admission. At those times, LD-1/LD-2 ratios exceeding 1 were recorded in 78.9, 88.8, and 92.2% of the cases, respectively. LD-1 ranged from 181 to 2674 U/L, or 21.9 to 66.1% of the total activity. On the first day of hospitalization, 27....

Background:  In this study a series of basic dosimetric properties of a low-density (LD) gel dosimeter are investigated. The dose response is studied regarding to linearity, sensitivity, dose-rate and energy dependence as well as lung tissue equivalence. Materials and Methods: The LD gel was made by mixing the polymer gel with expanded polystyrene spheres. Energy dependence was studied...

Lipid droplets (LDs) are important organelles in energy metabolism and lipid storage. Their cores are composed of neutral lipids that form a hydrophobic phase and are surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer that harbors specific proteins. Most well-established LD proteins perform important functions, particularly in cellular lipid metabolism. Morphological studies show LDs in close proximity to ...

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) is the nonrandom association of alleles at two markers. Patterns of LD have biological implications as well as practical ones when designing association studies or conservation programs aimed at identifying the genetic basis of fitness differences within and among populations. However, the temporal dynamics of LD in wild populations has received little empirical atte...