“Slow” and “Fast” C3 complement variants (C3S and C3F) result from a g.304C>G polymorphism that changes arginine to glycine at position 102. C3 variants are associated with complement-mediated ...diseases and outcome in transplantation. In this work C3 genotyping is achieved by a Real Time PCR - High Resolution Melting (RT-PCR-HRM) optimized method. In an analysis of 49 subjects, 10.2% were C3FF, 36.7% were C3SF and 53.1% were C3SS. Allelic frequencies (70% for C3S and 30% for C3F) were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and similar to those published previously. When comparing RT-PCR-HRM with the currently used Tetraprimer-Amplification Refractory Mutation System PCR (T-ARMS-PCR), coincidence was 93.8%. The procedure shown here includes a single primer pair and low DNA amount per reaction. Detection of C3 variants by RT-PCR-HRM is accurate, easy, fast and low cost, and it may be the method of choice for C3 genotyping.
LiveROMS is a bootable DVD that contains an Linux-based computer operating system which has a complete, functioning version of the ROMS ocean circulation model and an Octave version of ROMSTOOLS. It ...allows students and scientists to experiment with this ocean numerical model, with just a basic knowledge of Linux.
Abstract Mutations in hemochromatosis gene cause an inappropriately high absorption of iron that induces iron overload and deposition in several tissues, such as liver, pancreas, and heart. Iron ...overload in the liver has been associated with a high risk of hepatocarcinoma and susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to describe the frequencies of HFE mutations among a kidney transplant population with versus without hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and its influence on liver and kidney status parameters. We selected 3 populations: 2 groups of kidney transplant recipients—59 with and 60 without HCV infection—and a third control group of 50 healthy subjects. We collected clinical data concerning liver and kidney status, such as iron, ferritin, albumin, creatinine, gamma GGT, GOT, proteinuria, %prothrombin, and Bilirubin. HFE mutations among patients and controls were determined by polymerase chain reaction—restriction fragment length polymorphism using DNA from the peripheral blood. We observed no significant difference with respect to the frequencies of HFE mutations between controls and patients with versus without HCV infection. Finally comparison of HFE positive versus negative mutation carriers in both groups suggest that any clinical parameter is associated with HFE mutations.
Abstract Regulatory T lymphocytes (Treg) suppress activation of the immune system and prevent pathological autoreactivity, giving them a relevant role in transplantation. In this study, we compared ...the proportion of Treg in a group of kidney transplant recipients with those in a control group. We used flow cytometry and labeling with monoclonal CD4, CD25, and FoxP3 antibodies to analyze the percentage of Treg lymphocytes in peripheral blood in a group of 68 patients at more than 12 years since transplantation and in 16 untransplanted healthy controls. In addition to the laboratory determinations, we analyzed the effect of some clinical parameters on the percentage of Treg in the transplanted group with a previous history of hepatitis C virus infection and undergoing immunosuppressive treatment. The percentage of Treg levels observed in the transplanted group was significantly lower than that in the control group (1.53% vs 2.89% CD4+ T cells; P = .0022). The percentage of Treg cells was significantly lower among patients treated with mycophenolate mofetil (1.12%) than other drug combinations. We also compared the percentage of Treg between transplant recipients treated with immunosuppressive monotherapy and those treated with combined immunosuppression, observing a higher percentage among patients with monotherapy.
The paper studies a relation between fundamental group of the complement to a plane singular curve and the orbifold pencils containing it. The main tool is the use of Albanese varieties of cyclic ...covers ramified along such curves. Our results give sufficient conditions for a plane singular curve to belong to an orbifold pencil, that is, a pencil of plane curves with multiple fibers inducing a map onto an orbifold curve whose orbifold fundamental group is nontrivial. We construct an example of a cyclic cover of the projective plane which is an abelian surface isomorphic to the Jacobian of a curve of genus 2 illustrating the extent to which these conditions are necessary.
Abstract Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the best treatment to restore liver function in liver failure. The low availability of organs has focused interest on the use of cell ...transplantation to restore liver function. However, this technique is limited because cells can not bind to liver parenchyma and die soon after perfusion. Pretransplant treatment with engraftment enhancers (EE) to increase vascular permeability may increase cell attachment. Using an endothelial cell culture to measure the loss of intercellular endothelial adhesion as a screening test, we evaluated the capacity of 15 monoclonal antibodies against adhesion molecules expressed on endothelial cells to act as EE showing that 3 antibodies (anti-CD54, efalizumab, and abciximab) act as EE by producing disruptions in the cell layer.
There is a close relationship between the embedded topology of complex plane curves and the (group-theoretic) arithmetic of elliptic curves. In a recent paper, we studied the topology of some ...arrangements of curves which include a special smooth component, via the torsion properties induced by the divisors in the special curve associated to the remaining components, which is an arithmetic property. When this special curve has maximal flexes, there is a natural isomorphism between its Jacobian variety and the degree zero part of its Picard group. In this paper we consider curve arrangements which contain a special smooth component with a maximal flex and exploit these properties to obtain Zariski tuples which show the interplay between topology, geometry and arithmetic.
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