The prognosis for patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3) respiratory tract infection post allogeneic haematopoietic progenitor cell transplant (HPCT) is ...historically poor. The use of oral ribavirin (RBV) has not been widely studied in this patient population. We examined the outcomes of 15 consecutive patients (RSV, n=13 and PIV3, n=2) treated with oral RBV post HPCT. Oral RBV was commenced at a starting dose of 10 mg/kg/day, increasing to a maximum dose of 60 mg/kg/day depending on response and tolerance. At diagnosis, seven patients had upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and eight had lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). The starting RBV dose of 10 mg/kg/day did not prevent the progression of URTI to LRTI in any patient. However, with dose escalation, six of the seven patients responded to RBV therapy and survived their infective episode. Of the eight patients presenting with LRTI, six patients survived their infection, again after dose escalation of RBV. There was no dose-limiting toxicity seen in any patient. Our results indicate that oral RBV has clinical efficacy in the treatment of RSV/PIV3 infection post HPCT. However, a starting dose of 10 mg/kg/day appears ineffective; we recommend a starting dose of 20 mg/kg/day in this patient group.
We constructed three different fibroin H-chain expression systems to estimate the efficacy of producing recombinant proteins in the cocoon of transgenic silkworms. The results showed that the three ...different EGFP/H-chain fusion genes were all expressed selectively in the posterior silk gland of the transgenic silkworm. The recombinant protein content of transgenic silkworm cocoons is up to 15% (w/w) when using the most highly efficient H-chain expression system. To our knowledge, in comparison with silkworm silk gland expression systems in the literature, the highly efficient expression system developed in this study is the most efficient silkworm silk gland expression system to date. This expression system is the best candidate for foreign gene production and for creation of novel functional silk material. The results suggested the N-terminal domain and the intron of the H-chain gene are important in the secretion of fibroin and its transcription, respectively.
We have numerically characterized localized surface plasmons (LSPs) of triangular and cubic Ag particles on a substrate using the so-called finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Especially, we ...have evaluated the effect of roundness around the prism corners on the characteristics of LSPs and, in addition to that, have focused onto a change in the characteristics of LSPs caused by an interaction between a particle and a substrate. Introduction of roundness decreases the field enhancement and existence of the substrate has made characteristics of LSP modes change. We have also simulated nonlinear optical response of an Ag nanosphere coated with a CdS film, being a Kerr material, by using a nonlinear 3-D FDTD method for spherical coordinates. We have presented extinction spectra of a triangle Ag particle that was processed by using a focused ion beam (FIB) lithography. The experimental spectrum has been well interpreted by introducing roundness around the triangle corners. Ag particles coated with a CdS film have been synthesized by employing the reversed micelle method. We have shown the first experimental observation of the optical nonlinear response for the single Ag nanoparticle coated with a CdS material, based on the optical Kerr effect due to an electronic nonlinearity, at room temperature.
The ability of two monosaccharides, four disaccharides and one trisaccharide, to lower the transition temperature of
l-α-dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) was investigated using differential ...scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the ability of these sugars to change the lateral packing of the acyl chains of DPPC was investigated using wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The sugars affected the gel–liquid crystal transition temperature (
T
c) of DPPC when the water content of the DPPC/sugar systems was less than 20 wt.%. Specifically,
T
c of the DPPC without sugar increased to approximately 106°C, the
T
c of the DPPC/monosaccharide system remained almost constant at 43°C and of the DPPC/disaccharide or trisaccharide systems decreased to approximately 24°C. In the dehydrated state, di- and trisaccharides caused looser packing of the DPPC hydrocarbon chains than the monosaccharides did, and the sugars affected the packing mode in different ways. The addition of water caused this difference in the sugars' effects on the packing mode to disappear and further addition of water caused the effect of sugar to almost disappear. Thus, the addition of water to a DPPC/sugar system weakens the interaction between the sugar and lipid and strengthens the DPPC chain packing.
To gain further understanding of egg case silk proteins gene family, Zhao et al. isolated two full-length cDNAs for egg case silk proteins, cylindrical silk protein 1 (CySpl) and cylindrical silk ...protein 2 (CySp2), from the wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi. CySp2 was reported to contain no apparent signal peptide sequences, and the CySp1-CySp2 complex, which would possess a signal peptide, would be transported across the endoplasmic reticulum and secreted to the Golgi. Genomic DNA sequencing is one approach that can be successfully utilized to retrieve 5' ends of silk genes; using this method, we retrieved the 5' end of CySp2. We found that CySp2 contained a typical signal peptide similar to that found in CySp1; thus, due to technical limitations, an artificial error had occurred in the CySp2 sequence reported by Zhao et al.
Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) baculovirus expression system (BES) has a lot of advantages such as high expression efficiency, convenience, and low feeding cost. In this report, we ...used a recently developed BmNPV bacmid, which could infect both B. mori cell lines and silkworm larvae. The results showed it takes only 7 to 10 days to generate recombinant baculovirus and permit the rapid isolation from small-scale cultures and then use it to transfect B. mori cell lines, compared to traditional homologous recombination method, which needs at least 40 days for multiple rounds of purification and amplification of viruses. Using this BES, we expressed a recombinant spider flagelliform protein in BmN cell line, which was around 37 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and western blot analysis. The BmNPV bacmid system using silkworm would be very attractive for expression of target proteins.
The prognosis for patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3) respiratory tract infection post allogeneic haematopoietic progenitor cell transplant (HPCT) is ...historically poor. The use of oral ribavirin (RBV) has not been widely studied in this patient population. We examined the outcomes of 15 consecutive patients (RSV, n = 13 and PIV3, n = 2) treated with oral RBV post HPCT. Oral RBV was commenced at a starting dose of 10 mg/kg/day, increasing to a maximum dose of 60 mg/kg/day depending on response and tolerance. At diagnosis, seven patients had upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and eight had lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). The starting RBV dose of 10 mg/kg/day did not prevent the progression of URTI to LRTI in any patient. However, with dose escalation, six of the seven patients responded to RBV therapy and survived their infective episode. Of the eight patients presenting with LRTI, six patients survived their infection, again after dose escalation of RBV. There was no dose-limiting toxicity seen in any patient. Our results indicate that oral RBV has clinical efficacy in the treatment of RSV/PIV3 infection post HPCT. However, a starting dose of 10 mg/kg/day appears ineffective; we recommend a starting dose of 20 mg/kg/day in this patient group. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2013) 48, 1558-1561; doi: 10.1038/bmt.2013.112; published online 5 August 2013 Keywords: ribavirin; respiratory syncitial virus; parainfluenza virus; allogeneic progenitor cell transplantation
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