No abstract available.
Aged* ; Ego* ; Humans

To gain information on retrotransposons in the genome of Paragonimus westermani, PCR was carried out with degenerate primers, specific to protease and reverse transcriptase (rt) genes of long-terminal-repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. The PCR products were cloned and sequenced, after which 12 different retrotransposon-related sequences were isolated from the trematode genome. These showed various degrees of identity to the polyprotein of divergent retrotransposon families. A phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that these sequences could be classified into three different families of LTR retrotransposons, namely, Xena, Bel, and Gypsy families. Of these, two mRNA transcripts were detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR, showing that these two elements preserved their mobile activities. The genomic distributions of these two sequences were found to be highly repetitive. These results suggest that there are diverse retrotransposons including the ancient Xena family in the genome of P. westermani, which may have been involved in the evolution of the host genome.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Helminth/analysis ; *Evolution, Molecular ; *Genome ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Paragonimus/*genetics ; Phylogeny ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/chemistry/genetics ; Retroelements/*genetics ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Terminal Repeat Sequences/*genetics

The evolutionary course of the CsRn1 long-terminal-repeat (LTR) retrotransposon was predicted by conducting a phylogenetic analysis with its paralog LTR sequences. Based on the clustering patterns in the phylogenetic tree, multiple CsRn1 copies could be grouped into four subsets, which were shown to have different integration times. Their differential sequence divergences and heterogeneous integration patterns strongly suggested that these subsets appeared sequentially in the genome of C. sinensis. Members of recently expanding subset showed the lowest level of divergence in their LTR and reverse transcriptase gene sequences. They were also shown to be highly polymorphic among individual genomes of the trematode. The CsRn1 element exhibited a preference for repetitive, agenic chromosomal regions in terms of selecting integration targets. Our results suggested that CsRn1 might induce a considerable degree of intergenomic variation and, thereby, have influenced the evolution of the C. sinensis genome.
Animals ; Clonorchis sinensis/*genetics ; DNA, Helminth/analysis/genetics ; *Evolution, Molecular ; Gene Dosage ; *Genome ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Retroelements/*genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Terminal Repeat Sequences/*genetics

No abstract available.
Arthritis ; Atrophy ; Chickenpox ; Cicatrix ; Corneal Opacity ; Diagnosis* ; Female ; Hepatitis ; Herpes Zoster* ; Herpesvirus 3, Human ; Humans ; Incidence ; Iris ; Iritis ; Keratitis ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Male ; Neuralgia ; Poisoning ; Pupil ; Scleritis ; Sensory Receptor Cells ; Sex Distribution ; Skin ; Strabismus* ; Thoracic Nerves ; Trigeminal Nerve ; Tuberculosis

No abstract available.
Humans ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Young Adult*

Clinical characteristics and coronary angiographic findings were analyzed in 24 patients with angiographically documented coronary artery spasm, which developed spontaneously in 11 cases and was provoked by intravenous ergonovine meleate in 13 cases. The commonest clinical presentation was chest pain at rest in 21 out of 24 cases, and nine patients with resting angina had also exertional chest pain. Ten patients complained of chest pain which developed especially at night and in the early morning. Cumulative doses of ergonovine meleate whoch were required to provoked spasm were 0.05mg in 3, 0.15mg in 8 and 0.35mg in 2 cases. Transient hypertension occured in one case as a complication of ergonovine provocation test. In 20 cases coronary artery spasm developed at the portion of normal or insignificantly narrowed coronary arteries, at the severely stenotic portion in 3 cases and at the normal portion different fropm severe tight lesion in one case. Electrocardiographic findings at the time of coronary spasm were ST segment elevation in 11 among 18 cases, ST segment depression in 2 cases and no change in 3 cases. Twenty two patients complained of chest pain of the same characteristics which they had previously experienced, but there was no chest pain in 2 patients. Right coronary artery was the most prevalent site of coronary artery spasm, and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasties were performes successfully in 4 cases with significantly tight lesions. In conclusion coronary artery spasm is thought to play a significant role in the conversion of stable to unstable angina and the development of silent myocardial ischemia as well as variant angina.
Angina, Unstable ; Angioplasty ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Depression ; Electrocardiography ; Ergonovine ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Spasm*

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between the levels of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the peritoneal fluid of women with and without endometriosis and infertile women. METHODS: This study is prospective and case-control study in University hospital, enrolled thirty-four women with laparoscopic findings of minimal to severe endometriosis, and thirty-seven women with no visual evidence of pelvic endometriosis and with benign gynecologic disease. IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels in peritoneal fluid were determined using commercial ELISA. IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations were compared among women with and without endometriosis, and with infertile and fertile women, and then also compared according the revised American Fertility Society classification. RESULTS: IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations were higher than in the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis than in matched normal controls. Cyclic variations in IL-6 concentrations were seen in peritoneal fluid from patients with endometriosis: the concentrations in the secretory phase were significantly higher than those in the proliferative phase. The concentrations were higher than among of infertile women than in fertile women. A significant correlation between IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha concentrations and endometriosis stage III and IV was noted. CONCLUSION: Increased levels of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in patients with endometriosis in the peritoneal fluid may be relate to the pathogenesis of endometriosis suggesting that partially contribute to the disturbed immune regulation observed in patients with endometriosis.
Ascitic Fluid* ; Case-Control Studies ; Classification ; Endometriosis* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Fertility ; Genital Diseases, Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6* ; Prospective Studies ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha*

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

The use of hormonal stimulation in human in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) leads to increased production of embryos for ET. So to avoid high pregnancies and to allow conception in future, unstimulated cycles, cryopreservation of spare embryos is desirable. One of the improvement of cryopreservation methods is vitrification. We cryopreserved mouse day 3 embryos by vitrification using the three different vitrification solution (EFS40, VSll and VS3a). EFS40 solution is consisted of 40% (v/v) ethylene glycol, Ficol170 30% (w/v) and 0.5M sucrose and VSll is 6.0M ethylene glycol and 1.8M glycerol. And VS3a is 6.5M glycerol and 6% (w/v) BSA (bovine serum albumin). First we tested the toxicity of three vitrification solution by exposure to these solution during 3 min. After washing by thawing solution, the survival rates of each groups are 95.5%, 90.9% and 84.4% (EFS40, VS11 and VS3a). High percentages of them developed to expanded blastocyst and hatching embryos in culture 48hrs 94.2%, 97.7%, 100% and 97.4% (no treatment group, EFS40, VS11 and VS3a). So there is no significant differences among the each group. Second, after thawing of vitirfied embryos, the survival rates of each groups are 96.8% (slow freeze), 94.1% (EFS40), 85.5% (VS11) and 80.0% (VS3a, P vs. no freeze or EFS40 is 0.01). Vitrified embryos exhibited a high rate of development in vitro after 48hrs culture. The percentages of each group to blastocyst and hatching embryos are 88.7% (no freeze), 91.8% (slow freeze), 93.4% (EFS40), 87.7% (VS11) and 73.0% (VS3a, P vs. other group is 0.01). The results suggest that there is no significant differences in exposure of various vitrification solution and day 3 mouse embryos can be vitrified in solution EFS40 and VS11 by simple procedure.
Animals ; Blastocyst ; Cryopreservation* ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures* ; Ethylene Glycol ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Glycerol ; Humans ; Mice* ; Pregnancy ; Sucrose ; Survival Rate ; Vitrification*

The 150 kDa protein of cyst fluid (CF) of Taenia solium metacestodes was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation and Superose 6 HR gel filtration chromatography. The purified protein consisted of three subunits (15, 10 and 7 kDa proteins), which were analyzed with the use of a 7.5-15% gradient sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Immunofluorescence study was carried out by using immunize specific polyclonal antibody. Positive reactions were noticed at bladder walls, calcareous corpuscles, granules of cyst fluid and some host tissue surrounding the bladder wall of the metacestodes. These results suggest that the 150 kDa protein was secreted into host tissues, inducing immune responses in the host, and it may play important roles in the cellular physiology of the parasites.
Animals ; Chemical Fractionation ; Chromatography, Gel ; Cyst Fluid/*chemistry/metabolism/parasitology ; Cysticercosis/*metabolism/parasitology ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Helminth Proteins/chemistry/*isolation & purification ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Molecular Weight ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/parasitology ; Taenia solium/*metabolism