A multistage theory of age-specific acceleration in human mortality

Background  

Humans die at an increasing rate until late in life, when mortality rates level off. The causes of the late-life mortality plateau have been debated extensively over the past few years. Here, I examine mortality patterns separately for each of the leading causes of death. The different causes of death show distinct mortality patterns, providing some clues about the varying acceleration of mortality at different ages.     

Transcriptomic biomarkers of the response of hospitalized geriatric patients with infectious diseases

Background  

Infectious diseases are significant causes of morbidity and mortality among elderly populations. However, the relationship between oxidative stress, immune function and inflammatory response in acute phase of the infectious disease is poorly understood.     

Global transcriptional response of pig brain and lung to natural infection by Pseudorabies virus

Background  

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is an alphaherpesviruses whose native host is pig. PRV infection mainly causes signs of central nervous system disorder in young pigs, and respiratory system diseases in the adult.     

Blood haemoglobin measurement as a predictive indicator for the progression of HIV/AIDS in resource-limited setting

Background  

Anaemia is a frequent complication of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and may have multiple causes. The objective of this study was to find out if blood haemoglobin measurement could be used as an indicator for the progression of HIV/AIDS in resource-limited setting.     

ROC and confusion analysis of structure comparison methods identify the main causes of divergence from manual protein classification

Background  

Current classification of protein folds are based, ultimately, on visual inspection of similarities. Previous attempts to use computerized structure comparison methods show only partial agreement with curated databases, but have failed to provide detailed statistical and structural analysis of the causes of these divergences.     

Selecting normalization genes for small diagnostic microarrays

Background  

Normalization of gene expression microarrays carrying thousands of genes is based on assumptions that do not hold for diagnostic microarrays carrying only few genes. Thus, applying standard microarray normalization strategies to diagnostic microarrays causes new normalization problems.     

Sexual dysfunctions in patients with diabetes: a study from Iran

Background  

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that causes short and long-term complications. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions (SD) among diabetic patients in Iran and to examine whether glycemic control has a role in SD.     

Specific components of face perception in the human fusiform gyrus studied by tomographic estimates of magnetoencephalographic signals: a tool for the evaluation of non-verbal communication in psychosomatic paradigms

Background  

In some hypertensive patients, psychological stress makes blood pressure difficult to control and causes physical symptoms such as headache or dizziness. We report the case of a hypertensive man whose psychological stress-induced increase in blood pressure was attenuated by cilnidipine.     

Large-scale RNAi screens identify novel genes that interact with the <Emphasis Type="Italic">C. elegans</Emphasis> retinoblastoma pathway as well as splicing-related components with synMuv B activity

Background  

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (Rb) acts in a conserved pathway that is deregulated in most human cancers. Inactivation of the single Rb-related gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, lin-35, has only limited effects on viability and fertility, yet causes changes in cell-fate and cell-cycle regulation when combined with inactivation of specific other genes. For instance, lin-35 Rb is a synthetic multivulva (synMuv) class B gene, which causes a multivulva phenotype when inactivated simultaneously with a class A or C synMuv gene.     

Specific and sensitive detection of the conifer pathogen <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gremmeniella abietina</Emphasis> by nested PCR

Background  

Gremmeniella abietina (Lagerb.) Morelet is an ascomycete fungus that causes stem canker and shoot dieback in many conifer species. The fungus is widespread and causes severe damage to forest plantations in Europe, North America and Asia. To facilitate early diagnosis and improve measures to control the spread of the disease, rapid, specific and sensitive detection methods for G. abietina in conifer hosts are needed.     

(Sub)clinical cardiovascular disease is associated with increased bone loss and fracture risk; a systematic review of the association between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis

Introduction  

Both cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are important causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The co-occurrence of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis prompted us to review the evidence of an association between cardiovascular (CV) disease and osteoporosis and potential shared common pathophysiological mechanisms.     

Managerial and environmental determinants of clinical mastitis in Danish dairy herds

Background  

Several management and environmental factors are known as contributory causes of clinical mastitis in dairy herd. The study objectives were to describe the structure of herd-specific mastitis management and environmental factors and to assess the relevance of these herd-specific indicators to mastitis incidence rate.     

Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags from NaCl-treated Glycine soja

Background  

Salinization causes negative effects on plant productivity and poses an increasingly serious threat to the sustainability of agriculture. Wild soybean (Glycine soja) can survive in highly saline conditions, therefore provides an ideal candidate plant system for salt tolerance gene mining.     

Identifying genetic networks underlying myometrial transition to labor

Background  

Early transition to labor remains a major cause of infant mortality, yet the causes are largely unknown. Although several marker genes have been identified, little is known about the underlying global gene expression patterns and pathways that orchestrate these striking changes.     

Identification and characterization of the heme-binding proteins SeShp and SeHtsA of Streptococcus equi subspecies equi

Background  

Heme is a preferred iron source of bacterial pathogens. Streptococcus equi subspecies equi is a bacterial pathogen that causes strangles in horses. Whether S. equi has a heme acquisition transporter is unknown.     

Polymorphism and selection of rpoS in pathogenic Escherichia coli

Background  

Though RpoS is important for survival of pathogenic Escherichia coli in natural environments, polymorphism in the rpoS gene is common. However, the causes of this polymorphism and consequential physiological effects on gene expression in pathogenic strains are not fully understood.     

Reverse genetics through random mutagenesis in Histoplasma capsulatum

Background  

The dimorphic fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum causes respiratory and systemic disease in humans and other mammals. Progress in understanding the mechanisms underlying the biology and the pathogenesis of Histoplasma has been hindered by a shortage of methodologies for mutating a gene of interest.     

Multi locus sequence typing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlamydiales</Emphasis>: clonal groupings within the obligate intracellular bacteria <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlamydia trachomatis</Emphasis>

Background  

The obligate intracellular growing bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis causes diseases like trachoma, urogenital infection and lymphogranuloma venereum with severe morbidity. Several serovars and genotypes have been identified, but these could not be linked to clinical disease or outcome. The related Chlamydophila pneumoniae, of which no subtypes are recognized, causes respiratory infections worldwide. We developed a multi locus sequence typing (MLST) scheme to understand the population genetic structure and diversity of these species and to evaluate the association between genotype and disease.     

Evolution of the Kdo<Subscript>2</Subscript>-lipid A biosynthesis in bacteria

Background  

Lipid A is the highly immunoreactive endotoxic center of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). It anchors the LPS into the outer membrane of most Gram-negative bacteria. Lipid A can be recognized by animal cells, triggers defense-related responses, and causes Gram-negative sepsis. The biosynthesis of Kdo₂-lipid A, the LPS substructure, involves with nine enzymatic steps.     

The hemolytic and cytolytic activities of Serratia marcescens phospholipase A (PhlA) depend on lysophospholipid production by PhlA

Background  

Serratia marcescens is a gram-negative bacterium and often causes nosocomial infections. There have been few studies of the virulence factors of this bacterium. The only S. marcescens hemolytic and cytotoxic factor reported, thus far, is the hemolysin ShlA.