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The human host defense peptide LL-37 possesses antimicrobial activity but also affects host cell function and viability. Mast cells are involved in innate immunity but no data have been presented on effects of LL-37 on human mast cell viability and export of nucleic acids. Here, we demonstrated by immunofluorescence microscopy that synthesized LL-37 was internalized by human LAD2 mast cells and de

Mouse models of asthma are now being used extensively in drug research. However, the successful unravelling of combinatorial interplays of cells and molecules in the murine airways may not be matched by equally successful demonstrations of an asthma-like pathophysiology. Here, Carl Persson, Jonas Erjefalt, Magnus Korsgren and Frank Sundler discuss the fact that major features of asthma may still n

In this paper, we propose a method for the estimation of the fundamental frequency of a periodic waveform based on the shift-invariance property of the sinusoidal signal model known from ESPRIT. An advantage of the proposed method is that the model order and the fundamental frequency can be found jointly and that the method does not depend on the density of the observation noise but rather on it b

Here, the ligand binding, activation, and tissue distribution of the orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) GPR92 were studied. GPR92 binds and is activated by compounds based on the lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) backbone. The binding of LPA to GPR92 was of high affinity (K(D) = 6.4 +/- 0.9 nM) and led to an increase in both phosphoinositide hydrolysis and cAMP production. GPR92 is atypical in tha

Popular Abstract in Swedish Humant immunbrist virus (HIV) bryter långsamt ner kroppens immunförsvar. Sjukdomen AIDS uppstår när den HIV infekterade personens immunförsvar är så pass försvagat att kroppen inte längre kan bekämpa infektioner som en frisk individ inte blir sjuk av. Världshälsoorganisationen, WHO, uppskattar att det idag lever omkring 40 miljoner människor i världen smittade med HIV. HIV-1 uses the coreceptors CCR5 and/or CXCR4 in addition to CD4 to enter the host cell. CCR5-using HIV-1 (R5 phenotype) appears to transmit infection and usually dominates the early stages of disease. Evolution of HIV-1 coreceptor use is usually described as the acquisition of CXCR4-using virus (X4 or R5X4 phenotype), and is linked to accelerated disease progression. However, the switch to CXCR4 u

Psoriasis is a frequently occurring inflammatory skin disease characterized by thickened erythematous skin that is covered with silvery scales. It is a complex genetic disease with both heritable and environmental factors contributing to onset and severity. The CD18 hypomorphic PL/J mouse reveals reduced expression of the common chain of beta(2) integrins (CD11/CD18) and spontaneously develops a s

Lumenal entry of plasma (mucosal exudation) is a key feature of airway inflammation. In airways challenged with histamine-type mediators and allergen the mucosal exudation response occurs without causing epithelial derangement and without increased airway absorption. In contrast, reactive oxygen metabolites may cause mucosal damage. In this study, involving guinea-pig airways, we have examined eff

Cancer prevalence is the proportion of individuals in a population who at some stage during their lifetime have been diagnosed with cancer, irrespective of the date of diagnosis. Cancer prevalence statistics have generally been provided by a limited number of well established cancer registries that have been in existence for several decades. The advent of systematic follow-up of life status of inc

Introduction: Our understanding of how comorbid diseases influence health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is limited and in need of improvement. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between comorbidities and HRQL as measured by the instruments EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT). Methods: Infor

Abstract In plasma-assisted combustion, electric energy is added to the flame where the electric energy will be transferred to kinetic energy of the free electrons that, in turn, will modify the combustion chemical kinetics. In order to increase the understanding of this complex process, the influence of one of the products of the altered chemical kinetics, ozone (O3), has been isolated and studie

The toll-like receptors, TLR5 and TLR7, have recently been proposed in asthma immunopathogenesis. While supporting data come from animal or in vitro studies, little is known about TLR5 and TLR7 expression in human asthmatic airways.

Increased production of autoantibodies is a characteristic feature of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and there is evidence that several of these autoantibodies may contribute to the increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) in SLE. Autoantibodies against the apolipoprotein (apo) B-100 peptides p45 and p210 have been associated with a lower CVD risk in non-SLE cohorts. The aim of the present study

In order to improve the offered quality of service in a cellular network, load balancing between cells with momentarily different traffic loads can be applied. This can be accomplished through channel borrowing techniques where a cell requiring extra capacity borrows a channel from a less loaded cell in the same region. However, the borrowing of a channel results in an alteration of the channel re

alpha 1-Antitrypsin (AAT) is a major circulating and tissues inhibitor of serine proteinases implicated in the regulation of inflammation and host defence. There is now increasing evidence that AAT may also exhibit anti-inflammatory activities independent of its protease inhibitor function. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of native (inhibitory) and polymerized (non-inhibitory)

BACKGROUND. The clinical value of detecting prostate specific antigen (PSA) mRNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of patients (pts) by standard RT-PCR assays with localized prostate cancer remains controversial. We used a quantitative RT-PCR assay to measure the PSA mRNA copy number in addition to the qualitative PSA RT-PCR and correlated the results with clinical parameters. METH