Apoptosis in macrophages infected by vaccinia virus.

It is demonstrated that VV induced apoptosis of murine macrophage cell line J774.G8, as revealed by morphological signs, DNA ladder formation, changes of mitochondrial membrane potential and annexin-V positivity. VV early gene expression seems to be required for induction of apoptosis. At the cellular level, infection with VV induced a marked decrease in levels of Bcl-x_L, an anti-apoptotic member of Bcl-2 family, together with a moderate increase in levels of Bax, a pro-apoptotic homologue. The importance of loss of Bcl-x_L is demonstrated by prevention of VV-mediated apoptosis upon expression of Bcl-2, a functional homologue of Bcl-x_LAvailable from STL Prague, CZ / NTK - National Technical LibrarySIGLECZCzech Republi

Assessment of the performance and competitiveness of the selected clusters in the Moravian-Silesian Region

In recent years have been recording the number of sectorial clusters of firms and their links with a research and academic sphere unprecedented prosperity in the Czech Republic. The trend and popularity of clusters in regions are considered as an important source of competitive advantage of given locality. In particular SMEs can in this way overcome a certain weaknesses of this type of business and strategically use of so-called synergistic effect. Many times, it was stressed to be SMEs as the foundation of any economy, but they do not have the necessary economic force. These problems help to remove specific form alliances - the cluster. The competitiveness of regions goes hand in hand with support for cluster organizations. Clusters are perceived as modern and well-defined type groupings of entities from certain industry or field. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and assess the efficiency and competitiveness of selected cluster groups in the Moravian and Silesian region. The partial aim is a generalization of international methodologies for assessing the performance of clusters and linking this methodology with the basic principles of competitiveness evaluation. On practical example will be applied Porter's diamond combined with the EFQM model and Cluster Management Excellence methodology. The outcome of the paper will be the evaluation of cluster initiatives. There will also be proposed basic precautions that should lead to the desired performance level of international excellence cluster. For the selection of appropriate proposals will be used the multi-criteria decision analysis, to identify those measures that are currently most advantageous for the cluster

The LifeWebs project: A call for data describing plant-herbivore interaction networks

Understanding global drivers of changes in species interacons is vital, both in terms of improving our knowledge of fundamental large-scale ecology, and in order to predict and protect against human-driven changes to ecosystems. Here we present the LifeWebs project, which aims to collate existing data on interacon networks in order to understand their large-scale paerns. Inially we will collate data relating to plant?herbivore interacons, and this arcle is a call for contributions. We outline the kinds of data in which we are interested, the procedure for making contribuons, and what contributors can expect in terms of co-authorship on subsequent papers and access to the database for conducting their own analyses.Fil: Fayle, Tom Maurice. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República ChecaFil: Sam, Katerina. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; República ChecaFil: Humlova, Anna. University Of South Bohemia; República ChecaFil: Cagnolo, Luciano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentin

Intracellular Cytokines Produced by Stimulated CD3+ Cells from Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Our work examined the production of intracellular interferon (INF)-&amp;#x03B3;, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-2, and IL-4 by in vitro stimulated CD3+ cells from 38 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. At the time of diagnosis the percentages of cells producing INF-&amp;#x03B3;, TNF-α, and IL-2 were strongly suppressed compared to those in healthy control subjects. Hematological remission achieved through treatment with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors was associated with a highly significant increase in the ratio of cells producing all 4 cytokines. The percentages of CD3+ cells producing cytokines were dependent on age, more so in CML patients than in healthy controls, and they negatively correlated with the number of leukocytes. Patients with an optimal therapy outcome possessed higher percentages of cytokine-producing CD3+ cells at diagnosis than those with nonoptimal outcomes. This difference was statistically significant in the case of INF-&amp;#x03B3;-producing cells, and it was on the brink of significance in the case of IL-2-producing cells.</jats:p

Kynurenine and uric acid levels in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), IDO2 and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) represent some of the key immune regulators. Their increased activity has been demonstrated in a number of human malignancies but not yet in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In the present study, the activity of these enzymes was tested in 29 CML patients and 28 healthy subjects by monitoring the kynurenine (KYN)/tryptophan ratio. Serum samples taken prior to the therapy displayed a highly significant difference in KYN levels between the patient and control groups. However, increased KYN levels were detected in only 13 (44.8%) of these CML patients. The KYN levels in pretreatment sera of the patients correlated with the tumor burden. There was also a strong correlation between KYN levels and uric acid levels (UA). This suggests but does not prove the possible involvement of UA in activating IDO family of enzymes. Whenever tested, the increased KYN levels normalized in the course of the therapy. Patients with normal KYN levels in their pretreatment sera and subsequently treated with interferon-α, showed a transitory increase in their KYN levels. The present data indicate that CML should be added to the malignancies with an increased activity of the IDO family of enzymes and suggest that IDO inhibitors may be used in the treatment of CML patients