Ultraviolet bands of mercury bromide

The ultraviolet bands of mercury bromide have been excited in uncondensed discharge and photographed with a quartz Littrow spectrograph. The class II system, lying between\lambda 2900 å to 2700 å, suggested byWieland as due to the triatomic molecule, has been studied in detail and ascribed to the diatomic molecule. The bands in the regionlambda 2900 å to 2770å have been analysed into two systems which may form the two components of a2 II –2 \sigma electronic transition with a2 II interval equal to 969·4 cm–1.Another system most probably due to2 \sigma–2 \sigma has been observed in the region\lambda 2770 to 2720.

Restorative treatment practices and dentist-related factors

This study aimed at elucidating real-life aspects of restorative treatment practices. In addition, dentists' views and perceptions of and variation in restorative treatment practices with respect to dentist-related factors were evaluated. Reasons for placement and replacement of restoration, material selection, posterior restoration longevity, and the use of local anesthesia were assessed on two cross-sectional data sets. Data from the Helsinki Public Dental Service (PDS) included details on 3057 restorations performed by dentists (n=134) during routine clinical work in 2001. The other PDS data from Vantaa were based on 205 patient records of young adults containing information on 1969 restorations investigated retrospectively from 1994-1996 backwards; 51 dentists performed the restorations. In addition, dentists’ self-reported use of local anesthesia and estimates of restoration longevity were investigated by means of a nationwide questionnaire sent to 592 general dental practitioners selected by systematic sampling from the membership list of the Finnish Dental Association in 2004. All data sets included some background information on dentists such as gender, year of birth or graduation, and working sector. In PDS in 2001, primary caries was the reason for placement of restoration more often among patients aged under 19 years than among older patients (p<0.001). Among patients over 36 years of age, replacements represented the majority. Regarding dentist-related factors, replacements of restorations were made by younger dentists more frequently than by older dentists (p<0.001). In PDS in 1994-1996, the replacement rate of posterior restorations was greater among female dentists than among male dentists (p=0.01), especially for amalgams (p=0.008). The mean age of replaced posterior restoration among young adults was 8.9 (SD 5.2) years for amalgam and 2.4 (SD 1.4) years for tooth-colored restorations, the actual replacement rate for all existing posterior restorations being 7% in PDS in 1994-1996. Of all restorative materials used, a clear majority (69%) were composites in PDS in 2001. Local anesthesia was used in 48% of cases and more frequently for older patients (55%) than for patients aged under 13 years (35%) (p<0.001). Younger dentists more often used local anesthesia for primary restoration than did the older dentists (p<0.001), especially for primary teeth (p=0.005). Working sector had an impact on dentists’ self-reported use of local anesthesia and estimates of restoration longevity; public sector dentists reported using local anesthesia more frequently than private sector dentists for Class II (p=0.04) and for Class III restorations (p=0.01). Private sector dentists gave longer estimates of posterior composite longevity than public sector dentists (p=0.001). In conclusion, restorative treatment practices seem to vary according to patient age and also dentist-related factors. Replacements of restorations are common for adults. For children, clear underuse of local anesthesia prevails.

Immuno-fluorescence staining patterns of leukocyte subsets in the skin of taurine and indicine cattle

The immuno-staining patterns of skin leukocytes were investigated in three breeds of cattle: Holstein–Friesian, Brahman and Santa Gertrudis of similar age before and after tick infestation. The antibodies specific for CD45 and CD45RO reacted with cells in the skin of all Holstein–Friesian cattle but did not react with cells in the skin of any Brahman cattle. The same antibodies reacted with cells from the skin of four (CD45) and seven (CD45RO) of twelve Santa Gertrudis cattle. The antibodies specific for T cells and γδ subset of T cells recognized cells from all three breeds of cattle. The antibody specific for MHC class II molecules labelled cells of mostly irregular shape, presumably dermal dendritic cells and/or macrophages and Langerhans cells. The antibody specific for granulocytes (mAb CH138) reacted with cells only in sections cut from skin with lesions. The antibody specific for CD25+ cells labelled regularly shaped cells that showed a wide range of intensities of staining.

Gas-crystal photoreaction: the structures of 4,4'-dimethoxy(thiobenzophenone) (I), C15H14O2S, and 4,4'-bis(dimethylamino)thiobenzophenone (II), C17H20N2S

(I): M r = 258.34, triclinic, Pi, a = 9.810 (3), b=9.635(3), e=15.015(4)A, a=79.11(2), #= 102.38 (3), y = 107.76 (3) o, V= 1308.5 A 3, Z = 4, Din= 1.318 (3) (by flotation in KI solution), D x = 1.311 g cm -3, Cu Ka, 2 = 1.5418/~, g = 20-05 cm -1, F(000) = 544, T---- 293 K, R = 0.074 for 2663 reflections. (II): M r = 284.43, monoclinic, P2~/c, a= 17.029 (5), b=6.706 (5), c= 14.629 (4), t= 113.55 (2) ° , V=1531.4A 3, Z=4, Dm=1.230(5) (by flotation in KI solution), Dx= 1.234gem -3, Mo Ka, 2 = 0.7107 A, g = 1.63 cm-1; F(000) = 608, T= 293 K, R = 0.062 for 855 reflections. The orientation of the C=S chromophores in the crystal lattice and their reactivity in the crystalline state are discussed. The C--S bonds are much shorter than the normal bond length [1.605 (4) (I), 1.665 (8) A (II) cf. 1.71 A].

Photocytotoxic 3d-Metal Scorpionates with a 1,8-Naphthalimide Chromophore Showing Photoinduced DNA and Protein Cleavage Activity

Ternary 3d-metal complexes of formulation [M(Tp(Ph))(py-nap)](ClO4)(1-3), where M is Co(II) (1), Cu(II) (2), and Zn(II) (3); Tp(Ph) is anionic tris (3-phenylpyrazolyl)borate; and py-nap is a pyridyl ligand with a conjugated 1,8-naphthalimide moiety, have been prepared from the reaction of metal perchlorate with KTp(Ph) and py-nap in CH2Cl2. The complexes have been characterized from analytical and physicochemical data. The complexes are stable in solution as evidenced from the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry data. The complexes show good binding propensity with calf thymus (CT) DNA, giving binding constant (K-b) values of similar to 10(5) M-1 and a molecular ``light-switch'' effect that results in an enhancement of the emission intensity of the naphthalimide chromophore on binding to CT DNA. The complexes do not show any hydrolytic cleavage of DNA. They show poor chemical nuclease activity in the presence of 3-mercaptopropionic acid or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes exhibit oxidative pUC19 DNA cleavage activity in UV-A light of 365 rim. The Zn(II) complex shows moderate DNA photocleavage activity at 365 nm. The Cu(II)complex 2 displays photoinduced DNA cleavage activity in red light of 647.1 nm and 676 rim and near-IR light of >750 rim. A mechanistic studyin UV-A and visible light suggests the involvement of the hydroxyl radical as the reactive species in the DNA photocleavage reactions. The complexes also show good bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein binding propensity, giving K-BSA values of similar to 10(5) M-1. Complexes 1 and 2 display significant photoinduced BSA cleavage activity in UV-A light. The Co(II) complex 1 shows a significant photocytotoxic effect in HeLa cervical cancer cells on exposure to UV-A light of 365 nm, giving an IC50 value of 32 mu M. The IC50 value for the py-nap ligand alone is 41.42 mu m in UV-A light. The IC50 value is >200 mu M in the dark, indicating poor dark toxicity of 1. The Cu(II) complex 2 exhibits moderate photocytotoxicity and significant dark toxicity, giving IC50 values of 18.6 mu m and 29.7 mu m in UV-A light and in the dark, respectively.

Human herpesvirus-6 infection in liver transplantation

Rejection and infections are the two most common complications after liver transplantation. Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) belongs to the betaherpesviruses, together with its close relatives cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7). The impact of CMV in liver transplantation is well characterized, but the roles of the other two betaherpesviruses have been acknowledged only recently. Although, HHV-6 reactivation after transplantation is usually asymptomatic, the virus may infect the liver transplant, cause an intragraft lymphocyte dominated inflammatory reaction and graft dysfunction. HHV-6 is also suggested to be associated with liver allograft rejection but the mechanisms are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the intragraft immunological processes associated with HHV-6, the involvement of HHV-6 in acute liver failure (ALF) and the hepatic HHV-6 infection of the same patients after transplantation. In addition, the occurrence of HHV-6 and HHV-7 was investigated in liver transplant patients with symptomatic CMV infection. HHV-6 infection of the liver graft was associated with portal lymphocyte infiltration and with a significant increase of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) and the number of cells expressing their ligand molecules (LFA-1, VLA-4) and class II antigens. HHV-6 infection was associated with significant immunological changes, but the immune response was limited to lymphocyte infiltration and the adhesion molecule level. However, one third of these patients developed chronic rejection during the follow-up. Of the patients with ALF of unknown origin, most patients demonstrated HHV-6 antigens in the liver, whereas the opposite was seen in ALF patients with a known disease. After transplantation, HHV-6 recurrence was found in the liver transplant in half of these patients with pre-transplant HHV-6 infection of the liver, whereas no post-transplant HHV-6 infection of the liver was seen in patients without pre-transplant HHV-6. Our studies further demonstrated that both HHV-6 and HHV-7 antigenemia often appeared in association with CMV disease in liver transplant patients. The time-related occurrence of the viruses differed, as HHV-6 appeared early after transplantation and regularly preceded CMV whereas HHV-7 often appeared concurrently with CMV. In conclusion, these results indicate that all three betaherpesviruses are common after liver transplantation, often associated with each other. The immunological events caused by HHV-6 in the liver transplant may be involved in, or trigger mechanisms of allograft rejection. In addition, HHV-6 could be one of the causes of ALF, and pre-transplant HHV-6 infection in ALF patients is a risk factor for post-transplant HHV-6 infection of the graft. These results strongly support the clinical significance of HHV-6 in liver transplantation. Even though the reactivation is usually asymptomatic, in some individuals HHV-6 infection may lead to severe manifestations, such as liver failure or in transplant patients, graft dysfunction and rejection.

Processing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli by human monocytes for CD4+ alphabeta and gammadelta T cells: role of particulate antigen.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis readily activates both CD4+ and Vdelta2+ gammadelta T cells. Despite similarity in function, these T-cell subsets differ in the antigens they recognize and the manners in which these antigens are presented by M. tuberculosis-infected monocytes. We investigated mechanisms of antigen processing of M. tuberculosis antigens to human CD4 and gammadelta T cells by monocytes. Initial uptake of M. tuberculosis bacilli and subsequent processing were required for efficient presentation not only to CD4 T cells but also to Vdelta2+ gammadelta T cells. For gammadelta T cells, recognition of M. tuberculosis-infected monocytes was dependent on Vdelta2+ T-cell-receptor expression. Recognition of M. tuberculosis antigens by CD4+ T cells was restricted by the class II major histocompatibility complex molecule HLA-DR. Processing of M. tuberculosis bacilli for Vdelta2+ gammadelta T cells was inhibitable by Brefeldin A, whereas processing of soluble mycobacterial antigens for gammadelta T cells was not sensitive to Brefeldin A. Processing of M. tuberculosis bacilli for CD4+ T cells was unaffected by Brefeldin A. Lysosomotropic agents such as chloroquine and ammonium chloride did not affect the processing of M. tuberculosis bacilli for CD4+ and gammadelta T cells. In contrast, both inhibitors blocked processing of soluble mycobacterial antigens for CD4+ T cells. Chloroquine and ammonium chloride insensitivity of processing of M. tuberculosis bacilli was not dependent on the viability of the bacteria, since processing of both formaldehyde-fixed dead bacteria and mycobacterial antigens covalently coupled to latex beads was chloroquine insensitive. Thus, the manner in which mycobacterial antigens were taken up by monocytes (particulate versus soluble) influenced the antigen processing pathway for CD4+ and gammadelta T cells.

Regulation of human CD4(+) alphabeta T-cell-receptor-positive (TCR(+)) and gammadelta TCR(+) T-cell responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis by interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor beta.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the etiologic agent of human tuberculosis and is estimated to infect one-third of the world's population. Control of M. tuberculosis requires T cells and macrophages. T-cell function is modulated by the cytokine environment, which in mycobacterial infection is a balance of proinflammatory (interleukin-1 [IL-1], IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor alpha) and inhibitory (IL-10 and transforming growth factor beta [TGF-beta]) cytokines. IL-10 and TGF-beta are produced by M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages. The effect of IL-10 and TGF-beta on M. tuberculosis-reactive human CD4(+) and gammadelta T cells, the two major human T-cell subsets activated by M. tuberculosis, was investigated. Both IL-10 and TGF-beta inhibited proliferation and gamma interferon production by CD4(+) and gammadelta T cells. IL-10 was a more potent inhibitor than TGF-beta for both T-cell subsets. Combinations of IL-10 and TGF-beta did not result in additive or synergistic inhibition. IL-10 inhibited gammadelta and CD4(+) T cells directly and inhibited monocyte antigen-presenting cell (APC) function for CD4(+) T cells and, to a lesser extent, for gammadelta T cells. TGF-beta inhibited both CD4(+) and gammadelta T cells directly and had little effect on APC function for gammadelta and CD4(+) T cells. IL-10 down-regulated major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, MHC class II, CD40, B7-1, and B7-2 expression on M. tuberculosis-infected monocytes to a greater extent than TGF-beta. Neither cytokine affected the uptake of M. tuberculosis by monocytes. Thus, IL-10 and TGF-beta both inhibited CD4(+) and gammadelta T cells but differed in the mechanism used to inhibit T-cell responses to M. tuberculosis.

Human alveolar T lymphocyte responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens: role for CD4+ and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and relative resistance of alveolar macrophages to lysis.

T cell-mediated cytotoxicity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-infected macrophages may be a major mechanism of specific host defense, but little is known about such activities in the lung. Thus, the capacity of alveolar lymphocyte MTB-specific cell lines (AL) and alveolar macrophages (AM) from tuberculin skin test-positive healthy subjects to serve as CTL and target cells, respectively, in response to MTB (H37Ra) or purified protein derivative (PPD) was investigated. Mycobacterial Ag-pulsed AM were targets of blood CTL activity at E:T ratios of > or = 30:1 (51Cr release assay), but were significantly more resistant to cytotoxicity than autologous blood monocytes. PPD- plus IL-2-expanded AL and blood lymphocytes were cytotoxic for autologous mycobacterium-stimulated monocytes at E:T ratios of > or = 10:1. The CTL activity of lymphocytes expanded with PPD was predominantly class II MHC restricted, whereas the CTL activity of lymphocytes expanded with PPD plus IL-2 was both class I and class II MHC restricted. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were enriched in BL and AL expanded with PPD and IL-2, and both subsets had mycobacterium-specific CTL activity. Such novel cytotoxic responses by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells may be a major mechanism of defense against MTB at the site of disease activity.

A novel single pot synthesis of binuclear copper(II) complexes of macrocyclic and macroacyclic compartmental ligands: Structures and magnetic properties

Two binuclear copper(II) complexes one (complex 1) with a macrocyclic ligand (H(2)L1) and other (complex 2) with a macroacyclic (end-off type) compartmental ligand (HL2) have been synthesized from single pot template synthesis involving copper(II) nitrate, 1,2diaminoethane, 4-methyl-2,6-diformylphenol, and sodium azide. Structure analysis of complex I reveals that there are actually two half molecules present in the asymmetric unit and so two complexes (molecule-I and molecule-II) are present in unit cell, although they show slight differences. The two Cu(II) centers are in distorted square pyramidal coordination environment with two endogenous phenoxo bridges provided by the phenolate of H(2)L1 I having Cu-Cu separations of 2.9133(10) angstrom and 2.9103(10) in the two molecules. In complex 2 the coordination environments around two Cu(II) centers are asymmetric, Cu1 is in distorted square pyramidal environment whereas, the coordination environment around Cu2 is distorted octahedral. The two Cu(II) centers in complex 2 are connected by two different kinds of bridges, one is endogenous phenoxo bridge provided by the phenolate of the ligand HL2 and the other is exogenous azido bridge (mu-(1),(l) type) with Cu-Cu distance of 3.032(10) angstrom. Variable temperature magnetic studies show that two Cu(II) centers in both the complexes are strongly antiferromagnetically coupled with J = -625 +/- 5 cm(-1) and J = -188.6 +/- 1cm(-1) for complex 1 and 2, respectively. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prognostic markers in head and neck carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Well-known risk factors include tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Overall survival has improved, but is still low especially in developing countries. One reason for this is the often advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis, but also lack of reliable prognostic tools to enable individualized patient treatment to improve outcome. To date, the TNM classification still serves as the best disease evaluation criterion, although it does not take into account the molecular basis of the tumor. The need for surrogate molecular markers for more accurate disease prediction has increased research interests in this field. We investigated the prevalence, physical status, and viral load of human papillomavirus (HPV) in HNSCC to determine the impact of HPV on head and neck carcinogenesis. The prevalence and genotyping of HPV were assessed with an SPF10 PCR microtiter plate-based hybridization assay (DEIA), followed by a line probe-based genotyping assay. More than half of the patients had HPV DNA in their tumor specimens. Oncogenic HPV-16 was the most common type, and coinfections with other oncogenic and benign associated types also existed. HPV-16 viral load was unevenly distributed among different tumor sites; the tonsils harbored significantly greater amounts of virus than other sites. Episomal location of HPV-16 was associated with large tumors, and both integrated and mixed forms of viral DNA were detected. In this series, we could not show that the presence of HPV DNA correlated with survival. In addition, we investigated the prevalence and genotype of HPV in laryngeal carcinoma patients in a prospective Nordic multicenter study based on fresh-frozen laryngeal tumor samples to determine whether the tumors were HPV-associated. These patients were also examined and interviewed at diagnosis for known risk factors, such as tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, and for several other habituations to elucidate their effects on patient survival. HPV analysis was performed with the same protocols as in the first study. Only 4% of the specimens harbored HPV DNA. Heavy drinking was associated with poor survival. Heavy drinking patients were also younger than nonheavy drinkers and had a more advanced stage of disease at diagnosis. Heavy drinkers had worse oral hygiene than nonheavy drinkers; however, poor oral hygiene did not have prognostic significance. History of chronic laryngitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and orogenital sex contacts were rare in this series. To clarify why vocal cord carcinomas seldom metastasize, we determined tumor lymph vessel (LVD) and blood vessel (BVD) densities in HNSCC patients. We used a novel lymphatic vessel endothelial marker (LYVE-1 antibody) to locate the lymphatic vessels in HNSCC samples and CD31 to detect the blood microvessels. We found carcinomas of the vocal cords to harbor less lymphatic and blood microvessels than carcinomas arising from sites other than vocal cords. The lymphatic and blood microvessel densities did not correlate with tumor size. High BVD was strongly correlated with high LVD. Neither BVD nor LVD showed any association with survival in our series. The immune system plays an important role in tumorigenesis, as neoplastic cells have to escape the cytotoxic lymphocytes in order to survive. Several candidate HLA class II alleles have been reported to be prognostic in cervical carcinomas, an epithelial malignancy resembling HNSCC. These alleles may have an impact on head and neck carcinomas as well. We determined HLA-DRB1* and -DQB1* alleles in HNSCC patients. Healthy organ donors served as controls. The Inno-LiPA reverse dot-blot kit was used to identify alleles in patient samples. No single haplotype was found to be predictive of either the risk for head and neck cancer, or the clinical course of the disease. However, alleles observed to be prognostic in cervical carcinomas showed a similar tendency in our series. DRB1*03 was associated with node-negative disease at diagnosis. DRB1*08 and DRB1*13 were associated with early-stage disease; DRB1*04 had a lower risk for tumor relapse; and DQB1*03 and DQB1*0502 were more frequent in controls than in patients. However, these associations reached only borderline significance in our HNSCC patients.

Low-delay, high-rate, non-square STBCs from scaled complex orthogonal designs

Space-time block codes (STBCs) obtained from non-square complex orthogonal designs are bandwidth efficient compared to those from square real/complex orthogonal designs for colocated coherent MIMO systems and has other applications in (i) non-coherent MIMO systems with non-differential detection, (ii) Space-Time-Frequency codes for MIMO-OFDM systems and (iii) distributed space-time coding for relay channels. Liang (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 2003) has constructed maximal rate non-square designs for any number of antennas, with rates given by [(a+1)/(2a)] when number of transmit antennas is 2a-1 or 2a. However, these designs have large delays. When large number of antennas are considered this rate is close to 1/2. Tarokh et al (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 1999) have constructed rate 1/2 non-square CODs using the rate-1 real orthogonal designs for any number of antennas, where the decoding delay of these codes is less compared to the codes constructed by Liang for number of transmit antennas more than 5. In this paper, we construct a class of rate-1/2 codes for arbitrary number of antennas where the decoding delay is reduced by 50% when compared with the rate-1/2 codes given by Tarokh et al. It is also shown that even though scaling the variables helps to lower the delay it can not be used to increase the rate.

Cow's milk allergy and the development of tolerance

Aims: To gain insight on the immunological processes behind cow’s milk allergy (CMA) and the development of oral tolerance. To furthermore investigate the associations of HLA II and filaggrin genotypes with humoral responses to early oral antigens. Methods: The study population was from a cohort of 6209 healthy, full-term infants who in a double-blind randomized trial received supplementary feeding at maternity hospitals (mean duration 4 days): cow’s milk (CM) formula, extensively hydrolyzed whey formula or donor breast milk. Infants who developed CM associated symptoms that subsided during elimination diet (n=223) underwent an open oral CM challenge (at mean age 7 months). The challenge was negative in 112, and in 111 it confirmed CMA, which was IgE-mediated in 83. Patients with CMA were followed until recovery, and 94 of them participated in a follow-up study at age 8-9 years. We investigated serum samples at diagnosis (mean age 7 months, n=111), one year later (19 months, n=101) and at follow-up (8.6 years, n=85). At follow-up, also 76 children randomly selected from the original cohort and without CM associated symptoms were included. We measured CM specific IgE levels with UniCAP (Phadia, Uppsala, Sweden), and β-lactoglobulin, α-casein and ovalbumin specific IgA, IgG1, IgG4 and IgG levels with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera. We applied a microarray based immunoassay to measure the binding of IgE, IgG4 and IgA serum antibodies to sequential epitopes derived from five major CM proteins at the three time points in 11 patients with active IgE-mediated CMA at age 8-9 years and in 12 patients who had recovered from IgE-mediated CMA by age 3 years. We used bioinformatic methods to analyze the microarray data. We studied T cell expression profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples from 57 children aged 5-12 years (median 8.3): 16 with active CMA, 20 who had recovered from CMA by age 3 years, 21 non-atopic control subjects. Following in vitro β-lactoglobulin stimulation, we measured the mRNA expression in PBMCs of 12 T-cell markers (T-bet, GATA-3, IFN-γ, CTLA4, IL-10, IL-16, TGF-β, FOXP3, Nfat-C2, TIM3, TIM4, STIM-1) with quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction, and the protein expression of CD4, CD25, CD127, FoxP3 with flow cytometry. To optimally distinguish the three study groups, we performed artificial neural networks with exhaustive search for all marker combinations. For genetic associations with specific humoral responses, we analyzed 14 HLA class II haplotypes, the PTPN22 1858 SNP (R620W allele) and 5 known filaggrin null mutations from blood samples of 87 patients with CMA and 76 control subjects (age 8.0-9.3 years). Results: High IgG and IgG4 levels to β-lactoglobulin and α-casein were associated with the HLA (DR15)-DQB1*0602 haplotype in patients with CMA, but not in control subjects. Conversely, (DR1/10)-DQB1*0501 was associated with lower IgG and IgG4 levels to these CM antigens, and to ovalbumin, most significantly among control subjects. Infants with IgE-mediated CMA had lower β -lactoglobulin and α-casein specific IgG1, IgG4 and IgG levels (p<0.05) at diagnosis than infants with non-IgE-mediated CMA or control subjects. When CMA persisted beyond age 8 years, CM specific IgE levels were higher at all three time points investigated and IgE epitope binding pattern remained stable (p<0.001) compared with recovery from CMA by age 3 years. Patients with persisting CMA at 8-9 years had lower serum IgA levels to β-lactoglobulin at diagnosis (p=0.01), and lower IgG4 levels to β-lactoglobulin (p=0.04) and α-casein (p=0.05) at follow-up compared with patients who recovered by age 3 years. In early recovery, signal of IgG4 epitope binding increased while that of IgE decreased over time, and binding patterns of IgE and IgG4 overlapped. In T cell expression profile in response to β –lactoglobulin, the combination of markers FoxP3, Nfat-C2, IL-16, GATA-3 distinguished patients with persisting CMA most accurately from patients who had become tolerant and from non-atopic subjects. FoxP3 expression at both RNA and protein level was higher in children with CMA compared with non-atopic children. Conclusions: Genetic factors (the HLA II genotype) are associated with humoral responses to early food allergens. High CM specific IgE levels predict persistence of CMA. Development of tolerance is associated with higher specific IgA and IgG4 levels and lower specific IgE levels, with decreased CM epitope binding by IgE and concurrent increase in corresponding epitope binding by IgG4. Both Th2 and Treg pathways are activated upon CM antigen stimulation in patients with CMA. In the clinical management of CMA, HLA II or filaggrin genotyping are not applicable, whereas the measurement of CM specific antibodies may assist in estimating the prognosis.

Structural and spectral investigations on some new Ni(II) complexes of di-2-pyridyl ketone N(4)-phenylthiosemicarbazone

Ni(II)complexes(1-5)ofdi2pyridylketoneN(4)-phenylthiosemicarbazone (HL) have been synthesized and spectrochemically characterized. Elemental analyses revealed a NiL2 center dot 2H(2)O stoichiometry for compound 1. However, the single crystals isolated revealed a composition NiL, - 0.5(H,0)0.5(DMF). The compound crystallizes into a monoclinic lattice with the space group P-21/n. Complexes 2. 3 and 4 are observed to show a 1:1:1 ratio of metal: thioseicarbazone:gegenion, with the general formula NiLX center dot yH(2)O [X = NCS. Y = 2 for 2; X = Cl, Y = 3 for 3 and X = N-3, y = 4.5 for 4]. Compound 5 is a dimer with a metal:thiosemicarbazone:gegenion ratio of 2:2: 1. with the formula [Ni,L,(SO4)1 - 4H(2)O (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural and spectral investigations on some new Ni(II) complexes of di-2-pyridyl ketone N(4)-phenylthiosemicarbazone

Ni(II) complexes (1-5) of di-2-pyridyl ketone N(4)-phenylthiosemicarbazone (HL) have been synthesized and spectrochemically characterized. Elemental analyses revealed a NiL2 center dot 2H(2)O stoichiometry for compound 1. However, the single crystals isolated revealed a composition NiL, - 0.5(H,0)0.5(DMF). The compound crystallizes into a monoclinic lattice with the space group P-21/n. Complexes 2. 3 and 4 are observed to show a 1:1:1 ratio of metal: thioseicarbazone:gegenion, with the general formula NiLX center dot yH(2)O [X = NCS. Y = 2 for 2; X = Cl, Y = 3 for 3 and X = N-3, y = 4.5 for 4]. Compound 5 is a dimer with a metal:thiosemicarbazone:gegenion ratio of 2:2: 1. with the formula [Ni,L,(SO4)1 - 4H(2)O (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.