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Article
Open AccessAdenylate kinase potentiates the capsular polysaccharide by modulating Cps2D in Streptococcus pneumoniae D39
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a polysaccharide-encapsulated bacterium. The capsule thickens during blood invasion compared with the thinner capsules observed in asymptomatic nasopharyngeal colonization. However, th...
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Article
Pneumonia and Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine
Pneumonia is an inflammatory disease of the lung, responsible for high morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or other microorganisms. Streptococcus pneumoniae, a gram-positi...
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Article
Effect of decreased BCAA synthesis through disruption of ilvC gene on the virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. It causes a variety of life-threatening infections such as pneumonia, bacteremia,...
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Article
Stress responses in Streptococcus species and their effects on the host
Streptococci cause a variety of diseases, such as dental caries, pharyngitis, meningitis, pneumonia, bacteremia, endocarditis, erysipelas, and necrotizing fasciitis. The natural niche of this genus of bacteria...
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Article
Involvement of ATF3 in the negative regulation of iNOS expression and NO production in activated macrophages
Macrophage-associated nitric oxide (NO) production plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of tissue damage. However, negative factors that regulate NO production remains poorly understood despite its signif...
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Article
Ethanol induces cell cycle arrest and triggers apoptosis via Sp1-dependent p75NTR expression in human neuroblastoma cells
Ethanol exposure has deleterious effects on the central nervous system. Although several mechanisms for ethanol-induced damage have been suggested, the precise mechanism underlying ethanol-induced neuronal cel...
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Article
Virulence attenuation of Streptococcus pneumoniae clpP mutant by sensitivity to oxidative stress in macrophages via an NO-mediated pathway
ClpP protease is essential for virulence and survival under stress conditions in several pathogenic bacteria. The clpP mutation in a murine infection model has demonstrated both attenuation of virulence and a sen...
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Article
Reduction-sensitive and cysteine residue-mediated Streptococcus pneumoniae HrcA oligomerization in vitro
In both gram-positive and several gram-negative bacteria, the transcription of dnaK and groE operons is negatively regulated by HrcA; however, the mechanism modulating HrcA protein activity upon thermal stress re...
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Article
Dual regulation of dnaK and groE operons by HrcA and Ca++ in Streptococcus pneumoniae
The dnaK and groE operons in Streptococcus pneumoniae are repressed by HrcA in the presence of Ca++. However, it is unclear how HrcA and Ca++ regulate the dnaK and groE operons. This study examined the dual regul...
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Article
Selective toxicity of ginsenoside Rg3 on multidrug resistant cells by membrane fluidity modulation
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major problem in cancer chemotherapy. It was previously reported that a red ginseng saponin, 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 could modulate MDR in vitro and extend the survival of mice impla...
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Article
Immunomodulatory function of murine nk cell activity by alginate
Thein vivo immunomodulatory function of the activity of murine natural killer (NK) cells induced by high mannuronic acid-containing alginate (HMA) was examined. HMA was injected i.p at doses of 25 and 100 mg/kg. ...
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Article
Open AccessBiological Activities and Chemistry of Saponins from Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer
The roots of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, known as Korean ginseng have been a valuable and important folk medicine in the East Asian countries, such as China, Korea and Japan for about 2000 years. Panax is derived ...
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Article
Vitamin C blocks TNF-α-induced NF-kB activation and ICAM-1 expression in human neuroblastoma cells
Interactions of the cell adhesion molecules are known to play important roles in mediating inflammation. The proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), activates the NF-kB signaling pathway, which...
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Article
Antiviral and tumoricidal activities of alginate-stimulated macrophages are mediated by different mechanisms
Macrophages play an important role in host defenses by killing tumors and virus infections and producing secretory products. High mannuronic acid (HMA) containing alginate was examined to determine the mechani...
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Article
Modulation of tnf-α-induced icam-1 expression, no and h202 production by alginate, allicin and ascorbic acid in human endothelial cells
Plant nutrients are believed to provide protection against various diseases including inflamma-tion. Since interactions of the cell adhesion molecules are known to play important roles in mediating inflammatio...
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Article
Inhibition of γ-irradiation induced adhesion molecules and NO production by alginate in human endothelial cells
Inflammation is a frequent radiation-induced reaction following therapeutic irradiation. Treatment of human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC) with γ-irradiation (γlR) induces the expression of adhesion prote...
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Article
Enhanced macrophage antitumor effects of protein A in combination with IFN-γ
In this study we examined the potential for the synergistic augmentation of the antitumor activity of inflammatory mouse peritoneal macrophages by stimulation with protein A combined with IFN-γ. The moderate a...
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Article
Isolation of a multidrug resistance inhibitor fromAconitum pseudo-laeve var.erectum
To overcome multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer chemotherapy, we prepared various plant extracts and searched for a component which is effective for inhibition of MDR. MDR inhibition activity was determined b...
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Characterization of the Stress Response in Streptococcus pneumoniae
S. pneumoniae is a well known pathogen for a number of diseases including pneumonia, otitis media and meningitis. Its natural habitat is human nasopharynx and cells are presumed to be challenged ...
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Article
Effects of ginseng saponin on modulation of multidrug resistance
Multidrug resistance (MDR) has been a major problem in cancer chemotherapy. To overcome this problem, we prepared minor ginsenosides stereoselectively from ginseng saponins and searched for a ginseng component...
