A matter of justice and necessity: Women's participation in the Catholic Church

This article expands on a statement made by John Paul II on the necessity for ‘real equality’ for women. It begins by elaborating on two aspects of this statement that with regard to women, ‘history has conditioned us,’ and ‘the Gospel contains an ever relevant message.’ The article examines some sayings about women in the tradition, and argues that the tradition has been shaped by Aristotelian philosophy rather than the Scriptures. Finally it notes some contemporary thinking with regard to opening the diaconate to wome

Detection of phospholipase a activity from campylobacter concisus

This was a conference oral presentation at the 2002 ASM Annual Scientific Meeting in Melbourne.<br /

A bioactive peptide analogue for myxoma virus protein with a targeted cytotoxicity for human skin cancer in vitro

Background - Cancer is an international health problem, and the search for effective treatments is still in progress. Peptide therapy is focused on the development of short peptides with strong tumoricidal activity and low toxicity. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a myxoma virus peptide analogue (RRM-MV) as a candidate for skin cancer therapy. RRM-MV was designed using the Resonant Recognition Model (RRM) and its effect was examined on human skin cancer and normal human skin cells in vitro

Antigen Presentation Ability of Salmonella Carrying DNA Vaccine Model and MCP-3 gene

The objective of this study is to determine the antigen presentation ability of a DNA vaccine model that is co-delivered with that of recombinant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (STM1) expressing chemokine macrophage chemotactic protein-3 (MCP-3). The DNA vaccine, pVROVA, was constructed by amplification of the ovalbumin coding region from sOVA-C1. Dendritic cells (DCs) were obtained from IL-4 and GMCSF stimulated mouse bone marrow stem cell. Cultured DCs were incubated with STM1 carrying a model ovalbumin gene (pVROVA). Furthermore, MHC class I antigen presentation of a dominant OVA peptide was assayed in vitro. The experiments were designed to determine the effect of co-delivering MCP-3 with that of ovalbumin in STM1. Our results show that a plasmid pROVA-carrying ovalbumin gene was succesfully constructed and sequence analysis of the ovalbumin-coding revealed an identity match of 100% with that of the chicken ovalbumin DNA sequences from the GenBank database. We also found that the presence of the MCP-3 encoding plasmid in STM1 or E. coli DH1 could increase the recovery of both STM1 and E. coli DH1 over those that carry the empty plasmids. Antigen presentation assay also indicates that MCP-3 can positively influence the presentation of ovalbumin. Conclusion: the infection of DCs by STM1-carrying DNA vaccine and MCP-3 results in an increase of processing and presentation of ovalbumin in vitro. Keywords : DNA vaccine, MCP-3, APC, Salmonella, Dendritic cell

Ferrets exclusively synthesize Neu5Ac and express naturally humanized influenza A virus receptors

Mammals express the sialic acids ​N-acetylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Ac) and ​N-glycolylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Gc) on cell surfaces, where they act as receptors for pathogens, including influenza A virus (IAV). ​Neu5Gc is synthesized from ​Neu5Ac by the enzyme cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH). In humans, this enzyme is inactive and only ​Neu5Ac is produced. Ferrets are susceptible to human-adapted IAV strains and have been the dominant animal model for IAV studies. Here we show that ferrets, like humans, do not synthesize ​Neu5Gc. Genomic analysis reveals an ancient, nine-exon deletion in the ferret CMAH gene that is shared by the Pinnipedia and Musteloidia members of the Carnivora. Interactions between two human strains of IAV with the sialyllactose receptor (sialic acid—α2,6Gal) confirm that the type of terminal sialic acid contributes significantly to IAV receptor specificity. Our results indicate that exclusive expression of ​Neu5Ac contributes to the susceptibility of ferrets to human-adapted IAV strains