Anti-FGB monoclonal antibody, clone 2G0

Background: Ischemic stroke (IS) and coronary heart disease (CHD) are two vascular disorders that are a common cause of death worldwide. Several studies have assessed the association of the -fibrinogen-455G/A (FGB-455G/A) polymorphismand risk of IS and CHD, but the results are still inconsistent. Our study aimed to investigate whether the FGB-455G/A polymorphism was associated with susceptibility to IS and CHD by using meta-analysis. Methods: Relevant studies were identified from PubMed, Embase and four Chinese database up to July 2013. Data were analyzed and processed by Stata 11.2. A pooled ORwith 95% CI was calculated to estimate the strength of the genetic association. Cumulative meta-analysis was performed to assess the tendency of pooled OR over time. Results: 45 studies based on a total of 7238 cases and 7395 controlswere included in our meta-analysis. The results indicated that the FGB-455G/A polymorphism is associated with the risk of IS when compared with the dominant model (OR = 1.518, 95% CI = 1.279-1.802 for AA + GA vs. GG). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, significantly elevated risks were associated with the A allele in Asians (OR = 1.700, 95% CI = 1.417-2.040), but not in Caucasians (OR = 0.942, 95% CI = 0.813-1.091). Both the hypertension and non-hypertension subgroups reached significant results, but no significancewas found when stratified according to sex or subtype of IS. Results indicate that the FGB-455G/A polymorphism is associated with CHD (OR = 1.802, 95% CI = 1.445-2.246). Conclusion: Ourmeta-analysis suggests that the FGB-455G/A polymorphism contributes to susceptibility to IS and CHD. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Larval recruitment is the foundation for future coral populations, However, difficulties in accurately identifying the species of recruits confound our understanding of relationships between recruitment and adult populations. In addition, current methods of scleractinian coral recruit identification destroy the tissue, precluding molecular or genomic analysis of these samples. A genetic method was developed to distinguish among coral species commonly observed in Caribbean recruitment studies and to facilitate further genetic analysis of these samples. Application of this method to monitoring recruitment at the Flower Garden Banks (FGB) and the Florida Keys (FK) throughout the 2000 to 2001 and 2001 to 2002 reproductive seasons revealed almost exclusive recruitment from 2 brooding species Agaricia agaricites and Porites astreoides. Recruitment at the FGB was significantly higher than across the FK. Significant spatial variation in recruitment was observed within the FK, and although more recruits were observed in 2001 to 2002, there was no significant temporal variation. Differences in local adult populations (e.g. population sizes and live coral coverage), post-settlement mortality and general reef health were likely contributors to disparities in recruitment levels of brooding corals observed at these reefs.