[Development of parenting behavior scale for caregivers of children aged 2 to 6 years and analysis for its reliability and validity].

To develop a caregiver parenting behavior scale for children aged 2 to 6 years, and to verify its reliability and validity. This study recruited 1 350 caregivers of children aged 2 to 6 years. The item discrimination analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyze the structure, dimensions and items of the scale. Homogeneity reliability, split-half reliability and test-retest reliability were used to analyze the reliability of the scale. Content validity and construct validity were used to analyze the validity of the scale. The results showed that the final scale contained 7 dimensions and 45 items. Cronbach's α coefficient of the total scale was 0.945; the coefficient of split half was 0.899; the test-retest reliability analysis showed that the correlation coefficients between the two tests were 0.893 (total score), 0.854 (social), 0.832 (language), 0.871 (gross motor), 0.893 (fine motor), 0.862 (cognitive), 0.832 (self-care), and 0.872 (sensory). The content validity analysis was carried out by two rounds of expert argumentation using Delphi expert consultation method. The Kendall coefficient of the items score in two rounds of Delphi expert consultation was 0.813 (P<0.01). The structure validity analysis showed that there were significant correlations between each dimension and the total scale, also between each dimension of the scale, and the extracted average variance values of each dimension was greater than the correlation coefficients between this dimension and other dimensions. In conclusion, the reliability and validity of the scale are qualified. It can be used as a tool to evaluate and guide the parenting behavior of caregivers of children aged 2 to 6 years.

PerAE: An Effective Personalized AutoEncoder for ECG-Based Biometric in Augmented Reality System.

With the development of the Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) technologies, massive biometric data are collected by different organizations. These data have great significance but also worsen the privacy risks. Electro-CardioGram (ECG)-based Identity Recognition (EIR) is a popular Biometric technology. An ECG record is an internal Biology feature of a person and has time continuity. Thus, compared with traditional Biometric methods like face recognition, EIR may be less vulnerable to attack. We propose an Autoencoder-based EIR system, called Personalized AutoEncoder (PerAE). PerAE maintains a small autoencoder model (called Attention-MemAE) for each registered user of a system. The Attention-MemAE enhances the autoencoder by using a memory module and two attention mechanisms. A user's Attention-MemAE classifies the hearbeats of other users as anomalies. An Attention-MemAE can be updated when the distribution of the user's ECG data is changed. By using personalized autoencoder, PerAE can improve the time efficiency and reduce the memory overhead. It improves the adaptability, scalability, and maintainability of EIR systems. Experiment results show that to train an Attention-MemAE with 90 % identification accuracy for a user, we can just take five minutes to collect the user's ECG data (around 500 heartbeat samples).

Tobacco smoking confers risk for severe COVID-19 unexplainable by pulmonary imaging.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a new pneumonia. It has been hypothesized that tobacco smoking history may increase severity of this disease in the patients once infected by the underlying coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 because smoking and COVID-19 both cause lung damage. However, this hypothesis has not been tested. OBJECTIVE: Current study was designed to focus on smoking history in patients with COVID-19 and test this hypothesis that tobacco smoking history increases risk for severe COVID-19 by damaging the lungs. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a single-site, retrospective case series study of clinical associations, between epidemiological findings and clinical manifestations, radiographical or laboratory results. In our well-characterized cohort of 954 patients including 56 with tobacco smoking history, smoking history increased the risk for severe COVID-19 with an odds ratio (OR) of 5.5 (95% CI: 3.1-9.9; P = 7.3 × 10-8 ). Meta-analysis of ten cohorts for 2891 patients together obtained an OR of 2.5 (95% CI: 1.9-3.3; P < 0.00001). Semi-quantitative analysis of lung images for each of five lobes revealed a significant difference in neither lung damage at first examination nor dynamics of the lung damage at different time-points of examinations between the smoking and nonsmoking groups. No significant differences were found either in laboratory results including D-dimer and C-reactive protein levels except different covariances for density of the immune cells lymphocyte (P = 3.8 × 10-64 ) and neutrophil (P = 3.9 × 10-46 ). CONCLUSION: Tobacco smoking history increases the risk for great severity of COVID-19 but this risk is achieved unlikely by affecting the lungs.

Limited Sampling Strategy for Estimating Mycophenolic Acid Exposure on Day 7 Post-Transplant for Two Mycophenolate Mofetil Formulations Derived From 20 Chinese Renal Transplant Recipients.

PURPOSE: To assess the pharmacokinetic properties of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) dispersible tablets and capsules by the enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) in Chinese kidney transplant recipients in the early post-transplantation phase and to develop the equations to predict mycophenolic acid (MPA) area under the 12-hour concentration-time curve (AUC0-12h) using a limited sampling strategy (LSS). METHODS: Forty patients who underwent renal transplantation from brain-dead donors were randomly divided into dispersible tablets (Sai KE Ping; Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharma) and capsules (Cellcept; Roche Pharma, Why, NSW, Australia) groups, and treated with MMF combined with combination tacrolimus and prednisone as a basic immunosuppressive regimen. Blood samples were collected before treatment (0) and at 0.5,1, 1.5, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 hours post-treatment and 7 days after renal transplantation. Plasma MPA concentrations were measured using EMIT. LSS equations were identified using multiple stepwise linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The peak concentration (Cmax) in the MMF dispersible tablets (MMFdt) group (7.0 ± 2.8) mg/L was reduced compared with that in the MMF capsules (MMFc) group (10.8 ± 6.2 mg/L; P = .012); time to peak concentration in the MMFdt group was 3.2 ± 2.3 hours, which was nonsignificantly elevated compared with that of the MMFc group (2.2 ± 1.7 hours). Three-point estimation formulas were generated by multiple linear regression for both groups: MPA-AUCMMFdt = 3.542 + 3.332C0.5h + 1.117C1.5h + 3.946C4h (adjusted r2 = 0.90, P < .001); MPA-AUCMMFc = 8.149 + 1.442C2h + 1.056C4h + 7.133C6h (adjusted r2 = 0.88, P < .001). Both predicted and measured AUCs showed good consistency. CONCLUSIONS: After treatment with MMF dispersible tables or MMF capsules, the Cmax of MPA for the MMFdt group was significantly lower than that of the MMFc group; there was no significant difference in other pharmacokinetic parameters. Three-time point equations can be used as a predictable measure of the AUC0-12h of MPA.

Relationship between methylation status of RASSF2A gene promoter and endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer.

Relationship between the methylation status of the RASSF2A gene promoter and endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer (EAOC) was explored. Between January 2013 and January 2016, tissue samples were collected from 30 patients diagnosed with ovarian endometriosis cyst (EC group), 30 patients diagnosed with ovarian endometrial adenocarcinoma (OEA group) and 30 patients diagnosed with ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCC group). Additionally, 30 cases of normal endometrium tissues were collected for the control group. The methylation status of the RASSF2A promoter was evaluated by combined bisulfite restriction enzyme analysis (COBRA). RT-PCR was used to detect the expression level of RASSF2A mRNA in tissues. Relationship between methylation status and RASSF2A mRNA expression level and the patient age, tumor clinical stage, tumor grading and pathological type were analyzed. Results showed that in the OEA and OCC groups, the methylation degrees of the RASSF2A promoter were obviously higher than that of the other two groups. The expression level of RASSF2A mRNA in the OEA and OCC groups was lower than that of the other two groups. The methylation degree of the RASSF2A promoter was related to clinical staging and grading. No relationship between the methylation degree of the RASSF2A promoter and patient’s age and the pathological type of the tissue was detected. We concluded that the methylation status of the RASSF2A gene promoter could be considered an excellent indicator for early detection of ovarian cancers.

[Evaluation of the psychological feature and quality of life in outpatients with somatic symptoms disorder in a general hospital].

Objective: To explore the psychological features and quality of life in outpatients with somatic symptoms disorder in a general hospital. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 2014-05 to 2015-06. Patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and somatic symptoms disorder (SSD) were recruited from psychological outpatient department, and patients with peptic ulcer (PU) / reflux esophagitis (RE) were recruited from Gastroenterology. Depression scale of the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS), 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), items from Somatoform Disorder Screening Questionnaire were employed to evaluate the severity of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, quality of life, health care use and subjective feelings. Results: Scores of PHQ-9 (10±6), GAD-7 (8±5), TAS (74±7) in patients with SSD were significantly higher than PU/RE patients (5±4, 5±4, 71±8, respectively), and the physical component summary (PCS) (40±8) and mental component summary (MCS) (37±10) of SSD patients were much lower than PU/RE (PCS 45±6, MCS 47±9) (P<0.01). No significant difference was found in the scores of PHQ-9, GAD-7, MCS-12, TAS between SSD and MDD group, but PCS-12 score of SSD group was much lower than that of MDD (P=0.017). Patients of SSD had more visits, more impact on life and longer duration of disorder. Multiple linear regression found that PHQ-9 score, subject feeling that life quality was affected were significant influential factors of PCS (F=14.600, P=0.001), and PHQ-9 score, occupation and ability to distinct emotion and physical feelings were significant influential factors of MCS (F=28.022, P=0.001). Conclusions: The SSD patients in a general hospital suffer from somatic symptoms and emotional distress, and quality of life is affected significantly. Clinicians should thoroughly evaluate patients according to bio-psycho-social aspects and give intervention individually.

Sintering Behavior and Effect of Silver Nanowires on the Electrical Conductivity of Electrically Conductive Adhesives.

In this paper, two kinds of silver nanowires with a 160 nm average diameter ranging from 30 to 90 µm length and a 450 nm average diameter up to 100 µm length were successfully synthesized by a polyol process with FeCl3 and Na2S as reaction inhibitor, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the morphologies and sintering behaviors of both of silver nanowires are impacted by glutaric acid and sintering temperature. The isotropically conductive adhesives (ICAs) filled with micro-sized silver flakes and silver nanowires as hybrid fillers were fabricated and the electrical properties were investigated based on the fraction of the silver nanowires of the total of silver fillers and the curing temperature, etc. The in situ monitoring the variation in electrical resistance of the ICAs explores that silver nanowires have influence on the curing behavior of the ICAs. Silver nanowires synthesized with Na2S as reaction inhibitor and treated with glutaric acid can significantly improve the electrical conductivity of the ICAs in the case of the low loading of silver fillers in the appropriate proportion range of the weight ratio of micro-sized silver flakes and silver nanowires, primarily as a result of connecting effect. When the loading of silver fillers in the ICAs is high, the electrical conductivity is also enhanced slightly in the case of the proper fraction of silver nanowires of the total of silver fillers. The effect of the curing temperature on the electrical conductivity relates to the fraction of silver nanowires and the total loading of silver fillers. The electrical conductivity of the ICAs filled with micro-sized silver flakes and silver nanowires synthesized with FeCl3 as reaction inhibitor is greatly damaged, indicating that the size of silver nanowires also is one of main factor to impact the electrical conductivity of the ICAs doped with silver nanowires. The electrical property of the ICAs filled with micro-sized silver flakes and silver nanowires results mainly from the synergy of silver flakes and nanowires, forming the conductive pathways.

Puerarin protects dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease models.

It has been acknowledged that oxidative stress, resulting in the apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons, is a key mechanism in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Puerarin, extracted from the root of pueraria lobata, has been clinically used for ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases as an oxygen free radical scavenger. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of puerarin on dopaminergic cell degeneration in vitro and in vivo and its possible underlying mechanisms. In SH-SY5Y cells, the reduction of cell viability, apoptosis rate and average DCFH-DA fluorescence intensity of puerarin-treated (0, 10, 50, 100 and 150 µM) cells were significantly lower than control group. In rotenone-based rodent models, puerarin treatment for 7 days ameliorated apomorphine-induced rotations significantly in Pue-50 and Pue-100 group by 45.65% and 53.06% in the first week, by 44.60% and 48.45% in the second week. Moreover, compared to control group, puerarin increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression in the substantia nigra by 85.52% and 84.26% in Pue-50 group and Pue-100 group, and upregulated the vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) by 41.24% in Pue-50 group and 35.20% in Pue-100 group, and decreased ubiquitin expression by 47.55% in Pue-50 group and 69.15% in Pue-100 group. These data indicated that puerarin alleviated the oxidative stress and apoptosis in a PD cellular model, protected the dopaminergic neurons against rotenone toxicity and decreased the abnormal protein overexpressing in PD animal models. These findings suggest that puerarin may develop into a neuroprotective alternative for patients with PD.

Non-typhoidal Salmonella encephalopathy involving lipopolysaccharide in cattle.

This study assessed the involvement of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the non-typhoidal Salmonella encephalopathy (NTSE) caused by a unique isolate of Salmonella enterica serovar Saint-paul (SstpNPG). NTSE was prevented by genetic (deletion of murE) or pharmacologic (polymyxin) disruption of LPS on SstpNPG although the disruption of LPS did not deter brain penetration of the strain. This is the first study to demonstrate that LPS is involved in the manifestations of NTSE.

Potential autophagy enhancers attenuate rotenone-induced toxicity in SH-SY5Y.

Recent studies have shown that autophagy upregulation may be a tractable therapeutic intervention for clearing the disease-causing proteins, including α-synuclein, ubiquitin, and other misfolded or aggregated proteins in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we explored a novel pharmacotherapeutic approach to treating PD by utilizing potential autophagy enhancers valproic acid (VPA) and carbamazepine (CBZ). Pretreatment with VPA (3 mM) and CBZ (50 µM) along with positive control rapamycin (Rap, 0.2 µM) or lithium (LiCl, 10 mM) significantly enhanced cell viability, decreased rotenone-induced nuclear fragmentation and apoptosis, ameliorated the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, reduced reactive oxygen species generation in the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Specifically, the numbers of lysosomes and autophagic vacuolar organelles were increased and the microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3-II) expression was up-regulated by VPA, CBZ, Rap, and LiCl (53%, 31%, 72%, and 63%), suggesting that these agents activated autophagic pathways. Moreover, pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (Chl, 10 µM) remarkably strengthened rotenone toxicity in these cells. Our results suggest that VPA and CBZ, the most commonly used anti-epilepsy and mood-stabilizing medications with low-risk and easy administration might be potential therapeutics for PD.

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase: activity inhibition and protein overexpression in rotenone models for Parkinson's disease.

Rotenone, a widely used pesticide and an environmental risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD), induces nigrostriatal injury, Lewy body-like inclusions, and Parkinsonian symptoms in rat models for PD. Our previous data indicated that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) overexpression and glycolytic inhibition were co-current in rotenone-induced PC12 (rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cells) cell death. However, whether GAPDH overexpression plays any role in dopaminergic neurodegeneration in vivo remains unknown. In this study, we have found that GAPDH overexpression and GAPDH-positive Lewy body-like aggregates in nigral dopaminergic neurons while nigral GAPDH glycolytic activity decreases in rotenone-based PD animal models. Furthermore, GAPDH knockdown reduces rotenone toxicity significantly in PC12. These in vitro and in vivo data suggest that GAPDH contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, possibly representing a new molecular target for neuroprotective strategies and alternative therapies for PD.

Pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of single dose and multiple doses of immediate- and extended-release formulations of dexibuprofen in healthy Chinese subjects.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles and bioequivalence of the extended-release (ER) and immediate-release (IR) formulations of dexibuprofen (DI) in healthy Chinese volunteers after single dose and multiple doses. MATERIALS: Zefen® (IR capsule, containing 150 mg DI, Suzhou No.4 Pharmaceutical Factory, Jiangsu, China) and ER capsule (containing 225 mg DI, Tianjin Zhongtian Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Tianjin, China). METHODS: This was an open, randomized, two-period crossover study. Eligible subjects were healthy male Chinese volunteers. 22 subjects were randomly assigned to receive a single 450 mg dose of the test or reference formulation on the first day. During the next 6 days, the test group received a multiple-dose of ER DI capsule (450 mg, b.i.d.) and the reference group took a multiple-dose of IR DI capsule (300 mg, t.i.d.), respectively. Multiple blood samples were collected, and plasma concentrations of DI were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. After a 9-day washout period, the subjects were administered the alternate formulation. Bioequivalence was concluded if the 90% confidence interval (CI) for the ratio between test and reference was within accepted limits. Adverse events (AEs) were monitored and documented throughout the confinement in the clinic and washout phases of each study period. RESULTS: 21 subjects completed the single dose administration and 20 subjects were evaluable for the multiple doses PK parameters. Single-dose Mean AUC0-t and AUC0-inf for ER formulation were 116.14 ± 21.54 mg·h/l and 117.60 ± 22.27 mg·h/l, and for IR formulation, were 107.25 ± 23.48 mg·h/l and 108.18 ± 23.93 mg·h/l, with the 90% CI within the limits accepted for bioequivalence. Mean Cmax for ER and IR formulations were 22.30 ± 5.17 mg/l and 30.26 ± 13.54 mg/l, respectively. And median tmax for ER and IR formulations were 4.5 h and 2.0 h. The retard quotient (delta R) for ER product was 1.9 ± 0.93, which indicated an intermediate extended release effect. Multiple-dose Mean AUC0-24 for ER formulation was 217.93 ± 41.07 mg·h/l and for IR formulation was 199.33 ± 37.32 mg·h/l. Other PK parameters of ER and IR formulations were as follows: median tmax were 4.8 h and 2.0 h, Css-max were 20.21 ± 2.69 mg/l and 19.71 ± 3.46 mg/l, Css-min were 2.47 ± 0.99 mg/l and 2.48 ± 0.99 mg/l, Cav were 9.08 ± 1.71 mg/l and 8.31 ± 1.56 mg/l, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that in these subjects, the absorption rates of the two DI formulations were not bioequivalent, but at steady state, the daily exposure provided by less frequent DI ER dosing was not significantly different from the same daily dose with DI IR capsules, administered more frequently.

VEGF-expressing human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, an improved therapy strategy for Parkinson's disease.

The umbilical cord provides a rich source of primitive mesenchymal stem cells (human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs)), which have the potential for transplantation-based treatments of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Our pervious study indicated that adenovirus-associated virus-mediated intrastriatal delivery of human vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (VEGF 165) conferred molecular protection to the dopaminergic system. As both VEGF and HUMSCs displayed limited neuroprotection, in this study we investigated whether HUMSCs combined with VEGF expression could offer enhanced neuroprotection. HUMSCs were modified by adenovirus-mediated VEGF gene transfer, and subsequently transplanted into rotenone-lesioned striatum of hemiparkinsonian rats. As a result, HUMSCs differentiated into dopaminergic neuron-like cells on the basis of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) (neuronal marker), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (astrocyte marker), nestin (neural stem cell marker) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) (dopaminergic marker) expression. Further, VEGF expression significantly enhanced the dopaminergic differentiation of HUMSCs in vivo. HUMSC transplantation ameliorated apomorphine-evoked rotations and reduced the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the lesioned substantia nigra (SNc), which was enhanced significantly by VEGF expression in HUMSCs. These findings present the suitability of HUMSC as a vector for gene therapy and suggest that stem cell engineering with VEGF may improve the transplantation strategy for the treatment of PD.

A novel element upstream of the Vgamma2 gene in the murine T cell receptor gamma locus cooperates with the 3' enhancer to act as a locus control region.

Transgenic expression constructs were employed to identify a cis-acting transcription element in the T cell receptor (TCR)-gamma locus, called HsA, between the Vgamma5 and Vgamma2 genes. In constructs lacking the previously defined enhancer (3'E(Cgamma1)), HsA supports transcription in mature but not immature T cells in a largely position-independent fashion. 3'E(Cgamma1), without HsA, supports transcription in immature and mature T cells but is subject to severe position effects. Together, the two elements support expression in immature and mature T cells in a copy number-dependent, position-independent fashion. Furthermore, HsA was necessary for consistent rearrangement of transgenic recombination substrates. These data suggest that HsA provides chromatin-opening activity and, together with 3'E(Cgamma1), constitutes a T cell-specific locus control region for the TCR-gamma locus.

Platelet immunoregulatory factors.

A number of soluble and membrane-associated proteins are known to mediate platelet:leukocyte interactions. Platelet-derived factors that have attracted the most attention to date include transforming growth factor beta, interleukin 1 and platelet factor 4. Recently, we have uncovered another protein within platelets that has leukocyte modulatory activity. It was previously characterized as an endometrial glycoprotein named placental protein 14 (PP14) with suppressive effects upon lymphocyte proliferation, pro-inflammatory cytokine production and natural killer cell function. The "hematopoietic" PP14 derived from cells of the megakaryocytic lineage shares this immunosuppressive property, as evaluated by two-way mixed lymphocyte cultures. Interestingly, two alternatively spliced hematopoietic PP14 mRNAs have been cloned which differ in their encoded proteins. Cell-free translation and transfection analyses have verified the translatability of both PP14 mRNA species and allowed for the analysis of their glycosylation properties. PP14, a member of the lipocalin structural superfamily of proteins, now offers an intriguing new link between the coagulation and immune systems.

[Clinical observation on diabetic nephropathy treated with alcohol of Abelmoschus manihot].

Sixty-eight cases of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) complicated with nephropathy were randomly divided into two groups: treated group, 35 cases treated with alcohol extraction of Abelmoschus manihot, Gliclazide and Captopril tablets; control group, 33 cases treated with Gliclazide and Captopril tablets, over a period of 8 weeks. The total effective rate in treated and control group were 83.87% and 31.03%(P < 0.01), urinary micro-albumin were 31.7 mg/L and 76.3 mg/L (P < 0.05), proteinuria were 0.41 g/24h and 0.77 g/24h (P < 0.01), blood beta 2-microglobulin were 3317.8 ng/ml and 3473.1 ng/ml (P < 0.05), urinary beta 2-microglobulin were 367.2 ng/ml and 641.5 ng/ml (P < 0.01), urinary N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG) were 26.3 u/L and 66.7 u/L (P < 0.01), plasma lipid peroxide (LPO) were 6.13 nmol/L and 8.78 nmol/L (P < 0.05), and plasma superoxide anion were 8.36 kcpm and 10.42 kcpm respectively (P < 0.05). It was suggested that Abemoschus manihot alcohol extraction could eliminate oxygen free radicals, alleviate renal tubular-interstitial diseases, improve renal function and reduce proteinuria.

Hematopoietic placental protein 14. An immunosuppressive factor in cells of the megakaryocytic lineage.

Placental protein 14 (PP14), an immunosuppressive molecule previously known to be expressed in the female and male reproductive tracts only, was shown to be expressed by hematopoietic cells of the megakaryocytic lineage. Northern blot analysis confirmed the induction specificity of PP14 mRNA in phorbol ester-treated K562 cells. Potent immunosuppressive activity in conditioned medium from phorbol ester-treated K562 cells was attributed to hematopoietic PP14 by anti-PP14 antibody blocking. Immunoprecipitation with anti-PP14 antibodies from conditioned medium revealed two distinct PP14 protein isoforms, designated PP14.1 and PP14.2. Polymerase chain reaction cloning and analysis demonstrated the presence of distinct mRNA counterparts to PP14.1 and PP14.2 that had not been resolved by Northern blot analyses. Hematopoietic PP14.1 mRNA corresponds in size to endometrial PP14 mRNA, whereas the smaller hematopoietic PP14.2 mRNA displays an internal in-frame 66-nucleotide deletion that can be explained by alternative splicing and predicts a 22-amino-acid deletion in the encoded gene product. Both PP14 mRNA isoforms were additionally detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses in two human megakaryocytic cell lines and in normal human megakaryocytes and platelets. PP14 mRNA was not detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in a panel of nonhematopoietic, nonendometrial tissues examined. The finding of hematopoietic PP14 within the megakaryocytic lineage provides an additional regulatory link between the coagulation and immune systems in normal and pathological settings.