The determination of the pfmdr1 copy number in samples collected

The determination of the pfmdr1 copy number in samples collected after 2008 could provide a useful complement for the assessment of potential resistance to artemether and lumefantrine. The observed low genetic diversity www.selleckchem.com/products/BAY-73-4506.html of the P. falciparum population does probably reflect the context of an island country, where gene flow may be restricted. This low diversity was compared with observations in PNG [24]. In contrast to the SI situation, where mutations associated with antimalarial drug resistance tended to be fixed, the diversity was higher in PNG with various SNP patterns present in the P. falciparum population. However, the most dominant SNP pattern related to CQ resistance seen in PNG between 1992 and 2002 [37] was composed of mutations pfcrt K76T, A220 S, N326 D and I356L, which corresponds to the dominant haplotype observed in the SI.

Regarding SP resistance, the dominant SNP pattern in PNG was the pfdhfr C59R+S108N double mutant, which also corresponds to the dominant haplotype in SI. Parasite populations in SI and PNG show similarities that can be explained by their close geographical vicinity. However, the pronounced insularity and remoteness of the SI differs from PNG and this may be reflected in the lower genetic diversity observed in the SI. The absence of mutations in pfdhps in the SI, which are already present in PNG, is a possible illustration of such low gene flow. A meta-population analysis on the diversity of genes encoding P. falciparum vaccine antigens also reported that biogeographic characteristics of island nations in the Pacific constitute a barrier to gene flow [38].

Restricted gene flow is also reflected in the low mean multiplicity of infection in the SI (1.39 concurrent infections in parasite positive samples). For comparison, in a coastal location in PNG having similar geographical characteristics, the multiplicity of infection was slightly higher (1.54), and the msp2 PCR-based P. falciparum prevalence was also higher than in the SI (32% versus 25%, respectively) [39]. An additional explanation for limited diversity in the considered study site could be the vector control measures. Field evaluations have shown that insecticide-impregnated bed nets and indoor residual spraying together with educational activities significantly reduced malaria transmission in north Guadalcanal Province and contributed to a slow decrease of malaria incidence in the SI since 1992 [40].

To further validate the hypothesis of restricted gene flow in the SI in contrast to PNG, the diversity of various Brefeldin_A microsatellites which are not under selection pressure could be tested. In conclusion, the present data provide baseline information on the prevalence of P. falciparum drug resistance-associated SNPs and highlight the low level of genetic diversity in the P. falciparum population in the Guadalcanal Province of the SI.

Our findings provide strong evidence that there is a delicate bal

Our findings provide strong evidence that there is a delicate balance of vascular and endothelial ET receptors. When this balance is optimal, blockade of ETB receptors either directly via inhibition of ETB receptor activation LDP-341 or indirectly through the activation of ETA receptors leads to remodeling. Because recent studies suggest a rather complex and antihypertensive effects of ETB receptors, it is also possible that elevated blood pressure with A192621 may contribute to cerebrovascular remodeling in control animals (Pollock, 2010). However, the fact that both treatments prevent remodeling in diabetic animals despite similar increases in blood pressure argues against this possibility. These results point to a contrasting effect of ETB blockade in control and diabetic animals.

Although concomitant ETA blockade does not add or subtract from effects mediated by selective ETB blockade in controls, additional ETA blockade improves beneficial effects of ETB antagonism in diabetes. When the vascular/endothelial ET receptor balance is compromised as we found in the diabetic animals in the current study, vascular ETA and ETB receptors override protection conferred by the endothelial ETB receptors and therefore dual ETA/ETB receptor blockade completely restored indices of remodeling to control values. There are several technical limitations of the current study. First, because of the limited availability of the selective ETB antagonist A192621 we had a relatively small number of animals in the control group, and the receptor density studies were performed only in the bosentan treatment group.

Second, we measured ET receptor densities by immunoblotting because receptor binding studies require significantly more MCA samples and additional animals treated with these antagonists are needed. Along the same lines, eETB receptor density was determined by an indirect method. Although antibodies yielded specific bands in immunoblots, immunohistochemical studies to determine endothelial versus VSM ETB receptors were not clear (data not shown). We have also observed a 10 to 15% weight loss in both control and diabetic animals treated with antagonists. Our finding that treated control animals show increased remodeling despite weight loss argues against the fact weight loss may be contributing to the beneficial effects observed in diabetic animals.

However, the cause of weight loss and effect on remodeling endpoints need to be studied further. Despite these shortcomings, our results have demonstrated that selective ETB receptor antagonism exerts different effects Dacomitinib under physiological or diabetic conditions and dual ET receptor blockade completely prevents cerebrovascular remodeling in diabetes. These findings emphasize that the relative ETA and ETB receptor density is an important determinant of response to ET receptor antagonist treatment especially in disease states.

and in early identifying intra-abdominal complications,

and in early identifying intra-abdominal complications, selleck such as abscesses, fistulae and strictures[41-44]. The reported sensitivity of US in detecting CD strictures approximately is 74%-80%[41]. US can also aid differentiate between fibrotic and inflammatory strictures. An increased Colour-Doppler signal in the stenosis is suggestive of activity, while poor vascularity of the bowel wall, an adjacent loops�� retraction and a pre-stenotic bowel segment distension are suggestive of fibrotic stenosis (Figure (Figure55)[31]. Figure 5 Longitudinal section of a distal ileal loop showing stiffness, mural thickening (arrowhead), lumen narrowing (arrow) and mild dilatation of the pre-stenotic segment (asterisk), suggesting a fibrotic nature of the stenosis.

Some challenges about US still remain: US strongly relies on the operator��s experience and skill more than other imaging modalities, and it requires an high resolution equipment. Moreover, even in expert hands, US may result in false positive findings[34]: thickening of the intestinal wall is not specific for CD, also being present in infectious, neoplastic and other inflammatory conditions. US may also provide false negative results[38,42], for example in obese patients or when CD is characterized by only superficial lesions, like isolated aphthous ulcers and mucosal erosions, or in presence of intestinal gas that make hardly visible the bowel wall, particularly the proximal ones. Small Intestine Contrast US (SICUS). Some studies in adults have demonstrated that the so called SICUS, enables to overcome limits of standard US.

Dissociation of intestinal overlapping loops and visualization of the entire SB, from the Treitz angle to the ileo-cecal valve, are obtained by distending the SB with an oral anechoic non-absorbable contrast solution (iso-osmolar polyethylene glycol)[36]. Briefly, US examination in performed after the ingestion of the oral contrast solution, that fill in the loops, and the administration of the intravenous (iv) contrast. Unfortunately the procedure is time consuming, requiring in some cases more than 2 hours. Pallotta et al[28] studied 148 patients, 57 with a known diagnosis of CD, showing SICUS to be more sensitive and specific (94% and 98%, respectively) than conventional US (57% and 100% respectively) in assessing SB lesions.

The use of an oral contrast agent can significantly improve US sensitivity, approximately of 90% (Figure (Figure6)6) and of over 75% for a single and multiple SB stenosis, respectively[42]. Figure 6 The oral anechoic contrast solution, (polyethylene glycol), allows a better definition of lumen narrowing (arrow) and pre-stenotic dilatation (asterisk) as well as a more accurate GSK-3 measurement of the length of the stenosis. Small intestine contrast ultrasonography … SICUS can make a dynamic evaluation of the affected segment differentiating between inflammatory and fibrotic stenosis.

Data analysis The results of the quantitative PCR were generated

Data analysis The results of the quantitative PCR were generated using the software version 1.3. The threshold cycle in each subject was received on the basis of two independent experiments. Relative gene expression analysis was applied. The expression www.selleckchem.com/products/BI6727-Volasertib.html ratio (relative quantity��RQ) was calculated by means of the Livak��s formula for delta delta Ct.25 Statistical analysis All data were analysed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 13.0. The comparison between EGFR and hTERT gene expression in NSCLC patients and COPD patients was done with Mann-Whitney. A p-value <0.05 was considered of statistical significance. Results Clinicopathological features of NSCLC patients Of the 45 NSCLC patients thirty-seven (82%) were males and eight (18%) were females, with a mean age of 59.

8 years (range 43�C75). All were active smokers with a mean number of packyears��28.1. Regarding the histological types fourteen (31%) had adenocarcinomas and thirty-one (69%) had squamous cell carcinoma. Five (11%) were subsequently diagnosed with T1 disease, twenty (44%) with T2, fourteen (31%) with T3 and six (14%) with T4. Regarding the nodal status��twenty-three (51%) were diagnosed with N0 disease, six (13%) with N1, fourteen (31%) with N2 and two (5%) with N3. None of the patients had distant metastases upon diagnosis. Regarding the overall stage��sitxteen (35%) had stage I, thirteen (29%) were at stage II, sixteen (36%) at stage III. The COPD group of patients consisted of thirty-seven men and three women with a mean age��61.4 (range 56�C74). All were smokers with a mean number of packyears��27.

3. The diagnosis of COPD was verified spirometrically and the forced expiratory outflow��FEO1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio of less than 70% was used as a criteria for participation. According to the grade of obstruction (FEO1), the group of COPD patients consisted of��17 patients with FEO1 < 80%, 12 patients with FEO1 between 80%�C50%, 11 patients with FEO1 < 50%. Correlations between expression of EGFR and hTERT mRNA markers in plasma and patients�� clinicopathological characteristics Regarding the whole group of patients, no significant correlation could be found between expression of mRNA markers in plasma and patients�� demographic and clinicopathological features such as gender and histological type of cancer.

The expression Brefeldin_A of EGFR however seemed to correlate with the grade of differentiation��p = 0.009. In addition, expression of both EGFR and hTERT in plasma was not significantly associated with the T, N, M, factor and the overall stage of the disease��Table 1. Table 1. EGFR and hTERT gene expression and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with NSCLC. Plasma expression of EGFR and hTERT mRNA in NSCLC and high risk group EGFR mRNA could be detected in all patients with NSCLC. The mean level of expression was RQ = 29.39; RQmin = 0.95; RQmax = 50.03.

We thank the participants and research staff who made the study p

We thank the participants and research staff who made the study possible. Footnotes Competing Interests: The sellckchem authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute of Health grant numbers KO1 TW006087, funded by the Fogarty International Center; R01 DK082766, funded by National Institute of
Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the major histological type of oesophageal cancer in East Asian countries, is one of the most aggressive malignant tumours (Enzinger and Mayer, 2003). Despite the development of multimodal therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, the prognosis remains poor even for patients who undergo complete carcinoma resection.

The limited improvement in outcomes achieved by conventional therapies urges us to seek innovative strategies, especially those involving molecular targeting, for treating OSCC. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a 289-kDa serine/threonine kinase involved in cellular growth and homeostasis (Bjornsti and Houghton, 2004; Abraham and Gibbons, 2007; Menon and Manning, 2008; Wouters and Koritzinsky, 2008). Mammalian target of rapamycin is activated by phosphorylation as a part of the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/AKT signalling pathway (Mita et al, 2003; Chan, 2004; Dancey, 2006) and in turn phosphorylates and activates eukaryotic translation factor 4E (elF4E) and p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6 kinase), leading to the translation of proteins required for cell cycle progression (Hidalgo and Rowinsky, 2000; Panwalkar et al, 2004).

The presence and prognostic significance of aberrant mTOR activation have been reported for several types of human carcinomas (Easton and Houghton, 2006; Herberger et al, 2007; Hou et al, 2007; Hudes, 2009; Hirashima et al, 2010). Our group previously showed an association between high phosphorylated mTOR (p-mTOR) expression and poor prognosis in 143 resected OSCC samples (Hirashima et al, 2010). Mammalian target of rapamycin has recently been recognised as an important and attractive target for anti-cancer therapy (Boulay et al, 2004; Bianco et al, 2006; Johnston, 2006; Antonarakis et al, 2010; Sparks and Guertin, 2010). Everolimus, an oral mTOR inhibitor, has shown particularly promising results in experimental studies, inhibiting tumour growth and displaying anti-angiogenic effects (Carmeliet and Jain, 2000; Bianco et al, 2008; Manegold et al, 2008; Lane et al, 2009).

Combination therapy using everolimus and cisplatin has also been reported to be effective (Beuvink et al, 2005; Mabuchi et al, 2007; Hou et al, 2010; Ma et al, 2010). Many clinical trials using everolimus for several types of cancers are currently underway (Yee et al, 2006; Fouladi et al, 2007; Gridelli Entinostat et al, 2007; Johnson et al, 2007; Awada et al, 2008; O’Donnell et al, 2008; Tabernero et al, 2008; Tanaka et al, 2008; Yao et al, 2008; Wolpin et al, 2009).

dublin or L plantarum) and early changes in gene expression were

dublin or L. plantarum) and early changes in gene expression were analyzed (Table 5). Table 4 Clinical parameters for patients in response to bacterial DNA experiments. Table 5 Gene expression changes (>1.5 fold) in biopsies from CD and UC patients in comparison with controls in response to bacterial DNA. Controls A total of 9 genes showed a ��1.5 fold change in response to bacterial DNA, with 2 www.selleckchem.com/products/Y-27632.html gene responses specific to L. plantarum and 4 specific to S. dublin. Gene responses similar to both bacterial DNAs included an up-regulation of lymphotoxin �� (LTA), CCR2, CD19, and CD40LG. Specific responses to L. plantarum included an up-regulation of IL10 and a down-regulation of IL4. Specific responses to S. dublin included an up-regulation of IL5, CCR7, and TNFRSF18 and a down-regulation of IL13.

Ulcerative Colitis In UC patients, a total of 20 genes showed a fold change of ��1.5 to bacterial DNA, with 7 gene responses specific to L. plantarum and 4 specific to S. dublin. Again, several gene responses were similar to both bacterial DNAs, and included a down-regulation of IL5, LTA, and an up-regulation of AGTR1 and IL1A. Specific responses to L. plantarum included a down-regulation of IL12B, CCR2, FASLG, TFRC, and an up-regulation of CXCR3, TBX21, and REN. Specific responses to S. dublin included a down-regulation of CD3E and an up-regulation of CCL19, CXCL10, and CXCL11. Crohn’s Disease In CD patients, a total of 18 genes showed a fold change of ��1.5 to bacterial DNA, with 4 gene responses specific to L. plantarum and 8 specific to S. dublin.

Responses similar to both bacterial DNAs included a down-regulation of IL13, HLADRB1, TNFRSF18, and C3, and an up-regulation of IL17 and REN. Specific responses to L. plantarum included a down-regulation of IL6 and IFN1. CD patients were generally more responsive to S. dublin compared with either controls or UC patients, with an upregulation of IL1A, IL1B, IL8, CCL3, CXCL11, and a down-regulation of CCL19 and CD19. Gene Networks of DNA-treated and Control Biopsies Alterations in gene expression in the cultured biopsies were entered into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) database and functional networks identified in order to provide biological context to the differentially expressed genes (Figures 3,,44,,5).5). This approach allows for changes in gene expression to be related to functional changes within cellular pathways.

Early tissue responses to S. dublin in control patients (Figure 3) were linked with chemokine and cytokine responses along with NF-��B and STAT6 signaling pathways. In contrast, Carfilzomib the response of control patients to L. plantarum (Figure 3) involved an up-regulation of IL-10 and involvement of STAT3 and STAT6 pathways, indicative of an anti-inflammatory response. This would be in agreement with our previous studies showing DNA from probiotic strains to have a differential effect on epithelial and immune responses compared with DNA from pathogenic strains [9].

1%, respectively These very

1%, respectively. These very thorough preliminary comparisons of the stimulation sites suggest that these 2 locations of active electrodes were comparably effective for tinnitus treatment.The era of tDCS application to tinnitus patients has begun by Fregni et al. study that introduced anodal tDCS of the LTA resulting in a transient reduction of tinnitus, similar to 10-Hz TMS [30]. Another recent study utilized tDCS of the LTA and showed significant reduction of tinnitus intensity in a larger group of patients, especially reported longer-lasting effects for several days in some patients [37]. However, both studies found no effect on cathodal tDCS of the LTA with the anode on the contralateral supraorbital area. This may be attributed to the fact that cathodal tDCS is too weak to change ongoing cortical electrical activity [18].

Therefore, tDCS with longer duration and elevated current was proposed to obtain significant suppression, analogous to TMS where a single session induces an immediate change in tinnitus perception while several sessions of low-frequency TMS induce prolonged effects [18, 43, 44]. Of course, special care such as screening of skin disease or abrasion, using a larger rubber electrode, and self-reporting of pain by the patient during stimulation are needed to elevate current to avoid skin burns [45].Meanwhile, bifrontal tDCS for tinnitus patients have first been introduced by Vanneste et al. [38], based on previous studies reporting clinical benefits of bifrontal tDCS in treating major depression [46, 47], impulsiveness [48], and chronic pain [49, 50].

Bifrontal tDCS has been suggested to strengthen deficient inhibitory top-down mechanisms in tinnitus, making it possible to induce auditory sensory gating in the anterior cingulate cortex [51]. Also, Vanneste et al. has proposed that bifrontal tDCS may interfere with the emotional Dacomitinib processing of tinnitus by modulating the cortico-subcortical and corticocortical pathways, as DLPFC may have a dampening effect on the midbrain-dorsomedial thalamic pathway, as has been shown for the somatosensory system [38]. A recent study using quantitative electroencephalography has indicated that responders to bifrontal tDCS seem to differ in resting state brain activity compared to nonresponders in the right auditory cortex and parahippocampal area [39].In contrast to LTA-tDCS, bifrontal tDCS studies have demonstrated that switched polarity of the electrode pads was also effective for tinnitus management. That is, bifrontal tDCS placing the anodal electrode on the right DLPFC and the cathodal electrode on left DLPFC also could improve tinnitus intensity and tinnitus-related distress [38].

Figure 1Bayesian inference network model The resulting probabilit

Figure 1Bayesian inference network model.The resulting probability scores are used to rank the database in response to a bioactive reference structure in the order of decreasing probability of similar bioactivity to the reference structure.To estimate the probability associating each compound to the reference structure, the probability www.selleckchem.com/products/ABT-263.html for the fragment and reference nodes must be computed. One particular belief function, called OKA, has been found to have the most effective recall [24]. This function was used to compute the probabilities for the fragment nodes and is given by ��log?[(m+0.5)/cfi]log?(m+1.0),(2)where?(2):belOKA(fi)=��+(1?��)��ffijffij+0.5+1.5��|cj|/|cavg| �� = Constant; and experiments using the BIN show that the best value is 0.

4 [26, 27], ffij = frequency of the ith fragment within the jth compound reference structure, cfi = number of compounds containing the ith fragment, |cj|= the size (in terms of number of fragments) of the jth compound, |Cavg| = the average size of all the compounds in the database, and m = the total number of compounds. To produce a ranking of the compounds in the collection with respect to a given reference structure, a belief function from In Query, the SUM operator, was used. If p1, p2,��, pn represent the belief in the fragment nodes (parent nodes of r), then the belief at r is given by (3):belsum(r)=��i=1npin,(3)where n = the number of the unique fragments assigned to reference structure r.2.3. BINRF ModelThe difference between the two models (BIN and BINRF) arises from the differences in the type of belief function used to produce the ranking of the compounds in the collection.

In the conventional BIN model, the probability of the reference node is computed by summing the probabilities in the fragment nodes connected to the reference node. The fragment nodes participating in the final probability are scored equally (meaning that no extra weight given to any fragment node). This calculation is conducted using the SUM operator, as described above.In the BINRF model, the reweighting factor is used to assign a new weight to the fragment. In order to produce this factor, it is necessary to start by analysing the occurrence of each fragment in the set of input references. The reweighing factor rwfiis calculated using (4):rwfi=Ffimax?F,(4)where Ffi is the frequency of ith fragment in the set of references’ input and max F is the maximum fragment frequency in the set of references’ input.New weights are then assigned to the fragments based on Cilengitide this factor, the new weight, nwi, of the ith fragment, is given by (5):nwi=wi+rwfi,(5)where wi is the original frequency of the ith fragment in the reference input.

g , [17, 35, 36]) Based on a large collection of field measures,

g., [17, 35, 36]). Based on a large collection of field measures, Hui and Jackson [8] concluded that the proportion of the below-ground net biomass production in the total net primary production was negatively correlated with the average annual temperature and precipitation Sunitinib buy across sites. Our results indicate higher root increments in cool and wet highland and mountain sites, while lower values in dry and warmer environments of lowland sites were found. Perez and Frangi [37] reported that below-ground net productivity in grassland sites increased with altitude. On the other hand, a greater root production at lower than at higher elevated sites was found in several temperate grasslands [38]. Nevertheless, root production may not be a simple function of altitude [38, 39].

In our case, both altitude and amount of rainfall can explain obtained results of individual sites.The repeated measures analysis also exhibited the effect of year on YRI in all studied grasslands. The results show the lowest YRI in the dry treatment of the lowland dry grassland and a decreased root production in the dry treatments of the highland and mountain grasslands, particularly during the first three years. This fact can be associated with the lower regular rainfall recorded during this period. The YRI significantly increased in the Festuca lowland grassland in 2009 and 2010. In these years, the amount of precipitation was above the long-term averages. In the mountain grassland, the YRI varied over a wide range of values. This could also be associated with fluctuating amounts of the current precipitation.

Production of new roots was observed during periods of favourable soil water conditions [40, 41] and the decline in the below-ground net biomass production was found in dry years [15, 16, 18]. In addition, the below-ground net primary production was not related to the early but to the late rainfall in the rainy season [17]. However, Fitter et al. [39] concluded that a yearly increase in root biomass can be rather a function of changes in length of the growing season, not soil temperature. In the present study, in the drier vegetation seasons (2007 and 2008) decreased YRIs were recorded in nearly all grasslands and treatments, but particularly in the mountain grassland. Thus these interannual variations in root production reflected not only the experimentally manipulated amount of precipitation but also the current rainfall, that is, dry and wet conditions of individual growing seasons.4.2. Below-Ground Plant Parts and Their Interannual VariationsWe expected to find a lower accumulation Cilengitide of below-ground plant parts in dry conditions.

Exclusion criteria were presence and history of thyroid disease b

Exclusion criteria were presence and history of thyroid disease both in the patient and in patient’s family, systemic diseases such as diabetes and malignancy, and usage of drugs that interfere with thyroid functions for the last 6 months. Forty-seven of PV patients were under systemic corticosteroid Dovitinib cancer therapy while 33 were new patients without therapy. Serum thyroid profiles of patients and controls were evaluated with analyzing thyroid function tests and thyroid autoantibodies. Serum-free triiodothyronine (fT3), free thyroxine (fT4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (anti-Tg) antibodies were measured by electrochemiluminescence assay (Elecsis 170 modular analyzer, Roche Diagnostics).

The diagnosis of primary thyroid disease was confirmed by the presence of anti-thyroid antibodies and/or abnormalities in thyroid function tests. NCSS 2007 (Number Cruncher Statistical System) and PASS 2008 statistical software programme, student’s t, chi-square, and Fisher’s Exact tests were used for the statistical analysis of the data. P < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. 3. Results The female/male ratio was 54/26 in both study and control groups (67.5% female, 32.5% male), the average age was 52.5 in PV group and 51.5 in control group. The duration of the disease was 52.4 with a range between 1 month and 168 months. Forty-seven (58,8%) of PV patients were receiving 5�C125mg/day prednisolon, while 33 (41,3%) were new patients without therapy. Thirty-nine (48%) of the patients had mucosal, 15 (19%) had cutaneous, and 26 (33%) had both mucosal and cutaneous involvement.

Thirteen (16%) of PV patients and 4 (5%) of control group had alterations in serum thyroid profiles (thyroid function tests and anti-thyroid antibodies); this finding was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Ten (12.5%) of PV patients and 4 (5%) of the controls were found to have abnormalities in thyroid function tests and the difference between groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In PV group, levels of fT3 were significantly lower and fT4 levels were significantly higher when compared to control group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference with respect to TSH levels between patients and controls (P > 0.05). Seven (9%) of PV patients and 1 (1.2%) of controls were found to have anti-thyroid antibodies (anti-TPO and/or Dacomitinib anti-Tg) and the difference between groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Anti-TPO antibodies were found in 6 (%8) and anti-Tg antibodies were found in 2 (2,5%) of PV patients. In the control group 1 (1.2%) patient had both anti-TPO and anti-Tg antibodies. The frequency of anti-TPO antibodies were significantly higher in PV group than the control group (P < 0.