Epidermal growth factor

Epidermal growth factor or EGF is a growth factor that stimulates cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation by binding to its receptor EGFR. Human EGF is a 6045-Da protein with 53 amino acid residues and three intramolecular disulfide bonds.

Function

EGF results in cellular proliferation, differentiation, and survival. EGF is a low-molecular-weight polypeptide first purified from the mouse submandibular gland, but since then found in many human tissues including submandibular gland, parotid gland. Salivary EGF, which seems also regulated by dietary inorganic iodine, also plays an important physiological role in the maintenance of oro-esophageal and gastric tissue integrity. The biological effects of salivary EGF include healing of oral and gastroesophageal ulcers, inhibition of gastric acid secretion, stimulation of DNA synthesis as well as mucosal protection from intraluminal injurious factors such as gastric acid, bile acids, pepsin, and trypsin and to physical, chemical and bacterial agents.

Gene

A gene is a locus (or region) of DNA that encodes a functional RNA or protein product, and is the molecular unit of heredity. The transmission of genes to an organism's offspring is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits. Most biological traits are under the influence of polygenes (many different genes) as well as the gene–environment interactions. Some genetic traits are instantly visible, such as eye colour or number of limbs, and some are not, such as blood type, risk for specific diseases, or the thousands of basic biochemical processes that comprise life.

Genes can acquire mutations in their sequence, leading to different variants, known as alleles, in the population. These alleles encode slightly different versions of a protein, which cause different phenotype traits. Colloquial usage of the term "having a gene" (e.g., "good genes," "hair colour gene") typically refers to having a different allele of the gene. Genes evolve due to natural selection or survival of the fittest of the alleles.

Eugene (given name)

Eugene is a common (masculine) first name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (eugenēs), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (eu), "well" and γένος (genos), "race, stock, kin".Gene is a common shortened form. The feminine variant is Eugenia or Eugénie.

Male foreign-language variants include:

Notable people

Christianity

Military

Gene (novel)

Gene is a thriller novel by Stel Pavlou (born 1970), published in 2005 in England by Simon & Schuster. It is published in several languages with some title changes. The Italian edition has the title La Conspirazione del Minotauro (The Minotaur Conspiracy). The novel is about a fictional New York detective, James North, who in the process of hunting down a criminal, uncovers a genetics experiment to unlock past lives through genetic memory, therefore achieving a kind of immortality. In so doing North discovers his own origins, that of a soldier from the Trojan War who is reincarnated seven times through history, forced to confront his nemesis each time, all for the loss of his one true love.

Characters

Cyclades (born circa 1300 BC)

Incarnations of Cyclades

Athanatos (born circa 1500 BC)

Incarnations of Athanatos

EGF

EGF can refer to several things.

Places

Companies and other associations

Science

American Eagle Flight 4184

American Eagle Flight 4184 was an ATR 72 that crashed after flying into unknown icing conditions on Monday, October 31, 1994. Control was lost and all aboard were killed.

Background

The aircraft, registration N401AM, was built by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR, and was operated by Simmons Airlines on behalf of American Eagle. American Eagle was the banner carrier regional airline branding program of AMR Corporation's regional system, prior to the formation of the fully certificated carrier named American Eagle Airlines.

The captain of Flight 4184 was Orlando Aguiar, 29. He was an experienced pilot with almost 8,000 hours of flight time. Colleagues described Aguiar's flying skills in positive terms and commented on the relaxed cockpit atmosphere that he promoted. The first officer of Flight 4184 was Jeffrey Gagliano, 30. He, too, was considered to be a competent pilot by colleagues and he had accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours. The two flight attendants were Amanda Holberg, 23, and Sandi Modaff, 27.