These preliminary results and, aside from the supposed detrimental role of NK cells on the early amplification in the inflammatory response, the fact that NK cells also have beneficial anti-infectious as well as antiinflammatory properties, actually support that therapeutic immuno-intervention in critically-ill septic patients could be directed towards stimulation of NK-cell functions. VE-821 1232410-49-9 Termites are a group of eusocial insects of immense ecological and economical importance. In recent years, studies of genomics and gene expression in termites have attracted increasing interest. Advances on functional genomics research in termites are helpful to better understand unique and interesting features of termite biology, such as understanding molecular basis of aggression and caste differentiation in termites. The subterranean termite, Odontotermes formosanus, is a higher fungus-cultivating termite that distributes throughout Southeast Asia, including China, Burma, India, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. This termite species is an important pest of crops, plantations, and forests in China. Furthermore, this species can build large subterranean cavities inside earthen dikes and dams, thereby damaging piping, which can result in the collapse of the dikes and dams. To date, the patterns of caste differentiation and intercolonial aggression in O. formosanus have been studied, but there are no research reports about molecular basis underlying its caste differentiation and aggression. Despite its significant importance of biology and economics, genomic sequence resources available for O. formosanus are very scarce. Up to June 28th, 2012, we found that there are about 140,730 ESTs and 26,207 nucleotide sequences in NCBI databases for Coptotermes, followed by Reticulitermes, Macrotermes and Cryptotermes. However, there are no ESTs and only 818 nucleotide sequences deposited in NCBI databases for Odontotermes. Currently, some advanced sequencing technologies, such as Illumina sequencing and 454 pyrosequencing, have been used to carry out high-throughput sequencing and have rapidly improved the efficiency and speed of mining genes. Moreover, these sequencing technologies have greatly improved the sensitivity of gene expression profiling, and is expected to promote collaborative and comparative genomics studies. Thus, we selected the Illumina sequencing to characterize the complete head transcriptome of O. formosanus. In the present study, a total of 57,271,634 raw sequencing reads were generated from one plate of sequencing. After transcriptome assembly, 221,728 contigs were obtained, and these contigs were further clustered into 116,885 unigenes with 9,040 distinct clusters and 107,845 distinct singletons. In the head transcriptome database, we predicted simple sequence repeats, and detected putative genes involved in caste differentiation and aggression. Furthermore, we compared the gene expression profiles of the three putative genes involved in caste differentiation and one putative gene involved in aggression among workers, soldiers and larvae of O. formosanus. The assembled, annotated transcriptome sequences and gene expression profiles provide an invaluable resource for the identification of genes involved in caste differentiation, aggressive behavior and other biological characters in O. formosanus and other termite species. Gestagens acting via the progestin receptor serve as important mediators in the regulation of the ovarian cycle, and are responsible for maintaining pregnancy in mammals. In most mammals studied so far the predominant gestagen is progesterone, both in terms of blood levels and binding capacity of the PR. By lacking progesterone at physiologically relevant concentrations, elephants are a unique exception.