| Sep 30,2001 |
Electrostatics of nanosystems- Application to microtubules and the ribosome
|
|
Evaluation of the electrostatic properties of biomolecules has
become a standard practice in molecular biophysics. Foremost among the models
used to elucidate the electrostatic potential is the Poisson-Boltzmann equation;
however, existing methods for solving this equation have limited the scope of
accurate electrostatic calculations to relatively small biomolecular systems.
|
| Sep 29,2001 |
Duration of Nuclear NF-kB Action Regulated by Reversible Acetylation
|
|
The nuclear expression and action of the nuclear factor
kappa B (NF-kB) transcription factor requires signal-coupled
phosphorylation and degradation of the IkB inhibitors, which normally
bind and sequester this pleiotropically active factor in the
cytoplasm.
|
| Sep 28,2001 |
Does oxidative damage to DNA increase with age?
|
|
The levels of 8-oxo-2-deoxyguanosine (oxo8dG) in
DNA isolated from tissues of rodents (male F344 rats, male B6D2F1 mice, male
C57BLy6 mice, and female C57BLy6 mice) of various ages were measured using
sodium iodide to prevent oxidative damage to DNA during DNA isolation.
|
| Sep 27,2001 |
C-Reactive Protein- Linking Inflammation to Cardiovascular Complications
|
|
In the present issue, Chew and colleagues1 show that elevated
baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) levels before percutaneous coronary
intervention (PCI) are associated with a progressive increase in the risk of
death or myocardial infarction at 30 days.
|
| Sep 26,2001 |
CmC(a/t)GG
methylation: A new epigenetic mark in mammalian
DNA?
|
|
Twenty-five years ago, based on the knowledge of
cytosine methylation in higher organisms and the newly discovered bacterial
adenine methyltransferase, Riggs and Holliday and Pugh independently proposed
that the covalent modification of DNA by methylation might serve as a means to
propagate heritable expression states in eukaryotes.
|
| Sep 25,2001 |
Clinical and Experimental Advances in Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis
|
|
Visceral leishmaniaisis (kala-azar)
is a disseminated protozoal infection, transmitted by sandfly bite, in which
macrophages of the liver, spleen, and bone marrow are preferentially parasitized
and support intracellular replication.
|
| Sep 24,2001 |
Cardiovascular biology: Creating unique blood vessels
|
|
When tissues need more oxygen, they release
molecules that encourage blood vessels to grow. The discovery of the first such
molecule that is specific to one type of tissue has implications for cancer and
heart failure.
|
| Sep 23,2001 |
Can we integrate bioinformatics data on the Internet?
|
|
The NETTAB (Network Tools and Applications in
Biology) 2001 Workshop entitled ‘CORBA and XML: Towards a Bioinformatics-integrated
Network Environment’ was held at the Advanced Biotechnology Centre, Genoa,
Italy.
|
| Sep 22,2001 |
Bromelain: biochemistry, pharmacology and medical use
|
|
Bromelain is a crude extract from
the pineapple that contains, among other components, various closely related
proteinases, demonstrating, in vitro and in vivo, antiedematous,
antiinflammatory, antithrombotic and fibrinolytic activities.
|
| Sep 21,2001 |
Bioinformatics - a patenting view
|
|
The use of bioinformatics in the
biological sciences has brought about a change in the way that biological
inventions can be protected by patent laws. Using approaches developed in the
fields of computer science and business, patent applicants now seek to protect
certain aspects of their inventions, which include software, methods of doing
business and uses of information as well as more traditional biotechnological
products and processes.
|
| Sep 20,2001 |
Assessing the environmental impacts of transgenic plants
|
|
Recently, the EU adopted Directive 2001/18/EC on the
deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the
environment1 – allegedly the most stringent GMO legislation in the world.
Covering field trials as well as the placing on the market of GMOs as or in
products,it replaces Directive 90/220/EEC.
|
| Sep 19,2001 |
Antibody targeting studies in a transgenic murine model of spontaneous colorectal tumors
|
|
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been used to treat malignancies
in humans with varying degrees of success. Progress has been hindered by the lack of suitable animal models, which would
ideally consist of immunocompetent animals that are tolerant to tumor-associated antigens.
|
| Sep 18,2001 |
Allosteric Activation of a Spring-Loaded Natriuretic Peptide Receptor Dimer by hormone
|
|
Natriuretic peptides (NPs) are vasoactive
cyclic-peptide hormones important in blood pressure regulation through
interaction with natriuretic cell-surface receptors. We report the
hormone-binding thermodynamics and crystal structures at 2.9 and 2.0 angstroms,
respectively, of the extracellular domain of the unliganded human NP receptor
(NPR-C) and its complex with CNP, a 22–amino acid NP.
|
| Sep 17,2001 |
Advances in the Understanding of Myocarditis
|
|
Myocarditis is a poorly understood disease
because it progresses through stages with distinctly different mechanisms and
manifestations. The objective of this article is to better define myocarditis
for both clinicians and clinical scientists by setting it in the framework of 3
phases of disease.
|
| Sep 16,2001 |
A combinatorial approach for selectively inducing programmed
cell death in human pancreatic cancer cells
|
|
Pancreatic cancer is an extremely aggressive
neoplasm whose incidence equals its death rate. Despite intensive analysis, the
genetic changes that mediate pancreatic cancer development and effective
therapies for diminishing the morbidity associated with this disease remain
unresolved.
|
| Sep 15,2001 |
Update in General Internal Medicine
|
|
This year’s Update in General Internal Medicine spans a wide
area but fits into a framework of themes we chose to emphasize: hypertension,
hormone replacement therapy, anticoagulation, atrial fibrillation, chronic
infectious diseases, hospital care, and prevention.
|
| Sep 14,2001 |
Migration of T Cells In Vivo: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Implications
|
|
T cells play an important role in the
pathogenesis of chronic and autoimmune inflammatory diseases. They are found in
high numbers in involved tissues, such as the lamina propria of the gut in
patients with Crohn disease. Modifying T-cell number and function may therefore
be of therapeutic value.
|
| Sep 13,2001 |
DNA Methylation- An Alternative Pathway to Cancer
|
|
DNA methylation is an important factor in the
development of cancer. A greater understanding of the relationship between DNA
methylation events at the molecular level and its interaction in the clinical
context may provide the basis for future advances in the surgical and
pharmacologic management of malignant diseases.
|
| Sep 12,2001 |
THE ART AND DESIGN OF GENETIC SCREENS: YEAST
|
|
Understanding the biology of complex systems is facilitated by
comparing them with simpler organisms. Budding and fission yeasts provide ideal
model systems for eukaryotic cell biology.
|
| Sep 11,2001 |
CONTROL OF DEVELOPMENTAL TIMING IN ANIMALS
|
|
The molecular mechanisms that time development are now being
deciphered in various organisms, particularly in Caenorhabditis elegans. Key
recent findings indicate that certain C. elegans timekeeping genes are conserved
across phyla, and their developmental expression patterns indicate that a timing
function might also be conserved.
|
| Sep 10,2001 |
A JOURNEY INTO SPACE
|
|
The fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, has been used as
a model eukaryote to study processes such as the cell cycle and cell morphology.
In this single-celled organism, growing in a straight line and maintaining the
nucleus in the centre of the cell depend on intracellular positional
information.
|
| Sep 09,2001 |
Claude Bernard: primer of the second biomedical revolution
|
|
Claude Bernard,
the son of a Beaujolais winegrower, moved to Paris to pursue his literary
ambitions and went on to become one of the fathers of modern life sciences. What
did Bernard do to earn universal renown? And are his teachings relevant to
modern science?
|
| Sep 08,2001 |
DNA DAMAGE PROCESSING DEFECTS AND DISEASE
|
|
Inherited defects in DNA repair or the processing of DNA damage can
lead to disease. Both autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant modes of inheritance
are represented. The diseases as a group are characterized by genomic instability, with
eventual appearance of cancer.
|
| Sep 07,2001 |
Ovarian Cancer
|
|
Studies from this year’s American Society of
Clinical Oncology more clearly defined the role of chemotherapy in women with
early stage disease and now suggest that essentially all women with invasive
disease should receive chemotherapy that contains carboplatin.
|
| Sep 06,2001 |
HUMAN GENETICS ON THE WEB
|
|
Use of the World Wide Web (“the web”) and our knowledge of
human genetics are both currently expanding rapidly. By allowing swift,
universal, and free access to data, the web has already played an important role
in human genetics research.
|
| Sep 05,2001 |
HUMAN POPULATION GENETICS
|
|
A population of about 5 million at the northern
corner of Europe is unlikely to arouse the attention of the human genetics
community, unless it offers something useful for others to learn.
|
| Sep 04,2001 |
Mobilized bone marrow cells repair the
infarcted heart, improving function and survival
|
|
Attempts to repair myocardial infarcts by transplanting
cardiomyocytes or skeletal myoblasts have failed to reconstitute healthy
myocardium and coronary vessels integrated structurally and functionally with
the remaining viable portion of the ventricular wall.
|
| Sep 03,2001 |
Antibody targeting studies in a transgenic murine model of spontaneous
colorectal tumors
|
|
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been used to treat
malignancies in humans with varying degrees of success. Progress has been
hindered by the lack of suitable animal models, which would ideally consist of
immunocompetent animals that are tolerant to tumor-associated antigens.
|
| Sep 02,2001 |
Chemokines in pathology and medicine
|
|
About 50 human chemokines and nearly 20 receptors have been
identified and characterized in little more than a decade since the discovery of
interleukin 8 (IL-8), the first chemotactic cytokine.
|
| Sep 01,2001 |
Cardiovascular endocrinology: into the new millennium
|
|
The first session focused on aldosterone, understandably given
the Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES), which showed the remarkable
benefits of mineralocorticoid receptor blockade in heart failure. The second
half dealt with proteins and peptides–angiotensinogen, endothelin, bradykinin
and the marvellously named ghrelin.
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