Stem cells are defined by their nique properties of self-renewal and multilineage differentiation. Several decades ago, cells with such developmental plasticity have been identified in the embryo and in the bone marrow of the adult; in other organs, such cells could not be demonstrated. Here, recent findings are briefly summarized indicating that the elementary stem cell capabilities are retained by a limited number of cells present in many organs of the adult. Other data suggest that, on response to another microenvironment, ‘rgan-specific’ stem cells are able to acquire differrent fates. If onfirmed these findings will have considerable impact on the future of clinical stem cell therapy.

Molecules in focus： Calpain

The calcium-dependent thiol proteases, calpains, are widely expressed with ubiquitous and tissue specific isoforms. Calpains have been implicated in basic cellular processes including cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. The focus of the current review is to summarize recent findings implicating calpains in cytoskeletal rearrangements and cell migration.

Extraction of knowledge on protein-protein interaction by association rule discovery

Protein-protein interactions are systematically examined suing the yeast 2-hybrid method.Consequently, a lot of interaction data are currently being accumulated. Nevertheless,general infromation or knowledge on interactions is poorly extracted from these data.Thus we have been trying to extract the knowledge from the data using data mining.

Liver Transplantation:Making the Best out of What We Have

One of the major challenges facing the liver transplant community is the shortage of donor organs. Possible approaches to overcoming this problem include changes in legislation, setting up of organizational structures, more effective use of marginal donor livers, splitting livers, and the development of living related transplants.

Calcium signaling: A tale for all seasons

The rapid advancement of the Ca2+ field has now swollen the literature to a size where it would be impossible to cover all of it in a few pages. This contribution will focus only on the most significant recent advances. The choice will be unavoidably arbitrary, but it should give readers the feeling for the most exciting developments in the area.

Current and future relevance of guidelines

There is a widely held belief that guidelines improve the quality of care for patients. However, there is also potential for harm, as any attempt to standardise care ignores the heterogeneity of patients and the complexity of medical decisions.

Gene transfer into eukaryotic cells using activated polyamidoamine dendrimers

Activated polyamidoamine PAMAM -dendrimers provide a new technology for gene transfer that offers significant advantages over classical methods. Reagents based on this technology provide high gene transfer efficiencies, minimal cytotoxicity, and can be used with a broad range of cell types.

Sudden Death Predictors

Pharmaceutical strategies to prevent sudden cardiac death have been largely ineffective, and because device therapy is designed to rescue patients once an event has already occurred, primary SCD prevention has become one of today’s most critical public health challenges.

Molecules in focus: Urocortin

Urocortin (Ucn) is a 40 amino acid peptide which is closely related to corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF). It is expressed in specific regions of the brain but is also detectable in other organs notably the heart. It has potent effects on the neural and cardiovascular system.

RTS1 — an eukaryotic terminator of replication

Recently, a site-specific terminator of replication named RTS1 was shown to play an important role in mating-type switching in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.This is the first replication terminator shown to play a role in cellular differentiation.

Global high-throughput screens for cellular function

We present here a survey of these technologies and their applications. We discuss their promise and limitations in addressing the vast number of candidate molecules of disease relevance that are emerging from genomics and proteomics.

Education and training in internal medicine in Europe

The author try to develop a point of view for the European internist, a blueprint of internal medicine founded on the philosophy of internal medicine, the present legislation, the practice of internal medicine in Europe, and on images of Europe.

Acute heart failure: a novel approach to its pathogenesis and treatment

Acute heart failure (HF) is one of the most common syndromes in emergency medicine, however, its exact pathogenesis has remained largely unknown. Based on clinical and hemodynamic data we have sub-divided acute HF into four syndromes: cardiogenic shock, pulmonary edema, hypertensive crisis and exacerbated HF.

Modulation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway by Ca2+, and Calmodulin

We present our results from combining the predictions of an ensemble of neural networks for the diagnosis of hepatobiliary disorders.We discuss how the overall predictive accuracy can be improved by introducing bias during the training of the level one networks.

Modulation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway by Ca2+, and Calmodulin

We review here evidence showing that calcium (Ca2+ ) and calmodulin (CaM) are able to regulate the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. CaM-binding proteins (CaMBPs) as Ras-GRF and CaMdependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV) positively modulate ERK1/2 activation induced by either NGF or membrane depolarisation in neurones.

The thyroid axis just got more complicated

Now, a new pituitary hormone, termed hyrostimulin, may change our established view of the thyroid axis.Nakabayashi et al. in this issue of the JCI (2) describe a novel heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone containing two unique subunits.

Src in cancer: deregulation and consequences for cell behaviour

Evidence now exists to suggest that Src may also influence the life or death decisions that cells make during many biological processes. Thus, Src modulation in cancer cells can alter cell responses that are often perturbed in cancer.Consequently, there is optimism that drugs which inhibit Src’s kinase activity, or the activity of its downstream effectors, might have profound effects on cancer cell behaviour and be useful therapeutic agents.

Fatty acid metabolism in cardiac failure

In this review, we will focus on the molecular and biochemical players as well as the events that occur in both the genetic abnormalities in fatty acid metabolism that lead to cardiomyopathy and cardiac failure, as well as in cardiac hypertrophy and apoptosis.

The genetics of the E2F family of transcription factors: shared functions and unique roles

This review will focus on biological functions of E2F elucidated via genetic studies that are expanding our understanding of how E2F family members are integrated into pathways controlling proliferation, apoptosis, development and tumorigenesis.

Recent advances in cancer research: mouse models of tumorigenesis

In this review, we discuss mouse tumor models that have contributed substantially to the identification and characterization of novel tumor pathways. In particular, we focus on transgenic and knockout mouse models that closely mimic human cancer and thus can be used as model systems for cancer research.

Hsp90 as a capacitor of phenotypic variation

Heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) chaperones the maturation of many regulatory proteins and buffers genetic variation in morphogenetic pathways.Manipulating Hsp90’s buffering capacity offers a tool for harnessing cryptic genetic variation and for elucidating the interplay between genotypes, environments and stochastic events in the determination of phenotype.

PI 3-Kinases and PTEN: How Opposites Chemoattract

Phosphatidylinositol lipids, such as PI(4,5)P2 and PI(3,4,5)P3, are key mediators in diverse intracellular signaling pathways. Two recent reports examine how the metabolism of these lipids by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases and the PTEN 3-phosphoinositide phosphatase may coordinate G protein coupled signaling pathways during eukaryotic chemotaxis.

AP-1 as a regulator of cell life and death

The transcription factor AP-1 (activator protein-1) is involved in cellular proliferation, transformation and death.Using mice and cells lacking AP-1 components, the target-genes and molecular mechanisms mediating these processes were recently identified.