Preferential binding of SBD from Arabidopsis thaliana SSIII to polysaccharides: Study of amino acid residues involved

SS III (SSIII) has been reported to play a regulatory role in the synthesis of transient starch. SSIII from Arabidopsis thaliana contains 1025 amino acid residues and has an N‐terminal transit peptide for chloroplast localization followed by three in tandem starch‐binding domains (SBDs D1, D2, and D3, residues 22‐591). Its C‐terminal catalytic domain (residues 592–1025) is similar to bacterial glycogen synthase. Binding studies to raw starch and its individual components, AM or AP show that the SBD region binds preferentially to AM, and that the D1 domain is mainly responsible for this selective binding. The D2 domain contains two binding sites which include amino acid residues Y394 (binding site 1) and W366 (binding site 2) acting cooperatively with the D1 domain in the binding process while G335 and W340 have a minor role. In addition, mutations in these residues also affect the kinetic parameters for the polysaccharide substrate of SSIII.     

Conjugation of 5-fluoro-2''-deoxyuridine with lactosaminated poly-l-lysine to reduce extrahepatic toxicity in the treatment of hepatocarcinomas

Numerous clinical results reported in the literature prove that ceramic femoral heads reduce wear, osteolysis, and revision rates in total hip replacements (THRs). Femoral heads and cups made out of alumina ceramics were introduced about 25 years ago, and femoral heads made out of zirconia were introduced about 10 years ago. Today, the wear couples of alumina-on-polyethylene or zirconia-on-polyethylene have become the standard in THR. The wear couple offering the lowest wear rate is alumina-on-alumina. This article discusses the state of the art and lists advantages as well as problems with the various materials used for prostheses in THR.     

Enhanced accumulation of ribavirin and its metabolites in liver versus erythrocytes in mice administered with the liver targeted drug

OBJECTIVE: Determine the frequency and relationship between ischemic heart disease (IHD) and serum cholesterol levels (SCL) in non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) of the primary medical care level. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 411 patients from the first medical care level were studied. The sociodemographic profile, SCL and glycemia were determined and conventional ECG was taken. The ST uneveness, ischemic T or pathological Q waves in two or more tappings was considered as IHD. Patients with history of IHD were not included. RESULTS: The male:female ratio was 1.5:1. Mean SCL was 225 mg/dl (in females 240.8 +/- 56 mg/dl and 220.7 +/- 50.7 in males). In 90 patients we identified IHD (22%), with male predominance (0.85:1, F:M). In the stratified statistical analysis the SCL > or = 200 mg/dl and IHD were significantly associated. The frequency of IHD by SCL levels of 200-239 mg/dl was 24.6% (OR 2.04; CI 95% 1.03-4.07, p = 0.04) and 24.2% (OR 1.99; CI 95% 1.02-3.96, p = 0.04) for SCL of 240-300 mg/dl; in patients with SCL > 300 mg/dl, an increase of IHD to 38.7% was observed (OR 3.95; CI 95% 1.52-10.30, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The hypercholesterolemia was one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors in NIDDM, in which SCL > or = 200 mg/dl must be considered strongly associated to IHD.     

mtDNA variation in caste populations of Andhra Pradesh, India

The aim of the study was to determine the association between PRL responses to suckling and maintenance of postpartum amenorrhea among breastfeeding mothers. Three blood spot samples (5, 30, and 50 min following a timed nursing bout) were collected from 71 intensively breastfeeding Nepali women for PRL determination. Maternal age, BMI (weight/height2), menstrual status, caste, infant age, nursing bout length, and duration of supplementation were recorded at time of sample collection. Independent and paired t tests, linear regression analyses, and general linear models were used to evaluate differences between cycling (n = 36) and amenorrheic (n = 35) women and associations among variables. Logistic regression analyses were used to relate PRL measures to the odds of maintaining lactational amenorrhea. Amenorrheic breastfeeding mothers had higher (P < .001) PRL levels at all 3 collection times than cycling breastfeeding mothers, and PRL levels declined with time since birth (P < 0.05). The odds (OR) of having ceased lactational amenorrhea was significantly higher (OR = 5.0, 95% Cl = 1.3-19.9) among mothers with lower PRL levels (< or = 10 ng/mL) at 50 min post-sucking, and PRL at 50 min showed a significant dose response relationship with menstrual status. The association between 50 min PRL levels and lactational amenorrhea appears to be independent of time postpartum, maternal age, BMI, nursing bout length, and duration of supplementation. Among intensively nursing women, maintenance of elevated PRL levels across the interbout interval increases the odds of maintaining lactational amenorrhea.     

SecSpaces: a Data-driven Coordination Model for Environments Open to Untrusted Agent

In this paper we initiate an investigation about security problems which occur when exploiting a Linda-like data driven coordination model in an open environment. In this scenario, there is no guarantee that all the agents accessing the shared tuple space are trusted. Starting from the analysis of the few proposals already available in the literature, we present a novel coordination model which provides mechanisms to manage tuple access control. The first mechanism supports logical partitions of the shared repository: in this way we can restrict the access to tuples inside a partition, simply by limiting the access to the partition itself. The second mechanism consists of adding to the tuples some extra information which exploit asymmetric cryptography in order, e.g., to authenticate the producer of a tuple or to identify its reader/consumer. Finally, we support the possibility to define access control policies based on the kind of operations an agent performs on a tuple, thus discriminating between (destructive) input and (non-destructive) read operations.