Both glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its recently discovered congener, neurturin (NTN), have been shown to exert neuroprotective effects on lesioned nigral dopamine (DA) neurons when administered at the level of the substantia nigra. In the present study, we have explored the relative in vivo potency of these two neurotrophic factors using two alternative routes of administr

Several algorithms that use graphics hardware to accelerate processing require conservative rasterization in order to function correctly. Conservative rasterization stands for either overestimating or underestimating the size of the triangles. Overestimation is carried out by including all pixels that are at least partially overlapped by the triangle, whereas underestimation includes only the pixe

52 knees scheduled for a total knee arthroplasty were randomised to either a fixed or a mobile polyethylene bearing. The design was identical in all parts. The knee systems used were the Rotaglide Total Knee System (RTK) (R) and the Nuffield Total Knee System (NTK) (R), both from the same manufacturer (Corin Medical Ltd., UK). All knees implanted were uncemented. The patients were followed for 2 y

Duplications and triplications of the alpha-synuclein (SNCA) gene have been reported in Parkinson's disease patients belonging to the Southern Swedish "Lister family". Further genealogical research has now shown that these individuals are descended from a large kindred characterized by Herman Lundborg in 1901-1913. In the expanded pedigree, a total of 25 individuals had Parkinson's disease with an

Life-saving regulations may be counter-productive since they have an indirect mortality effect through the reduction in disposable income. This paper estimates the effect of income on mortality, controlling for the initial health status and a host of personal characteristics. The analysis is based on a random sample of the adult Swedish population of over 40,000 individuals followed up for 10-17 y

X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is an immunodeficiency caused by mutations in the gene coding for Bruton agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK), A database (BTKbase) of BTX mutations lists 544 mutation entries from 471 unrelated families showing 341 unique molecular events. In addition to mutations, a number of variants or polymorphisms have been found. Mutations in all the five domains of BTK

Xanthorhodopsin of the extremely halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber represents a novel antenna system. It consists of a carbonyl carotenoid, salinixanthin, bound to a retinal protein that serves as a light-driven transmembrane proton pump similar to bacteriorhodopsin of archaea. Here we apply the femtosecond transient absorption technique to reveal the excited-state dynamics of salinixanthin

Affymetrix GeneChip technology and quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) were used to examine changes in gene expression in the adult murine substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) following lentiviral glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) delivery in adult striatum. We identified several genes that were upregulated after GDNF treatment. Among these, the gene encoding the transmembrane prot

The number of regulatory RNAs with identified non-canonical structures is increasing, and structural transitions often play a role in their biological function. This stimulates interest in internal motions of RNA, which can underlie structural transitions. Heteronuclear NMR relaxation measurements, which are commonly used to study internal motion, only report on local motions of few sites within t

The presence of ribonucleic acid hairpin structures is important for proper processing of the genetic information in living cells. Recent studies indicate that interactions between platinum based anticancer active metal complexes and hairpin motifs result in a change of their three-dimensional structure combined with a decrease of the melting temperature. We here report a study of the reaction bet

Helicobacter pylori attaches via lectins, carbohydrate binding proteins, to the carbohydrate residues of gastric mucins. Guinea-pigs are a suitable model for a H. pylori infection and thus the carbohydrate composition of normal and H. pylori infected gastric mucosa was investigated by lectin histochemistry. The stomach of all infected animals showed signs of an active chronic gastritis in their mu

Objective - LDL oxidation is believed to play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, and oxidized LDL particles have been shown to become targets for the immune system. Immunization of animals with oxidized LDL results in reduction of atherosclerosis, suggesting an atheroprotective effect of this immune response. Methods and Results - Using a polypeptide library covering the comp

High spin states in 66Dy isotopes with two protons outside the Z=64 closed shell are discussed. Bands terminating at higher and higher spin values are formed from successive proton excitations across this proton shell. These bands show specific features depending on the number of excited particles. Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky (CNS) calculations show good agreement with experiment. Special emphasis

Aldose reductase (AR) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications, although the clinical efficacy of AR inhibitors has not been clearly proven. To clarify the pathophysiological role of AR in the heart, we investigated effects of AR inhibitors applied either during the pre-ischemic phase, or during the post-ischemic reperfusion phase on ischemia-reperfusion injury in isolated