Aquaporins are water channel proteins of vacuolar and plasma membranes. When opened they facilitate the passive movement of water molecules down a water potential gradient. In Arabidopsis, 30 genes have been found that code for aquaporin homologues. Some of these genes code for highly abundant constitutively expressed proteins and some are known to be temporally and spatially regulated during deve

The neuropeptides pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) are structurally and functionally related. Their actions have been shown to be mediated by three different receptor subtypes: PAC1-R, which has exclusive affinity for PACAP, and VPAC1-R and VPAC2-R, which have equal affinity for PACAP and VIP. We recently showed that PACAP38 ind

The Euro50 is a proposed optical telescope with an equivalent aperture of 50 m. It will have a segmented primary mirror and full adaptive optics. To study the interaction of the telescope structure, the control system and the optics, an integrated simulation model has been formulated. The mechanical model is a modal version of an Ansys finite element model. The optics model is based on ray tracing

We report here, for the first time, the occurrence of the trilobite Odontopleura (Odontopleura) ovata Emmrich, 1839 from Scandinavia. The specimens came in light during a study of middle Silurian calcareous mudstone formed in offshore settings of the Baltic Basin (Grotlingbo-1 core, south-eastern Gotland). Intrabasinal correlation shows that the taxon had a brief mass occurrence during the latest

Using it combination Of neutron diffraction, infrared spectroscopy. and first-principles calculations, we have investigated the structure of hydrated and dehydrated proton conducting alkali thio-hydroxogermanates of general formula M2GeS2(OH)(2)center dot yH(2)O (M = K, Rb, and Cs). The results show that the structure of hydrated and dry materials are basically the same, which confirms previous in

Oxalate oxidase catalyses the degradation of oxalic acid to carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide and is of commercial importance for clinical analyses of oxalate in biological samples. Novel potential applications for oxalate oxidase include the prevention of the formation of calcium oxalate incrusts in pulp and paper manufacture and rapid determination of oxalic acid in process waters. The potent

Bannisterite is a modulated 2:1-type phyllosilicate having ten octahedral sites with hydroxyl groups in trans, cis and combined trans-cis configurations. Each octahedral site, depending on its proximity to the layer modulation, is exposed to a different degree of distortion. The electric field gradient at the Fe site and the site distortion are used to propose a model for the site assignment and o

This paper reports the findings of a global survey of practice patterns for the management of patients with haemophilia A. A total of 147 haemophilia treatment centres worldwide responded to the questionnaire, supplying data for 16 115 patients with haemophilia A. From these responses, 38% (range: 25-48%) of patients were under 18 years old. Almost half (47%) of patients were reported to have mild

Angiogenesis occurs in the brains of Parkinson's disease patients, but the effects of dopamine replacement therapy on this process have not been examined. Using rats with 6-hydroxydopamine lesions, we have compared angiogenic responses induced in the basal ganglia by chronic treatment with either L-DOPA, or bromocriptine, or a selective D1 receptor agonist (SKF38393). Moreover, we have asked wheth

LOV (light-oxygen-voltoge-sensitive) domains comprise the lightsensitive parts of many blue light photoreceptor proteins. Photoexcitation of the chromophore flavin mononucleotide (FMN) in these LOV domains leads to formation of a covalent adduct between FMN and a cysteine residue. So for, the electronically excited singlet and triplet states of FMN have been identified as the only intermediates in

In the present study, expression of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and sciatic nerve following experimental sciatic nerve compression was studied with the use of quantitative immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Previously, we have investigated changes in PACAP expression after nerve transection and, here, the far mor

Primary infection by group A streptococci (GAS) takes place at either the throat or skin of the human host, often leading to pharyngitis or impetigo, respectively. Many GAS strains differ in their preference for throat and skin tissue sites. Previous epidemiological findings show that many of the strains displaying strong tropism for the skin have a high-affinity binding site for plasminogen, loca

The effect of rapid lowering of blood glucose on cerebral blood flow (CBF) was studied in 10 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients (age 23.5 ± 3.8 years; mean ± S.D.) with longstanding, poor metabolic control (HbA1c 11.2 ± 1.0%; normal value 4.0–5.3%) using an intravenous xenon 133 single photon emission computed tomography technique. After a fall in blood glucose, during 81 ± 11 min (mean