Imaging the Anterior Segment: High-Frequency Ultrasound and Anterior Segment OCT

Fed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ophthalmol & Visual Sci, São Paulo, BrazilColumbia Univ, Edward S Harkness Eye Inst, New York Presbyterian Hosp, New York, NY USAUniv Toronto, Dept Ophthalmol & Vis Sci, Toronto, ON, CanadaOHSU Oregon Hlth & Sci Univ, Casey Eye Inst, Portland, OR USAFed Univ São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ophthalmol & Visual Sci, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Sustainable production of root and tuber crops (potato, sweet potato, indigenous potato, cassava) in southern Africa

Africa, including South Africa, is faced with a problem of increasing rural poverty that leads to increasing urbanisation, joblessness, crime, food insecurity and malnutrition. Root and tuber crops such as sweet potato and potato, as well as cassava and indigenous potato are important crops for food security. The latter are also important due to their tolerance to marginal conditions. Potato and sweet potato are of great economic value in South Africa, with well-organised marketing chains and, for potato, a large processing industry. There is one cassava starch extraction factory in operation in South Africa. A number of diseases are of importance in potato in South Africa: early blight, late blight, bacterial wilt, scab and virus. Insect pests such as tuber moth and leaf miner are also constraints. In sweet potato the occurrence of viruses and weevils, as well as the availability of healthy planting material are the most important limiting factors in production. African Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) caused by a virus, is a problem in growing cassava. Plant biotechnology applications offer a number of sustainable solutions. Basic applications such as in vitro genebanking where large numbers of accessions can be maintained in a small space, meristem cultures to produce virus-free plants and mass propagation of popular cultivars in order to make planting material available for sustainable production. More advanced biotechnology applications that may be of value are molecular marker technology and genetic engineering. The latter can play a role in overcoming virus and potato tuber moth in potato, in resistance to CMD in cassava and possibly in sweet potato to incorporate virus and weevil resistance

The amino-terminal segment in the β-domain of δ-cadinene synthase is essential for catalysis

Despite its distance from the active site the flexible amino-terminal segment (NTS) in the β-domain of the plant sesquiterpene cyclase δ-cadinene synthase (DCS) is essential for active site closure and desolvation events during catalysis

Photodynamic diagnosis of breast tumours after oral application of aminolevulinic acid

Photodynamic diagnosis is of increasing interest for diagnosis in oncology. It is based on a more intense incorporation of a fluorescent dye in tumours compared to normal tissue. As a feasibility study we investigated the effectiveness of oral application of 5-aminolevulinic acid for photodynamic diagnosis of human primary mammary tumours. The study included 16 patients with palpable breast tumours. Aminolevulinic acid was administered at a concentration of 40 mg kg−1bodyweight 150–420 min prior to tumourectomy. Intraoperatively blue light (405 nm) was applied to the operation site. Sections of the excised tumour and some lymph nodes were prepared and analysed with a fluorescent microscope. All primary mammary tumour tissues showed significantly higher fluorescence intensity than surrounding normal mammary tissue. Fluorescence of the mammary tumours could also be discriminated macroscopically and intraoperatively. Fluorescence intensity in nonmetastatic lymph node tissue was higher in 2 out of 3 patients than in primary tumour tissue. By photodynamic diagnosis using aminolevulinic acid we were able to reliably distinguish primary mammary tumours from normal mammary tissue microscopically and macroscopically in all our patients. We suggest that photodynamic diagnosis with aminolevulinic acid for breast tumours should be further investigated and developed for intraoperative use and may well be a simple tool for better intraoperative diagnosis and recognition of tumour margins. We hypothesize that lymph node metastasis of breast tumours will not be detectable by this method. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography for the Quantitative Evaluation of the Anterior Segment Following Boston Keratoprosthesis

Objective: To quantitatively evaluate the anterior segment using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) following Boston keratoprosthesis type 1.Methods: A retrospective study consisted of AS-OCT imaging at a single time point postoperatively in 52 eyes. Main outcomes measures include anatomical and functional anterior chamber depth (ACD), angle (ACA) and peripheral and proximal synechiae.Results: the mean time point of imaging was 19.3 months postoperatively. Average anatomical and functional ACD was 2.0 and 0.21 mm respectively, and mean ACA ranged from 2.5 degrees to 6.14 degrees in representative meridians. An average of 8.7 clock hours of angle closure was observed in the 25 eyes in which all meridians were imaged. the majority of eyes showed peripheral (86.5%) and proximal (67.3%) synechiae.Conclusions: AS-OCT is a useful tool for quantitative evaluation of anterior segment and angle after keratoprosthesis, which is otherwise poorly visible. the majority of eyes showed shallow ACD, extensive angle closure and synechiae formation.Univ Illinois, Dept Ophthalmol & Visual Sci, Chicago, IL 60607 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ophthalmol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ophthalmol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

An unexpected co-crystal structure of the calpain PEF(S) domain with Hfq reveals a potential chaperone function of Hfq

Calpain is a Ca2+-activated, heterodimeric cysteine protease consisting of a large catalytic subunit and a small regulatory subunit. Dysregulation of this enzyme is involved in a range of pathological conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, and thus calpain I is a drug target with potential therapeutic applications. Difficulty in the production of this enzyme has hindered structural and functional investigations in the past, although heterodimeric calpain I can be generated by Escherichia coli expression in low yield. Here, an unexpected structure discovered during crystallization trials of heterodimeric calpain I (CAPN1C115S + CAPNS1ΔGR) is reported. A novel co-crystal structure of the PEF(S) domain from the dissociated regulatory small subunit of calpain I and the RNA-binding chaperone Hfq, which was likely to be overproduced as a stress response to the recombinant expression conditions, was obtained, providing unexpected insight in the chaperone function of Hfq

Novel olfactory ligands via terpene synthases

A synthetic biology approach to the rational design of analogues of olfactory ligands by providing unnatural substrates for the enzyme synthesising (S)-germacrene D, an olfactory ligand acting as a plant derived insect repellent, to produce novel ligands is described as a viable alternative to largely unsuccessful ligand docking studies. (S)-14,15-Dimethylgermacrene D shows an unexpected reversal in behavioural activity

Enzymatic synthesis of natural (+)-aristolochene from a non-natural substrate

The sesquiterpene cyclase aristolochene synthase from Penicillium roquefortii (PR-AS) has evolved to catalyse with high specificity (92%) the conversion of farnesyl diphosphate (FDP) to the bicyclic hydrocarbon (+)-aristolochene, the natural precursor of several fungal toxins. Here we report that PR-AS converts the unnatural FDP isomer 7-methylene farnesyl diphosphate to (+)-aristolochene via the intermediate 7-methylene germacrene A. Within the confined space of the enzyme's active site, PR-AS stabilises the reactive conformers of germacrene A and 7-methylene germacrene A, respectively, which are protonated by the same active site acid (most likely HOPPi) to yield the shared natural bicyclic intermediate eudesmane cation, from which (+)-aristolochene is then generated

Matching Adherence Interventions to Patient Determinants Using the Theoretical Domains Framework

Introduction: Despite much research, interventions to improve medication adherence report disappointing and inconsistent results. Tailored approaches that match interventions and patient determinants of non-adherence were seldom used in clinical trials. The presence of a multitude of theoretical frameworks and models to categorize interventions and patient determinants complicated the development of common categories shared by interventions and determinants. We retrieved potential interventions and patient determinants from published literature on medication adherence, matched them like locks and keys, and categorized them according to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Methods: We identified the most relevant literature reviews on interventions and determinants in a pragmatic literature search, extracted all interventions and determinants, grouped similar concepts to umbrella terms and assigned them to TDF categories. All steps were finalized in consensus discussion between the authors. Results: Sixteen articles (5 with determinants, 11 with interventions) were included for analysis. We extracted 103 interventions and 42 determinants that we divided in 26 modifiable and 16 unmodifiable determinants. All interventions and modifiable determinants were matched within 11 categories (Knowledge; Skills; Social/professional role and identity; Beliefs about capabilities; Beliefs about consequences; Intentions; Memory, Attention and decision processes; Environmental context and resources; Social influences; Emotion; and Behavioral regulation). Conclusion: In published trials on medication adherence, the congruence between interventions and determinants can be assessed with matching interventions to determinants. To be successful, interventions in medication adherence should target current modifiable determinants and be tailored to the unmodifiable determinants. Modifiable and unmodifiable determinants need to be assessed at inclusion of intervention studies to identify the patients most in need of an adherence intervention. Our matched categories may be useful to develop interventions in trials that investigate the effectiveness of adherence interventions

Harnessing enzyme plasticity for the synthesis of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids

8-Methoxy-γ-humulene, (E)-8-methoxy-β-farnesene, 12-methoxy-β-sesquiphellandrene and 12-methoxyzingiberene can be synthesised in amorphadiene synthase-catalysed reactions from 8- and 12-methoxyfarnesyl diphosphates due to the highly plastic yet tightly controlled carbocationic chemistry of this sesquiterpene cyclase