Protein disulphide isomerase-assisted functionalization of proteinaceous substrates

Protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) is an enzyme that catalyzes thiol-disulphide exchange reactions among a broad spectrum of substrates, including proteins and low-molecular thiols and disulphides. As the first protein-folding catalyst reported, the study of PDI has mainly involved the correct folding of several cysteine-containing proteins. Its application on the functionalization of protein-based materials has not been extensively reported. Herein, we review the applications of PDI on the modification of proteinaceous substrates and discuss its future potential. The mechanism involved in PDI functionalization of fibrous protein substrates is discussed in detail. These approaches allow innovative applications in textile dyeing and finishing, medical textiles, controlled drug delivery systems and hair or skin care products.We thank to FCT 'Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia' (scholarship SFRH/BD/38363/2007) for providing Margarida Fernandes the grant for PhD studies

Anti-Heparanase Aptamers as Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Agents for Oral Cancer

Peer reviewe

MRI evaluation of fatty liver in day to day practice: Quantitative and qualitative methods

Intracellular fat accumulation is a common feature of liver disease. Steatosis is the histological hallmark of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) but also may occur with alcohol abuse, viral hepatitis, HIV and genetic lipodystrophies, and chemotherapy. This condition is common in the Western population and is typically associated with obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Early diagnosis and early treatment of NAFLD are important to prevent the development of end-stage liver disease and cancer. In addition, liver fat is a risk factor for postoperative complications after liver resection and transplantation. MRI has become a primary modality to assess hepatic steatosis, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this article we discuss various MRI methods for evaluation of hepatic steatosis

Hardware data compression unit

The Hardware Data Compression Unit (HDCU) is a project whose primary purpose is to provide users the capability to transparently increase the storage capacity of their disk storage devices on IBM PC/XTs and compatibles. It must be clarified that this project is not for commercial use but as a basis for further study. It is simply an add-in board which intercepts data during an I/0 (retrieval/store) operation. It performs high-speed and transparent data compression and decompression without any loss of data. Today, most data compressions are done by means of software compression programs due to its very low cost. Moreover, the compression/decompression routines of software products can sometimes be too long and not transparent to the user\u27s environment. Current articles and hand-outs regarding the latest trends in data compression were examined to come up with a transparent compression/decompression system which takes advantage of the speed provided by using a separate microprocessor-based hardware. The thesis group realized the dependency of users on commercial compression softwares for their data compression needs which in most cases, brings about some costs and overheads in time and effort. For this reason, the purpose of the thesis group in developing the system is to take advantage of the benefits brought about by microprocessor-based systems to provide users a faster data compression alternative that compresses files at a reasonable rate (30%-50%) than most commercially available compression software. Therefore, the thesis group feels that the accomplishment of the system will be an enhancement in the way computer users deal with the problem of increasing disk storage

Surgical results from treating children with syndactyly through the collective effort system at "SOS Hand Recife" between 2005 and 2009

Objective:to evaluate the results from and parents' satisfaction with treatment for children with syndactyly who were operated at the "SOS Hand Recife" hospital between 2005 and 2009.Methods:data for assessing the results were gathered from the patients' medical files. The subjective scores, which were ascertained prospectively, were as follows: greater than or equal to 9, good result; between 6 and 8, fair result; less than 6, poor result. The results were analyzed statistically. This study was approved by the institution's ethics committee.Results:among the 35 cases, 21 (60%) consisted of simple syndactyly and 14 (40%) were complex; 22 (62.8%) were boys and 13 (37.1%) were girls. The complex cases were predominantly among males. The main complications were infection (11.4%), bleeding (11.4%) and pain (8.6%). There were more complications in the complex cases (42.8%) than in the simple cases (33.3%). The mean scores from the parents' subjective evaluations were as follows: 7.6 for esthetics (7.7 in simple cases and 7.3 in complex cases; 8.2 for function (8.6 in simple cases and 7.6 in complex cases); 8.3 for the parents' general satisfaction level (8.6 in simple cases and 8.0 in complex cases); and 85.7% of the parents would recommend the surgery to others while 14.5% would not. A strong association was observed between the specialist's objective assessment and the scores given by the parents (p < 0.05).Conclusion:the surgical results from treating syndactyly presented differences between the simple and complex types, even though the parents' esthetic evaluations and satisfaction were similar