Kas Eesti ja Soome arstide suitsetamisharjumused ning suhtumine suitsetamisse erinevad?*

Eesmärgiga kirjeldada kahe naaberriigi arstide suitsetamisharjumusi ja suhtumist suitsetamisse tehti postiküsitlus Eesti (2480 vastanut) ja Soome (2075 vastanut) arstide hulgas. Igapäevasuitsetajaid oli rohkem Eesti kui Soome mees- (18,6% vs 6,7%) ja naisarstide (6,6% vs 3,6%) hulgas. Eestis suhtusid arstid suitsetamisse märgatavalt heatahtlikumalt kui Soomes. Mõlema riigi suitsetavad arstid käsitlesid suitsetamist väiksema pahena kui mittesuitsetavad arstid. Eesti Arst 2006; 85 (12): 802–80

Real-time PCR-based assay to quantify the relative amount of human and mouse tissue present in tumor xenografts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Xenograft samples used to test anti-cancer drug efficacies and toxicities in vivo contain an unknown mix of mouse and human cells. Evaluation of drug activity can be confounded by samples containing large amounts of contaminating mouse tissue. We have developed a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay using TaqMan technology to quantify the amount of mouse tissue that is incorporated into human xenograft samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The forward and reverse primers bind to the same DNA sequence in the human and the mouse genome. Using a set of specially designed fluorescent probes provides species specificity. The linearity and sensitivity of the assay is evaluated using serial dilutions of single species and heterogeneous DNA mixtures. We examined many xenograft samples at various in vivo passages, finding a wide variety of human:mouse DNA ratios. This variation may be influenced by tumor type, number of serial passages in vivo, and even which part of the tumor was collected and used in the assay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This novel assay provides an accurate quantitative assessment of human and mouse content in xenograft tumors. This assay can be performed on aberrantly behaving human xenografts, samples used in bioinformatics studies, and periodically for tumor tissue frequently grown by serial passage in vivo.</p

New insights into the mechanism of DNA mismatch repair

The genome of all organisms is constantly being challenged by endogenous and exogenous sources of DNA damage. Errors like base:base mismatches or small insertions and deletions, primarily introduced by DNA polymerases during DNA replication are repaired by an evolutionary conserved DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system. The MMR system, together with the DNA replication machinery, promote repair by an excision and resynthesis mechanism during or after DNA replication, increasing replication fidelity by upto-three orders of magnitude. Consequently, inactivation of MMR genes results in elevated mutation rates that can lead to increased cancer susceptibility in humans. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of MMR with a focus on the different MMR protein complexes, their function and structure. We also discuss how recent findings have provided new insights in the spatio-temporal regulation and mechanism of MMR