7th Drug hypersensitivity meeting: part two

No abstract availabl

The Processing of Repetitive Extragenic Palindromes: The Structure of a Repetitive Extragenic Palindrome Bound to its Associated Nuclease

Extragenic sequences in genomes, such as microRNA and CRISPR, are vital players in the cell. Repetitive extragenic palindromic sequences (REPs) are a class of extragenic sequences, which form nucleotide stem-loop structures. REPs are found in many bacterial species at a high copy number and are important in regulation of certain bacterial functions, such as Integration Host Factor recruitment and mRNA turnover. Although a new clade of putative transposases (RAYTs or TnpA(REP)) is often associated with an increase in these repeats, it is not clear how these proteins might have directed amplification of REPs. We report here the structure to 2.6 A of TnpA(REP) from Escherichia coli MG1655 bound to a REP. Sequence analysis showed that TnpA(REP) is highly related to the IS200/IS605 family, but in contrast to IS200/IS605 transposases, TnpA(REP) is a monomer, is auto-inhibited and is active only in manganese. These features suggest that, relative to IS200/IS605 transposases, it has evolved a different mechanism for the movement of discrete segments of DNA and has been severely down-regulated, perhaps to prevent REPs from sweeping through genomes

MelaNostrum: a consensus questionnaire of standardized epidemiologic and clinical variables for melanoma risk assessment by the melanostrum consortium

Background: Many melanoma observational studies have been carried out across different countries and geographic areas using heterogeneous assessments of epidemiologic risk factors and clinical variables. Aim: To develop a consensus questionnaire to standardize epidemiologic and clinical data collection for melanoma risk assessment. Methods: We used a stepwise strategy that included: compilation of variables from case–control datasets collected at various centres of the MelaNostrum Consortium; integration of variables from published case–control studies; consensus discussion of the collected items by MelaNostrum members; revision by independent experts; addition of online tools and image-based charts; questionnaire testing across centres and generation of a final draft. Results: We developed a core consensus questionnaire (MelanoQ) that includes four separate sections: A. general and demographic data; B. phenotypic and ultraviolet radiation exposure risk factors and lifestyle habits; C. clinical examination, medical and family history; and D. diagnostic data on melanoma (cases only). Accompanying online tools, informative tables, and image-based charts aid standardization. Different subsections of the questionnaire are designed for self-administration, patient interviews performed by a physician or study nurse, and data collection from medical records. Conclusions: The MelanoQ questionnaire is a useful tool for the collection and standardization of epidemiologic and clinical data across different studies, centres, cultures and languages. This will expedite ongoing efforts to compile high-quality data for pooled analyses or meta-analyses and offer a solid base for the design of clinical, epidemiologic and translational studies on melanoma. © 2018 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereolog