Solvent effects on electronic structure of active site of azurin by polarizable continuum model

We present a cluster model for the active site of oxidized azurin, and investigate the electronic structure of the active site of oxidized azurin by using density functional calculations with polarizable continuum model. The singly occupied molecular orbital and spin density in the model widely distribute around the Cu 3dx2-y2 and S(Cys112) 3p orbitals. The dependency of electronic properties such as partial charge density and spin density on the dielectric constant is discussed. We find that partial spin density and charge density on the copper ion become larger, when the dielectric constant increases. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Embargo Period 24 month

The association of primary aldosteronism with glaucoma-related fundus abnormalities.

PurposeTo elucidate glaucoma-related fundus abnormalities in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA).MethodsThe study compared 272 eyes from 137 PA patients and 352 eyes from 177 control subjects selected randomly from 1173 participants of a public glaucoma screening. The presence of glaucomatous optic disc appearance (rim thinning and cup enlargement) and retinal nerve fiber layer defects (RNFLDs) was determined independently from fundus photographs. The results were compared between the PA and control groups.ResultsThere were 9 patients (6.6%) with glaucomatous optic disc abnormalities in the PA group and 10 cases (5.6%) identified in the control group (p = 0.92). RNFLDs were detected more frequently in the PA group (55 eyes, 20.2%) than in the control group (26 eyes, 7.4%; pConclusionAlthough the prevalence of glaucomatous optic disc appearance did not differ between the two groups, RNFLDs were more frequent in PA patients than in the control group. Moreover, RNFLDs with their central ends located around retinal vessels were characteristic of PA patients

Development of Dry and Liquid Duplex Reagent Mix-Based Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays as Novel Tools for the Rapid and Easy Quantification of Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) Proviral Loads

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is prevalent worldwide, causing serious problems in the cattle industry. The BLV proviral load (PVL) is a useful index for estimating disease progression and transmission risk. We previously developed a quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay to measure the PVL using the coordination of common motif (CoCoMo) degenerate primers. Here, we constructed a novel duplex BLV-CoCoMo qPCR assay that can amplify two genes simultaneously using a FAM-labeled MGB probe for the BLV LTR gene and a VIC-labeled MGB probe for the BoLA-DRA gene. This liquid duplex assay maintained its original sensitivity and reproducibility in field samples. Furthermore, we developed a dry duplex assay composed of PCR reagents necessary for the optimized liquid duplex assay. We observed a strong positive correlation between the PVLs measured using the dry and liquid duplex assays. Validation analyses showed that the sensitivity of the dry duplex assay was slightly lower than that of the other methods for the detection of a BLV molecular clone, but it showed similar sensitivity to the singleplex assay and slightly higher sensitivity than the liquid duplex assay for the PVL quantification of 82 field samples. Thus, our liquid and dry duplex assays are useful for measuring the BLV PVL in field samples, similar to the original singleplex assay