The role of ECL2 in CGRP receptor activation: a combined modelling and experimental approach

The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor is a complex of a calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR), which is a family B G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and receptor activity modifying protein 1. The role of the second extracellular loop (ECL2) of CLR in binding CGRP and coupling to Gs was investigated using a combination of mutagenesis and modelling. An alanine scan of residues 271–294 of CLR showed that the ability of CGRP to produce cAMP was impaired by point mutations at 13 residues; most of these also impaired the response to adrenomedullin (AM). These data were used to select probable ECL2-modelled conformations that are involved in agonist binding, allowing the identification of the likely contacts between the peptide and receptor. The implications of the most likely structures for receptor activation are discussed.</jats:p

Validation of a Predictive Model for Survival in Patients With Advanced Cancer: Secondary Analysis of RTOG 9714.

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to validate a simple predictive model for survival of patients with advanced cancer.MethodsPrevious studies with training and validation datasets developed a model predicting survival of patients referred for palliative radiotherapy using three readily available factors: primary cancer site, site of metastases and Karnofsky performance score (KPS). This predictive model was used in the current study, where each factor was assigned a value proportional to its prognostic weight and the sum of the weighted scores for each patient was survival prediction score (SPS). Patients were also classified according to their number of risk factors (NRF). Three risk groups were established. The Radiation Therapy and Oncology Group (RTOG) 9714 data was used to provide an additional external validation set comprised of patients treated among multiple institutions with appropriate statistical tests.ResultsThe RTOG external validation set comprised of 908 patients treated at 66 different radiation facilities from 1998 to 2002. The SPS method classified all patients into the low-risk group. Based on the NRF, two distinct risk groups with significantly different survival estimates were identified. The ability to predict survival was similar to that of the training and previous validation datasets for both the SPS and NRF methods.ConclusionsThe three variable NRF model is preferred because of its relative simplicity

Discrimination, mastery, and depressive symptoms among African American men

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88130/1/watkins_hudson_etal2011.pd

Endoscopic retrieval of a proximally migrated biliary stent: digital cholangioscope to the rescue

Endoscopic techniques for the retrieval of proximally migrated biliary stents include the following: fluoroscopy-guided grasping of the stent with a rat-tooth forceps, balloon placement parallel to the stent with traction retrieval, cannulation of the stent lumen with a wire (standard technique, or use of the curved plastic tip of a modified Soehendra stent retriever [Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind]) followed by use of standard or modified Soehendra stent retriever, wire-guided retrieval basket, and snare. The technique used depends on the extent of proximal stent migration, the presence of ductal dilatation or biliary stricture, and the endoscopist’s experience. This report describes the retrieval of a proximally migrated biliary stent within an aberrant right hepatic duct (RHD) using a digital cholangioscope (SpyGlass DS system; Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass

EC03-1884 Wheat Disease Profiles I

This two-page, 4-color extension circular covers the disease and symptoms of wheat in Nebraska. The diseases listed are: barley yellow dwarf, soil-borne wheat mosaic, wheat streak mosaic, leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, tan spot, septoria leaf blotch, common root rot, crown rot, Fusarium head blight (scab)

EC03-1884 Wheat Disease Profiles I

This two-page, 4-color extension circular covers the disease and symptoms of wheat in Nebraska. The diseases listed are: barley yellow dwarf, soil-borne wheat mosaic, wheat streak mosaic, leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, tan spot, septoria leaf blotch, common root rot, crown rot, Fusarium head blight (scab)