From Toxins Targeting Ligand Gated Ion Channels to Therapeutic Molecules

Ligand-gated ion channels (LGIC) play a central role in inter-cellular communication. This key function has two consequences: (i) these receptor channels are major targets for drug discovery because of their potential involvement in numerous human brain diseases; (ii) they are often found to be the target of plant and animal toxins. Together this makes toxin/receptor interactions important to drug discovery projects. Therefore, toxins acting on LGIC are presented and their current/potential therapeutic uses highlighted

Saturated Fats: A Perspective from Lactation and Milk Composition

For recommendations of specific targets for the absolute amount of saturated fat intake, we need to know what dietary intake is most appropriate? Changing agricultural production and processing to lower the relative quantities of macronutrients requires years to accomplish. Changes can have unintended consequences on diets and the health of subsets of the population. Hence, what are the appropriate absolute amounts of saturated fat in our diets? Is the scientific evidence consistent with an optimal intake of zero? If not, is it also possible that a finite intake of saturated fats is beneficial to overall health, at least to a subset of the population? Conclusive evidence from prospective human trials is not available, hence other sources of information must be considered. One approach is to examine the evolution of lactation, and the composition of milks that developed through millennia of natural selective pressure and natural selection processes. Mammalian milks, including human milk, contain 50% of their total fatty acids as saturated fatty acids. The biochemical formation of a single double bond converting a saturated to a monounsaturated fatty acid is a pathway that exists in all eukaryotic organisms and is active within the mammary gland. In the face of selective pressure, mammary lipid synthesis in all mammals continues to release a significant content of saturated fatty acids into milk. Is it possible that evolution of the mammary gland reveals benefits to saturated fatty acids that current recommendations do not consider

Combined Tevatron upper limit on gg->H->W+W- and constraints on the Higgs boson mass in fourth-generation fermion models

Report number: FERMILAB-PUB-10-125-EWe combine results from searches by the CDF and D0 collaborations for a standard model Higgs boson (H) in the process gg->H->W+W- in p=pbar collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. With 4.8 fb-1 of integrated luminosity analyzed at CDF and 5.4 fb-1 at D0, the 95% Confidence Level upper limit on \sigma(gg->H) x B(H->W+W-) is 1.75 pb at m_H=120 GeV, 0.38 pb at m_H=165 GeV, and 0.83 pb at m_H=200 GeV. Assuming the presence of a fourth sequential generation of fermions with large masses, we exclude at the 95% Confidence Level a standard-model-like Higgs boson with a mass between 131 and 204 GeV.We combine results from searches by the CDF and D0 collaborations for a standard model Higgs boson (H) in the process gg→H→W+W- in pp̅ collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at √s=1.96  TeV. With 4.8  fb-1 of integrated luminosity analyzed at CDF and 5.4  fb-1 at D0, the 95% confidence level upper limit on σ(gg→H)×B(H→W+W-) is 1.75 pb at mH=120  GeV, 0.38 pb at mH=165  GeV, and 0.83 pb at mH=200  GeV. Assuming the presence of a fourth sequential generation of fermions with large masses, we exclude at the 95% confidence level a standard-model-like Higgs boson with a mass between 131 and 204 GeV.Peer reviewe

Iron Deficiency and Acute Seizures: Results from Children Living in Rural Kenya and a Meta-Analysis

There are conflicting reports on whether iron deficiency changes susceptibility to seizures. We examined the hypothesis that iron deficiency is associated with an increased risk of acute seizures in children in a malaria endemic area

Depairing critical currents and self-magnetic field effects in submicron YBa2Cu3O7-delta microbridges and bicrystal junctions

We report on depairing critical currents in submicron YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ microbridges. A small-angle bicrystal grain boundary junction is used as a tool to study the entrance of vortices induced by a transport current and their influence on the I-V curves. The interplay between the depairing and the vortex motion determines a crossover in the temperature dependence of the critical current. The high entrance field of vortices in very narrow superconducting channels creates the possibility of carrying a critical current close to the depairing limit determined by the S-S ′ -S nature of the small-angle grain boundary junction. \ua9 2004 American Institute of Physics