Porous dipeptide crystals as volatile-drug vessels

Anesthetic vapors find temporary hospitality in porous dipeptide crystals, which behave as biologically friendly hosts and carriers

Lack of correlation between N-myc and MAX expression in neuroblastoma tumors and in cell lines: implication for N-myc-MAX complex formation

Detectable levels of MAX messenger RNA were found in a set of human neuroblastoma tumors and established cell lines. MAX mRNA levels were independent of tumor stage and N-myc genomic amplification. By contrast, N-myc mRNA transcripts were detectable only in tumors with amplification of N-myc gene and in cell lines. Analysis by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and hybridization to specific oligodeoxynucleotide probes revealed approximately equal amounts of two MAX transcripts in all cases analyzed. Immunoprecipitations with a specific antibody to MAX detected two proteins of M(r) 21,000 and 22,000 in approximately equal amounts in all neuroblastoma lines regardless of N-myc amplification and/or expression. On the other hand, protein binding to the myc DNA consensus sequence correlated with N-myc expression in neuroblastoma cells. Thus, N-myc expression might be a limiting factor in the formation of the N-myc-MAX heterodimer in neuroblastomas

Summary of the SUSY Working Group of the 1999 Les Houches Workshop

The results obtained by the Working Group on Supersymmetry at the 1999 Les Houches Workshop on Collider Physics are summarized. Separate chapters treat "general" supersymmetry, R-parity violation, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking.Comment: LaTeX, 110 pages with numerous .ps and .eps files. proc.tex is main tex fil

A case report of accidental intoxication following ingestion of foxglove confused with borage : high digoxinemia without major complications

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L.) leaves are frequently confused with borage (Borago officinalis L.), which is traditionally used as a food ingredient. Due to the presence of the cardiac glycosides, mostly digitoxin, foxglove leaves are poisonous to human and may be fatal if ingested. A 55-year-old Caucasian woman complaining weakness, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting was admitted to the Emergency Department. Her symptoms started following consumption of a home-made savory pie with 5 leaves from a plant bought in a garden nursery as borage. Digoxinemia was high (10.4\u2009\u3bcg/L). The patient was admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit for electrocardiographic monitoring. Two days after admission, a single episode of advanced atrioventricular (AV) block was recorded by telemetry, followed by a second-degree AV block episode. Plasma samples at day 11 were analysed by LC-MS spectrometry, and gitoxin was identified suggesting that this compound may be responsible for the clinical toxicity rather than digoxin. In the case of Digitalis spp. poisoning, laboratory data should be interpreted according to the clinical picture and method of analysis used since a variety of glycosides, which are chemically similar to the cardioactive glycosides but without or with fewer cardiac effects, may be incorrectly recognized as digoxin by the test, giving misleading results

Single top production at the LHC as a probe of R parity violation

We investigate the potential of the LHC to probe the R parity violating couplings involving the third generation by considering single top production. This study is based on particle level event generation for both signal and background, interfaced to a simplified simulation of the ATLAS detector.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables (LaTeX, style revtex), few references adde

RNA Structure-A Neglected Puppet Master for the Evolution of Virus and Host Immunity

The central dogma of molecular biology describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to protein via an RNA intermediate. For many years, RNA has been considered simply as a messenger relaying information between DNA and proteins. Recent advances in next generation sequencing technology, bioinformatics, and non-coding RNA biology have highlighted the many important roles of RNA in virtually every biological process. Our understanding of RNA biology has been further enriched by a number of significant advances in probing RNA structures. It is now appreciated that many cellular and viral biological processes are highly dependent on specific RNA structures and/or sequences, and such reliance will undoubtedly impact on the evolution of both hosts and viruses. As a contribution to this special issue on host immunity and virus evolution, it is timely to consider how RNA sequences and structures could directly influence the co-evolution between hosts and viruses. In this manuscript, we begin by stating some of the basic principles of RNA structures, followed by describing some of the critical RNA structures in both viruses and hosts. More importantly, we highlight a number of available new tools to predict and to evaluate novel RNA structures, pointing out some of the limitations readers should be aware of in their own analyses

On the Co-Evolution of Investment and Bargaining Norms

Two parties bargaining over a pie, the size of which is determined by their previous investment decisions. The bargaining rule is sensitive to investment behavior. Two games are considered. In both, bargaining proceeds according to the Nash Demand Game when a symmetric investments profile is observed. When, on the other hand, an asymmetric investments profile is observed, we assume that bargaining proceeds according to the Ultimatum Game in one case and according to a Dictator Game in the other. We hereby show that in both games when a unique stochastically stable outcome exists it supports an homogeneous behavior in the whole population both at the investment stage and at the distribution stage. A norm of investment and a norm of division must therefore coevolve in the two games, supporting both the efficient investment profile and the egalitarian distribution of the surplus, respectively. The two games differ depending on the conditions needed for the two norms to coevolve. The games are proposed to explain the social norms used in modern hunter-gatherer societies

Search for Electroweak Production of Single Top Quarks in ppbar Collisions

We present a search for electroweak production of single top quarks in the electron+jets and muon+jets decay channels. The measurements use ~90 pb^-1 of data from Run 1 of the Fermilab Tevatron collider, collected at 1.8 TeV with the DZero detector between 1992 and 1995. We use events that include a tagging muon, implying the presence of a b jet, to set an upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the cross section for the s-channel process ppbar->tb+X of 39 pb. The upper limit for the t-channel process ppbar->tqb+X is 58 pb.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. This is the published versio

RNA Structure—A Neglected Puppet Master for the Evolution of Virus and Host Immunity

The central dogma of molecular biology describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to protein via an RNA intermediate. For many years, RNA has been considered simply as a messenger relaying information between DNA and proteins. Recent advances in next generation sequencing technology, bioinformatics, and non-coding RNA biology have highlighted the many important roles of RNA in virtually every biological process. Our understanding of RNA biology has been further enriched by a number of significant advances in probing RNA structures. It is now appreciated that many cellular and viral biological processes are highly dependent on specific RNA structures and/or sequences, and such reliance will undoubtedly impact on the evolution of both hosts and viruses. As a contribution to this special issue on host immunity and virus evolution, it is timely to consider how RNA sequences and structures could directly influence the co-evolution between hosts and viruses. In this manuscript, we begin by stating some of the basic principles of RNA structures, followed by describing some of the critical RNA structures in both viruses and hosts. More importantly, we highlight a number of available new tools to predict and to evaluate novel RNA structures, pointing out some of the limitations readers should be aware of in their own analyses