11. |
- Bunner, Anne E, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of ribosome assembly cofactors on in vitro 30S subunit reconstitution
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 398:1, s. 1-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ribosome biogenesis is facilitated by a growing list of assembly cofactors, including helicases, GTPases, chaperones, and other proteins, but the specific functions of many of these assembly cofactors are still unclear. The effect of three assembly cofactors on 30S ribosome assembly was determined in vitro using a previously developed mass-spectrometry-based method that monitors the rRNA binding kinetics of ribosomal proteins. The essential GTPase Era caused several late-binding proteins to bind rRNA faster when included in a 30S reconstitution. RimP enabled faster binding of S9 and S19 and inhibited the binding of S12 and S13, perhaps by blocking those proteins' binding sites. RimM caused proteins S5 and S12 to bind dramatically faster. These quantitative kinetic data provide important clues about the roles of these assembly cofactors in the mechanism of 30S biogenesis.
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14. |
- Mbulawa, Zizipho Z. A., et al.
(författare)
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Increased alpha-9 human papillomavirus species viral load in human immunodeficiency virus positive women
- 2014
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Ingår i: BMC Infectious Diseases. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2334. ; 14, s. 51-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Persistent high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and increased HR-HPV viral load are associated with the development of cancer. This study investigated the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, HIV viral load and CD4 count on the HR-HPV viral load; and also investigated the predictors of cervical abnormalities. Methods: Participants were 292 HIV-negative and 258 HIV-positive women. HR-HPV viral loads in cervical cells were determined by the real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: HIV-positive women had a significantly higher viral load for combined alpha-9 HPV species compared to HIV-negative women (median 3.9 copies per cell compared to 0.63 copies per cell, P = 0.022). This was not observed for individual HPV types. HIV-positive women with CD4 counts > 350/mu l had significantly lower viral loads for alpha-7 HPV species (median 0.12 copies per cell) than HIV-positive women with CD4 = 350/mu l (median 1.52 copies per cell, P = 0.008), but low CD4 count was not significantly associated with increased viral load for other HPV species. High viral loads for alpha-6, alpha-7 and alpha-9 HPV species were significant predictors of abnormal cytology in women. Conclusion: HIV co-infection significantly increased the combined alpha-9 HPV viral load in women but not viral loads for individual HPV types. High HR-HPV viral load was associated with cervical abnormal cytology.
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15. |
- Pirmohamed, Munir, et al.
(författare)
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A Randomized Trial of Genotype-Guided Dosing of Warfarin
- 2013
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Ingår i: New England Journal of Medicine. - 0028-4793 .- 1533-4406. ; 369:24, s. 2294-2303
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The level of anticoagulation in response to a fixed-dose regimen of warfarin is difficult to predict during the initiation of therapy. We prospectively compared the effect of genotype-guided dosing with that of standard dosing on anticoagulation control in patients starting warfarin therapy.Methods: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial involving patients with atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism. Genotyping for CYP2C9*2, CYP2C9*3, and VKORC1 (-1639GA) was performed with the use of a point-of-care test. For patients assigned to the genotype-guided group, warfarin doses were prescribed according to pharmacogenetic-based algorithms for the first 5 days. Patients in the control (standard dosing) group received a 3-day loading-dose regimen. After the initiation period, the treatment of all patients was managed according to routine clinical practice. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of time in the therapeutic range of 2.0 to 3.0 for the international normalized ratio (INR) during the first 12 weeks after warfarin initiation.Results: A total of 455 patients were recruited, with 227 randomly assigned to the genotype-guided group and 228 assigned to the control group. The mean percentage of time in the therapeutic range was 67.4% in the genotype-guided group as compared with 60.3% in the control group (adjusted difference, 7.0 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, 3.3 to 10.6; P<0.001). There were significantly fewer incidences of excessive anticoagulation (INR 4.0) in the genotype-guided group. The median time to reach a therapeutic INR was 21 days in the genotype-guided group as compared with 29 days in the control group (P<0.001).Conclusions: Pharmacogenetic-based dosing was associated with a higher percentage of time in the therapeutic INR range than was standard dosing during the initiation of warfarin therapy.
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16. |
- Schlegel, P., et al.
(författare)
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Individual Variability in Reproductive Success Determines Winners and Losers under Ocean Acidification: A Case Study with Sea Urchins
- 2012
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Ingår i: Plos One. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Climate change will lead to intense selection on many organisms, particularly during susceptible early life stages. To date, most studies on the likely biotic effects of climate change have focused on the mean responses of pooled groups of animals. Consequently, the extent to which inter-individual variation mediates different selection responses has not been tested. Investigating this variation is important, since some individuals may be preadapted to future climate scenarios. Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined the effect of CO2-induced pH changes ("ocean acidification'') in sperm swimming behaviour on the fertilization success of the Australasian sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma, focusing on the responses of separate individuals and pairs. Acidification significantly decreased the proportion of motile sperm but had no effect on sperm swimming speed. Subsequent fertilization experiments showed strong inter-individual variation in responses to ocean acidification, ranging from a 44% decrease to a 14% increase in fertilization success. This was partly explained by the significant relationship between decreases in percent sperm motility and fertilization success at Delta pH = 0.3, but not at Delta pH = 0.5. Conclusions and Significance: The effects of ocean acidification on reproductive success varied markedly between individuals. Our results suggest that some individuals will exhibit enhanced fertilization success in acidified oceans, supporting the concept of 'winners' and 'losers' of climate change at an individual level. If these differences are heritable it is likely that ocean acidification will lead to selection against susceptible phenotypes as well as to rapid fixation of alleles that allow reproduction under more acidic conditions. This selection may ameliorate the biotic effects of climate change if taxa have sufficient extant genetic variation upon which selection can act.
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17. |
- Sullivan, Richard, et al.
(författare)
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Delivering affordable cancer care in high-income countries
- 2011
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Ingår i: The Lancet Oncology. - London : Lancet Oncology. - 1470-2045 .- 1474-5488. ; 12:10, s. 933-980
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The burden of cancer is growing, and the disease is becoming a major economic expenditure for all developed countries. In 2008, the worldwide cost of cancer due to premature death and disability (not including direct medical costs) was estimated to be US$895 billion. This is not simply due to an increase in absolute numbers, but also the rate of increase of expenditure on cancer. What are the drivers and solutions to the so-called cancer-cost curve in developed countries? How are we going to afford to deliver high quality and equitable care? Here, expert opinion from health-care professionals, policy makers, and cancer survivors has been gathered to address the barriers and solutions to delivering affordable cancer care. Although many of the drivers and themes are specific to a particular field-eg, the huge development costs for cancer medicines-there is strong concordance running through each contribution. Several drivers of cost, such as over-use, rapid expansion, and shortening life cycles of cancer technologies (such as medicines and imaging modalities), and the lack of suitable clinical research and integrated health economic studies, have converged with more defensive medical practice, a less informed regulatory system, a lack of evidence-based sociopolitical debate, and a declining degree of fairness for all patients with cancer. Urgent solutions range from re-engineering of the macroeconomic basis of cancer costs (eg, value-based approaches to bend the cost curve and allow cost-saving technologies), greater education of policy makers, and an informed and transparent regulatory system. A radical shift in cancer policy is also required. Political toleration of unfairness in access to affordable cancer treatment is unacceptable. The cancer profession and industry should take responsibility and not accept a substandard evidence base and an ethos of very small benefit at whatever cost; rather, we need delivery of fair prices and real value from new technologies.
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18. |
- Thomson, R M., et al.
(författare)
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On the biological basis for competing macroscopic dose descriptors for kilovoltage dosimetry: cellular dosimetry for brachytherapy and diagnostic radiology
- 2013
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Ingår i: Physics in Medicine and Biology. - : Institute of Physics. - 0031-9155 .- 1361-6560. ; 58:4, s. 1123-1150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this work is to investigate how alternative macroscopic dose descriptors track absorbed dose to biologically relevant subcellular targets via Monte Carlo (MC) analysis of cellular models for a variety of cancerous and normal soft tissues for kilovoltage radiation. The relative mass distributions of water, light inorganic elements, and protein components of nuclear and cytoplasm compartments for various tissues are determined from a literature review. These data are used to develop representative cell models to demonstrate the range of mass elemental compositions of these subcellular structures encountered in the literature from which radiological quantities (energy absorption and attenuation coefficients; stopping powers) are computed. Using representative models of cell clusters, doses to subcellular targets are computed using MC simulation for photon sources of energies between 20 and 370 keV and are compared to bulk medium dose descriptors. It is found that cells contain significant and varying mass fractions of protein and inorganic elements, leading to variations in mass energy absorption coefficients for cytoplasm and nuclear media as large as 10% compared to water for sub-50 keV photons. Doses to subcellular structures vary by as much as 23% compared to doses to the corresponding average bulk medium or to small water cavities embedded in the bulk medium. Relationships between cellular target doses and doses to the bulk medium or to a small water cavity embedded in the bulk medium are sensitive to source energy and cell morphology, particularly for lower energy sources, e. g., low energy brachytherapy (andlt;50 keV). Results suggest that cells in cancerous and normal soft tissues are generally not radiologically equivalent to either water or the corresponding average bulk tissue. For kilovoltage photon sources, neither dose to bulk medium nor dose to water quantitatively tracks energy imparted to biologically relevant subcellular targets for the range of cellular morphologies and tissues considered.
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