Online hourly determination of 62 VOCs in ambient air: system evaluation and comparison with another two analytical techniques.

This paper presents results of the processing and validation of data collected by an automatic gas chromatograph (AGC). This system was used to monitor 62 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban air in the Basque Country, Spain. The nonpolar compounds (C2-C10) identified-paraffins, olefins, aromatics, and chlorinated compounds-accounted for 88% of the mass of total non-methane hydrocarbons (TNMHCs) in ambient air.

Craniosynostosis associated with ocular and distal limb defects is very likely caused by mutations in a gene different from FGFR, TWIST, and MSX2.

Craniosynostosis caused by genetic factors includes a heterogeneous group of over 100 syndromes, most with autosomal dominant inheritance. Mutations in five genes (FGFR1-, -2, -3, TWIST, and MSX2) causing craniosynostosis as the main clinical feature were described. In most of these conditions, there are also limb malformations.

Stereologic estimation of the number of neuroendocrine cells in normal human prostate detected by immunohistochemistry.

Neuroendocrine cells may play a role in both normal and pathologic conditions of the human prostate. It may be interesting to investigate 1) whether there are significant amounts of neuroendocrine cells in human adult normal prostate, and 2) whether the distribution of these cells shows regional differences. This study estimates both absolute and relative amounts of neuroendocrine cells immunostained for two neuronal markers (chromogranin A and protein gene product 9.

Negative calcium balance during lactation in rural Mexican women.

Background: Additional calcium is required during lactation, and several calcium regulatory factors are involved in calcium balance. In lactating rural women who have marginal nutrition and consume a high-fiber diet, negative calcium balance may be expected.

Objective: We evaluated calcium balance and its association with potential calcium regulatory factors in lactating, rural Mexican women who had marginal nutrition and consumed a high-fiber diet.

High-risk (HPV16) human papillomavirus E7 oncoprotein is highly stable and extended, with conformational transitions that could explain its multiple cellular binding partners.

High-risk papillomaviruses are known to exert their transforming activity mainly through E7, one of their two oncoproteins. Despite its relevance, no structural information has been obtained that could explain the apparent broad binding specificity of E7. Recombinant E7 from HPV-16 purified to near homogeneity showed two species in gel filtration chromatography, one of these corresponding to a dimer with a molecular weight of 22 kDa, determined by multiangle light scattering.

[The neuropathology of temporal lobe epilepsy: primary and secondary changes in the cortical circuits and epileptogenicity].

Introduction: Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated to many disorders localized to the neocortex, the hippocampal formation or both (dual pathology). The most common pathologies are mesial sclerosis, tumours, malformations and scars. However, these alterations are not intrinsically epileptogenic, as they are also seen in patients who do not develop epilepsy.

Oestrogens and puberty.

Oestrogens induce the development of female reproductive tissues. Endogenous human oestrogens include oestradiol, oestrone and oestriol. Oestrogen signalling in target tissues is dependent on the tissue concentration of oestrogen and the interaction of oestrogen receptors with an array of cell-specific co-regulator proteins.

Extractable soil heavy metals following the cessation of biosolids application to agricultural soil.

Changes in soil heavy metal extractability following the cessation of biosolids applications were studied in a long-term field experiment. Two anaerobically digested biosolids from wastewater treatment plants in Madrid (Sur and Viveros) were applied to cropland from 1983 to 1990. Soil samples were collected in the 1st, 5th and 9th year after the last biosolids application.

Correlation between rare chromosomal abnormalities and prenatal ultrasound findings.

Our objective was to examine ultrasound findings with outcomes in cases of rare chromosomal abnormalities diagnosed during pregnancy. Results of cytogenetic studies obtained from amniocenteses and chorionic villus samplings (CVS) from 1994-2000 were reviewed. Only those examples of rare chromosomal abnormalities with little information on the associated outcome were included.

Negative balance of calcium during lactation in marginally nourished women.

Thirty-three rural Mexican women (age, 18-36y; weight, 50.3+/-3 kg; height, 148.3+/-2 cm) were studied under metabolic balance conditions.

Simple and rapid analysis for quantitation of the most important volatile flavor compounds in yogurt by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The aim of this experiment is to develop a rapid, simplified, direct gas chromatographic (GC) method for the analysis of volatile flavor compounds in yogurt combining a headspace with constant heating temperature and GC with a mass spectrometric detect ion. Repeatability of the method is assessed. The relative standard deviation for individual flavor compounds range from 3.

Quantitative shedding of two genotypes of Cryptosporidium parvum in California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi).

Sixteen percent of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) were found to be shedding an average of 53,875 Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts/g of feces. Male squirrels had a higher prevalence and higher intensity of shedding than did female squirrels. The majority of C.

Adjuvant anthracycline therapy as a prognostic factor in metastatic breast cancer.

Background: Prognostic factors in metastatic breast cancer continue to be identified. Previous adjuvant chemotherapy appeared to have poor prognosis in some studies but, despite this, the prior use of anthracyclines in the adjuvant setting has not been clearly established as an adverse prognostic factor once metastatic disease develops.

Patients And Methods: Patients (n = 1,436) with stages I-IIIa breast cancer were surgically treated with/without radiotherapy and/or systemic adjuvant treatment.

[Obesity in children].

Obesity during childhood and adolescence is an increasingly common complaint in our daily clinical practice. The increase in its prevalence makes paediatrician worry about this disease, which is now considered an epidemic by the World Health Organisation. Obesity is a complex disease.

Mapping of the autosomal recessive (AR) craniometaphyseal dysplasia locus to chromosome region 6q21-22 and confirmation of genetic heterogeneity for mild AR spondylocostal dysplasia.

We report on a four-generation inbred family including 10 individuals affected with a form of craniotubular dysplasia (CTD). All affected patients were born to consanguineous healthy parents; this finding, together with the equal sex ratio among affected individuals and the occurrence of only normal individuals among their offspring, indicates that the disease in this family is an autosomal recessive (AR) trait. Taking into account the segregation pattern of the disease in the family and the radiological characteristics of two young CTD patients, the most likely diagnosis for the defect is AR craniometaphyseal dysplasia (CMD).

Distinctive cognate sequence discrimination, bound DNA conformation, and binding modes in the E2 C-terminal domains from prototype human and bovine papillomaviruses.

The C-terminal DNA binding domain of the E2 protein is involved in transcriptional regulation and DNA replication in papillomaviruses. At low ionic strength, the domain has a tendency to form aggregates, a process readily reversible by the addition of salt. While fluorescence anisotropy measurements show a 1:1 stoichiometry at pH 5.

High mutation detection rate in TCOF1 among Treacher Collins syndrome patients reveals clustering of mutations and 16 novel pathogenic changes.

Twenty-eight families with a clinical diagnosis of Treacher Collins syndrome were screened for mutations in the 25 coding exons of TCOF1 and their adjacent splice junctions through SSCP and direct sequencing. Pathogenic mutations were detected in 26 patients, yielding the highest detection rate reported so far for this disease (93%) and bringing the number of known disease-causing mutations from 35 to 51. This is the first report to describe clustering of pathogenic mutations.

Immunohistochemical localization of protein gene product 9.5, ubiquitin, and neuropeptide Y immunoreactivities in epithelial and neuroendocrine cells from normal and hyperplastic human prostate.

This study was designed to investigate (a) the presence of protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5), ubiquitin, and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the neuroendocrine and secretory epithelium of the human normal prostate and its secretions, and (b) the changes in immunoreactivity to these proteins in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Improved in situ detection method for telomeric tandem repeats in metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei.

Peptide nucleic acid technology (PNA) has become an extremely useful tool and promises to impact on molecular biology and diagnostics. These synthetic DNA analogues pair with DNA and RNA molecules according to Watson and Crick base pairing rules. This paper describes a sensitive and quick fluorescent in situ hybridisation (ISH) technique to determine DNA telomere repeat sequences (TTA GGG)n using epifluorescence microscopy.

Folding of a dimeric beta-barrel: residual structure in the urea denatured state of the human papillomavirus E2 DNA binding domain.

The dimeric beta-barrel is a characteristic topology initially found in the transcriptional regulatory domain of the E2 DNA binding domain from papillomaviruses. We have previously described the kinetic folding mechanism of the human HPV-16 domain, and, as part of these studies, we present a structural characterization of the urea-denatured state of the protein. We have obtained a set of chemical shift assignments for the C-terminal domain in urea using heteronuclear NMR methods and found regions with persistent residual structure.

Three energy variables predict ant abundance at a geographical scale.

Energy theory posits three processes that link local abundance of ectotherms to geographical gradients in temperature. A survey of 49 New World habitats found a two order of magnitude span in the abundance (nests m(-2)) of ground nesting ants (Formicidae). Abundance increased with net primary productivity (r2=0.

Neutrophil antigen 5b is carried by a protein, migrating from 70 to 95 kDa, and may be involved in neonatal alloimmune neutropenia.

Background: Neutrophil antigen 5b has been described as involved in transfusion reactions and not in neonatal alloimmune neutropenia.

Case Report: Anti-5b was found in the serum of a mother of a persistently neutropenic newborn, who had several bacterial infections. The neutropenia responded to treatment with recombinant human granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor.

[Calcium metabolism in lactating women].

During lactation the main source of the breast-milk calcium seems to be maternal bone. The women who breast-fed, lost bone mineral content, which is recovered once breast-feeding ceased. Breast-milk calcium do not depend on an increase in calcium intake by the lactating mother.