A prospective study of villous capillary lesions in complicated pregnancies.

The vascularity of placental tissue is dependent on various factors of which fetomaternal hypoxia plays a major role. Hypoxia can be of different types and each type influences the vascularity of the villi, especially terminal villi, in its own way. In this study, we attempted to identify villous vascular changes in a group of term placentae from mothers with diseases complicating pregnancy.

The effectiveness of sit-stand workstations for changing office workers' sitting time: results from the Stand@Work randomized controlled trial pilot.

Background: Prolonged sitting time is detrimental for health. Individuals with desk-based occupations tend to sit a great deal and sit-stand workstations have been identified as a potential strategy to reduce sitting time. Hence, the objective of the current study was to examine the effects of using sit-stand workstations on office workers' sitting time at work and over the whole day.

Desk-based workers' perspectives on using sit-stand workstations: a qualitative analysis of the Stand@Work study.

Background: Prolonged sitting time has been identified as a health risk factor. Sit-stand workstations allow desk workers to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the working day, but not much is known about their acceptability and feasibility. Hence, the aim of this study was to qualitatively evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and perceptions of using sit-stand workstations in a group of desk-based office workers.

A high-complexity, multiplexed solution-phase assay for profiling protease activity on microarrays.

We have developed a miniaturized and multiplexed solution assay for the measurement of protease activity in complex samples. This technology can accelerate research in functional proteomics and enable biologists to carry out multiplexed protease inhibitor screens on a large scale. The assay readout is based on Illumina's universal Sentrix BeadArrays.

A multiplexed protein kinase assay.

We report a novel protein kinase assay designed for high-throughput detection of one or many kinases in a complex mixture. A solution-phase phosphorylation reaction is performed on 900 different peptide substrates, each covalently linked to an oligonucleotide tag. After incubation, phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine are chemically labeled, and the substrates are hybridized to a microarray with oligonucleotides complementary to the tags to read out the phosphorylation state of each peptide.

A method for rapid protease substrate evaluation and optimization.

We have developed a high throughput assay for the measurement of protease activity in solution. This technology will accelerate research in functional proteomics and enable biologists to streamline protease substrate evaluation and optimization. The peptide sequences that serve as protease substrates in this assay are labeled on the carboxy terminus with a biotin moiety and a fluorescent tag is attached to the amino terminus.

A pathway of signals regulating effector and initiator caspases in the developing Drosophila eye.

Regulated cell death and survival play important roles in neural development. Extracellular signals are presumed to regulate seven apparent caspases to determine the final structure of the nervous system. In the eye, the EGF receptor, Notch, and intact primary pigment and cone cells have been implicated in survival or death signals.

Pathways of proximal tubular cell death in bismuth nephrotoxicity.

Colloidal bismuth subcitrate (CBS), a drug for treatment of peptic ulcers, has been reported in the literature to be nephrotoxic in humans when taken in high overdoses. To investigate the mechanism of bismuth nephropathy, we developed an animal model by feeding rats single doses of CBS containing 3.0 mmol Bi/kg body weight.