Antibody response to an accelerated course of Hepatitis B vaccination.

Background: There are several courses with different dosing intervals for Hepatitis B vaccination. This independent study is looking at the antibody response after three doses of the accelerated course.

Aims: The primary aim of the study was to examine data available at an Occupational Health Service for the antibody response to one or if nonresponsive, two accelerated Hepatitis B courses.

Vertebrate sex determination: many means to an end.

The differentiation of a testis or ovary from a bipotential gonadal primordium is a developmental process common to mammals, birds and reptiles. Since the discovery of SRY, the Y-linked testis-determining gene in mammals, extensive efforts have failed to find its orthologue in other vertebrates, indicating evolutionary plasticity in the switch that triggers sex determination. Several other genes are known to be important for sex determination in mammals, such as SOX9, AMH, WT1, SF1, DAX1 and DMRT1.

The 5' untranslated region of protein kinase Cdelta directs translation by an internal ribosome entry segment that is most active in densely growing cells and during apoptosis.

Protein kinase Cdelta (PKCdelta) is a member of the PKC family of phospholipid-dependent serine/threonine kinases and is involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Previous studies have suggested that different PKC isoforms might be translationally regulated. We report here that the 395-nt-long 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of PKCdelta is predicted to form very stable secondary structures with free energies (deltaG values) of around -170 kcal/mol.

An episode of accelerated amino acid change in Drosophila esterase-6 associated with a change in physiological function.

In most lineages of the subgenus Sophophora esterase-6 is a homodimeric haemolymph protein. In the melanogaster subgroup of species it has become a monomer which is mainly expressed in the male sperm ejaculatory duct. Our analyses of esterase-6 sequences from three melanogaster subgroup species and two close relatives reveal a brief period of accelerated amino acid sequence change during the transition between the ancestral and derived states.

The 5' UTR of protein kinase C epsilon confers translational regulation in vitro and in vivo.

We have examined translational regulation conferred by the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of PKCepsilon on expression of the luciferase reporter gene in vitro, using rabbit reticulocyte lysates and in vivo, in contact-inhibiting mouse Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts and non-contact-inhibiting Swiss 3T6 fibroblasts. In rabbit reticulocyte lysates, the 5' UTR of PKCepsilon significantly represses translation. In 3T3 and 3T6 cells, the 5' UTR of PKCepsilon reduces luciferase activity, but not to the same extent as it does in vitro.