Report urges more co-operation to fight malnutrition in the UK.

Malnutrition, usually thought of as a health issue prevalent only in the developing world, is underrecognised and under-treated in the UK, according to a new report published by nutrition charity the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN).

Parkinson's: not easy to detect.

Parkinson's disease affects nearly one in 500 people in the UK. Yet many people are misdiagnosed or remain undiagnosed for several years. And patients and carers can often struggle to find relevant information about the condition.

Osteoporosis.

It is estimated that one in three women and one in 12 men over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis. For women, the one in six lifetime risk of sustaining a hip fracture is greater than the risk of developing breast cancer. 'We often refer to the disease as the silent thief,' says Debbie Stone, osteoporosis nurse specialist at Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth.

Consequences of cardiac myocyte-specific ablation of KATP channels in transgenic mice expressing dominant negative Kir6 subunits.

Cardiac ATP-sensitive K+ (K(ATP)) channels are formed by Kir6.2 and SUR2A subunits. We produced transgenic mice that express dominant negative Kir6.

BacMam recombinant baculovirus in transporter expression: a study of BCRP and OATP1B1.

Human BCRP and OATP1B1 have recently been identified as important transporters in the absorption, distribution, and elimination of clinically significant drugs. In this report, we illustrate the use of modified baculoviruses, termed BacMam viruses for the expression of functional BCRP and OATP1B1 in mammalian cells. We show a variety of host cells efficiently transduced to express BCRP including HEK 293, LLC-PK, and U-2 OS, where protein levels on the cell-surface were modulated by titrating different amounts of viral inoculum.

Neurotrophin-independent attraction of growing sensory and motor axons towards developing Xenopus limb buds in vitro.

The mechanisms for directing axons to their targets in developing limbs remain largely unknown though recent studies in mice have demonstrated the importance of neurotrophins in this process. We now report that in co-cultures of larval Xenopus laevis limb buds with spinal cords and dorsal root ganglia of Xenopus and axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) axons grow directly to the limb buds over distances of up to 800 microm and in particular to sheets of epidermal cells which migrate away from the limb buds and also tail segments in culture. This directed axonal growth persists in the presence of trk-IgG chimeras, which sequester neurotrophins, and k252a, which blocks their actions mediated via trk receptors.

Involvement of alpha7beta1 integrin in the conditioning-lesion effect on sensory axon regeneration.

Conditioning lesions of peripheral nerves improve axonal regeneration after injury and involve changes in expression of proteins required for axonal growth. Integrin alpha7beta1 expression in motor and sensory neurons increases following nerve lesions and motor axon regeneration is impaired in alpha7 integrin KO mice (J. Neurosci.

Developmental expression of NCS-1 (frequenin), a regulator of Kv4 K+ channels, in mouse heart.

The channel proteins responsible for the cardiac transient outward K+ current (Ito) of human and rodent heart are composed, in part, of pore-forming Kv4.3 or Kv4.2 principal subunits.