Preparing for disaster.

Natural disasters and armed conflicts affect the health of hundreds of millions of people around the world, not only directly through violence and trauma, but also through damage to social and economic infrastructures. Disaster preparedness, however, can help ensure that health systems and communities are better prepared to cope with emergencies.

[The family's place in intensive care departments].

The presence of the family in an intensive care department calls for collaboration between the nursing team and the patient's family. The nurse's role is important. She must use all her nursing skills to act as an effective intermediary between the family and the doctor, to ensure in particular that everyone can understand the information being conveyed.

Organization and chromosomal localization of the human ECEL1 (XCE) gene encoding a zinc metallopeptidase involved in the nervous control of respiration.

ECEL1 (endothelin-converting enzyme-like 1; previously known as XCE) is a putative zinc metalloprotease that was identified recently on the basis of its strong identity with endothelin-converting enzyme. Although the physiological function of ECEL1 is unknown, inactivation of the corresponding gene in mice points to a critical role of this protein in the nervous control of respiration. In the present study we have characterized the human ECEL1 gene.

Two di-leucine-based motifs account for the different subcellular localizations of the human endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE-1) isoforms.

Endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE-1) is a type II integral membrane protein which plays a key role in the biosynthetic pathway of the vasoconstricting endothelins. Three ECE-1 isoforms, differing by their N-terminal cytoplasmic tails, are generated from a single gene. When expressed in CHO cells, they display comparable enzymatic activity but whereas ECE-1a is strongly expressed at the cell surface, ECE-1b is exclusively intracellular and ECE-1c presents an intermediate distribution.

Organization of the gene encoding the human endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE-1).

The two human endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE-1) isoforms, which differ by their N-terminal region, are encoded by a single gene. The gene is composed of 19 exons that span more than 68 kilobases and has been mapped to the 1p36 band of the human genome. The two isoform mRNAs display different tissue distributions.