Highly Potent and Selective -Aryl Oxamic Acid-Based Inhibitors for Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase B.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium (Mtb). Mtb protein tyrosine phosphatase B (mPTPB) is a virulence factor required for Mtb survival in host macrophages. Consequently, mPTPB represents an exciting target for tuberculosis treatment.

Food safety attitudes in college students: a structural equation modeling analysis of a conceptual model.

College students are one of the most at-risk population groups for food poisoning, due to risky food safety behaviors. Using the Likert Scale, undergraduate students were asked to participate in a Food Safety Survey which was completed by 499 students ages 18-25. Data was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software.

Diversity of ubiquitin and ISG15 specificity among nairoviruses' viral ovarian tumor domain proteases.

Nairoviruses are responsible for numerous diseases that affect both humans and animal. Recent work has implicated the viral ovarian tumor domain (vOTU) as a possible nairovirus virulence factor due to its ability to edit ubiquitin (Ub) bound to cellular proteins and, at least in the case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), to cleave the Ub-like protein interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), a protein involved in the regulation of host immunity. The prospective roles of vOTUs in immune evasion have generated several questions concerning whether vOTUs act through a preserved specificity for Ub- and ISG15-conjugated proteins and where that specificity may originate.

Active site loop dynamics of a class IIa fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Class II fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolases (FBAs, EC 4.1.2.

Effect of Biologic Agents on Non-PASI Outcomes in Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.

Introduction: The objective of this review was to conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis and Bayesian mixed treatment comparisons (MTC) evaluating the impact of biologics on non-Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) health outcomes in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

Methods: MEDLINE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from 1966 to May 2009. Citations were screened for randomized, controlled trials of biologics versus either placebo or each other in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and reported any of several outcomes.

Intent to update systematic reviews: results of an internet survey.

Background: Updating a systematic review may be necessary when newer evidence is available. Several barriers to conducting updated systematic reviews have been hypothesized.

Aims: To conduct an Internet survey to identify the relationship between author and study characteristics and the intent to update a systematic review, to quantify this relationship, and to query authors about perceived barriers to updating.

Structural analysis of a viral ovarian tumor domain protease from the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in complex with covalently bonded ubiquitin.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus is a tick-borne, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA [ssRNA(-)] nairovirus that produces fever, prostration, and severe hemorrhages in humans. With fatality rates for CCHF ranging up to 70% based on several factors, CCHF is considered a dangerous emerging disease. Originally identified in the former Soviet Union and the Congo, CCHF has rapidly spread across large sections of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Recombinant human growth hormone in the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis.

Context: Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) improves growth in patients with growth hormone deficiency or idiopathic short stature. Its role in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is unclear.

Objective: To review the effectiveness of rhGH in the treatment of patients with CF.

Pharmacologic treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a mixed-treatment comparison meta-analysis.

Study Objective: To assess the comparative efficacy of pharmacologic agents for the maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Design: Traditional and mixed-treatment comparison (MTC) meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials.

Patients: A total of 31,020 patients with COPD from 43 trials.

Recovery time in a case of gemfibrozil and simvastatin-associated rhabdomyolysis.

Simvastatin is a cholesterol-lowering medication heavily prescribed to treat and prevent vascular disease. Despite widespread use, cases of simvastatin-induced rhabdomyolysis are rare. Little information is available regarding the recovery period for a patient who has experienced drug-induced rhabdomyolysis.

Probable enoxaparin-induced hepatotoxicity.

Purpose: A case of probable enoxaparin-induced hepatotoxicity is described.

Summary: A 29-year-old woman sought treatment from a pulmonologist for a dry, hacking, constant cough not relieved by fast-acting inhalers or narcotic cough medications that had lasted for three weeks. Her primary care physician had earlier made a preliminary diagnosis of pertussis and prescribed a short course of azithromycin and corticosteroids, which did not help relieve the symptoms.

The effect of plant sterols or stanols on lipid parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis.

We performed a meta-analysis of five randomized, placebo-controlled trials to characterize the impact of plant sterols/stanols on plasma lipids in patients with type 2 diabetes. Upon meta-analysis, plant sterols/stanols significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol, with a trend towards improvement in HDL. No beneficial effect on triglycerides was apparent.

Use of N-acetylcysteine to reduce post-cardiothoracic surgery complications: a meta-analysis.

Post-cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) complications (e.g. myocardial injury, renal dysfunction, atrial fibrillation) may occur as a result of enhanced systemic inflammation, perhaps provoked by an oxidative stress response.

Feverfew for migraine prophylaxis: a systematic review.

Feverfew has been studied for the treatment of migrane in several studies and the pharmacologic mechanisms are preliminarily understood. We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and present the clinical findings and potential implications. The modality of data collection and reporting in the individual studies does not support a pooling of results, but does suggest benefit of feverfew in migraine prophylaxis for at least subsets of the population with the disorder.

Resolution of a phytobezoar with Aldoph's Meat Tenderizer.

A 58-year-old man went to his physician with complaints of midepigastric pain, flatulence, belching, and shortness of breath. During a physical examination, the patient was in no acute distress. The patient underwent an ultrasound examination, which revealed cholelithiasis, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which revealed chronic gallbladder disease, and esophagogastroduodenoscopy, which revealed gastritis, a hiatal hernia, and a phytobezoar.

Multidentate pyridinones inhibit the metabolism of nontransferrin-bound iron by hepatocytes and hepatoma cells.

The therapeutic effect of iron (Fe) chelators on the potentially toxic plasma pool of nontransferrin-bound iron (NTBI), often present in Fe overload diseases and in some cancer patients during chemotherapy, is of considerable interest. In the present investigation, several multidentate pyridinones were synthesized and compared with their bidentate analogue, deferiprone (DFP; L1, orally active) and desferrioxamine (DFO; hexadentate; orally inactive) for their effect on the metabolism of NTBI in the rat hepatocyte and a hepatoma cell line (McArdle 7777, Q7). Hepatoma cells took up much less NTBI than the hepatocytes (< 10%).

Transferrin receptor 2: a new molecule in iron metabolism.

Transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) which mediates uptake of transferrin-bound iron, is essential for life in mammals. Recently, a close homologue of human transferrin receptor 1 was cloned and called transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2). A similar molecule has been identified in the mouse.

Desferrithiocin is a more potent antineoplastic agent than desferrioxamine.

Desferrithiocin (DFT) is an orally effective Fe chelator, with a similar high affinity and selectivity for Fe to desferrioxamine (DFO), which has been shown clinically to possess antineoplastic activity. In this study, DFT was assessed for antineoplastic potential in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HCC). This was done as there are few treatments for this aggressive neoplasm.