Full kinetic modeling analysis of [F]fluorocholine Positron Emission Tomography (PET) at initial diagnosis of high-grade glioma.

Purpose: The main objective was to characterize the tracer uptake kinetics of [F]fluoromethylcholine ([F]F-CHO) in high-grade gliomas (HGG) through a full PET kinetic modeling approach. Secondarily, we aimed to explore the relationship between the PET uptake measures and the HGG molecular features.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-four patients with a suspected diagnosis of HGG were prospectively included.

Mechanistic studies of a lipase unveil effect of pH on hydrolysis products of small PET modules.

Biocatalysis is a key technology enabling plastic recycling. However, despite advances done in the development of plastic-degrading enzymes, the molecular mechanisms that govern their catalytic performance are poorly understood, hampering the engineering of more efficient enzyme-based technologies. In this work, we study the hydrolysis of PET-derived diesters and PET trimers catalyzed by the highly promiscuous lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB) through QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations supported by experimental Michaelis-Menten kinetics.

Combined Theoretical and Experimental Study to Unravel the Differences in Promiscuous Amidase Activity of Two Nonhomologous Enzymes.

Convergent evolution has resulted in nonhomologous enzymes that contain similar active sites that catalyze the same primary and secondary reactions. Comparing how these enzymes achieve their reaction promiscuity can yield valuable insights to develop functions from the optimization of latent activities. In this work, we have focused on the promiscuous amidase activity in the esterase from (Bs2) and compared with the same activity in the promiscuous lipase B from (CALB).

Computational design of an amidase by combining the best electrostatic features of two promiscuous hydrolases.

While there has been emerging interest in designing new enzymes to solve practical challenges, computer-based options to redesign catalytically active proteins are rather limited. Here, a rational QM/MM molecular dynamics strategy based on combining the best electrostatic properties of enzymes with activity in a common reaction is presented. The computational protocol has been applied to the re-design of the protein scaffold of an existing promiscuous esterase from Bs2 to enhance its secondary amidase activity.

Computational Studies Suggest Promiscuous Lipase B as an Environmentally Friendly Alternative for the Production of Epoxides.

Environmentally friendly processes are nowadays a trending topic to get highly desired chemical compounds and, in this sense, the use of enzyme-catalyzed routes is becoming a promising alternative to traditional synthetic methods. In the present paper, a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) computational study on the epoxidation of alkenes catalyzed by the Ser105Ala variant of the promiscuous lipase B (CALB) is presented in an attempt to search for alternative paths to get useful intermediates in industries. The catalyzed reaction, described at the atomistic level with a model of the full solvated in a box of water molecules, is compared with the alternative epoxidation of alkenes by peroxy acids in chloroform.

Slow Motion Analysis of Repetitive Tapping (SMART) Test: Measuring Bradykinesia in Recently Diagnosed Parkinson's Disease and Idiopathic Anosmia.

Background: Bradykinesia is the defining motor feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). There are limitations to its assessment using standard clinical rating scales, especially in the early stages of PD when a floor effect may be observed.

Objective: To develop a quantitative method to track repetitive tapping movements and to compare people in the early stages of PD, healthy controls, and individuals with idiopathic anosmia.

Development of a thin layer chromatography method for plasma correction of [F]fluorocholine metabolites in positron emission tomography quantification studies in humans.

Introduction: After its intravenous injection, [F]fluorocholine is oxidized by choline-oxidase into its main plasma metabolite, [F]fluorobetaine. If PET kinetic modeling quantification of [F]fluorocholine uptake is intended, the plasma input time-activity-curve of the parent tracer must be obtained, i.e.

[Pulmonary tumorlet associated with second neoplasia].

Tumorlets are pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors smaller than 0.5 cm. They are benign and usually asymptomatic.

2'-Deoxyribosyltransferase from Leishmania mexicana, an efficient biocatalyst for one-pot, one-step synthesis of nucleosides from poorly soluble purine bases.

Processes catalyzed by enzymes offer numerous advantages over chemical methods although in many occasions the stability of the biocatalysts becomes a serious concern. Traditionally, synthesis of nucleosides using poorly water-soluble purine bases, such as guanine, xanthine, or hypoxanthine, requires alkaline pH and/or high temperatures in order to solubilize the substrate. In this work, we demonstrate that the 2'-deoxyribosyltransferase from Leishmania mexicana (LmPDT) exhibits an unusually high activity and stability under alkaline conditions (pH 8-10) across a broad range of temperatures (30-70 °C) and ionic strengths (0-500 mM NaCl).

New hosts for the mite Ornithonyssus bursa in Argentina.

The mite Ornithonyssus bursa (Berlese) (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae) is considered a poultry pest causing important infestations in chickens and it is considered a potential vector of arbovirus. Despite being considered a common parasite in wild birds, there is scarce published information about its potential hosts and effects on them. Here we present new bird hosts for O.

Automatic and simple method for ⁹⁹Tc determination using a selective resin and liquid scintillation detection applied to urine samples.

(99m)Tc (6.0067 h half-life) is an artificial radionuclide largely used in diagnostic medicine. Its daughter (99)Tc is a beta emitter of great concern because of its long half-life (2.

Permanent genetic resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 February 2012 - 31 March 2012.

This article documents the addition of 171 microsatellite marker loci and 27 pairs of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Bombus pauloensis, Cephalorhynchus heavisidii, Cercospora sojina, Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, Hordeum vulgare, Lachnolaimus maximus, Oceanodroma monteiroi, Puccinia striiformis f. sp.

[Mediastinal sarcoidal reaction in follow up for seminoma].

Mediastinal sarcoidal reaction in follow up for seminoma. Testicular germ cell tumors constitute a model for curable neoplasia. Long-term complications are well-known and follow-up includes not only awareness of relapse, but also of the development of secondary tumors and treatment sequelae.

[Consolidation of a Staphylococcus aureus multiresistant clone not related to the Iberian in a hospital from Mallorca].

Introduction: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was seldom isolated in our hospital until the first outbreak in 1999. A recently documented increase in antibiotic multiresistance in MRSA strains in our setting prompted the design of this molecular epidemiology study to investigate the basis for this tendency.

Methods: All MRSA isolates from clinical samples of patients admitted from July 2002 to June 2003 were studied.

[Bronchiolitis caused by influenza type A virus. An emerging infectious disease].

Objectives: To prospectively study the emergence and diagnostic problems of bronchiolitis caused by influenza A virus among children durign the 1999-2000 influenza epidemic.

Materials And Methods: Negative respiratory syncitial virus (RSV) specimens (ELISA dot-blot) were seeded in the MDCK cell line for the isolation of influenza A virus, by the shell-vial technique. Vials were revealed by indirect immunofluorescence with antibodies directed against the influenza A virus nucleoprotein (Monofluookit IA, Pasteur Diagnostics).

[Invassive infections caused by Group A streptococci: clinical characteristics and microbiological analyses in 31 cases].

Background: In the last two decades an increase in the incidence of invassive Streptococcus pyogenes infections has been reported in several countries. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical features of these infections in our hospital.

Methods: Retrospective study (1995-1998) of patients admitted at Son Dureta Hospital, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, who had S.

[Efficiency of the extraction method with saline dextran in the pp65 antigenemia assay against human cytomegalovirus].

Background: To prospectively evaluate the efficacy of the saline dextran extraction method in the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) pp65 antigenemia assay (Ag-pp65).

Material And Methods: In a 2 months period we studied all the blood samples from immunodepressed patients. The extraction of leukocytes polymorphonuclear (LPMN) was obtained with a 6% dextran solution in 0.

Immunocytochemical and immunoelectron microscopy study of dendritic cells in the caecal tonsils of chickens infected with Eimeria tenella.

In the present study S-100 protein containing cells in the caecal tonsil were investigated, both at light microscopic and at electron microscopic levels, after oral coccidia inoculation (Eimeria tenella). The birds were infected with a single (Day 0) or two (Days 0 and 21) infective doses of 500 oocysts. Immunoelectron reactivity for S-100 protein was demonstrated in infected chickens, but not in controls.

Comparison of resistance level and circulating IgG response in chickens experimentally inoculated with a multiple or single immunizing doses of Eimeria acervulina.

Two immunizing methods (Trickle or single immunizing doses) against E. acervulina were tested in chickens. The effects of immunization and challenge upon growth, oocyst output and circulating antibodies response (IgG) were compared.