A comparison between two physical therapy treatment programs for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: a randomized clinical trial.

Study Design: Multicenter randomized, controlled trial.

Objective: To compare two physical therapy programs for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.

Summary Of Background Data: Scant evidence exists regarding effectiveness of nonsurgical management programs for lumbar spinal stenosis.

[Interactions of ribosomal protein L1 with ribosomal and messenger RNAs].

Crystal structures of unbound protein L1 and of its complexes with ribosomal an messenger RNAs are analyzed. It is shown that the values of the apparent association rate constant for L1-RNA depend on conformation of unbound protein L1. It is suggested that L1 binds to rRNA with higher affinity than to mRNA because of additional interactions between domain II of L1 and the loop rRNA region, which is absent in mRNA.

Promoting the participation of minorities in research.

The current policy of the National Institute of Health designed to increase the participation of women and minorities is radically different from previous policies designed to protect minorities from abuses in research studies. The principal arguments to support this policy are twofold: 1) Increased representation of minorities and women in research would increase the generalizability of research data and allow for valid analyses of differences in subpopulations; and 2) being in a clinical research study is advantageous to participants regardless of the final research study results. It remains unclear whether minorities find these arguments compelling.

30S ribosomal subunits can be assembled in vivo without primary binding ribosomal protein S15.

Assembly of 30S ribosomal subunits from Escherichia coli has been dissected in detail using an in vitro system. Such studies have allowed characterization of the role for ribosomal protein S15 in the hierarchical assembly of 30S subunits; S15 is a primary binding protein that orchestrates the assembly of ribosomal proteins S6, S11, S18, and S21 with the central domain of 16S ribosomal RNA to form the platform of the 30S subunit. In vitro S15 is the sole primary binding protein in this cascade, performing a critical role during assembly of these four proteins.

DNA sequence of human chromosome 17 and analysis of rearrangement in the human lineage.

Chromosome 17 is unusual among the human chromosomes in many respects. It is the largest human autosome with orthology to only a single mouse chromosome, mapping entirely to the distal half of mouse chromosome 11. Chromosome 17 is rich in protein-coding genes, having the second highest gene density in the genome.

Structure of Citrobacter freundii L-methionine gamma-lyase.

L-Methionine gamma-lyase (MGL) is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzyme that catalyzes gamma-elimination of L-methionine. The crystal structure of MGL from Citrobacter freundii has been determined at 1.9 A resolution.

Preliminary investigation of the three-dimensional structure of Salmonella typhimurium uridine phosphorylase in the crystalline state.

Uridine phosphorylase (UPh) catalyzes the phosphorolytic cleavage of the C-N glycosidic bond of uridine to ribose 1-phosphate and uracil in the pyrimidine-salvage pathway. The crystal structure of the Salmonella typhimurium uridine phosphorylase (StUPh) has been determined at 2.5 A resolution and refined to an R factor of 22.

Strategy for assessing the leachables impact of a material change made in a container/closure system.

Container/closure systems are extensively characterized in terms of their propensity to contribute leachable substances to the drug products they contain. Such a characterization is relevant until a change occurs in the composition or production of the container/closure system itself or the raw materials it is comprised of. When such a change occurs, it is necessary to ascertain the impact that the change would have on the validity and applicability of the previously performed leachables assessment.

DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 8.

The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (IHGSC) recently completed a sequence of the human genome. As part of this project, we have focused on chromosome 8. Although some chromosomes exhibit extreme characteristics in terms of length, gene content, repeat content and fraction segmentally duplicated, chromosome 8 is distinctly typical in character, being very close to the genome median in each of these aspects.

Diagnostic imaging and differential diagnosis in 2 case reports.

Study Design: Retrospective resident's case reports.

Background: In today's healthcare setting, it is important for physical therapists to recognize when diagnostic imaging is necessary--as well as know how to interpret the results of these tests--to assist in the clinical decision-making process. Two cases are presented that illustrate how a physical therapist, credentialed to request and review diagnostic imaging, effectively and efficiently utilized multiple forms of diagnostic imaging to assist in his differential diagnosis and clinical decision making.

New insights into the interaction of ribosomal protein L1 with RNA.

The RNA-binding ability of ribosomal protein L1 is of profound interest, since L1 has a dual function as a ribosomal structural protein that binds rRNA and as a translational repressor that binds its own mRNA. Here, we report the crystal structure at 2.6 A resolution of ribosomal protein L1 from the bacterium Thermus thermophilus in complex with a 38 nt fragment of L1 mRNA from Methanoccocus vannielii.

Physical therapy treatment effectiveness for osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized comparison of supervised clinical exercise and manual therapy procedures versus a home exercise program.

Background And Purpose: Manual therapy and exercise have not previously been compared with a home exercise program for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes between a home-based physical therapy program and a clinically based physical therapy program.

Subjects: One hundred thirty-four subjects with OA of the knee were randomly assigned to a clinic treatment group (n=66; 61% female, 39% male; mean age [+/-SD]=64+/-10 years) or a home exercise group (n=68, 71% female, 29% male; mean age [+/-SD]=62+/-9 years).

DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 18.

Chromosome 18 appears to have the lowest gene density of any human chromosome and is one of only three chromosomes for which trisomic individuals survive to term. There are also a number of genetic disorders stemming from chromosome 18 trisomy and aneuploidy. Here we report the finished sequence and gene annotation of human chromosome 18, which will allow a better understanding of the normal and disease biology of this chromosome.

Contribution of anti-inflammatory/immune suppressive processes to the pathology of sepsis.

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients in the United States. It is associated with enormous expenditures within the health care system and despite substantial human, medical and fiscal resources directed at this clinical entity we have only had a modest effect on the septic patient's long-term survival. However, extensive studies over the last few decades have begun to reveal important pathophysiological processes around which a few promising therapeutic strategies with potential benefits may be derived.

Prediction of doxorubicin sensitivity in breast tumors based on gene expression profiles of drug-resistant cell lines correlates with patient survival.

Up to date clinical tests for predicting cancer chemotherapy response are not available and individual markers have shown little predictive value. We hypothesized that gene expression patterns attributable to chemotherapy-resistant cells can predict response and cancer prognosis. We contrasted the expression profiles of 13 different human tumor cell lines of gastric (EPG85-257), pancreatic (EPP85-181), colon (HT29) and breast (MCF7 and MDA-MB-231) origin and their counterparts resistant to the topoisomerase inhibitors daunorubicin, doxorubicin or mitoxantrone.

Ribosomal elongation cycle: energetic, kinetic and stereochemical aspects.

As a preface to an analysis of the ribosomal elongation cycle, we examine the energetics of macromolecular structural transformations. We show that the kinetic barriers and changes of the energetic levels during these transformations are essentially determined by disruption of hydrogen and cation-ligand bonds, and by uncompensated losses of these bonds (ULBs). The disruption of a hydrogen or cation-ligand bond increases the heights of kinetic barriers by the energy of these bonds.

The crucial role of conserved intermolecular H-bonds inaccessible to the solvent in formation and stabilization of the TL5.5 SrRNA complex.

Analysis of the structures of two complexes of 5 S rRNA with homologous ribosomal proteins, Escherichia coli L25 and Thermus thermophilus TL5, revealed that amino acid residues interacting with RNA can be divided into two different groups. The first group consists of non-conserved residues, which form intermolecular hydrogen bonds accessible to solvent. The second group, comprised of strongly conserved residues, form intermolecular hydrogen bonds that are shielded from solvent.

Structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Hfq protein.

The structure of the Hfq protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was determined using two different ionic conditions. In both cases the molecules formed identical hexameric rings, but some variations in the crystal packing were revealed. Hfq belongs to the family of Sm/LSm proteins, the members of which can form hexameric as well as heptameric rings.

Analysis of recognition of transfer-messenger RNA by the ribosomal decoding center.

Bacterial ribosomes stalled on defective mRNAs are rescued by tmRNA that functions as both tRNA and mRNA. The first ribosomal elongation cycle on tmRNA where tmRNA functions as tRNA is highly unusual: occupation of the ribosomal A site by tmRNA occurs without codon:anticodon pairing. Our analysis shows that in this case the role of a codon:anticodon duplex should be accomplished by a single unpaired triplet.

Ribosomal protein L1 recognizes the same specific structural motif in its target sites on the autoregulatory mRNA and 23S rRNA.

The RNA-binding ability of ribosomal protein L1 is of profound interest since the protein has a dual function as a ribosomal protein binding rRNA and as a translational repressor binding its mRNA. Here, we report the crystal structure of ribosomal protein L1 in complex with a specific fragment of its mRNA and compare it with the structure of L1 in complex with a specific fragment of 23S rRNA determined earlier. In both complexes, a strongly conserved RNA structural motif is involved in L1 binding through a conserved network of RNA-protein H-bonds inaccessible to the solvent.

[Identification of RNA-recognizing modules on the surface of ribosomal proteins].

Properties of specific interaction between ribosomal proteins and ribosomal RNAs were analyzed and a method for determination of "recognizing modules" on the protein surface was proposed. The method is based on the search of protein atoms making conserved H-bonds with RNA and forming an invariant spatial structure in homologous rRNA-protein complexes and in the isolated protein. A potential of the method is demonstrated on the determination of the recognizing modules on the surfaces of ribosomal proteins S8, S15 and L5.