Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus colonization and caries experience in 3- and 5-year-old Thai children.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the colonization of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus in supra-gingival plaque samples and to determine their correlation with the prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) in Thai children.

Materials And Methods: A total of 344 Thai children, ages 3 and 5 years, were invited to participate in this study. Caries status of the children was examined.

Structural insights into RNA recognition by the alternate-splicing regulator CUG-binding protein 1.

CUG-binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) regulates multiple aspects of nuclear and cytoplasmic mRNA processing, with implications for onset of myotonic dystrophy. CUGBP1 harbors three RRM domains and preferentially targets UGU-rich mRNA elements. We describe crystal structures of CUGBP1 RRM1 and tandem RRM1/2 domains bound to RNAs containing tandem UGU(U/G) elements.

Small-molecule interaction with a five-guanine-tract G-quadruplex structure from the human MYC promoter.

It has been widely accepted that DNA can adopt other biologically relevant structures beside the Watson-Crick double helix. One recent important example is the guanine-quadruplex (G-quadruplex) structure formed by guanine tracts found in the MYC (or c-myc) promoter region, which regulates the transcription of the MYC oncogene. Stabilization of this G-quadruplex by ligands, such as the cationic porphyrin TMPyP4, decreases the transcriptional level of MYC.

The clinical characteristics of possession disorder among 20 Chinese patients in the Hebei province of China.

Objective: This paper describes the clinical characteristics of 20 hospitalized psychiatric patients in the Hebei province of China who believed they were possessed.

Methods: A structured interview focused on clinical characteristics associated with possession phenomena was developed and administered to 20 patients at eight hospitals in the province. All patients had been given the Chinese diagnosis of yi-ping (hysteria) by Chinese physicians before being recruited for the study.

Demonstration of a cellular immune response in halothane-exposed guinea pigs.

Halothane hepatitis is considered to be a result of an idiosyncratic autoimmune reaction brought about by the formation of neoantigens that have been generated by covalent binding of halothane biotransformation intermediates. The guinea pig is being examined as an animal model to investigate an immune-mediated mechanism for halothane hepatotoxicity. Male Hartley guinea pigs were exposed to 1% halothane/40% oxygen for 4 hr, three times with 40-day intervals.