A no-stop mutation in MAGEB4 is a possible cause of rare X-linked azoospermia and oligozoospermia in a consanguineous Turkish family.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify mutations that cause non-syndromic male infertility using whole exome sequencing of family cases.

Methods: We recruited a consanguineous Turkish family comprising nine siblings with male triplets; two of the triplets were infertile as well as one younger infertile brother. Whole exome sequencing (WES) performed on two azoospermic brothers identified a mutation in the melanoma antigen family B4 (MAGEB4) gene which was confirmed via Sanger sequencing and then screened for on control groups and unrelated infertile subjects.

Where the Name "GOR" Originates: A Story.

The GOR is a computer program to predict secondary structures in proteins when the amino acid sequence is known using the theory of information. The program GOR was named much later after publication in 1978 at the dawn of bioinformatics. The program is still distributed.

Hybrid super electron donors - preparation and reactivity.

Neutral organic electron donors, featuring pyridinylidene-imidazolylidene, pyridinylidene-benzimidazolylidene and imidazolylidene-benzimidazolylidene linkages are reported. The pyridinylidene-benzimidazolylidene and imidazolylidene-benzimidazolylidene hybrid systems were designed to be the first super electron donors to convert iodoarenes to aryl radicals at room temperature, and indeed both show evidence for significant aryl radical formation at room temperature. The stronger pyridinylidene-imidazolylidene donor converts iodoarenes to aryl anions efficiently under appropriate conditions (3 equiv of donor).

DOMIRE: a web server for identifying structural domains and their neighbors in proteins.

Summary: The DOMIRE web server implements a novel, automatic, protein structural domain assignment procedure based on 3D substructures of the query protein which are also found within structures of a non-redundant protein database. These common 3D substructures are transformed into a co-occurrence matrix that offers a global view of the protein domain organization. Three different algorithms are employed to define structural domain boundaries from this co-occurrence matrix.

Protein domain assignment from the recurrence of locally similar structures.

Domains are basic units of protein structure and essential for exploring protein fold space and structure evolution. With the structural genomics initiative, the number of protein structures in the Protein Databank (PDB) is increasing dramatically and domain assignments need to be done automatically. Most existing structural domain assignment programs define domains using the compactness of the domains and/or the number and strength of intra-domain versus inter-domain contacts.

Structure and reactivity in neutral organic electron donors derived from 4-dimethylaminopyridine.

The effects on the redox properties of modifying the molecular skeleton of neutral bis-2-(4-dimethylamino)pyridinylidene electron donors, derived from 4-dimethylaminopyridine (4-DMAP), have been explored, by varying two parameters: (i) the length of a polymethylene chain linking the two pyridine-derived rings and (ii) the nature of the nitrogen substituents on the 4 and 4' positions of the precursor pyridines. Restricting the bridge length to two methylene units significantly altered the redox profile, while changes in the nitrogen-substituents at the 4 and 4' positions led to only slight changes in the redox potentials.

Tropheryma whipplei in children with gastroenteritis.

Tropheryma whipplei, which causes Whipple disease, is found in human feces and may cause gastroenteritis. To show that T. whipplei causes gastroenteritis, PCRs for T.

One-carbon extrusion from a tetraazafulvalene. Isolation of aldehydes and a study of their origin.

Reaction of imidazolylidene-derived enetetramine 2 with aliphatic iodides and bromides (and with aryl iodides bearing alkene-containing side-chains in the ortho-position) leads to formation of aliphatic aldehydes through an unprecedented extrusion of a one-carbon unit from the enetetramine. An intermediate 2-alkylimidazoline 24 is proposed, where the alkyl group derives from the substrate; this imidazoline undergoes further reaction in situ to afford the observed aldehydes on acidic workup. Modified substrates were designed and prepared to probe the chemistry of the alkylimidazoline adducts and provided extensive information on the chemistry of the adducts.

Super-electron donors: bis-pyridinylidene formation by base treatment of pyridinium salts.

Deprotonation of bispyridinium salt 7b affords bispyridinylidene 10, a very powerful neutral organic two-electron donor [E1/2 (DMF)=-1.13 V vs Ag/AgCl/KCl (sat)], presumably via the pyridinylidene 8. Donor 10 reduces aryl iodides and bromides to aryl anions in excellent yield and also reductively cleaves selected phenylalkylsulfones very efficiently.

Towards an automatic classification of protein structural domains based on structural similarity.

Background: Formal classification of a large collection of protein structures aids the understanding of evolutionary relationships among them. Classifications involving manual steps, such as SCOP and CATH, face the challenge of increasing volume of available structures. Automatic methods such as FSSP or Dali Domain Dictionary, yield divergent classifications, for reasons not yet fully investigated.

ROC and confusion analysis of structure comparison methods identify the main causes of divergence from manual protein classification.

Background: Current classification of protein folds are based, ultimately, on visual inspection of similarities. Previous attempts to use computerized structure comparison methods show only partial agreement with curated databases, but have failed to provide detailed statistical and structural analysis of the causes of these divergences.

Results: We construct a map of similarities/dissimilarities among manually defined protein folds, using a score cutoff value determined by means of the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve.

GOR V server for protein secondary structure prediction.

We have created the GOR V web server for protein secondary structure prediction. The GOR V algorithm combines information theory, Bayesian statistics and evolutionary information. In its fifth version, the GOR method reached (with the full jack-knife procedure) an accuracy of prediction Q3 of 73.

Kinetic partitioning of Co, Mn, Cs, Fe, Ag, Zn and Cd in fresh waters (Loire) mixed with brackish waters (Loire estuary): experimental and modelling approaches.

To simulate the behavior of radionuclides along a salinity gradient, in vitro sorption and desorption kinetics of Co, Mn, Cs, Fe, Ag, Zn and Cd were studied in Loire river water and the macrotidal Loire estuarine water over two different seasons. Partitioning between the dissolved phase and suspended solids were followed up over 100 h after adding radioactive tracers to freshly collected freshwater (sorption stage); this stage was followed by desorption in fresh and estuarine waters. A kinetic model describing the interactions between trace metals and particles under a salinity gradient was developed and calibrated.

The future of highly personalized health care.

We can surely lean well towards the optimistic in envisioning health care. In the world 10-25 years ahead of us. This optimism is based on rapid developments in genomics, the essential basis of molecular medicine, and on advances in computer power.