Use of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe PKA-repressible reporter to study cGMP metabolising phosphodiesterases.

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe fbp1 gene is transcriptionally repressed by protein kinase A (PKA) that is activated by extracellular glucose via a cAMP-signaling pathway. We previously used an fbp1-ura4 reporter that places uracil biosynthesis under the control of the glucose-sensing pathway to identify mutations in genes of the cAMP pathway. More recently, this reporter has been used in high throughput screens for small molecule inhibitors of heterologously-expressed cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that hydrolyse cAMP to 5' AMP.

Surgical management of acute cholecystitis at a tertiary care center in the modern era.

Hypothesis: The advent of laparoscopy has changed the paradigm of surgical training and care delivery for the treatment of patients with acute cholecystitis (AC).

Design: Retrospective data collection and analysis.

Setting: Hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of AC at a tertiary care center from January 1, 2002, to January 1, 2007.