Functional genomic approaches have been effective at uncovering the function of uncharacterized genes and identifying new functions for known genes. Often these approaches rely on an in vivo screen or selection to associate genes with a phenotype of interest. These selections and screens are dependent upon the expression of proteins encoded in genomic DNA from an expression vector, such as a plasmid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Heterologous expression of active, native-folded protein in is critical in both academic research and biotechnology settings. When expressing non-native recombinant proteins in , obtaining soluble and active protein can be challenging. Numerous techniques can be used to enhance a proteins solubility, and largely focus on either altering the expression strain, plasmid vector features, growth conditions, or the protein coding sequence itself.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Kromdraai site in South Africa has yielded numerous early hominin fossils since 1938. As a part of recent excavations within Unit P, a largely complete early hominin calcaneus (KW 6302) was discovered. Due to its role in locomotion, the calcaneus has the potential to reveal important form/function relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBipedal trackways discovered in 1978 at Laetoli site G, Tanzania and dated to 3.66 million years ago are widely accepted as the oldest unequivocal evidence of obligate bipedalism in the human lineage. Another trackway discovered two years earlier at nearby site A was partially excavated and attributed to a hominin, but curious affinities with bears (ursids) marginalized its importance to the paleoanthropological community, and the location of these footprints fell into obscurity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFModern humans have the longest Achilles tendon (AT) of all the living primates. It has been proposed that this anatomy increases locomotor efficiency and that its elongation may have played a crucial role in the origin and early evolution of the genus Homo. Unfortunately, determining the length of the AT in extinct hominins has been difficult as tendons do not fossilize.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFα-Dystroglycan (α-DG) is a highly glycosylated basement membrane receptor that is cleaved by the proprotein convertase furin, which releases its N-terminal domain (α-DGN). Before cleavage, α-DGN interacts with the glycosyltransferase LARGE1 and initiates functional O-glycosylation of the mucin-like domain of α-DG. Notably, α-DGN has been detected in a wide variety of human bodily fluids, but the physiological significance of secreted α-DGN remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Phys Anthropol
January 2019
Bipedalism is a hallmark of being human and the human foot is modified to reflect this unique form of locomotion. Leonardo da Vinci is credited with calling the human foot "a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art." However, a scientific approach to human origins has revealed that our feet are products of a long, evolutionary history in which a mobile, grasping organ has been converted into a propulsive structure adapted for the rigors of bipedal locomotion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are 26 bones in each foot (52 in total), meaning that roughly a quarter of the human skeleton consists of foot bones. Yet, early hominin foot fossils are frustratingly rare, making it quite difficult to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the human foot. Despite the continued paucity of hominid or hominin foot fossils from the late Miocene and early Pliocene, the last decade has witnessed the discovery of an extraordinary number of early hominin foot bones, inviting a reassessment of how the human foot evolved, and providing fresh new evidence for locomotor diversity throughout hominin evolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolution of bipedalism in the hominin lineage has shaped the posterior human calcaneus into a large, robust structure considered to be adaptive for dissipating peak compressive forces and energy during heel-strike. A unique anatomy thought to contribute to the human calcaneus and its function is the lateral plantar process (LPP). While it has long been known that humans possess a plantarly positioned LPP and apes possess a more dorsally positioned homologous structure, the relative position of the LPP and intraspecific variation of this structure have never been quantified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPremise Of The Study: Lonicera maackii (Caprifoliaceae) is one of the most problematic invasive shrubs in forests of the eastern United States. Microsatellite markers could serve to test putative source-sink relationships among populations to determine whether invasions progress along expanding fronts or through long-distance dispersal events followed by local expansion. •
Methods And Results: Eleven microsatellite loci were developed for Amur honeysuckle using a modified magnetic bead protocol.
Emerg Med Clin North Am
November 2005
Emergency department (ED) management of patients who present with suspected unstable angina (UA) and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is especially challenging. Therapies that demonstrate benefit in patients who experience proven disease may not be indicated in patients who present with suspected disease. The emergency practitioner must have a clear understanding of the benefit and harm of each therapy, allowing formulation of a simple approach to treatment selection based on disease presentation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Biomed Eng
July 1994
The study of thermal transduction in neural tissues has been impeded by the lack of instrumentation able to generate complex, focal temperature variations. Specifically, we are interested in the study of neural thermal transduction within the cornea, with its homogeneous thermal conductivity and avascularity. We present a thermal signal generator probe that is capable of producing arbitrarily shaped bipolar (heating or cooling) thermal swings in a small volume of corneal tissue with which it is in contact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis report describes three cases of massive mobile right heart thrombus and reviews the available literature to better define the pathophysiology, natural history and most appropriate therapy of the syndrome. The clinical presentation of most patients has been severe cardiopulmonary dysfunction and the diagnosis has been made by echocardiographic study. The most likely source of these cardiac thrombi is the large systemic veins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors hypothesize that the development of a capacity to experience the affect of shame, like the development of a capacity for anxiety and depression, is crucial for growth towards autonomy. They delineate the sources of shame, discuss gender-related differences in the experience of and management of shame, and describe the impact of a capacity, or lack of capacity, for shame on the development of autonomy in both men and women. They illustrate their discussions with case examples and describe some therapeutic implications of their observations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Med Libr Assoc
October 1974
Conversion to MeSH and other reasons are enumerated for the division of an undivided dictionary card catalog into a three-way divided catalog, consisting of Proper Names, Titles, and Topical Subjects sections. Methodology of division is described. Conversion from Library of Congress Subject Headings to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) as an authority list stimulated such concurrent changes as (1) the introduction of a guide card system that eliminates typing of subject headings on catalog cards and (2) the adoption of a filing system that employs reverse chronological order for all types of sequential material in the Proper Names and Titles sections and for all material in the Topical Subjects section.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF