Publications by authors named "Melody K Harrison"

Background: Flow cytometric data is often analyzed in isolation, without the benefit of clinical and morphologic context, and the findings must be interpreted with caution when unexpected results are obtained.

Methods: A bone marrow aspirate from a 69-year-old female with incidentally discovered pancytopenia was initially analyzed by flow cytometry alone. The results were subsequently correlated with clinical, morphologic, immunohistochemical, and cytogenetic findings.

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Binding of NS3 helicase to DNA was investigated by footprinting with KMnO(4), which reacts preferentially with thymidine residues in single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) compared to those in double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). A distinct pattern of reactivity was observed on ssDNA, which repeated every 8 nucleotides (nt) and is consistent with the known binding site size of NS3. Binding to a DNA substrate containing a partial duplex was also investigated.

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Scedosporium apiospermum, the asexual stage of Pseudoallescheria boydii, is a fungus ubiquitous in soil as well as organically polluted areas, where nitrogen-containing compounds are abundant. It is an emerging opportunistic pathogen that can range from cutaneous to disseminated infection and can be fatal within months of diagnosis. Here we present a case of disseminated S.

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Hepatitis C virus NS3 helicase can unwind double-stranded DNA and RNA and has been proposed to form oligomeric structures. Here we examine the DNA unwinding activity of monomeric NS3. Oligomerization was measured by preparing a fluorescently labeled form of NS3, which was titrated with unlabeled NS3, resulting in a hyperbolic increase in fluorescence anisotropy and providing an apparent equilibrium dissociation constant of 236 nm.

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HCV NS3 helicase exhibits activity toward DNA and RNA substrates. The DNA helicase activity of NS3 has been proposed to be optimal when multiple NS3 molecules are bound to the same substrate molecule. NS3 catalyzes little or no measurable DNA unwinding under single cycle conditions in which the concentration of substrate exceeds the concentration of enzyme by 5-fold.

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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects over 170 million persons worldwide. It is the leading cause of liver disease in the U.S.

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The hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) is a multifunctional enzyme with serine protease and DEXH/D-box helicase domains. A crystal structure of the NS3 helicase domain (NS3h) was generated in the presence of a single-stranded oligonucleotide long enough to accommodate binding of two molecules of enzyme. Several amino acid residues at the interface of the two NS3h molecules were identified that appear to mediate a protein-protein interaction between domains 2 and 3 of adjacent molecules.

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