Response of heterogeneous ribonuclear proteins (hnRNP) to ionising radiation and their involvement in DNA damage repair.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNP) and DNA repair, particularly in response to ionising radiation (IR).

Materials And Methods: The literature was examined for papers related to the topics of hnRNP, IR and DNA repair.

Results: HnRNP orchestrate the processing of mRNA to which they are bound in response to IR.

Comparing bacterial DNA microarray fingerprints.

Epidemiologic and forensic investigations often require assays to detect subtle genetic differences between closely related microorganisms. Typically, gel electrophoresis is used to compare randomly amplified DNA fragments between microbial samples, where the patterns of DNA fragment sizes are viewed as genotype 'fingerprints'. The limited genomic sample captured on a gel, however, is not always sufficient to discriminate closely related strains.

Diagnostic oligonucleotide microarray fingerprinting of Bacillus isolates.

A genome-independent microarray and new statistical techniques were used to genotype Bacillus strains and quantitatively compare DNA fingerprints with the known taxonomy of the genus. A synthetic DNA standard was used to understand process level variability and lead to recommended standard operating procedures for microbial forensics and clinical diagnostics.

Automated Microarray Image Analysis Toolbox for MATLAB.

Unlabelled: The Automated Microarray Image Analysis (AMIA) Toolbox for MATLAB is a flexible, open-source, microarray image analysis tool that allows the user to customize analyses of microarray image sets. This tool provides several methods to identify and quantify spot statistics, as well as extensive diagnostic statistics and images to evaluate data quality and array processing. The open, modular nature of AMIA provides access to implementation details and encourages modification and extension of AMIA's capabilities.

Biology of TiO2-oligonucleotide nanocomposites.

Emerging areas of nanotechnology hold the promise of overcoming the limitations of existing technologies for intracellular manipulation. These new developments provide approaches for the creation of chemical-biological hybrid nanocomposites that can be introduced into cells and subsequently used to initiate intracellular processes or biochemical reactions. Such nanocomposites would advance medical biotechnology, just as they are improving microarray technology and imaging in biology and medicine, and introducing new possibilities in chemistry and material sciences.

Sensitivity to low-level radiation in radiosensitive "wasted" mice.

Mice homozygous for the autosomal recessive "wasted" mutation (wst/wst) have abnormalities in T lymphocytes and in the anterior motor neuron cells of the spinal cord, leading to sensitivity to low doses of ionizing radiation, hind limb paralysis, and immunodeficiency. This defect results in a failure to gain weight by 20 days of age and death by 28 days. The wasted mutation (previously mapped to mouse chromosome 2) is shown to be a 3-bp deletion in a T cell-specific (and perhaps motor-neuron-specific) regulatory region (promoter) of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) gene on mouse chromosome 2.