Peritoneal dialysis in critically ill children in resource-limited setting: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is easily available and simple lifesaving procedure in children with renal impairment. There is paucity of reports on efficacy of PD in critically ill children in presence of shock and those requiring mechanical ventilation.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, efficacy and outcome of PD were evaluated in 50 critically ill children aged 1 month to 14 years admitted in pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital in India.

Tb-Cleavage Assays Reveal Specific Mg Binding Sites Necessary to Pre-fold the Riboswitch for AdoCbl Binding.

Riboswitches are RNA elements that bind specific metabolites in order to regulate the gene expression involved in controlling the cellular concentration of the respective molecule or ion. Ligand recognition is mostly facilitated by Mg mediated pre-organization of the riboswitch to an active tertiary fold. To predict these specific Mg induced tertiary interactions of the riboswitch from , we here report Mg binding pockets in its aptameric part in both, the ligand-free and the ligand-bound form.

The AdoCbl-riboswitch interaction investigated by in-line probing and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR).

The unique feature of riboswitches is to control selected gene expression by specific recognition of a cognate ligand. AdoCbl (adenosyl cobalamin, coenzyme B12) riboswitches regulate the expression of enzymes and transporters involved in bacterial AdoCbl biosynthesis or uptake on a transcriptional and/or translational level. The analysis of ligand recognition and the induced conformational changes requires a detailed knowledge of the kinetics and thermodynamics of ligand binding and of the secondary structure rearrangements.

Mg(2+)-induced conformational changes in the btuB riboswitch from E. coli.

Mg(2+) has been shown to modulate the function of riboswitches by facilitating the ligand-riboswitch interactions. The btuB riboswitch from Escherichia coli undergoes a conformational change upon binding to its ligand, coenzyme B12 (adenosyl-cobalamine, AdoCbl), and down-regulates the expression of the B12 transporter protein BtuB in order to control the cellular levels of AdoCbl. Here, we discuss the structural folding attained by the btuB riboswitch from E.

Monitoring global structural changes and specific metal-ion-binding sites in RNA by in-line probing and Tb(III) cleavage.

In this chapter we describe the use of two methods, in-line probing as well as terbium(III) cleavage. Both methods can be applied to RNAs of any size, structure, and function. Aside from revealing directly metal ion-binding sites these techniques also provide structural information for longer RNA sequences that are out of range to be analyzed with other techniques such as NMR.

Diversity of cobalamin riboswitches in the corrinoid-producing organohalide respirer Desulfitobacterium hafniense.

The strategic adaptation of prokaryotes in polluted niches involves the efficient regulation of their metabolism. The obligate anaerobe and metabolically versatile Desulfitobacterium hafniense reductively dechlorinates halogenated organic compounds (so-called organohalides). Some D.