A century of premedical education.

The Flexner Report established guidelines for medical education and made the university the obligate home for medical education. Flexner mandated specific elements necessary for university-based premedical education. With the exception of the MCAT, much less attention has been paid to premedical education and its integration into the scope of medical education than to education within the confines of the medical school.

Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase by norepinephrine in T-lineage cells.

The catecholamine norepinephrine (NE) stimulates T lymphocytes through a beta-adrenergic receptor (βAR)/adenylyl cyclase (AC)/cyclic AMP (cAMP)/protein kinase A (PKA) pathway, leading to altered cell responsiveness and apoptosis. p38 Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), a major intracellular signalling mediator for cellular and environmental stressors, is involved in the production of immune modulators and in the regulation of T-cell development, survival and death. In these studies we investigated the relationship among NE signalling, p38 MAPK activity and T-cell death.

Thy-1 mRNA destabilization by norepinephrine a 3' UTR cAMP responsive decay element and involves RNA binding proteins.

Thy-1 is a cell surface protein important in immunologic and neurologic processes, including T cell activation and proliferation, and neuronal outgrowth. In murine thymocytes, Thy-1 is downregulated in response to norepinephrine (NE) through posttranscriptional destabilization of its mRNA mediated by βAR/AC/cAMP/PKA signaling. In this study we investigated factors involved in NE/cAMP-mediated Thy-1 mRNA destabilization in S49 thymoma cells, and identified a region containing two copies of the AUUUA regulatory element (ARE), a motif commonly associated with mRNA decay, in the Thy-1 mRNA 3' UTR.

Collagen modulates gene activation of plasminogen activator system molecules.

Skin extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules regulate a variety of cellular activities, including cell movement, which are central to wound healing and metastasis. Regulated cell movement is modulated by proteases and their associated molecules, including the serine proteases urinary-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and their inhibitors (PAIs). As a result of wounding and loss of basement membrane structure, epidermal keratinocytes can become exposed to collagen.