Future plans and social/recreational activities of youth with special health care needs: the implications of parental help in completing surveys.

Background: A major focus of the literature on youth with special health care needs (YSHCN) is the transition to adult health care. As perceptions of disability are a product of interactions between youth and their environment, it is important to understand youth's needs and experiences beyond health care. Few studies have addressed social/recreational activity participation and future plans and none have included parent/caregiver help in survey completion as a potential factor impacting responses.

Persistence of unselected transgenic DNA during a plastid transformation and segregation approach to herbicide resistance.

The use of a nonlethal selection scheme, most often using the aadA gene that confers resistance to spectinomycin and streptomycin, has been considered critical for recovery of plastid transformation events. In this study, the plastid-lethal markers, glyphosate or phosphinothricin herbicides, were used to develop a selection scheme for plastids that circumvents the need for integration of an antibiotic resistance marker. The effect of selective agents on tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) mesophyll chloroplasts was first examined by transmission electron microscopy.

The Role of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Inflammation.

Prostaglandins (PGs) can be synthetized via two isoforms of cyclooxygenase (COX). COX-1 is constitutively expressed in normal tissues, and its activity represent the normal physiological output of PGs. In inflammatory states, the newly discovered COX-2 is rapidly induced, and its activity accounts for the large amounts of PGs seen in inflammation.