Treatment of Desire Discrepancy: One Clinician's Approach.

For couples, the most common sexual problems that arise in therapy are low desire and desire discrepancy. The complex and challenging nature of desire discrepancy is addressed, along with core therapeutic interventions to confront the traditional power struggle over defining sex as intercourse only. The importance of desire is recognized in understanding that sexual satisfaction means feeling good about oneself as a sexual person and energized as a sexual couple.

Identification of mutations causing 6-pyruvoyl-tetrahydropterin synthase deficiency in four Italian families.

6-Pyruvoyl-tetrahydrobiopterin synthase (PTPS) is involved in tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) biosynthesis, the cofactor for various enzymes including the hepatic phenylalanine hydroxylase. Inherited PTPS deficiency leads to BH4 depletion, causes hyperphenylalaninemia, and requires cofactor replacement therapy for treatment. We previously isolated the human PTPS cDNA and recently characterized its corresponding gene, PTS.

Structural and functional consequences of mutations in 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin synthase causing hyperphenylalaninemia in humans. Phosphorylation is a requirement for in vivo activity.

Four naturally occurring mutants with single amino acid alterations in human 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin synthase (PTPS) were overexpressed and characterized in vitro. The corresponding DNA mutations were found in patients with hyperphenylalaninemia and monoamine neurotransmitter insufficiency due to lack of the tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthetic enzyme PTPS. To predict the structure of the mutant enzymes, computer modeling was performed based on the solved three-dimensional structure of the homohexameric rat enzyme.

A plasmid system to monitor gene conversion and reciprocal recombination in vitro.

A plasmid system allowing for the detection of recombinagenic activities in cell-free extracts is described. Two truncated alleles of the bacterial neomycin resistance gene (neo), differing from each other at a polymorphic restriction site, were constructed. Recombinations involving both alleles mediated by Drosophila embryo nuclear protein extracts or Drosophila larva whole cell protein extracts were selected by their ability to confer kanamycin resistance to E.