Implementation of a software for REmote COMparison of PARticlE and photon treatment plans: ReCompare.

Purpose: To guarantee equal access to optimal radiotherapy, a concept of patient assignment to photon or particle radiotherapy using remote treatment plan exchange and comparison - ReCompare - was proposed. We demonstrate the implementation of this concept and present its clinical applicability.

Materials And Methods: The ReCompare concept was implemented using a client-server based software solution.

[The body concept for prostate carcinoma patients. Development and testing of a questionnaire which ascertains uro-oncological patients' attitudes to their own bodies under the influence of surgery-conditioned consequences].

Background: The aim of this study is the construction of a questionnaire which determines uro-oncological patients' attitudes to their own bodies. The questionnaire will be tested by means of psychometric criteria for suitability. In this way, the emotional-affective and perceptual--cognitive characteristics of the body concept will be detected more effectively.

Determinants of enzymatic specificity in the Cys-Met-metabolism PLP-dependent enzymes family: crystal structure of cystathionine gamma-lyase from yeast and intrafamiliar structure comparison.

The crystal structure of cystathionine gamma-lyase (CGL) from yeast has been solved by molecular replacement at a resolution of 2.6 A. The molecule consists of 393 amino acid residues and one PLP moiety and is arranged in the crystal as a tetramer with D2 symmetry as in other related enzymes of the Cys-Met-metabolism PLP-dependent family like cystathionine beta-lyase (CBL).

Comparative anatomy of a regulatory ribosomal protein.

Ribosomal protein L4 is a crucial folding mediator and an important architectural component of the large ribosomal subunit. Furthermore, Escherichia coli L4 produced in excess of its rRNA binding sites downregulates the transcription and translation of its own S10 operon, encoding 11 ribosomal proteins. Genetic experiments and the crystal structure of Thermotoga maritima L4 had implicated separable regions on L4 in ribosome association and expression control while RNA competition experiments and the regulatory capacity of heterologous L4 had suggested an overlap of the protein sequences involved in the two functions.

The polypeptide tunnel system in the ribosome and its gating in erythromycin resistance mutants of L4 and L22.

Variations in the inner ribosomal landscape determining the topology of nascent protein transport have been studied by three-dimensional cryo-electron microscopy of erythromycin-resistant Escherichia coli 70S ribosomes. Significant differences in the mouth of the 50S subunit tunnel system visualized in the present study support a simple steric-hindrance explanation for the action of the drug. Examination of ribosomes in different functional states suggests that opening and closing of the main tunnel are dynamic features of the large subunit, possibly accompanied by changes in the L7/L12 stalk region.

An extended RNA binding surface through arrayed S1 and KH domains in transcription factor NusA.

The crystal structure of Thermotoga maritima NusA, a transcription factor involved in pausing, termination, and antitermination processes, reveals a four-domain, rod-shaped molecule. An N-terminal alpha/beta portion, a five-stranded beta-barrel (S1 domain), and two K-homology (KH) modules create a continuous spine of positive electrostatic potential, suitable for nonspecific mRNA attraction. Homology models suggest how, in addition, specific mRNA regulatory sequences can be recognized by the S1 and KH motifs.

Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of bacterial and archaeal L4 ribosomal proteins.

Ribosomal protein L4 is implicated in the peptidyltransferase activity of the ribosome and in certain bacteria it regulates the transcription and translation of the 11-gene S10 operon. The genes for the L4 ribosomal proteins from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima and the halophilic archaeon Haloarcula marismortui have been PCR amplified from genomic DNA and cloned under the control of a T7 promoter to generate overexpressing Escherichia coli strains. For both proteins, efficient purification procedures were developed to yield material suitable for crystallization trials.

Crystal structure of ribosomal protein L4 shows RNA-binding sites for ribosome incorporation and feedback control of the S10 operon.

Ribosomal protein L4 resides near the peptidyl transferase center of the bacterial ribosome and may, together with rRNA and proteins L2 and L3, actively participate in the catalysis of peptide bond formation. Escherichia coli L4 is also an autogenous feedback regulator of transcription and translation of the 11 gene S10 operon. The crystal structure of L4 from Thermotoga maritima at 1.

Kinetics and inhibition of recombinant human cystathionine gamma-lyase. Toward the rational control of transsulfuration.

The gene encoding human cystathionine gamma-lyase was cloned from total cellular Hep G2 RNA. Fusion to a T7 promoter allowed expression in Escherichia coli, representing the first mammalian cystathionine gamma-lyase overproduced in a bacterial system. About 90% of the heterologous gene product was insoluble, and renaturation experiments from purified inclusion bodies met with limited success.