[Ultrasonographic characteristics of haemophilic arthropathy in the knee joints].

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of ultrasonography in haemophilic arthropathy in knee joints.

Methods: The knee joints (n=135) of 68 patients with haemophilia A (n=59) or haemophilia B (n=9) were consecutively evaluated with ultrasonography and scored according to MELCHIORRE ultrasound score. The correlations between ultrasound score and the number of knee joint bleeding episodes, age, and World Federation Haemophilic orthopedic (WFHO) score were studied.

Sequence characterization and computational analysis of the non-ribosomal peptide synthetases controlling biosynthesis of lipopeptides, fengycins and bacillomycin D, from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Q-426.

Lipopeptides secreted by bacteria attract interest because of their uses in biomedicine, biotechnology and food technology; however, harnessing their megasynthases (non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, NRPSs) has met with some difficulties in heterologous expression and crystallization. Here, we used similarity and phylogenetic analysis of NRPS sequences, including the fengycin and iturin family synthetases from Bacillus spp., and have developed a novel approach for delineating the length and boundaries of NRPS domains from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain Q-426.

[Simplification and optimization of the preparation of Escherichia coli extract for cell-free protein expression].

Cell-free protein expression system is a new method to express target protein in vitro and has been widely applied to the study of protein structure, protein function and other related fields. Preparation of cell extract is one of the key factors that affect the efficiency of the cell-free system. To improve the efficiency and economical feasibility of cell-free protein synthesis, we discussed the parameters during the preparation of the cell extract.