Cloning and characterization of an androgen receptor N-terminal-interacting protein with ubiquitin-protein ligase activity.

The androgen receptor (AR) N-terminal domain plays a critical role in androgen-responsive gene regulation. A novel AR N-terminal-interacting protein (ARNIP) was isolated using the yeast two-hybrid system and its interaction with amino acids 11-172 of the normal or corresponding region of the polyglutamine-expanded human AR confirmed by glutathione S-transferase pulldown assays. ARNIP cDNAs cloned from NSC-34 (mouse neuroblastoma/spinal cord) or PC-3 (human prostate adenocarcinoma) mRNA encoded highly homologous 30 kDa (261 amino acids) cysteine-rich proteins with a RING-H2 (C3H2C3 zinc finger) domain; this motif is highly conserved in predicted ARNIP-homologous proteins from several other species.

Stimulation of human flap endonuclease 1 by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase: possible role for flap endonuclease 1 in 5'-end processing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integration intermediates.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) DNA integration intermediates consist of viral and host DNA segments separated by a 5-nucleotide gap adjacent to a 5'-AC unpaired dinucleotide. These short-flap (pre-repair) integration intermediates are structurally similar to DNA loci undergoing long-patch base excision repair in mammalian cells. The cellular proteins flap endonuclease 1 (FEN-1), proliferating cell nuclear antigen, replication factor C, DNA ligase I and DNA polymerase delta are required for the repair of this type of DNA lesion.

Morbidity, mortality, and healthcare burden of nosocomial Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in Canadian hospitals.

Objective: To assess the healthcare burden, morbidity, and mortality of nosocomial Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (N-CDAD) in Canadian hospitals.

Design: Laboratory-based prevalence study.

Setting: Nineteen acute-care Canadian hospitals belonging to the Canadian Hospital Epidemiology Committee surveillance program.

Predictors of outcome in a 27-year follow-up of patients with borderline personality disorder.

Sixty-four patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) were followed up for a mean of 27 years. Outcome was assessed using the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines, Revised (DIB-R), the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), the Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90), and the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-SR). Subjects were also administered two self-report measures of childhood experience: the Parental Bonding Index (PBI) and the Developmental Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ).

Topical mupirocin for eradication of MRSA colonization with mupirocin-resistant strains.

Topical mupirocin was able to interrupt colonization of 52% and 68% of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-colonized patients carrying mupirocin-resistant and -sensitive strains, respectively, including 44.4% and 85.7% of those colonized only in the nares.

The value of specialization--is there an outcome difference in the management of fistulas complicating diverticulitis.

Purpose: The value of specialization has frequently been challenged by many health care institutions and providers. This review was conducted to determine whether there were any outcome differences in the management of fistulas complicating diverticulitis.

Methods: We conducted an historical cohort study using hospital charts of all cases of fistulas complicating diverticulitis that were operated on in four university-affiliated hospitals between 1975 and 1995.

Risk factors for the development of low back pain in adolescence.

A previous history and earlier onset of low back pain are associated with chronic low back pain in adults, implying that prevention in adolescence may have a positive impact in adulthood. The study objectives were to determine the incidence of low back pain in a cohort of adolescents and to ascertain risk factors. A cohort of 502 high school students in Montreal, Canada, was evaluated during 1995-1996 at three separate times, 6 months apart.

Rathke's cleft cyst presenting as sphenoid sinusitis.

Rathke's cleft cysts are developmental abnormalities of the craniopharyngeal duct composed of retained stratified ciliated cuboidal cells of the respiratory type. Incidentally found in the pars intermedia in 13% to 33% of routine autopsies, they are discovered in growing numbers on CT and MRI scans. From 1991 to 1999, 9 cases of Rathke's cleft cysts were encountered by the senior authors, 4 of which were treated surgically (3 by using a transsphenoidal approach and one by using a transcranial subfrontal approach).

Economic impact of using an immunostimulating agent to prevent severe acute exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: OM-85 BV, an immunostimulant made from bacterial extracts, has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization for acute exacerbation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as to reduce the length of stay for all hospitalizations.

Methods: In conjunction with a placebo controlled, randomized clinical trial, a cost effectiveness analysis was carried out to assess the economic impact of using OM-85 BV. In the analysis, effectiveness was defined as the difference in the number of severe acute exacerbations, assessed by the number of hospitalizations for a respiratory problem, between the placebo and OM-85 BV-treated groups.

Increased T-type Ca2+ channel activity as a determinant of cellular toxicity in neuronal cell lines expressing polyglutamine-expanded human androgen receptors.

We have analyzed Ca2+ currents in two neuroblastoma-motor neuron hybrid cell lines that expressed normal or glutamine-expanded human androgen receptors (polyGln-expanded AR) either transiently or stably. The cell lines express a unique, low-threshold, transient type of Ca2+ current that is not affected by L-type Ca2+ channel blocker (PN 200-110), N-type Ca2+ channel blocker (omega-conotoxin GVIA) or P-type Ca2+ channel blocker (Agatoxin IVA) but is blocked by either Cd2+ or Ni2+. This pharmacological profile most closely resembles that of T-type Ca2+ channels [1-3].

Stretching before exercise does not reduce the risk of local muscle injury: a critical review of the clinical and basic science literature.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and basic science evidence surrounding the hypothesis that stretching immediately before exercise prevents injury.

Data Sources And Selection: MEDLINE was searched using MEDLINE subject headings (MeSH) and textwords for English- and French-language articles related to stretching and muscle injury. Additional references were reviewed from the bibliographies, and from citation searches on key articles.

Control of transferrin receptor expression via nitric oxide-mediated modulation of iron-regulatory protein 2.

Cellular iron storage and uptake are coordinately regulated post-transcriptionally by cytoplasmic factors, iron-regulatory proteins 1 and 2 (IRP-1 and IRP-2). When iron in the intracellular transit pool is scarce, IRPs bind to iron-responsive elements (IREs) in the 5'-untranslated region of the ferritin mRNA and 3'-untranslated region of the transferrin receptor (TfR) mRNA. Such binding inhibits translation of ferritin mRNA and stabilizes the mRNA for TfR, whereas the opposite scenario develops when iron in the transit pool is plentiful.

The nucleolar targeting signal (NTS) of parathyroid hormone related protein mediates endocytosis and nucleolar translocation.

Previous work has identified the parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) nucleolar targeting signal (NTS) as both necessary and sufficient for localization of PTHrP to the nucleus and nucleolus of a variety of cells where it is believed to participate in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptotic cell death. The mechanism whereby a secreted peptide, such as PTHrP, gains access to the nuclear compartment remains a question of debate. The current work examines the possibility that exogenous PTHrP is internalized and transported to the nuclear compartment by a mechanism that is dependent on preservation of the PTHrP NTS.

Patient flow in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit: an observational study.

Purpose: Anesthesiologists are constantly striving for improvement in health care delivery. We assessed the patient flow in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) to determine if patients are being transported out of the PACU when ready.

Methods: A University student recorded the flow of 336 patients who recovered in our Post Anesthesia Care Unit.

Radiation target analysis indicates that phenylalanine hydroxylase in rat liver extracts is a functional monomer.

The minimal enzymatically functional form of purified rat hepatic phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) is a dimer of identical subunits. Radiation target analysis of PAH revealed that the minimal enzymatically active form in crude extracts corresponds to the monomer. The 'negative regulation' properties of the tetrahydrobiopterin cofactor in both crude and pure samples implicates a large multimeric structure, minimally a tetramer of PAH subunits.

Where do family practice patients go in case of emergency?

Objective: To determine the annual incidence of patient-defined emergencies and patients' use of emergency services at a family medicine teaching unit.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Hospital-based family medicine teaching unit in Montreal.