Living organ procurement from the mentally incompetent: the need for more appropriate guidelines.

With the case of Belgium as a negative example, this paper will evaluate the legitimacy of using mentally incompetents as organ sources. The first section examines the underlying moral dilemma that results from the necessity of balancing the principle of respect for persons with the obligation to help people in desperate need. We argue for the rejection of a radical utilitarian approach but also question the appropriateness of a categorical prohibition.

Synthesis of two new alkyne-bearing linkers used for the preparation of siRNA for labeling by click chemistry with fluorine-18.

Oligonucleotides (ONs) and more particularly siRNAs are promising drugs but their pharmacokinetics and biodistribution are widely unknown. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using fluorine-18 is a suitable technique to quantify these biological processes. Click chemistry (Huisgen cycloaddition) is the current method for labeling siRNA.

Preventive and therapeutic strategies for bovine leukemia virus: lessons for HTLV.

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus closely related to the human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). BLV is a major animal health problem worldwide causing important economic losses. A series of attempts were developed to reduce prevalence, chiefly by eradication of infected cattle, segregation of BLV-free animals and vaccination.

Thermoreversibly crosslinked poly(ε-caprolactone) as recyclable shape-memory polymer network.

A new concept to build shape memory polymers (SMP) combining outstanding fixity and recovery ratios (both above 99% after only one training cycle) typical of chemically crosslinked SMPs with reprocessability restricted to physically crosslinked SMPs is demonstrated by covalently bonding, through thermoreversible Diels-Alder (DA) adducts, star-shaped poly(ε-caprolactones) (PCL) end-functionalized by furan and maleimide moieties. A PCL network is easily prepared by melt-blending complementary end-functional star polymers in retro DA regime, then by curing at lower temperature to favour the DA cycloaddition. Such covalent network can be reprocessed when heated again at the retro DA temperature.

The sleep/wake state scoring from mandible movement signal.

Purpose: Estimating the total sleep time in home recording devices is necessary to avoid underestimation of the indices reflecting sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome severity, e.g., the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).

The HTLV-1 Tax protein inhibits formation of stress granules by interacting with histone deacetylase 6.

Human T cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) is the causative agent of a fatal adult T-cell leukemia. Through deregulation of multiple cellular signaling pathways the viral Tax protein has a pivotal role in T-cell transformation. In response to stressful stimuli, cells mount a cellular stress response to limit the damage that environmental forces inflict on DNA or proteins.

The Varicella-Zoster virus IE4 protein: a conserved member of the herpesviral mRNA export factors family and a potential alternative target in antiherpetic therapies.

During a viral infection, in addition to cellular mRNAs, amounts of viral mRNAs have to be efficiently transported to the cytoplasm for translation. It is now established that herpesviruses encode a conserved gene family whose proteins act as viral mRNA export factors that mediate nucleocytoplasmic transport of viral transcripts and eventually modulate through this mechanism the antiviral response. This conserved family of proteins contains the IE4 protein of the Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV).

Varicella-zoster virus IE4 protein interacts with SR proteins and exports mRNAs through the TAP/NXF1 pathway.

Available data suggest that the Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) IE4 protein acts as an important regulator on VZV and cellular genes expression and could exert its functions at post-transcriptional level. However, the molecular mechanisms supported by this protein are not yet fully characterized. In the present study, we have attempted to clarify this IE4-mediated gene regulation and identify some cellular partners of IE4.

FT-IR measurement of tagitinin C after solvent extraction from Tithonia diversifolia.

Tagitinin C, an antiplasmodial compound, identified as one major compound of the subtropical medicinal plant, Tithonia diversifolia, was determined by FT-IR spectroscopy method. The crude ether extracts from aerial parts of the plant were evaporated to dryness and re-dissolved in tetrachloroethylene (C(2)Cl(4)) before analysis. The magnitude of the absorbance of the very specific CO stretching vibration (nu(CO)) at 1664.

Flow cytometric enumeration of parasitaemia and haematologic changes in trypanosoma-infected mice.

African trypanosomiasis is a severe parasitic disease affecting both man and livestock. It is crucial to expand our fundamental knowledge of the intimate interactions between trypanosomes and their vertebrate hosts in order to develop new and efficient control strategies. The mouse model of trypanosomiasis is the most popular for research purposes because of all the logistic advantages of using this species.