Protein synthesis in isolated perfused rat skeletal muscle. Contribution of intra- and extracellular amino acid pools

Protein synthesis was measured in perfused rat skeletal muscle using [14C]lysine in the presence of increasing amounts of lysine in the perfusate. The results obtained clearly indicated that both the extracellular and intracellular pools of amino acids act as direct precursors for protein synthesis and analysis of the data, according to O'Hara et al. (J. molec. cell. Cardiol. 13, 925-940, 1981) further indicated that extracellular sources of lysine supplied 64 and 81% of the lysine incorporated in the absence and presence of insulin, respectively. The rate of protein synthesis were assessed to be 0.22 mumol lysine incorporated g-1 muscle per 3 hr of perfusion increasing to 1.0 mumol g-1 3 hr-1 in the presence of insulin.     

Lessons from the outbreak of food poisoning at Stanley Royd Hospital: what are health authorities doing now?

The committee of inquiry into the outbreak of food poisoning at Stanley Royd Hospital identified serious deficiencies in the management of the outbreak and urged all health authorities to learn from the incident and prepare adequate plans for dealing with any future outbreaks. A survey of district health authorities in England showed that most authorities do not yet have a written plan or that their plans are incomplete and inadequate. The appreciable resistance to such planning suggests that most health authorities would be unable to deal with outbreaks of food poisoning effectively and efficiently.     

Symmetric cyanine dyes for detecting nucleic acids

A novel approach to the design of sensitive fluorescent probes for nucleic acids detection is proposed. Suitable modifications of tri- and pentamethine cyanine dyes in the polymethine chain and/or in the heterocyclic residues can result in a significant decrease in unbound dye fluorescence intensity and an increase in dye emission intensity in the presence of DNA compared to the unsubstituted dye. The sharp enhancement in the fluorescence intensity upon dye interaction with double-stranded DNA permits the application of the modified tri- and pentamethine dyes as fluorescent probes in double-stranded DNA detection in homogeneous assays.     

Evolutionary trade‐offs of insecticide resistance — The fitness costs associated with target‐site mutations in the nAChR of Drosophila melanogaster

The evolution of resistance to drugs and pesticides poses a major threat to human health and food security. Neonicotinoids are highly effective insecticides used to control agricultural pests. They target the insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and mutations of the receptor that confer resistance have been slow to develop, with only one field‐evolved mutation being reported to date. This is an arginine‐to‐threonine substitution at position 81 of the nAChR_β1 subunit in neonicotinoid‐resistant aphids. To validate the role of R81T in neonicotinoid resistance and to test whether it may confer any significant fitness costs to insects, CRISPR/Cas9 was used to introduce an analogous mutation in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster. Flies carrying R81T showed an increased tolerance (resistance) to neonicotinoid insecticides, accompanied by a significant reduction in fitness. In comparison, flies carrying a deletion of the whole nAChR_α6 subunit, the target site of spinosyns, showed an increased tolerance to this class of insecticides but presented almost no fitness deficits.     

Glucose lowering effect of transgenic human insulin-like growth factor-I from rice: <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis>studies

Background  

Human insulin-like growth factor-I (hIGF-I) is a growth factor which is highly resemble to insulin. It is essential for cell proliferation and has been proposed for treatment of various endocrine-associated diseases including growth hormone insensitivity syndrome and diabetes mellitus. In the present study, an efficient plant expression system was developed to produce biologically active recombinant hIGF-I (rhIGF-I) in transgenic rice grains.     

Small cell lung cancer: the importance of the extracellular matrix

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK and the small cell lung cancer (SCLC) phenotype is the most aggressive form of this disease, with a high metastatic potential and the development of resistance to chemotherapy. Evidence now suggests that these features may be due to important links between the cancer cells and proteins in their local extracellular matrix (ECM). This article reviews the evidence for a chemoprotective effect of extracellular matrix in small cell lung cancer and discusses the importance of integrin-mediated signalling pathways in this setting.