Haemoglobin Arya: alpha 2-47 (CD5), aspartic acid yields asparagine.

A new haemoglobin variant (haemoglobin Arya), is described from an Iranian female. The substitution is at residue 47 (CD5) of the alpha chain in which aspartic acid has been substituted by asparagine. The presence of haemoglobin Arya was not associated with clinical symptoms. This variant has normal stability at 50 degrees C, but is slightly unstable when tested at 55 degrees C.     

Design and synthesis of new fused carbazole-imidazole derivatives as anti-diabetic agents: In vitro α-glucosidase inhibition,kinetic, and in silico studies

Twenty three fused carbazole–imidazoles 6a–w were designed, synthesized, and screened as new α-glucosidase inhibitors. All the synthesized fused carbazole-imidazoles 6a-w were found to be more active than acarbose (IC₅₀?=?750.0?±?1.5?µM) against yeast α-glucosidase with IC₅₀ values in the range of 74.0?±?0.7–298.3?±?0.9?µM. Kinetic study of the most potent compound 6v demonstrated that this compound is a competitive inhibitor for α-glucosidase (K_i value?=?75?µM). Furthermore, the in silico studies of the most potent compounds 6v and 6o confirmed that these compounds interacted with the key residues in the active site of α-glucosidase.     

Prediction of Protein-Protein Interactions Using Protein Signature Profiling

Protein domains are conserved and functionally independent structures that play an important role in interactions among related proteins. Domain-domain inter- actions have been recently used to predict protein-protein interactions (PPI). In general, the interaction probability of a pair of domains is scored using a trained scoring function. Satisfying a threshold, the protein pairs carrying those domains are regarded as "interacting". In this study, the signature contents of proteins were utilized to predict PPI pairs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis ele- gans, and Homo sapiens. Similarity between protein signature patterns was scored and PPI predictions were drawn based on the binary similarity scoring function. Results show that the true positive rate of prediction by the proposed approach is approximately 32% higher than that using the maximum likelihood estimation method when compared with a test set, resulting in 22% increase in the area un- der the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. When proteins containing one or two signatures were removed, the sensitivity of the predicted PPI pairs in- creased significantly. The predicted PPI pairs are on average 11 times more likely to interact than the random selection at a confidence level of 0.95, and on aver- age 4 times better than those predicted by either phylogenetic profiling or gene expression profiling.     

Assessment of IL-10, IL-1ß and TNF-α gene polymorphisms in patients with peri-implantitis and healthy controls

Molecular Biology Reports - Peri-implantitis (PI) is a multifactorial condition caused by the interactions of pathogens and the host immune response. Previous studies have demonstrated a...     

Efficacy of pesticides on the functional response on larval ectoparasitoid,Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Exposing to sub-lethal and low lethal doses of pesticides may cause changes in natural enemy behavioural, such as functional, response. In this study, the effects of chlorpyrifos, carbaryl, abamectin and spinosad were evaluated on the functional response of the Habrobracon hebetor to different densities of last instar larvae of Anagasta kuehniella Zeller. Young adult females of the parasitoid were exposed to LC₃₀ of chlorpyrifos, carbaryl, abamectin and spinosad that were 0.32, 4.03, 3.05 and 17.51?mg a.i./l for 24?h, respectively. Host densities of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 were offered to treated young females for 2?h in 10-cm Petri dishes and then the parasitism data were recorded. Experiments were conducted in eight replications. Functional response type was determined using logistic regression and the parameters were appraised by non-linear regression using statistical analysis software. Functional response was type Ш in control and insecticide treatments. Searching efficiency in control, chlorpyrifos-, carbaryl-, abamectin- and spinosad-treated wasps were 0.008?±?0.002, 0.002?±?0.0009, 0.0034?±?0.0013, 0.0076?±?0.002 and 0.0073?±?0.002?h^?1and handling times were 1.38?±?0.1, 7.64?±?1.01, 3.3?±?0.315, 1.55?±?0.1 and 1.46?±?0.11?h, respectively. Chlorpyrifos and carbaryl had the highest effect on searching efficiency of H. hebetor. Spinosad and abamectin showed less adverse effect on the functional response parameters. Finally, after conducting the advanced field studies, spinosad and abamectin may be used as a compatible chemical material with biological control agent in integrated pest management programmes.     

Prediction of protein-protein interactions using protein signature profiling

Protein domains are conserved and functionally independent structures that play an important role in interactions among related proteins. Domain-domain interactions have been recently used to predict protein-protein interactions (PPI). In general, the interaction probability of a pair of domains is scored using a trained scoring function. Satisfying a threshold, the protein pairs carrying those domains are regarded as "interacting". In this study, the signature contents of proteins were utilized to predict PPI pairs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Homo sapiens. Similarity between protein signature patterns was scored and PPI predictions were drawn based on the binary similarity scoring function. Results show that the true positive rate of prediction by the proposed approach is approximately 32% higher than that using the maximum likelihood estimation method when compared with a test set, resulting in 22% increase in the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. When proteins containing one or two signatures were removed, the sensitivity of the predicted PPI pairs increased significantly. The predicted PPI pairs are on average 11 times more likely to interact than the random selection at a confidence level of 0.95, and on average 4 times better than those predicted by either phylogenetic profiling or gene expression profiling.     

Hereditary breast cancer; Genetic penetrance and current status with BRCA

The most important cause of developing hereditary breast cancer is germline mutations occurring in breast cancer (BCs) susceptibility genes, for example, BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, CHEK2, PTEN, ATM, and PPM1D. Many BC susceptibility genes can be grouped into two classes, high- and low-penetrance genes, each of which interact with multiple genes and environmental factors. However, the penetrance of genes can also be represented by a spectrum, which ranges between high and low. Two of the most common susceptibility genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which perform vital cellular functions for repair of homologous DNA. Loss of heterozygosity accompanied by hereditary mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 increases chromosomal instability and the likelihood of cancer, as well as playing a key role in stimulating malignant transformation. With regard to pathological features, familial breast cancers caused by BRCA1 mutations usually differ from those caused by BRCA2 mutations and nonfamilial BCs. It is essential to acquire an understanding of these pathological features along with the genetic history of the patient to offer an individualized treatment. Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the main genetic and inherited factors for breast and ovarian cancer. In fact, these mutations are very important in developing early onset and increasing the risk of familial breast and ovarian cancer and responsible for 90% of hereditary BC cases. Therefore, according to the conducted studies, screening of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes is recommended as an important marker for early detection of all patients with breast or ovarian cancer risk with family history of the disease. In this review, we summarize the role of hereditary genes, mainly BRCA1 and BRCA2, in BC.