Passengers operate the brakes

Passengers operate the brakes

Passengers operate the brakes M embers of the chromosome passenger complex (CPC) regulate kinesin motors to control how fast the mitotic spindle elongates , Rozelle et al. report. The CPC consists of the mitotic kinase Aurora B and its associated regulatory proteins. The complex localizes to kinetochores at the beginning of mitosis and regulates their attachment to the mitotic spindle. The CPC ...

Taking the brakes off?

In this issue of Blood, MacQarrie and colleagues show that histidine-rich glycoprotein (a negative acute-phase reactant), inhibits activated factor XII, a clotting protein implicated in inflammation and thrombosis.1 O f the 2 mechanisms for triggering blood clotting, only the tissue factor pathway is essential for normal hemostasis. The other— the contact pathway—appears to have no hemostatic r...

Taking the brakes off telomerase

Studies using human embryonic stem cells have revealed how common cancer-associated mutations exert their effect on telomerase after cells differentiate into more specialized cell types.

Tumor Engineering: Finding the Brakes

To operate or not to operate, that is the question

to operate or not to operate, that is the question. In the case of a displaced diaphyseal fracture of the femur, this question is not a challenge. We do not need a randomised controlled trial to determine if intramedullary nailing of a fracture of the femur is more effective, for any outcome, than months in traction. However, some fractures do not offer such a clear clinical decision-making opp...