The no observed effect concentration (NOEC) is currently a major summary statistic in ecotoxicity testing. Its use is heavily criticized, partly because it is a poor estimator of ‘‘safe’’ chemical concentrations. In this short communication, we review the limited information available on the percentage effect that corresponds with the NOEC, a value designated the ECNOEC, and calculate ECNOEC va...

Background RAD21 is a central component of the multi-protein cohesin complex which is important in several key cellular processes; apposition of sister chromatids, chromosomal segregation during mitosis and meiosis, error free homologous recombinational repair of DNA double strand breaks and epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Components of the cohesin complex are of the ‘BASC’, a BRCA1-a...

BACKGROUND We previously detected that deltaNp63, a human p53 homologue, is an oncogene amplified in squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) including esophageal SCC. Subsequently, we examined global patterns of gene expression in cancer cells following deltaNp63 gene introduction using an oligonucleotide microarray approach. We identified S100A2, a Ca2+-binding protein, as a novel downstream mediator o...

The emerging influenza infections have become a current concern in global public health. Many new emerging infections are reported and the control of these is still not successful. As a new emerging infection, the atypical influenza virus infection usually presents additional clinical manifestations to classical respiratory signs and symptoms. An abnormal platelet count is a common finding in t...

Although facilitation of the corticospinal (CS) system during action observation is a widely accepted phenomenon, it is still controversial if facilitation reflects the replica of observed movement kinematics or the tension to achieve a particular goal. In this study, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the abductor digiti minimi (AD...

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and fatal primary brain tumor in adults. Aggressive invasion of glioblastoma cells into brain tissue often limits complete surgical resection and contributes to therapeutic resistance. The cell surface marker, CD133, has been identified as a putative stem cell marker in normal and malignant brain tissues; CD133-/A2B5+ cells exhibit neural stem-like cel...

The concept that Ras proteins may function as oligomers was first described almost three decades ago when Santos et al. (1) found evidence for wild-type or mutant H-Ras multimerization using radiation inactivation assays. The idea was largely dropped when the myriad of crystal structures of H-Ras that followed over the ensuing decades suggested that Ras proteins are functional monomers. Inouye ...