A lateral-flow immunoassay (BrockTB Stat-Pak) for detecting tuberculosis in Eurasian badgers was 49% sensitive and 93% specific against culture for M. bovis (n = 1,464) at necropsy. However, the sensitivity was significantly higher (66 to 78%) in animals with more severe tuberculosis, indicating that the BrockTB Stat-Pak may be useful for the detection of badgers with the greatest risk of trans...

Although guanylyl cyclases have been implicated in cell migration, how they are activated to promote cell motility is unknown. In this issue, report direct communication between guanylyl cyclases and the Rac-p21-activated kinase (PAK) signaling pathway--which is essential for cell migration--to promote cell motility, through allosteric activation of guanylyl cyclases by autophosphorylated PAK.

Cell shape changes are crucial for metazoan development. During Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis, epidermal cell shape changes transform ovoid embryos into vermiform larvae. This process is divided into two phases: early and late elongation. Early elongation involves the contraction of filamentous actin bundles by phosphorylated non-muscle myosin in a subset of epidermal (hypodermal) cells....

Salmonella typhimurium has sustained a long-standing association with its host and therefore has evolved sophisticated strategies to multiply and survive within this environment. Central to Salmonella pathogenesis is the function of a dedicated type III secretion system that delivers bacterial effector proteins into the host cell cytoplasm. These effectors stimulate nuclear responses and actin ...

“We are without allies amongst the Iraqi populace, including those who have benefited from the ouster of Saddam. . . . Across Baghdad, Latifiyah, Mahmudiyah, Salman Pak, Baqubah, Balad, Taji, Baiji, Ramadi, and just about everywhere else you can name, the people absolutely hate us. . . . The Iraqi people have not bought into what the Americans are selling, and no amount of military activity is ...

For each skew shape we define a nonhomogeneous symmetric function, generalizing a construction of Pak and Postnikov [9]. In two special cases, we show that the coefficients of this function when expanded in the complete homogeneous basis are given in terms of the (reduced) type of k-divisible noncrossing partitions. Our work extends Haiman’s notion of a parking function symmetric function [5, 10].

Laboratory and clinical diagnostic classification of seropositive individuals, followed by treatment and supportive therapy, is an established component of Chagas' disease control in areas where this disease is endemic. However, most Chagas' disease patients live in remote areas where neither equipped laboratories nor skilled human resources are widely available. Employing a rapid diagnostic te...

In Triton-skinned phasic ileal smooth muscle, constitutively active recombinant p21-activated kinase (PAK3) has been shown to induce Ca(2+)-independent contraction, which is accompanied by phosphorylation of caldesmon and desmin (Van Eyk JE, Arrell DK, Foster DB, Strauss JD, Heinonen TY, Furmaniak-Kazmierczak E, Cote GP, and Mak AS. J Biol Chem 273: 23433-23439, 1998). In the present study, we ...

Dorsal closure (DC) of the Drosophila embryo is a model for the study of wound healing and developmental epithelial fusions, and involves the sealing of a hole in the epidermis through the migration of the epidermal flanks over the tissue occupying the hole, the amnioserosa. During DC, the cells at the edge of the migrating epidermis extend Rac- and Cdc42-dependent actin-based lamellipodia and ...