Voltage-gated potassium channels are critical elements in providing functional diversity in nervous systems. The diversity of voltage-gated K+ channels in modern triploblastic metazoans (such as mollusks, arthropods and vertebrates) is provided primarily by four gene subfamilies (Shaker, Shal, Shab, and Shaw), but there has been no data from the ancient diploblastic metazoans until now. Diplobl...

Just four women's names fall among well over 100 names (Johnson & Kotz, 1997) that will always be connected with the early history of statistical science: Florence Nightingale (1820Ð1910); Gertrude Cox (1900Ð1978); F.N. (Florence Nightingale) David (1909Ð1993) and Elizabeth (Betty) Scott (1917Ð1988). Career paths and opportunities were very different for these women compared with the men of the...

Background: Hyperbilirubinemia is one of the most common and persistent problems encountered in preterm newborns. This condition in preterm infant is more likely to be associated with neurological damage rather than terms. So far, no major studies have precisely assessed the effects of zinc sulfate on hyperbilirubinemia in low-birth-weight (LBW) neonates. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to e...

Introduction: D-galactose (D-gal) is well known as an appropriate agent to induced aging effects in the in vivo and in vitro models. In the present study, we selected crocin, the main constituent of Crocus sativus L. (Saffron), against D-gal cytotoxicity in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Materials and Methods:  Cells were pretreated with crocin (25-500 µM) for 24 h and then expos...

Shaker channel mutants, in which the first (R362), second (R365), and fourth (R371) basic residues in the S4 segment have been neutralized, are found to pass potassium currents with voltage-insensitive kinetics when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Single channel recordings clarify that these channels continue to open and close from -160 to +80 mV with a constant opening probability (Po). Although...

The Shaker locus of Drosophila contains a very large transcription unit. It is expressed predominantly in the nervous system by multiple, differential as well as alternative, splicing mechanisms into different, but functionally related proteins. The structure of the Shaker transcription unit and the properties of the encoded Shaker protein family provide a molecular basis for A channel diversit...