We have developed computer-based clinical case histories incorporating multimedia elements to aid the learning of medicine in a problem-based manner. Topics have been developed in the specialty of Clinical Biochemistry but the approach used is suitable for any branch of clinical medicine. Each topic has material aimed at medical students and also postgraduate candidates for professional examina...

Bioautography is a microbial detection method hyphenated with planar chromatography techniques. It is based mainly on antimicrobial or antifungal properties of analyzed substances. The review discusses three versions of bioautography, i.e. contact, immersion and direct bioautography. The more concern is given to the last one. Many applications are quoted, not only for testing various groups of ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs known to play important regulatory roles through targets, which can affect human cell proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism. Overlaps between different miRNA target prediction algorithms (MTPAs) are small, which limit the understanding of miRNA's biological functions. However, the overlaps increase on functional levels, such as Gene Ont...

It has been demonstrated in recent years that pulsed, infrared laser light can be used to elicit electrical responses in neural tissue, independent of any further modification of the target tissue. Infrared neural stimulation has been reported in a variety of peripheral and sensory neural tissue in vivo, with particular interest shown in stimulation of neurons in the auditory nerve. However, wh...

The stochastic nature of biochemical processes is a source of variability that influences developmental stability. Developmental instability (DI) is often estimated through fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a parameter that deals with within-individual variation in bilateral structures. A relevant goal is to shed light on how environment, physiology and genotype relate to DI, thus providing a more co...

In this paper, we study a three-dimensional nonlinear model of a controllable reaction [X]+[Y]+[Z]→[Z], where the reaction rate is given by a unspecified nonlinear function. A model of this type describes a variety of real-life processes in chemical kinetics and biology; in this paper our particular interests is in its application to waste water biotreatment. For this control model, we analytic...

Nucleotides are compounds that play a key role in numerous intracellular biochemical processes. Synthesized de novo by the body utilizing amino acid precursors or salvaged from degraded nucleic acids and nucleotides, they cannot be considered essential nutrients. However, the term semi or conditionally essential nutrients can be applied in certain conditions where the body’s needs are greater t...

It must, I think, be rare to be rewarded so generously for work that was so purely a pleasure in planning and execution. I shall try, in return, to impart some of that pleasure today. In 1948, a short but historic note by Alexander Ogston appeared in the scientific magazine Nature, demonstrating the importance of a particular type of stereochemical thinking in relation to biochemical processes ...

The computer modelling and simulation of wastewater treatment plant and their specific technologies, such as membrane bioreactors (MBRs), are becoming increasingly useful to consultant engineers when designing, upgrading, retrofitting, operating and controlling these plant. This research uses traditional phenomenological mechanistic models based on MBR filtration and biochemical processes to me...

Nucleotide excision repair is a complex biochemical process that corrects DNA damage caused by a broad spectrum of physical and chemical agents. We examined the effect of the assembly of ultraviolet-irradiated plasmid DNA into nucleosomes on nucleotide excision repair supported by human cell extracts. Repair synthesis in unassembled UV-irradiated plasmid DNA was readily detected in extracts fro...