Ribosome-inactivating proteins are a group of closely related proteins that are widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom and which share the unusual property of being able to inactivate mammalian ribosomes by an enzymic (non-stoichiometric) mechanism (1). Two major classes of these proteins are found in plants. The first contains the plant toxins (ricin, abrin, modeccin) in which an enzy...

background: suicide is a problem worldwide and occupation is an important risk factor. in the last decade, 55 200 deaths in the us were attributed to occupational risk factors. objective: to determine if toxic metal exposure was associated with suicide risk among paducah gaseous diffusion plant (pgdp) workers. methods: we assembled a cohort of 6820 nuclear industry workers employed from 1952 to...

Proteins containing an expanded polyglutamine tract are neurotoxins. The expanded polyglutamine proteins influence a variety of cellular functions. In Drosophila the GMR-Gal4/UAS expression system has been widely used in an eye-based model to study human neurodegenerative diseases. This system has facilitated the isolation and characterization of abundant Drosophila genes that interact with the...

Scientific research has focused to delineate the core aspects of stress tolerance mechanisms and apply crucial components for enhancing plants their growth under stressed environments. Metallothioneins (MTs) are known play pivotal roles in regulation. They bacteria, fungi, all other eukaryotic organisms. MTs low molecular weight, cysteinerich proteins. important metal chelators also possess ant...

A toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) antibody-binding protein produced by an ovine-associated strain of Staphylococcus aureus was examined. The protein showed total identity to TSST-1 by immunodiffusion analysis. Western blots (immunoblots) of proteins separated by isoelectric focusing revealed that the TSST-1 antibody-binding protein had a pI of 8.6 rather than 7.0, the pI of standard TSST-1.

The relationship between thyroid auto-immunity and the presence of lymphocytes in the thyroid gland has been analysed in patients with Graves' disease, toxic adenoma, and non-toxic nodular goitre. In all these conditions circulating antibody to thyroglobulin was significantly associated with lymphocytic infiltration. No similar correlation was established in the case of the complement-fixing an...