OBJECTIVE Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for diagnosis of a parotid gland tumor is widely used but its sensitivity is low and non-diagnostic rate is relatively high. In contrast, core needle biopsy (CNB) has a higher sensitivity and lower rate of sampling errors but has a higher risk of injury to adjacent organs such as facial nerve than FNAC. Screening of patients with parotid gland tu...

BACKGROUND The effect on Paco2 of high concentration oxygen therapy when administered to patients with severe exacerbations of asthma is uncertain. METHODS 106 patients with severe exacerbations of asthma presenting to the Emergency Department were randomised to high concentration oxygen (8 l/min via medium concentration mask) or titrated oxygen (to achieve oxygen saturations between 93% and ...

PURPOSE The authors report their experience using HydroCoils in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms. METHODS We performed a retrospective review of the first 100 nonrandomized patients (104 coiled saccular cerebral aneurysms) treated with HydroCoils during a 27-month period. RESULTS The average percentage of HydroCoil by length detached in treated aneurysms was 45.5% (range, 9.9-100%). Imme...

Substrate- and ligand-induced conformational changes were studied in a series of thiol-modified derivatives of rabbit muscle creatine kinase that retained different amounts of enzymic activity. The results indicate that the 'reactive' thiol group of the enzyme is required for the conformational changes associated with formation of a 'transition-state analogue' complex.

The crystal structure of rabbit muscle creatine kinase, solved at 2.35 A resolution by X-ray diffraction methods, clearly identified the active site with bound sulfates surrounded by a constellation of arginine residues. The putative binding site of creatine, which is occupied by a sulfate group in this analysis, has been tentatively identified. The dimeric interface of the enzyme is held toget...

Recent advances in advanced quantum chemistry and quantum chemistry interfaced with model potentials are discussed, with the primary focus on new scalable implementations in the GAMESS electronic structure suite of programs. Applications to solvent effects and surface science are discussed.

In the Postgenom era one of the remaining major challenges is the detailed understanding of protein networks within the living cell. Currently, there is a large gap between the detailed understanding of proteins in vitro and their description in interaction pathway maps in systems biology. In order to contribute to a more detailed understanding of protein interactions a combined approach of x-r...