OBJECTIVES Many studies have provided information on employment and work disability (WD) rates in patients with SLE, yet are often limited by small sample sizes, poor generalizability or fail to examine the risks and outcomes of WD. Our objective was to systematically review the literature on WD in SLE to identify a more generalizable point estimate and range of WD in SLE patients. METHODS A ...

Previous structural and biochemical studies have revealed that the inner arm dynein I1 is targeted and anchored to a unique site located proximal to the first radial spoke in each 96-nm axoneme repeat on flagellar doublet microtubules. To determine whether intermediate chains mediate the positioning and docking of dynein complexes, we cloned and characterized the 140-kDa intermediate chain (IC1...

Conspecific allorecognition, the ability for an organism to discriminate its own cells from those of another individual of the same species, has been developed by many organisms. Allorecognition specificities are determined by highly polymorphic genes. The processes by which this extreme polymorphism is generated remain largely unknown. Fungi are able to form heterokaryons by fusion of somatic ...

The apoptotic protease-activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) receives the death signal in the intrinsic ormitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Upon the releasing of cytochrome c from theintermembrane space of mitochondria and binding to Apaf-1 molecules, a heptamericapoptosome complex is formed and triggers the downstream cascade of caspases. Here, for thefirst time we present spontaneous mutations and r...

The COP1 (CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1) gene has been identified earlier from dicot species namely Arabidopsis, tomato and pea. The protein encoded by this gene acts as a molecular switch that negatively regulates the transition from the skotomorphogenic to the photomorphogenic mode of plant development. We have isolated and characterized the COP1 homolog from a monocot species, i.e. rice (v...

Using a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb AND-1/23-5-14) we have identified, cDNA-cloned and characterized a novel DNA-binding protein of the clawed toad, Xenopus laevis, that is accumulated in the nucleoplasm of oocytes and various other cells. This protein comprises 1,127 amino acids, with a total molecular mass of 125 kDa and a pI of 5.27. It is encoded by a mRNA of approximately 4 kb and co...