Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a member of the Hepatovirus genus of Picornaviridae family. HAV is a non-enveloped (naked), linear, single stranded RNA virus of an icosahedral symmetry measuring 27-32 nm in diameter (Feinstone, 1973). The infectious particle consists of capsid protein and RNA genome (Fig. 1). The buoyant density of the mature particle is 1.33g/cm3 in CsCl solutions and the sedimenta...

The mechanism that has been proposed for glyoxalase II [36] is summarized in Figure 3. It involves direct nucleophilic attack of an active-site histidine on the thiol ester substrate to form an acyl-imidazole intermediate which then rapidly hydrolyses. This is consistent with the known susceptibility of thiol esters to aminolysis and with the lability of acyl-imidazoles [47].

• Contraction of the heart is dependent upon the proteins myosin and actin. Studies of these contractile proteins have therefore been of interest in the understanding of the normal contractile process, and attempts have been made to relate the diminished cardiac contraction observed in congestive heart failure to alterations in the myosin molecule. Cardiac myosin has been prepared generally by ...

Pancreatic cancer is an almost universally lethal disease and despite extensive research over the last decades, this has not changed significantly. Nevertheless, much progress has been made in understanding the pathogenesis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) suggesting that different therapeutic strategies based on these new insights are forthcoming. Increasing focus exists on designing...

Radiation-induced glioblastomas (RIGs) represent a significant proportion of glioblastomas (GBMs) seen in children and young adults and manifest poor prognosis. Little is known about their underlying biology, although limited studies have suggested no unique histologic or cytogenetic characteristics to distinguish them from de novo GBMs. In this study, we confirmed that a series of 5 RIGs showe...

Kabuki syndrome (KS) is a rare syndrome characterized by multiple congenital anomalies and mental retardation. Other characteristics include a peculiar facial gestalt, short stature, skeletal and visceral abnormalities, cardiac anomalies, and immunological defects. Whole exome sequencing has uncovered the genetic basis of KS. Prior to 2013, there was no molecular genetic information about KS in...