INTRODUCTION The Lifelong EHR based on XML (LEX) project is a pilot project currently under development, whose ultimate goal is to integrate patient data in the Central Clinical Database (CCDB) which can be shared with heterogeneous HIS. The following paper describes the design and implementation of a software framework that could be used to construct an HL7 message server for the sharing of pa...

Temperature-sensitive (Ts) mutants are a powerful tool with which to study gene function in vivo. Ts mutants are typically generated by random mutagenesis followed by laborious screening procedures. By using the Escherichia coli cytotoxin CcdB as a model system, simple procedures for generating Ts mutants at high frequency through site-directed mutagenesis were developed. Putative buried, hydro...

A mechanism for stable maintenance of plasmids, besides the replication and partition mechanisms, has been found to be specified by genes of a mini-F plasmid. An oriC plasmid carrying both a mini-F segment necessary for partition [coordinates 46.4-49.4 kilobase pairs (kb) on the F map] and another segment (42.9-43.6 kb), designated ccd (coupled cell division), is more stably maintained than are...

Many human (different serotypes) and nonhuman adenovirus vectors are being used for gene delivery. However, the current system for isolating recombinant adenoviral vectors is either time-consuming or expensive, especially for the generation of recombinant non-human adenoviral vectors. We herein report a new and simple cloning approach for the rapid generation of a porcine adenovirus (PAdV-3) ve...

Microcin B17 (MccB17) is a peptide antibiotic produced by Escherichia coli strains carrying the pMccB17 plasmid. MccB17 is synthesized as a precursor containing an amino-terminal leader peptide that is cleaved during maturation. Maturation requires the product of the chromosomal tldE (pmbA) gene. Mature microcin is exported across the cytoplasmic membrane by a dedicated ABC transporter. In sens...

DNA gyrase is an essential bacterial enzyme required for the maintenance of chromosomal DNA topology. This enzyme is the target of several protein toxins encoded in toxin-antitoxin (TA) loci as well as of man-made antibiotics such as quinolones. The genome of Vibrio cholerae, the cause of cholera, contains three putative TA loci that exhibit modest similarity to the RK2 plasmid-borne parDE TA l...

A rapid DNA cloning system is a research interest of many scientists. TA cloning is one of the methods used for the cloning of PCR-amplified DNA molecules. The TA cloning method is a convenient and labor-saving replacement to traditional, restriction enzyme-mediated cloning strategies. A T-vector called pBlueskript ΙΙ SK-1 with the lethal gene ccdB was designed to construct a positive selection...

Exposure to bile induces curing of the virulence plasmid in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (pSLT). Disruption of the ccdB gene increases pSLT curing, both spontaneous and induced by bile, suggesting that the pSLT ccdAB genes may encode a homolog of the CcdAB addiction module previously described in the F sex factor. Unlike the F sex factor, synthesis of pSLT-encoded pili does not confe...