AIM Infants exposed to antidepressants in utero are at risk of developing poor neonatal adaptation (PNA). This study identified risk factors for PNA. METHODS In this cohort study, data on mothers and infants admitted to the maternity ward of a general hospital between 2007 and 2012 were analysed. All infants were exposed to an antidepressant during the last trimester of foetal life. The main ...

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) forms sequence-specific (PNA)2/DNA triplexes with one strand of double-stranded DNA by strand invasion. When formed with the template strand of DNA such a (PNA)2/DNA triplex can arrest transcription elongation in vitro and can thus act as an anti-gene agent. One of the major obstacles to applying PNA as an anti-gene agent in vivo is that PNA strand invasion occurs at ...

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) has become an extremely powerful tool in chemistry and biology. Although PNA recognizes single-stranded nucleic acids with exceptionally high affinity and sequence selectivity, there is considerable ongoing effort to further improve properties of PNA for both fundamental science and practical applications. The present paper discusses selected recent studies that impro...

We investigated the mechanism and kinetic specificity of binding of peptide nucleic acid clamps (bis-PNAs) to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Kinetic specificity is defined as a ratio of initial rates of PNA binding to matched and mismatched targets on dsDNA. Bis-PNAs consist of two homopyrimidine PNA oligomers connected by a flexible linker. While complexing with dsDNA, they are known to form P-l...

The synthesis of a diaminopurine PNA monomer, N-[N6-(benzyloxycarbonyl)-2,6-diaminopurine-9-yl] acetyl-N-(2-t-butyloxycarbonylaminoethyl)glycine, and the incorporation of this monomer into PNA oligomers are described. Substitution of adenine by diaminopurine in PNA oligomers increased the T m of duplexes formed with complementary DNA, RNA or PNA by 2.5-6.5 degrees C per diaminopurine. Furthermo...

Nucleic (DNA) acids having contiguous stretch of G sequence form quadruplex structure, which is very critical to control cell division. Recently the existence of G-quadruplex in RNA is also reported in presence of monovalent metal ion. PNA is a promising DNA analogue which binds strongly to DNA to form PNA:DNA duplex or PNA(2):DNA triplex. PNA also forms quadruplexes such G-quadruplex and i-mot...

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a nucleic acid mimic in which the deoxyribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a pseudo-peptide polymer to which the nucleobases are linked. PNA-oligomers can be synthesized in relatively large amounts, are highly stable in biological environments, and bind complementary DNA and RNA targets with remarkably high affinity and specificity. Thus PNA possesses ma...

Peanut seed lectin (PNA) is widely used to identify tumor-specific antigens on the eukaryotic cell surface. In this work PNA was purified by affinity chromatography, using a column containing glutaraldehyde-treated human erythrocytes, whereas PNA isoforms were purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography using Phenyl-Sepharose. The affinity-purified PNA and its isoforms consist of four eq...

Hybridization-based assays for the detection of nucleic acids including in situ hybridization are increasingly being utilized in a wide variety of disciplines such as cytogenetics, microbiology, and histology. Generally in situ hybridization assays utilize either cloned genomic probes for the detection of DNA sequences or oligonucleotide probes for the detection of DNA or RNA sequences. Alterna...

The lectins Peanut agglutinin (PNA), Canavalia ensiformis (Con A), Ulex europaeus-1 (UEA-1), Dolichos biflorus (DBA), Triticum vulgaris (WGA) were studied in a series of 36 meningiomas (16 meningotheliomatous-including 3 recurrences, 7 transitional, 4 angiomatous, 2 "hemangiopericytic", 3 papillary-including 1 recurrence, 4 anaplastic-including 3 recurrences. PNA binds to all cases of meningoth...