Vinculin localizes to membrane adhesion junctions in smooth muscle tissues, where its head domain binds to talin and its tail domain binds to filamentous actin, thus linking actin filaments to the extracellular matrix. Vinculin can assume a closed conformation, in which the head and tail domains bind to each other and mask the binding sites for actin and talin, and an open activated conformatio...

In 1991, a long term UBV -photometry campaign of four Wolf-Rayet stars was started using the 60 cm telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory Rozhen, Bulgaria. Here we report on our observational results and discuss the light variations. The star WR137 was observed during 1991 1998. No indications of eclipses were found, though random light variations with small amplitudes exist, which ...

The spectrum of the Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 63 contains spectral lines two different O stars that show regular radial velocity (RV) variations with amplitudes ~160 and ~225 km/s on a ~4.03 d period. light-curve shows narrow eclipses are 0.2 mag deep same period as RV changes. On other hand, our data no significant for lines. Those findings compatible being triple system composed non-interacting...

Human-specific or disproportionately abundant human metabolites of drug candidates that are not adequately formed and qualified in preclinical safety assessment species pose an important drug development challenge. Furthermore, the overall metabolic profile of drug candidates in humans is an important determinant of their drug-drug interaction susceptibility. These risks can be effectively asse...

The intranuclear position of many genes has been correlated with their activity state, suggesting that migration to functional subcompartments may influence gene expression. Indeed, nascent RNA production and RNA polymerase II seem to be localized into discrete foci or ‘transcription factories’. Current estimates from cultured cells indicate that multiple genes could occupy the same factory, al...

BACKGROUND Wr(a) is a low-incidence antigen, which is antithetical to the high prevalence red blood cell antigen, Wr(b). Anti-Wr(a) is a naturally occurring antibody that is found in approximately 1-2% of blood donors. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of Wr(a) and anti-Wr(a) in Brazilian blood donors. METHODS A total of 1662 Brazilian blood donors were molecularly analyzed...

The crystal and molecular structure of a potent antitumor agent, CC1065 (C37H33N708), has been determined, and circular dichroism studies have demonstrated a strong interaction between CC-1065 and DNA. The triclinic unit cell, space group P1, of dimensions a = 11.063 (3) A, b = 13.311 (2) A, c = 13.405 (2) A, a = 85.18 (1)O, @ = 99.52 (l)', and y = 103.36 (2)O, contains two CC-1065 molecules an...

Weedy rice (WR) is found in many direct-seeded rice fields. WR possesses morphological characteristics that are similar to cultivated rice varieties in the early stage of growth, making them more difficult to control than other weeds. A comparative morphological study was conducted by collecting WR accessions from four sites within the Pulau Pinang rice growing areas. The objective of the study...

Exposure of cells to elevated temperatures and other environmental stresses results in the expression of specific genes encoding the so-called heat shock proteins (HSPs). Since exogenous H2O2 induces in human monocytes the synthesis of HSPs, and previous induction of HSPs protects these cells from oxidative injury, we investigated whether HSP synthesis was also induced during generation of reac...