QUESTION Crying is common in infants; however, caring for infants with inconsolable crying, previously also known as colic or reflux, is often extremely distressing for parents. Is there a benefit to using gastric acid suppression (eg, proton pump inhibitors [PPIs]) in these infants? ANSWER The use of PPIs in infants and children has increased in recent years. The efficacy of proton pump inhi...

The hyperpolarisation of the membrane potential in Characeae above that of the diffusion potential is explained by the operation of the electrogenic proton pump. We studied the interaction of calcium with the functioning of the pump. The membrane potential was measured using the standard microelectrode technique. An increase in the calcium concentration resulted in depolarisation, its magnitude...

Your surgeons want the latest and greatest devices for their patients, and you would probably let them have every new gadget and gizmo they desired . . . if only your organization could afford it. But the reality is that you cannot give in to every request for these particular physician preference items (PPI), so you must find ways to keep your physicians happy with the devices they already use...

Rates of protein evolution are thought to be influenced by features of protein-protein interaction (PPI). However, the most important features of interaction for determining the evolutionary rate are poorly understood. Here, we consider four categories for PPIs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Properties we consider are the extent to which proteins interact with proteins of the same function or dif...

Cytochrome cbb(3) belongs to the superfamily of respiratory heme-copper oxidases that couple the reduction of molecular oxygen to proton translocation across the bacterial or mitochondrial membrane. The cbb(3)-type enzymes are found only in bacteria, and are both structurally and functionally the most distant from their mitochondrial counterparts. The mechanistic H(+)/e(-) stoichiometry of prot...

Coupling of proton flow and rotation in the F(0) motor of ATP synthase was investigated using the thermophilic Bacillus PS3 enzyme expressed functionally in Escherichia coli cells. Cysteine residues introduced into the N-terminal regions of subunits b and c of ATP synthase (bL2C/cS2C) were readily oxidized by treating the expressing cells with CuCl(2) to form predominantly a b-c cross-link with...

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori eradication rates in Portugal are declining, due to increased resistance of this bacterium to antimicrobial agents, especially Clarithromycin. Quadruple Levofloxacin-containing regimens could be an option for first-line treatment, but its efficacy should be evaluated as fluoroquinolone resistance is rapidly increasing. Our aim was to compare the efficacy of Clarit...

A triple therapy based on a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), amoxicillin (AMPC), and clarithromycin (CAM) is recommended as a first-line therapy for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication and is widely used in Japan. However, a decline in eradication rate associated with an increase in prevalence of CAM resistance is viewed as a problem. We investigated CAM resistance and eradication rates ove...