The eukaryotic sliding DNA clamp, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), is essential for DNA replication and repair synthesis. In order to load the ring-shaped, homotrimeric PCNA onto the DNA double helix, the ATPase activity of the replication factor C (RFC) clamp loader complex is required. Although the recruitment of PCNA by RFC to DNA replication sites has well been documented, our und...

Cyclic stresses applied to bones generate fatigue damage that affects the bone stiffness and its elastic modulus. This paper proposes a finite element model for the prediction of fatigue damage accumulation and failure in cancellous bone at continuum scale. The model is based on continuum damage mechanics and incorporates crack closure effects in compression. The propagation of the cracks is co...

Previous results have suggested that methotrexate (MTX) could interfere with the repair of spontaneous DNA damage. To determine its effects on induced DNA damage, MTX was compared to hydroxyurea and arabinofuranosylcytosine (H/A), a drug combination known to block the DNA polymerase step of excision repair, for its ability to cause the accumulation of single-strand breaks (SSB) following exposu...

The eukaryotic sliding DNA clamp, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), is essential for DNA replication and repair synthesis. In order to load the ring-shaped, homotrimeric PCNA onto the DNA double helix, the ATPase activity of the replication factor C (RFC) clamp loader complex is required. Although the recruitment of PCNA by RFC to DNA replication sites has well been documented, our und...

The genetic diseases Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and restrictive dermopathy (RD) arise from accumulation of farnesylated prelamin A because of defects in the lamin A maturation pathway. Both of these diseases exhibit symptoms that can be viewed as accelerated aging. The mechanism by which accumulation of farnesylated prelamin A leads to these accelerated aging phenotypes is not ...

Delayed neuronal damage in the ischemic region of the rat brain following middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats was studied. The distribution of neuronal damage was determined by 45Ca autoradiography. Accumulation of 45Ca was observed in the corpus callosum and ipsilateral cerebral cortex immediately following MCA occlusion. After 3 days of occlu...

Iron has been implicated in the pathophysiology of several models of acute and chronic renal disease. In this study, energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry was used to quantify and localize iron in rat remnant kidneys (RK) and normal kidneys (NK) and to determine its pathophysiologic significance. Substantial iron accumulation occurred in proximal tubular cell secondary lysosomes of RK (P < 0.001...

BACKGROUND Accumulation of DNA damage leading to adult stem cell exhaustion has been proposed to be a principal mechanism of aging. Here we tested this hypothesis in healthy individuals of different ages by examining unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells matured in their physiological microenvironment. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To asses DNA dam...

Melanin production is important to the pathogenicity and survival of some bacterial pathogens. In Bacillus anthracis, loss of hmgA, encoding homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase, results in accumulation of a melanin-like pigment called pyomelanin. Pyomelanin is produced in the mutant as a byproduct of disrupted catabolism of L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine. Accumulation of pyomelanin protects B. anthra...

Recent discoveries suggest that aging is neither driven by accumulation of molecular damage of any cause, nor by random damage of any kind. Some predictions of a new theory, quasi-programmed hyperfunction, have already been confirmed and a clinically-available drug slows aging and delays diseases in animals. The relationship between diseases and aging becomes easily apparent. Yet, the essence o...