Intercellular coupling mediated by gap junction channels composed of connexin protein underlies numerous physiological processes, such as cellular differentiation, tissue synchronization and metabolic homoeostasis. The distinct molecular permeability of junctional channels composed of different connexin isoforms allows cellular control of coupling via regulation of isoform expression. However, ...

OBJECTIVES Pandemic H1N1/09 viruses with the neuraminidase H274Y mutation have emerged in untreated patients or following oseltamivir therapy or prophylaxis. There have been no reports yet of zanamivir-resistant H1N1/09 viruses in previously healthy patients. We wanted to determine whether we could select for neuraminidase mutations conferring high-level resistance to zanamivir by in vitro pass...

Emerging infectious diseases constitute some of the most pressing problems for both human and domestic animal health, and biodiversity conservation. Currently it is not clear whether the removal of past constraints on geographical distribution and transmission possibilities for pathogens alone are sufficient to give rise to novel host-pathogen combinations, or whether pathogen evolution is also...

We studied the molecular evolution of the haemagglutinin (H) gene (full length) in all genotypes (24 genotypes, 297 strains) of measles virus (MeV). The gene's evolutionary timescale was estimated by the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. We also analysed positive selection sites. The MCMC tree indicated that the MeV H gene diverged from the rinderpest virus (same genus) about 250...

1. The metabolism of six purified and radioiodinated cold agglutinins has been studied in five patients with chronic cold haemagglutinin disease and in six normal controls. Two of the patients showed overt haemolysis at the time of this study and all had complement components adsorbed to the surface of their red cells. 2. The mean fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of the cold agglutinins, studied...