Cancer continues to be one of the most important health problems worldwide, and the identification of novel drugs and treatments to address this disease is urgent. During recent years, marine organisms have proven to be a promising source of new compounds with action against tumoral cell lines. Here, we describe the synthesis and anticancer activity of eight new 3-alkylpyridine alkaloid (3-APA)...

We have directly compared the ability of four promoters and three polyadenylation (poly(A)) signals to direct heterologous gene expression in stably transfected Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. We compared two constitutive Drosophila promoters, the actin 5C distal promoter and the alpha 1-tubulin promoter, with the tightly regulated Drosophila metallothionein (Mtn) promoter and the Bombyx mori...

AIM To determine if the malignant transformation, as perceived histologically, in a case of osteoblastoma from the right femur, was also expressed as a quantitative change in nuclear DNA during tumour progression over five months. METHODS Nuclear DNA microdensitometry by computer image analysis was used to acquire relative DNA distribution patterns. Tissue had been removed on four separate oc...

Thirty-six new α-benzylidene-γ-lactone compounds based α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone substructure were prepared and characterized by spectroscopic analysis. All compounds were evaluated for antifungal activities in vitro against six plant pathogenic fungi and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) against Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum lagenarium were investigated. Compounds 5c-3 a...

Pre- and post-infection resistance mechanisms expressed by Vitis rootstocks RS-9 and Teleki 5C against second-stage juveniles (J2) of resistance-breaking populations of Meloidogyne arenaria were observed and correlated with juvenile development and nematode reproduction. Cabernet Sauvignon grape was used as a susceptible control for comparison. Similar numbers of J2 penetrated Teleki 5C and Cab...

Epistasis is an important feature of the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, but the dynamics of epistatic interactions in natural populations and the relationship between epistasis and pleiotropy remain poorly understood. Here, we studied the effects of epistatic modifiers that segregate in a wild-derived Drosophila melanogaster population on the mutational effects of P-element insert...

Two previous investigations were performed to assess the activity of Gelsemium sempervirens (Gelsemium s.) in mice, using emotional response models. These two series are pooled and analysed here. Gelsemium s. in various homeopathic centesimal dilutions/dynamizations (4C, 5C, 7C, 9C, and 30C), a placebo (solvent vehicle), and the reference drugs diazepam (1 mg/kg body weight) or buspirone (5 mg/...

The steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-OHE) induces, in Kc cultured Drosophila melanogaster cells, important morphological transformations and specific changes of enzymatic activities and of protein synthesis. These changes are accompanied by an increase of synthesis and an accumulation of actin. Specific probes were used to reveal transcripts of each actin gene in mRNA populations isolated...

Abstract. There have been numerous recent publications showing that mineral dust might be a good absorber for solar radiation in addition to its capability to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice forming nuclei (IFN), and could lead to reduced cloud cover and precipitation in the region where it is present. This effect is investigated using a dynamic cloud model with detailed microphy...

The productive folding pathway of cytochrome c passes through an obligatory HW intermediate in which the heme is coordinated by a solvent water molecule and a native ligand, His-18, prior to the formation of the folded HM state with both the native His-18 and Met-80 heme coordination. Two off pathway intermediates, a five-coordinated state (5C) and a bis-histidine state (HH), were also identifi...