Background: Pilonidal sinus is a disease of young adults having single or multiple blind tracks lined by granulation tissue containing tuft of shed hair. Natal cleft is the commonest site; rarely involves umbilicus, axilla and inter-digital cleft. It has various methods of its treatment. The modalities of treatment vary from conservative medical management to complex surgical procedures. Aim:To...

The release of signaling molecules from neurons must be regulated, to accommodate their highly polarized structure. In the developing Drosophila visual system, photoreceptor neurons secrete the epidermal growth factor receptor ligand Spitz (Spi) from their cell bodies, as well as from their axonal termini. Here we show that subcellular localization of Rhomboid proteases, which process Spi, dete...

The reuniens and rhomboid nuclei, located in the ventral midline of the thalamus, have long been regarded as having non-specific effects on the cortex, while other evidence suggests that they influence behavior related to the photoperiod, hunger, stress or anxiety. We summarise the recent anatomical, electrophysiological and behavioral evidence that these nuclei also influence cognitive process...

Rhomboid intramembrane proteases occur throughout the kingdoms of life. In this issue of Genes & Development, Baxt and colleagues (pp. 1636-1646) report that the single proteolytic rhomboid (EhROM1) from Entamoeba histolytica cleaves cell surface galactose-binding or N-acetylgalactosamine-binding (Gal/Gal-NAc) lectins. EhROM1 and lectins colocalize during phagocytosis and receptor capping. EhRO...

The eukaryotic cytosolic chaperonin containing TCP-1 (CCT) has an important function in maintaining cellular homoeostasis by assisting the folding of many proteins, including the cytoskeletal components actin and tubulin. Yet the nature of the proteins and cellular pathways dependent on CCT function has not been established globally. Here, we use proteomic and genomic approaches to define CCT i...

Multicomponent, self-assembled rhomboidal constructs are reported, in which bis-terpyridines possessing 120° or 60° directionality and Zn(II) or Cd(II) in a stoichiometric ratio (1 : 1 : 2) initially form rhomboid and triangle mixtures; whereas, a tris-terpyridine reacts with the 60°-based bis-ligand and metal to quantitatively form a heteroleptic, centrally fused, rhomboidal structure.