Microalbuminuria in humans with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is associated with increased urinary excretion of megalin, as well as many megalin ligands, including vitamin-D-binding protein (VDBP). We examined the DBA/2J diabetic mouse, nephropathy prone model, to determine if megalin and VDBP excretion coincide with the development of diabetic nephropathy. Megalin, VDBP, and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-O...

Questions concerning longitudinal data quality and reproducibility of proteomic laboratories spurred the Protein Research Group of the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF-PRG) to design a study to systematically assess the reproducibility of proteomic laboratories over an extended period of time. Developed as an open study, initially 64 participants were recruited from the bro...

Molecular recognition is determined by the structure and dynamics of both a protein and its ligand, but it is difficult to directly assess the role of each of these players. In this study, we use Markov State Models (MSMs) built from atomistic simulations to elucidate the mechanism by which the Lysine-, Arginine-, Ornithine-binding (LAO) protein binds to its ligand. We show that our model can p...

BACKGROUND Although Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI), very little information regarding the prevalence of MG among MSM (men who have sex with men) is available in China. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of MG among MSM in the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, and to identify the potential risk factors associated wi...

Markov switching models (MSMs) are probabilistic models that employ multiple sets of parameters to describe different dynamic regimes that a time series may exhibit at different periods of time. The switching mechanism between regimes is controlled by unobserved random variables that form a first-order Markov chain. Explicit-duration MSMs contain additional variables that explicitly model the d...

BACKGROUND Since 1982, HIV-1 epidemics have evolved to different scenarios in terms of transmission routes, subtype distribution and characteristics of transmission clusters. We investigated the evolutionary history of HIV-1 subtype B in south Spain. PATIENTS & METHODS We studied all newly diagnosed HIV-1 subtype B patients in East Andalusia during the 2005-2012 period. For the analysis, we u...

Highly active cytochrome b6f complexes from spinach and the cyanobacterium Mastigocladus laminosus have been analyzed by liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LCMS ). Both sizeexclusion and reverse-phase separations were used to separate protein subunits allowing measurement of their molecular masses to an accuracy exceeding 0.01% ( 3 Da at 30,000 Da). The produc...

Background The use and dosing of pharmacotherapy for chronic inflammatory disease is commonly changed over time, adapting to previous treatment response, current activity, tolerability, onset adverse events. This makes evaluating the treatments difficult, as received time becomes entangled with time-varying confounding factors, even if initial choice was randomized. To naïvely adjust these fact...