Genetic calcium probes offer tremendous potential in the fields of neuroscience, cell biology, and pharmaceutical screening. Previously, ratiometric and non-ratiometric indicators of cellular calcium dynamics have been described that consist of mutants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as fluorophores and calmodulin as calcium-binding moiety in several configurations. However, these calmod...

Biotechnology and its use to modify the genetic makeup of living organisms has become a topic of heated discussion in recent years. Confusion is plentiful on the topic of biotechnology and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The purpose of this publication is to discuss genetic/biochemical processes at a basic level and how biotechnology is used to modify the genetic makeup of an organism. R...

Taxonomically diverse marine, freshwater and terrestrial organisms have evolved the capacity to synthesize, accumulate and metabolize a variety of UV-absorbing substances called mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) as part of an overall strategy to diminish the direct and indirect damaging effects of environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Whereas the enzymatic machinery to synthesize MAAs wa...

This paper presents an evaluation of the long-term impact of microfinance programmes on Acehnese children during the post-tsunami recovery. The study, conducted from June to August 2010, examined the impact of microfinance programming six years after the tsunami. The sample consisted of 185 microfinance participants, with a comparison group of 192 individuals who did not participate in microfin...

Biochemical capabilities of bacterial and L-phase organisms of 15 bacterial strains were examined by using a variety of modified routine diagnostic biochemical tests. The results demonstrated that 13 of the tests examined were suitable for use with L-phase variants, that L-phase variants and revertant bacterial phase organisms retained diagnostically significant capabilities of the respective b...