BACKGROUND Geographical variation of the general practitioner (GP) workforce is known between rural and urban areas. However, data about the variation between and within urban areas are lacking. METHOD We analyzed distribution patterns of GP full time equivalents (FTE) in German cities with a population size of more than 500,000. We correlated their distribution with area measures of social d...

Cellular mechanisms for controlling membrane trafficking appear to involve small GTP-binding proteins such as the Rab proteins. Rab function is regulated by GDP dissociation inhibitor (GDI), which releases Rab proteins from membranes and inhibits GDP dissociation. Here we report the isolation of a full-length cDNA encoding a novel GDI isoform of 445 amino acids (GDI-2) with a deduced molecular ...

Inflammasome, an intracellular inflammatory machinery, has been reported to be involved in a variety of chronic degenerative diseases such as atherosclerosis, autoinflammatory diseases and Alzheimer's disease. The present study hypothesized that the formation and activation of inflammasomes associated with apoptosis associated speck-like protein (ASC) are an important initiating mechanism resul...

In this study, mice lacking the gp91(phox) gene were used to address the role of NADPH oxidase in hyperhomocysteinemia-induced podocyte injury. It was found that a folate-free diet increased plasma homocysteine levels, but failed to increase O(2)(-) production in the glomeruli from gp91(phox) gene knockout (gp91(-/-)) mice, compared with wild-type (gp91(+/+)) mice. Proteinuria and glomerular da...

D4-GDI, a Rho guanosine diphosphate (GDP) dissociation inhibitor, is preferentially expressed in hematopoietic tissues and binds to a small GTP-binding protein, Rho, and inhibits GDP dissociation from Rho. We identified point mutations in the D4-GDI gene in human leukemic cells. We therefore investigated the functions of D4-GDI and mutated D4-GDI in T cells. Transgenic mice (Tg) harboring human...

results of damage prediction in buildings can be used as a useful tool for managing and decreasing seismic risk of earthquakes. in this study, damage spectrum and c4.5 decision tree algorithm were utilized for damage prediction in steel buildings during earthquakes. in order to prepare the damage spectrum, steel buildings were modeled as a single-degree-of-freedom (sdof) system and time-history...

Rab proteins are small GTPases required for vesicle trafficking through the secretory and endocytic pathways. Rab GDP-dissociation inhibitor (rab-GDI) regulates Rab protein function and localization by maintaining Rab proteins in the GDP-bound conformation. Two isoforms of rab-GDI are present in most mammalian cells: GDI-1 and GDI-2. It has recently been demonstrated that a Heat shock protein 9...

Prenylated Rab GTPases occur in the cytosol in their GDP-bound conformations bound to a cytosolic protein termed GDP-dissociation inhibitor (GDI). Rab-GDI complexes represent a pool of active, recycling Rab proteins that can deliver Rabs to specific and distinct membrane-bound compartments. Rab delivery to cellular membranes involves release of GDI, and the membrane-associated Rab protein then ...

The majority of the GTP-binding proteins of the Ras superfamily hydrolyze GTP to GDP very slowly. A notable exception to this are the Rac proteins, which have intrinsic GTPase rates at least 50-fold those of Ras or Rho. A protein (or proteins) capable of inhibiting this GTPase activity exists in human neutrophil cytosol. Since Rac appears to exist normally in neutrophils as a cytosolic protein ...

Rab-GDP dissociation inhibitor protein (rab-GDI) plays an essential role in secretory pathways. To date, the question of multiplicity of GDI isoforms in higher plants remains open and dbEST search, PCR and Southern blot analysis have been used to assess the isoform composition of rab-GDI in Arabidopsis thaliana. A novel rab-GDI isoform, ,4rGDI2, was identified which shares 90% identity in amino...