The hypocretin (orexin) system is involved in sleep/wake regulation, and antagonists of both hypocretin receptor type 1 (HCRTR1) and/or HCRTR2 are considered to be potential hypnotic medications. It is currently unclear whether blockade of either or both receptors is more effective for promoting sleep with minimal side effects. Accordingly, we compared the properties of selective HCRTR1 (SB-408...

Integron In2 integrase (IntI1)-mediated site-specific recombination between two primary sites occurs at a high frequency, while that between a primary and a secondary site occurs at frequencies around 10,000 times lower. Secondary sites consist of a pentanucleotide with only two fully conserved residues (GWTMW). The analysis of IntI1-mediated recombinants in the plasmid pOX38 revealed the exist...

The ardA gene of I1 plasmid ColIb-P9 was previously shown to alleviate DNA restriction by type I enzymes and to promote conjugative transmission of the unmodified plasmid to a restricting host. To clarify the ecological role of ardA, its distribution was determined on plasmids from 23 incompatibility groups using hybridization to the coding sequence as an assay. Hybridizing sequences, shown by ...

This study examined the individual and combined effects of the selective agents normally present in Yersinia-selective agar (i.e. cefsulodin, irgasan and novobiocin) on the growth kinetics of plasmid-bearing (P+) and plasmid-cured (P-) Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:3 at 25 and 37 degrees C. Growth studies were carried out in pure culture, and the data obtained were subjected to linear regr...

A seer, according to one dictionary definition, is a person who can predict events or developments; someone, in other words, who can foretell the future. As far as I know, Yehoshua Bar-Hillel never actually claimed to be a seer. He was first and foremost a scientist (a logician and philosopher of science), not a prophet. But in his many writings on machine translation in the 1950's and early 60...

This atudy was designed to evaluate the antifungal and cytotoxic activities of the Nannorrhops ritchiana (Mazari Palm) 80% methanol extract (NR-M) and its four crude extracts i.e., petroleum ether (NR-A), dichloromethane (NR-B), ethyl acetate (NR-C) and butanol (NR-D). The antifungal activity was determined by agar tube dilution method against nine fungal strains; Aspergillus flavus, Trichophyt...