Background:  After breast conserving surgery, most recurrences occur around the primary tumor site. This justifies the use of boost radiotherapy to the primary site of tumor. Surgical scar is not always a good surrogate for the location of the lumpectomy cavity. The aim of this study was to evaluate ultrasonic guidance for detection of the lumpectomy cavity after breast conserving surgery ...

DmmA is a haloalkane dehalogenase (HLD) identified and characterized from the metagenomic DNA of a marine microbial consortium. Dehalogenase activity was detected with 1,3-dibromopropane as substrate, with steady-state kinetic parameters typical of HLDs (K(m) = 0.24 ± 0.05 mM, k(cat) = 2.4 ± 0.1 s(-1) ). The 2.2-Å crystal structure of DmmA revealed a fold and active site similar to other HLDs...

The recently discovered 150-cavity in the active site of group-1 influenza A neuraminidase (NA) proteins provides a target for rational structure-based drug development to counter the increasing frequency of antiviral resistance in influenza. Surprisingly, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus (09N1) neuraminidase was crystalized without the 150-cavity characteristic of group-1 NAs. Here we demonstrate,...

It is generally recognised that novel antiviral drugs, less prone to resistance, would be a desirable alternative to current drug options in order to be able to treat potentially serious influenza infections. The viral polymerase, which performs transcription and replication of the RNA genome, is an attractive target for antiviral drugs since potent polymerase inhibitors could directly stop vir...

We have identified a P450(cam) mutation, L244A, that mitigates the affinity for imidazole and substituted imidazoles while maintaining a high affinity for the natural substrate camphor. The P450(cam) L244A crystal structure solved in the absence of any ligand reveals that the I-helix is displaced inwards by over 1 A in response to the cavity created by the change from leucine to alanine. Furthe...

Pressured by antibiotic use, resistance enzymes have been evolving new activities. Does such evolution have a cost? To investigate this question at the molecular level, clinically isolated mutants of the beta-lactamase TEM-1 were studied. When purified, mutant enzymes had increased activity against cephalosporin antibiotics but lost both thermodynamic stability and kinetic activity against thei...

Considerable attention has been focused on proton transfer through intervening water molecules in complex macromolecules of biological interest, such as bacteriorhodopsin, cytochrome c oxidase, and many others. Proton transfer in catalysis by carbonic anhydrase provides a useful model for the study of the properties of such proton translocations. High-resolution X-ray crystallography in combina...

Introduction: Few studies on benign soft tissue tumors of oral cavity have been conducted in an Iranian population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the benign soft tissue tumors of the oral cavity in three central pathology centers of Rasht, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, all benign soft tissue tumors of the oral cavity, were retrieved fro...

A detailed parameterization is presented of a zinc ion with one histidine and two cysteinate ligands, together with one or two water, hydroxide, aldehyde, alcohol, or alkoxide ligands. The parameterization is tailored for the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase and is obtained entirely from quantum chemical computations. The force-field reproduces excellently the geometry of quantum chemically...