By ST u’ iIsLAw SZMIGIELSKI AND JOANNA Ln’w T HE PHYSIOLOGIC and biochemical role of zinc (Zn), as a cofactor of many important enzymes ( carboxypeptidase, dehydrogenases, alkaline phosphate, carboanhydrase) is now well established, but our present knowledge of zinc metabolism and transport in the human body is still incomplete. Vallee1 estimated Zn content in whole blood at 880 gamma/100 ml. H...

BACKGROUND The bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) is largely dependent on the Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) microscopy. This method has a low sensitivity, which can be improved by the concentration of the specimen with sodium hypochlorite (NaoCl), followed by centrifugation before doing acid fast staining (AFB). AIM To study the improvement in the sensitivity of the sputum smear by the bleac...

The crystal structure of a putative dipeptidase (Phdpd) from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 was solved using X-ray data at 2.4 A resolution. The protein is folded into two distinct entities. The N-terminal domain consists of the general topology of the alpha/beta fold, and the C-terminal domain consists of five long mixed strands, four helices, and two 3(10) helices. The structure of Phdpd is quite ...

Mossy fiber termini in the hippocampus accumulate Zn(2+), which is released with glutamate from synaptic vesicles upon neural excitation. Understanding the spatiotemporal regulation of mobile Zn(2+) at the synaptic level is challenging owing to the difficulty of visualizing Zn(2+) at individual synapses. Here we describe the use of zinc-responsive fluorescent probes together with two-photon mic...

The diagnostic usefulness of Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN)-stained sputum smears combined with conventional polymerase chain reaction (ZN/PCR) to amplify IS6110 region DNA extracted from ZN slides was evaluated. The objective was to verify if this association could improve tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in patients at remote sites. The study was carried out in 89 patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary TB ...

Depending on their subunit composition, GABA(A) receptors can be highly sensitive to Zn(2+). Although a pathological role for Zn(2+)-mediated inhibition of GABA(A) receptors has been postulated, no direct evidence exists that endogenous Zn(2+) can modulate GABAergic signaling in the brain. A possible explanation is that Zn(2+) is mainly localized to a subset of glutamatergic synapses. Hippocamp...

Corresponding Author Tel: +385 51 651 150 Fax: +385 51 675 699 E-mail: [email protected] BACKGROUND: Peptidoglycan monomer (PGM), which was originally prepared by biosynthesis from culture fluids of penicillin-treated Brevibacterium divaricatum, is an immunostimulator, the activities of which might be improved by addition of zinc (Zn) to the basic molecule. Methods: To test the possible cytotoxic...

cotton (gossypium hirsutum l. cv. varamin ) an important industrial crop of iran, is grown in 300,000 ha, with an average seed -cotton yield of 1750 kg.ha-1. the main obstacle in the way of increasing average cotton yield is imbalanced fertilizer use. along with urea and triple super phosphate, cotton growers also need k, mg, zn, fe, mn, cu, and b, so these elements’ critical levels should ...