We describe three upper limb injuries admitted in one year to our institution resulting from falls from motorised mobility scooters (MMS) where all three users were novices, using their MMS for less than 6 weeks. They sustained injuries in close proximity to their homes, necessitating admission to hospital. None had received any formal training before commencing use of their respective devices....

In Streptomyces coelicolor, transcription of the sodF genes, encoding Fe-containing superoxide dismutases, is negatively regulated by nickel. Gel mobility shift assays with sodF1 promoter fragments and cell extracts from the A3(2) strain indicate the presence of a nickel-responsive DNA-binding protein, most likely a transcriptional repressor. The boundary for the Ni-responsive cis-acting region...

An enhancer at -2.6 kb and a HOX.PBX-binding site at -60 bp have been demonstrated to be critical to expression of the mouse renin gene (Ren-1(c)) in As4.1 cells. In this report, we show that a region (-197 to -70) immediately 5' to the HOX.PBX-binding site is also critical for Ren-1(c) expression. Deletion of this region in a construct containing 4.1 kb of the Ren-1(c) 5'-flanking sequence res...

We used a "sandwich"-type immunoenzymometric assay (IEMA) and a radioimmunoassay (RIA) to measure antibody against the human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in serum from individuals with myasthenia gravis, with markedly different results for certain specimens, as measured by the two techniques. In some cases, antibody concentrations were high by RIA but low by IEMA; in others, the reverse was...

We have characterized the proximal promoter of the human alpha1(III) collagen gene (COL3A1). Transient transfection assays using a series of chimeric constructs linked to the luciferase gene indicated that the segment from -96 to -34 is necessary to activate transcription. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) showed that the multiple proteins form the DNA-protein complex in different c...

Two members of a family of spore germination-specific cDNAs, celA and celB, are expressed coordinately, exclusively during spore germination. In the present study the regulatory sequence elements responsible for celA germination-specific expression have been identified. The very AT-rich 81 bp sequence between -664 and -584 upstream of the translation initiation site was required for proper temp...

We performed a serological, clinical, and parasitological follow-up of a dog population in an endemic area of American Visceral Leishmaniasis estimated by indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) and western blot (WB). After twelve months, the results obtained from IFA demonstrated that 50% were seropositive and two serological profiles were observed: the first one ranging from 1/40 to 1/80 and t...

Escherichia coli ribosomal protein L3 stimulates the in vitro helicase activity of Bacillus stearothermophilus PcrA helicase upon a variety of different substrates. L3 has no intrinsic helicase or ATPase activity nor is it able to stimulate the ATPase activity of PcrA. Gel mobility shift assays revealed that the affinity of PcrA for a variety of different DNA species (single-stranded, nicked an...

BACKGROUND Mobility disability is a major problem in older people. Numerous scales exist for the measurement of disability but often these do not permit comparisons between study groups. The physical functioning (PF) domain of the established and widely used Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire asks about limitations on ten mobility activities. OBJECTIVES To describe prevalence of mobility dis...

IFNgamma is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that potentiates p53-independent apoptosis in a variety of cell types. STAT1 is the primary mediator of IFNgamma action. ZBP-89 is a transcription factor that binds to the G/C-rich elements and mediates p53-independent apoptosis. In this study, site-directed mutagenesis revealed that a G-rich element from +171 to +179 within the first intron of the STAT1 ...