The carrier facilitated transport of lithium picrate was studied using a series of non-cyclic polyethers containing different end groups and chain lengths through Bulk Liquid Membrane (BLM) and Supported Liquid Membrane (SLM) systems. The various membrane supports used are viz. PTFE, cellulose nitrate, and dialysis membrane and onion membrane. The amount of Li+ transported depends upon the stru...

Gene therapy is often referred to as transfer of transgenes into the somatic cells of a patient to obtain a therapeutic effect .One of the goals for all such therapies is efficient and safe delivery of the desired extrinsic genes into target cells, thereby increasing the therapeutic efficiency (Robson & Hirst, 2003). This has been a major obstacle in gene therapy experiments (Sarbolouki et al.,...

Different viral and non-viral vectors have been designed to allow the delivery of nucleic acids in gene therapy. In general, non-viral vectors have been associated with increased safety for in vivo use; however, issues regarding their efficacy, toxicity and stability continue to drive further research. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential use of the polymerizable diacetylen...

The mechanism of influenza virus (INFV)-induced immunosuppression and the mode of inosiplex action against INFV infection were studied. INFV suppressed both anti-lipopolysaccharide and anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody production in mice. INFV infection caused viral mRNA synthesis and increased total RNA synthesis in lymphocytes, but total mRNA synthesis was decreased. The translational ability o...

Objective To compare reproductive outcomes in couples carrying a structural chromosome abnormality and non-carrier couples referred for chromosome analysis after two or more miscarriages. Design Case-control study. Setting Six centres for clinical genetics in the Netherlands. Participants 278 carrier couples and 427 non-carrier couples referred for chromosome analysis between 1992 and 2000 afte...

BACKGROUND Efforts to improve the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery require a better understanding of delivery kinetics of DNA molecules into clinically relevant cells. Towards this goal, three DNA molecules were employed to investigate the effects of DNA properties on cellular delivery: a circular plasmid DNA (c-DNA), a linearized plasmid DNA (l-DNA) formulated by single-site digestion of ...

The clinical value of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of anti-HBc IgM was evaluated by testing 202 sera from acute viral hepatitis B (AVHB), hepatitis B (HB), chronic hepatitis (CAH), chronic liver disease (CLD), cirrhosis, primary hepatoma, HBsAg carrier, acute viral hepatitis A (AVHA), hepatitis A (HA), non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis and miscellaneous conditions ...

Peroxisomes require the translocation of folded and functional target proteins of various sizes across the peroxisomal membrane. We have investigated the structure and function of the principal import receptor Pex5p, which recognizes targets bearing a C-terminal peroxisomal targeting signal type 1. Crystal structures of the receptor in the presence and absence of a peroxisomal target, sterol ca...

t o b The so-called inactive carriers are regularly revisited in hepatologist’s literature, but many pending issues are yet unsolved. Magalhães et al looked back in to a cohort of patients carefully followed with serial assessment of some blood parameters, trying to indirectly validate their own strategy of monitoring. Patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) present several patterns of s...