The activity of omiganan pentahydrochloride (formerly MBI 226; a synthetic cationic peptide) was assessed against 1,437 recent clinical bacterial isolates and 214 recent clinical yeast isolates. The omiganan was highly active, and minimal bactericidal concentrations or minimal fungicidal concentrations were either equal to or two- to fourfold higher than MICs. Kill curve experiments showed a cl...

For a classical two-dimensional one-component plasma (with a logarithmic interaction), the onebody density can be calculated exactly when the coupling constant has the special value 0393 = 2. The behaviour of this density is studied near the wall of the circular box which encloses the system. If there is an excess charge, it concentrates near the wall. The density at the wall is related to the ...

This review describes historical iodine deficiency in the UK, gives current information on dietary sources of iodine and summarises recent evidence of iodine deficiency and its association with child neurodevelopment. Iodine is required for the production of thyroid hormones that are needed for brain development, particularly during pregnancy. Iodine deficiency is a leading cause of preventable...

5-[(2-Chloro-6-fluorophenyl)acetylamino]-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-4(4-pyrimidinyl)isoxazole (AKP-001) is a potent p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor that is being developed to specifically target the intestines for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. According to the ante-drug concept, AKP-001 was designed to be metabolized to inactive forms via the first-pass metabolism to avoid...

Two clearly opposing views exist on the function of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), a fetal plasma protein that binds estrogens with high affinity, in the sexual differentiation of the rodent brain. AFP has been proposed to either prevent the entry of estrogens or to actively transport estrogens into the developing female brain. The availability of Afp mutant mice (Afp–/–) now finally allows us to res...

In this work, we developed a microfluidic device for the imitation of drug metabolism in human liver and its cytotoxicity on cells. The integrated microfluidic device consists of three sections: (1) bioreactors containing poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) hydrogel encapsulated human liver microsomes (HLMs); (2) cell culture chambers for cytotoxicity assay; and (3) integrated micro solid-phase extract...

RNA interference (RNAi) is the process of sequence-specific post-transcriptional gene silencing triggered by double-stranded RNAs1–3. In attempts to identify RNAi triggers that effectively function at lower concentrations, we found that synthetic RNA duplexes 25–30 nucleotides in length can be up to 100-fold more potent than corresponding conventional 21-mer small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Som...

A fundamental aspect of human intelligence is the ability to represent and reason relations. Examples of relational thinking include our ability to appreciate analogies between diVerent objects or events (Gentner, 1983; Holyoak & Thagard, 1995); our ability to apply abstract rules in novel situations (e.g., Smith, Langston, & Nisbett, 1992); our ability to understand and learn language (e.g., K...