“
“The ribosomal protein S17E
from the archaeon Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum is a component of the 30S ribosomal subunit. S17E is a 62-residue protein conserved in archaea and eukaryotes and has no counterparts in bacteria. Mammalian S17E is a phosphoprotein component of eukaryotic ribosomes. Archaeal S17E proteins range from 59 to 79 amino acids, and are about half the length of the eukaryotic homologs which have an additional C-terminal region. Here we report the three-dimensional solution structure of S17E. S17E folds into a small three-helix bundle strikingly similar to the FF domain of human HYPA/FBP11, a novel phosphopeptide-binding fold. S17E bears a conserved positively charged surface acting as a robust scaffold for molecular recognition. selleck inhibitor Alvocidib purchase The structure of M. thermoautotrophicum S17E provides a template for homology modeling of eukaryotic S17E proteins in the family.”
“Background: Typhoid fever remains a significant health problem in many developing countries. A rapid test with a performance comparable to that of blood culture would be highly useful. A rapid diagnostic test for typhoid fever, Tubex (R), is commercially available that uses particle separation to detect immunoglobulin M directed towards Salmonella Typhi O9 lipopolysaccharide in sera.\n\nMethods:
We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the Tubex test among Tanzanian children hospitalized with febrile
illness using blood culture as gold standard. Evaluation was done considering blood culture confirmed S. Typhi with non-typhi salmonella (NTS) and non – salmonella isolates as controls as well as with non-salmonella isolates only.\n\nResults: Of 139 samples selleck tested with Tubex, 33 were positive for S. Typhi in blood culture, 49 were culture-confirmed NTS infections, and 57 were other non-salmonella infections. Thirteen hemolyzed samples were excluded. Using all non S. Typhi isolates as controls, we showed a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 89%. When the analysis was repeated excluding NTS from the pool of controls we showed a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 97%. There was no significant difference in the test performance using the two different control groups (p > 0.05).\n\nConclusion: This first evaluation of the Tubex test in an African setting showed a similar performance to those seen in some Asian settings. Comparison with the earlier results of a Widal test using the same samples showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) for any of the performance indicators, irrespective of the applied control group.”
“A new set of completely green methods utilising air, light, water and spirulina to transform readily accessible furan substrates into a diverse range of synthetically useful polyoxygenated motifs commonly found in natural products is presented herein.