In summary, the RT-LAMP assay is a simple, cost-effective, sensitive, Selleck Geneticin and specific tool for the rapid detection of SsRV infection. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Obesity has reached epidemic

proportions globally with an increasing incidence not just in Western cultures but also Mexico, Brazil, China and parts of Africa. In terms of pharmacological intervention, the track record of drug treatments for obesity is poor, especially in the case of centrally acting medicines, and there remains an unmet need for the development of safer compounds delivering superior efficacy. Animal models are of importance not only in detecting changes in food intake, energy expenditure and body weight but also providing confidence that these changes are behaviourally specific and not a result of drug-induced side effects. We review animal models of feeding behaviour that are used to aid our understanding of the control of

body weight and energy regulation with special reference to CNS-acting drugs. The use of such models in the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of obesity is given particular emphasis.

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Central Control of Food Intake’. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Theory predicts that CP673451 research buy stress is a key factor in explaining the evolutionary role of sex in facultatively sexual organisms, including microorganisms. Parvulin Organisms capable of reproducing both sexually and asexually are expected to mate more frequently when stressed, and such stress-induced mating is predicted to facilitate adaptation. Here,

we propose that stress has an analogous effect on the parasexual cycle in Candida albicans, which involves alternation of generations between diploid and tetraploid cells. The parasexual cycle can generate high levels of diversity, including aneuploidy, yet it apparently occurs only rarely in nature. We review the evidence that stress facilitates four major steps in the parasexual cycle and suggest that parasex occurs much more frequently under stress conditions. This may explain both the evolutionary significance of parasex and its apparent rarity.”
“The intestinal guanylyl cyclase-C (GC-C) was originally identified as an Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin (STa) receptor. STa stimulates GC-C to much higher activity than the endogenous ligands guanylin and uroguanylin, causing severe diarrhea. To investigate the interactions of the endogenous and bacterial ligands with GC-C, we designed and characterized a soluble and properly folded fragment of the extracellular ligand-binding domain of GC-C. The membrane-bound guanylyl cyclases exhibit a single transmembrane spanning helix and a globularly folded extracellular ligand-binding domain that comprises about 410 of 1050 residues.