Osler usque ad mare: the SS William Osler.
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William Osler's connections with the sea included a strong family history of seafaring, his own transatlantic crossings (of which there were at least 32) and the occasional use of nautical imagery in his inspirational writings. An unusual Oslerian connection with the sea emerged after his death in the form of a World War II Liberty ship. Through the SS William Osler and its sister ships, Osler was symbolically reunited with colleagues associated with the early days of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The William Osler circumnavigated the globe in 1943 without engaging the enemy. She was then converted into an army hospital ship and renamed the USHS Wisteria. (+info)
Accumulation of pre-apocytochrome f in a Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 mutant impaired in cytochrome c maturation.
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Cytochrome c maturation involves heme transport and covalent attachment of heme to the apoprotein. The 5' end of the ccsB gene, which is involved in the maturation process and resembles the ccs1 gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, was replaced by a chloramphenicol resistance cartridge in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The resulting Delta(M1-A24) mutant lacking the first 24 ccsB codons grew only under anaerobic conditions. The mutant retained about 20% of the wild-type amount of processed cytochrome f with heme attached, apparently assembled in a functional cytochrome b(6)f complex. Moreover, the mutant accumulated unprocessed apocytochrome f in its membrane fraction. A pseudorevertant was isolated that regained the ability to grow under aerobic conditions. The locus of the second-site mutation was mapped to ccsB, and the mutation resulted in the formation of a new potential start codon in the intergenic region, between the chloramphenicol resistance marker and ccsB, in frame with the remaining part of ccsB. In this pseudorevertant the amount of holocyt f increased, whereas that of unprocessed apocytochrome f decreased. We suggest that the original deletion mutant Delta(M1-A24) expresses an N-terminally truncated version of the protein. The stable accumulation of unprocessed apocytochrome f in membranes of the Delta(M1-A24) mutant may be explained by its association with truncated and only partially functional CcsB protein resulting in protection from degradation. Our attempt to delete the first 244 codons of ccsB in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was not successful, suggesting that this would lead to a lack of functional cytochrome b(6)f complex. The results suggest that the CcsB protein is an apocytochrome chaperone, which together with CcsA may constitute part of cytochrome c lyase. (+info)
Mapping in the sequencing era.
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The present phase of the Human Genome Project is concerned with sequencing. The shift of emphasis has left an impression that mapping is in some sense complete or finished. On the contrary, faced with the challenges of mapping genes for complex traits and efforts to understand recombination and other biological processes, the need for accurate integrated metric maps is greater than ever. Furthermore, sequencing could be regarded as merely a way of improving the map, since the most useful 'end product' of the sequencing effort must be the annotated sequence that gives precise physical coordinates for markers and expressed sequences. Integration of both location and functional information, the latter provided by homology, expression and other functional studies, is the main target for the future. (+info)
Phylogenetic analysis of Fusobacterium alocis and Fusobacterium sulci based on 16S rRNA gene sequences: proposal of Filifactor alocis (Cato, Moore and Moore) comb. nov. and Eubacterium sulci (Cato, Moore and Moore) comb. nov.
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Genes encoding the 16S rRNA of Fusobacterium alocis ATCC 35896T and Fusobacterium sulci ATCC 35585T were sequenced. These sequences did not have any affinity with the 16S rRNA gene sequences of members of the genus Fusobacterium. Fusobacterium alocis ATCC 35896T and Fusobacterium sulci ATCC 35585T belonged to Clostridium cluster XI; the species most closely related to these strains were Filifactor villosus NCTC 11220T and Eubacterium infirmum W1471, respectively. Two new combinations are proposed: Filifactor alocis (Cato, Moore and Moore) comb. nov. (type strain ATCC 35896T) and Eubacterium sulci (Cato, Moore and Moore) comb. nov. (type strain ATCC 35585T). (+info)
Eubacterium minutum is an earlier synonym of Eubacterium tardum and has priority.
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The recently proposed species Eubacterium minutum and Eubacterium tardum appeared to be similar from their published descriptions. The aim of this study was to perform phenotypic and genetic analyses of strains of both species to clarify their taxonomic position. The type strains of E. minutum and E. tardum exhibited identical biochemical and protein profiles and their 16S rRNA gene sequences displayed 99.9% similarity. The G + C content of the DNA of both strains was estimated at 45 mol%. It is concluded that E. minutum and E. tardum are synonyms; E. minutum has priority. An emended description of E. minutum is given. (+info)
What is a "compomer"?
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"Compomers" are recently introduced products marketed as a new class of dental materials. These materials are said to provide the combined benefits of composites (the "comp" in their name) and glass ionomers ("omer"). Based on a critical review of the literature, the author argues that "compomers" do not represent a new class of dental materials but are merely a marketing name given to a dental composite. (+info)
Influence of the Digital Anatomist Foundational Model on traditional representations of anatomical concepts.
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A principled and logical representation of the structure of the human body has led to conflicts with traditional representations of the same knowledge by anatomy textbooks. The examples which illustrate resolution of these conflicts suggest that stricter requirements must be met for semantic consistency, expressivity and specificity by knowledge sources intended to support inference than by textbooks and term lists. These next-generation resources should influence traditional concept representation, rather than be constrained by convention. (+info)
Towards a multi-professional patient record--a study of the headings used in clinical practice.
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This paper reports on the differences and similarities of headings used in patient records by Swedish health care professionals; nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians, speech therapists, medical social workers and general practitioners. The background to the study is a national project where representatives from the different health care professions have worked together for two years in an effort to develop a multi-professional database of terms for the health care sector. The study reports on an analysis of the existing multi-professional lists of headings with respect to structure, degree of specialization, synonyms and homonyms. The study is descriptive in nature, gives a status report on the variety of headings used in clinical practice, provides necessary material for a normative approach focusing on a truly multiprofessional patient record in the future. (+info)