| Why neurodegenerative diseases are progressive: uncontrolled inflammation drives disease progression Trends in Immunology, Volume 29, Issue 8, 1 August 2008, Pages 357-365 Hui-Ming Gao and Jau-Shyong Hong Abstract Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of chronic, progressive disorders characterized by the gradual loss of neurons in discrete areas of the central nervous system (CNS). The mechanism(s) underlying their progressive nature remains unknown but a timely and well-controlled inflammatory reaction is essential for the integrity and proper function of the CNS. Substantial evidence has documented a common inflammatory mechanism in various neurodegenerative diseases. We hypothesize that in the diseased CNS, interactions between damaged neurons and dysregulated, overactivated microglia create a vicious self-propagating cycle causing uncontrolled, prolonged inflammation that drives the chronic progression of neurodegenerative diseases. We further propose that dynamic modulation of this inflammatory reaction by interrupting the vicious cycle might become a disease-modifying therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. Abstract | Full Text | PDF (456 kb) |
| Deregulated Replication Licensing Causes DNA Fragmentation Consistent with Head-to-Tail Fork Collision Molecular Cell, Volume 24, Issue 3, 3 November 2006, Pages 433-443 Iain F. Davidson, Anatoliy Li and J. Julian Blow Summary Correct regulation of the replication licensing system ensures that no DNA is rereplicated in a single cell cycle. When the licensing protein Cdt1 is overexpressed in G2 phase of the cell cycle, replication origins are relicensed and the DNA is rereplicated. At the same time, checkpoint pathways are activated that block further cell cycle progression. We have studied the consequence of deregulating the licensing system by adding recombinant Cdt1 to egg extracts. We show that Cdt1 induces checkpoint activation and the appearance of small fragments of double-stranded DNA. DNA fragmentation and strong checkpoint activation are dependent on uncontrolled rereplication and do not occur after a single coordinated round of rereplication. The DNA fragments are composed exclusively of rereplicated DNA. The unusual characteristics of these fragments suggest that they result from head-to-tail collision (rear ending) of replication forks chasing one another along the same DNA template. Summary | Full Text | PDF (1167 kb) |
| Protection induced by MSP-1 vaccines Trends in Parasitology, Volume 17, Issue 6, 1 June 2001, Pages 264 Sarah Hudson Keenihan Full Text | PDF (29 kb) |
Copyright © 1972 The Biophysical Society. All rights reserved.
Biophysical Journal, Volume 12, Issue 11, 1496-1508, 1 November 1972
doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(72)86177-0
Articles
J.Mailen Kootsey and Edward A. Johnson
A theoretical model is presented for the early currents in the voltage clamp of cardiac muscle using the single sucrose gap technique. The preparation is represented by a single one-dimensional active cable with modified Hodgkin-Huxley membrane and the interent imperfections in the technique are also included, e.g., leakage through the sucrose gap and resistance in series with the membrane in the test compartment. The stability of the control system was found to depend on the position of the control point with respect to the sucrose gap border. Computed currents for a stable system closely resembled those in the literature and those from a near-ideal system (e.g., squid axon.) The potential immediately across the membrane, however (not including potential drops across the series resistance external to the membrane), was found to be essentially uncontrolled and the “current-voltage” relationship was shown to be almost independent of membrane properties.