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Medical Relevance (medical + relevance)
Selected AbstractsThe interpreter as institutional gatekeeper: The social-linguistic role of interpreters in Spanish-English medical discourseJOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2000Brad Davidson Increases in immigration have led to an enormous growth in the number of cross-linguistic medical encounters taking place throughout the United States. In this article the role of hospital-based interpreters in cross-linguistic, internal medicine ,medical interviews' is examined. The interpreter's actions are analyzed against the historical and institutional context within which she is working, and also with an eye to the institutional goals that frame the patient-physician discourse. Interpreters are found not to be acting as ,neutral' machines of semantic conversion, but are rather shown to be active participants in the process of diagnosis. Since this process hinges on the evaluation of social and medical relevance of patient contributions to the discourse, the interpreter can be seen as an additional institutional gatekeeper for the recent immigrants for whom she is interpreting. Cross-linguistic medical interviews may also be viewed as a form of cross-cultural interaction; in this light, the larger political ramifications of the interpreters' actions are explored. ,Interpreters are the most powerful people in a medical conversation.' Head of Interpreting Services at a major private U.S. hospital, May 1999. [source] In vitro anti-biofilm activity of Boswellia spp. oleogum resin essential oilsLETTERS IN APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2008D. Schillaci Abstract Aims:, To evaluate the anti-biofilm activity of the commercially available essential oils from two Boswellia species. Methods and Results:, The susceptibility of staphylococcal and Candida albicans biofilms was determined by methyltiazotetrazolium (MTT) staining. At concentrations ranging from 217·3 ,g ml,1 (25% v/v) to 6·8 ,g ml,1 (0·75% v/v), the essential oil of Boswellia papyrifera showed considerable activity against both Staphylococcus epidermidis DSM 3269 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 biofilms. The anti-microbial efficacy of this oil against S. epidermidis RP62A biofilms was also tested using live/dead staining in combination with fluorescence microscopy, and we observed that the essential oil of B. papyrifera showed an evident anti-biofilm effect and a prevention of adhesion at sub-MIC concentrations. Boswellia rivae essential oil was very active against preformed C. albicans ATCC 10231 biofilms and inhibited the formation of C. albicans biofilms at a sub-MIC concentration. Conclusions:, Essential oils of Boswellia spp. could effectively inhibit the growth of biofilms of medical relevance. Significance and Impact of the Study:,Boswellia spp. essential oils represent an interesting source of anti-microbial agents in the development of new strategies to prevent and treat biofilms. [source] Revisiting MSUD in Portuguese Gypsies: Evidence for a Founder Mutation and for a Mutational Hotspot within the BCKDHA GeneANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 3 2009Sofia Quental Summary Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of branched-chain amino acid metabolism. In the context of the wide mutational spectrum known for this disease, a few common mutations have been described in populations where founder effects played a major role in modeling diversities. In Portugal, for instance, a high proportion of patients are of Gypsy origin and all share the same mutation (c.117delC-,; p.R40GfsX23), causing the neonatal severe form of MSUD. In this study, we used four microsatellite markers closely flanking the BCKDHA gene (E1, protein) to demonstrate that c.117delC-, is a founder mutation responsible for the high incidence of the disorder among Portuguese Gypsies. These results are of medical relevance since carrier tests and prenatal diagnosis can be offered to families at risk, particularly because the carrier frequency of c.117delC-, was estimated at 1.4% among the healthy Portuguese Gypsies from the South of the country. Finally we present evidence that the genomic region of the BCKDHA gene where c.117delC-, is located is likely a mutational hotspot, since recurrence of c.117delC-, was observed in two distinct population groups. [source] Optimization of the Human Adenosine A2a Receptor Yields in Saccharomyces cerevisiaeBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 5 2006Alison Wedekind G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been implicated in many human diseases and have emerged as important drug targets. Despite their medical relevance, knowledge about GPCR structure is limited, mainly due to difficulties associated with producing large amounts of functional protein and isolating this protein in functional form. However, our previous results indicate that when the human adenosine A2a receptor (A2aR) is expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, high yields can be achieved. In light of these initial results and in anticipation of future purification efforts, experiments were conducted to optimize the system for maximum total protein yield. Emphasis was placed on not only producing large quantities of A2aR in each cell but also achieving high cell density in batch culture. Therefore, temperature, media pH, inducer concentration in the media, and induction cell density were tested for their effects on both cell growth (as measured by optical density, OD600) and per cell A2aR expression levels. For these studies, the A2aR expression levels were determined using a previously described A2aR-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion, so that expression could be monitored by fluorescence. Overall the data indicate that at late times (,60 h of expression) approximately 75% higher total batch protein yields can be achieved using lower expression temperatures or 60% higher using elevated induction cell density. The highest yields correspond to approximately 28 mg per liter of culture of total A2aR. Amounts of functional receptor were shown to increase on a per cell basis by decreasing expression temperature up to 25 h of expression, but at late time points (,60 h) functional yields did not appreciably improve. When compared to other reports of GPCR expression in yeast it is clear that this system is among those producing the highest GPCR protein yields per culture both before and after optimization. [source] | ||||||||||