Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.1.7 (acetylcholinesterase)
 28,390 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To determine the influence of ventilation control and work practices on the health of workers potentially exposed to organophosphate and carbamate compounds, we examined a total of 989 employees from pesticide factories in Taiwan during 1986-1987. Each employee was examined by a physician, and a blood sample was drawn for plasma cholinesterase, complete blood count, and liver and renal function tests. Forty-one employees with medical conditions that might alter the plasma cholinesterase were excluded. Results showed that 43 of 515 production employees had decreased plasma cholinesterase as compared with four of 340 non-production employees. Production employees working under adequate ventilation control seemed to have a lower prevalence of decreased plasma cholinesterase than those under inadequate ventilation control, although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.242). There was a significant association between the level of housekeeping and work practices and the prevalence of decreased plasma cholinesterase (p = 0.022). We conclude that inadequate ventilation control and poor work practices may create a potential danger of pesticide poisoning among production employees in Taiwan and should be corrected immediately.
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PMID:Occupational risk of decreased plasma cholinesterase among pesticide production workers in Taiwan. 259 87

In Hirschsprung's disease (HD) there exists an overabundance of acetylcholine (ACh), which in turn stimulates excessive production of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. Muscarinic ACh receptors (mAChRs) play an important role in smooth-muscle contraction. Recent studies have indicated five different subtypes of mAChRs encoded by five different genes, ml to m5. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of each mAChR subtype in aganglionic (AG) colon to further understand the pathophysiology of HD. Entire colon resected at the time of pull-through operation for HD was obtained from 14 patients. Specimens obtained at autopsy from 8 age-matched patients without gastrointestinal disease acted as controls. Frozen sections were used for indirect immunohistochemistry as well as in-situ hybridization. Immunohistochemistry was performed using specific antiserum against each mAChR subtype and in-situ hybridization was performed using specific oligonucleotide probes against ml to m5 subtypes. Messenger RNA (mRNA) was extracted from normoganglionic (NG) and AG bowel of HD patients and normal control bowel. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate mRNA levels of each mAChR subtype. To adjust the levels of mRNA expression, a housekeeping gene G3PDH, known to be expressed normally, was used as an internal control. Strong m2 and m3 immunoreactivity was observed in the mucosal layer, smooth-muscle layers, and myenteric plexus of NG bowel, whereas ml immunoreactivity was only detected in the mucosal layer. The most striking finding was the abundance of m3-immunoreactive fibers in muscle layers of NG bowel while there was a total lack of m3 fibers in smooth-muscle of AG bowel. Intense mRNA signals encoding m2 and m3 and to a lesser degree ml were detected in NG bowel, and these signals were weak in AG bowel. Immunoreactivity and mRNA expression of m4 and m5 was not detected in NG or AG bowel. The lack of m3-immunoreactive fibers in the smooth-muscle layers of AG bowel and decreased m2 and m3 mRNA expression in AG bowel may be responsible for the motility dysfunction in the aganglionic segment.
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PMID:Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor expression in aganglionic bowel. 1089 27

There are many reasons why it is important to conduct the cognitive assessment and arrive at a preliminary diagnosis within the primary care setting. In addition to starting the patient on anti-cholinesterase medications, the physician must discuss with the family (and often the patient) issues related to financial matters and self-care. Alzheimer's patients who live alone may be targets for financial and personal exploitation, and are at risk for self-neglect. Community support or provision might be needed to assist with medication compliance, provide nutritional services by shopping for prepared foods or through Meals on Wheels, housekeeping to maintain cleanliness, adult day services to provide social and recreational activities, live-in companions, and assistance with other instrumental activities of daily living. Sometimes more structured or institutional living is necessary. Generally, the primary care practice is not set up to coordinate these additional services, as well as to provide ongoing care. We will discuss potential solutions to providing ongoing care in next month's column.
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PMID:Cognitive screening in the primary care setting. The role of physicians at the first point of entry. 1281 73

Annotation of the recently determined genome sequence of the major dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, reveals an abundance of detoxification genes. Here, we report the presence of 235 members of the cytochrome P450, glutathione transferase and carboxy/cholinesterase families in Ae. aegypti. This gene count represents an increase of 58% and 36% compared with the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, respectively. The expansion is not uniform within the gene families. Secure orthologs can be found across the insect species for enzymes that have presumed or proven biosynthetic or housekeeping roles. In contrast, subsets of these gene families that are associated with general xenobiotic detoxification, in particular the CYP6, CYP9 and alpha esterase families, have expanded in Ae. aegypti. In order to identify detoxification genes associated with resistance to insecticides we constructed an array containing unique oligonucleotide probes for these genes and compared their expression level in insecticide resistant and susceptible strains. Several candidate genes were identified with the majority belonging to two gene families, the CYP9 P450s and the Epsilon GSTs. This 'Ae. aegypti Detox Chip' will facilitate the implementation of insecticide resistance management strategies for arboviral control programmes.
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PMID:Genomic analysis of detoxification genes in the mosquito Aedes aegypti. 1807 Jun 70