Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P50583 (asymmetrical)
 12,197 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The classification of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses into symmetrical and asymmetrical has been widely used since the introduction of ultrasound into obstetric diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the possibility of relating body proportionality of the SGA fetuses to aetiological factors. Ultrasound measurements of the head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) were obtained in 348 SGA fetuses subdivided into aetiological groups (structural and/or chromosomal anomalies, twins, abnormal placental vascularization, maternal malnutrition, infectious diseases, drug addiction, unknown). The difference in Z-score between each couple of parameters (HC-AC, HC-FL, FL-AC) was used to assess the presence of asymmetry and its degree. The distribution of the Z-score differences was Gaussian; +1 S.D. and +2 S.D. were chosen as cut-off values of the Z-score for the definition of asymmetry. No significant differences in the frequency of HC-AC asymmetry could be detected among aetiological groups. SGA fetuses with abnormal placental vascularization and those with congenital malformations were more frequently asymmetric for the difference HC-FL and less frequently asymmetric for the difference FL-AC compared to the ones of unknown cause. It is concluded that body proportionality among SGA fetuses is a continuum, and that information about it derived from ultrasound measurements is of limited use in clinical practice.
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PMID:Body proportionality of the small-for-date fetus: is it related to aetiological factors? 884 35

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have been extensively explored as vaccine candidates since the mid-1980s. Numerous VLPs have been designed as vaccines for prevention of virus-induced infectious diseases and for the therapeutical treatment of chronic diseases and drug addiction. Recently, a vaccine against nicotine addiction, which is based on VLPs of the RNA phage Qb to which nicotine haptens are covalently coupled via succinimate linkers (NicQb), has attracted a great deal of interest. Phase II clinical trials with this vaccine have shown that it is efficacious for smoking cessation in humans when antinicotine antibody levels are sufficiently high. For commercialization, the development of stable formulations enabling storage for prolonged periods is required. Hereby, lyophilization, a well-established method leading to stable and dry formulations, is often applied. In this study, we investigated the influence of different pH values and various excipients such as surfactants, polyols, sugars, and salts on the stability of NicQb in liquid formulations, during freeze thawing, freeze drying, and finally upon storage of the dried product. Lyophilized NicQb formulations were developed which were stable over 6 months at ambient temperature with fully retained biological activity. Hereby, it was found that a combination of the surfactant polysorbate 20 and the disaccharide trehalose was capable to prevent NicQb aggregation and to preserve its integrity (nicotine binding and integrity of VLP shell). Furthermore, asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4), a new, promising analytical tool, was established for the investigation of VLP stability.
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PMID:Rational design of a stable, freeze-dried virus-like particle-based vaccine formulation. 1901 59

Rats will approach and contact a lever whose insertion into the chamber signals response-independent food delivery. This "autoshaping" or "sign-tracking" phenomenon has recently attracted considerable attention as a platform for studying individual differences in impulsivity, drug sensitization, and other traits associated with vulnerability to drug addiction. Here, we examined two basic stimulus selection phenomena-blocking and overshadowing-in the autoshaped lever pressing of rats. Blocking and overshadowing were decidedly asymmetrical. Previously reinforced lever-extension conditioned stimuli (CSs) completely blocked conditioning to auditory cues (Exps. 1 and 2), and previously nonreinforced lever-extension CSs overshadowed conditioning to auditory cues. By contrast, conditioning to lever-extension CSs was not blocked by either auditory (Exp. 3) or lever-insertion (Exp. 4) cues, and was not overshadowed by auditory cues. Conditioning to a lever-insertion cue was somewhat overshadowed by the presence of another lever, especially in terms of food cup behavior displayed after lever withdrawal. We discuss several frameworks in which the apparent immunity of autoshaped lever pressing to blocking might be understood. Given evidence that different brain systems are engaged when different kinds of cues are paired with food delivery, it is worth considering the possibility that interactions among them in learning and performance may follow different rules. In particular, it is intriguing to speculate that the roles of simple cue-reinforcer contiguity, as well as of individual and aggregate reinforcer prediction errors, may differ across stimulus classes.
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PMID:Blocking in autoshaped lever-pressing procedures with rats. 2400 41