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Reliability of movement control tests in the lumbar spine
(2007)BMC Musculoskeletal DisordersBackground Movement control dysfunction [MCD] reduces active control of movements. Patients with MCD might form an important subgroup among patients with non specific low back pain. The diagnosis is based on the observation of active movements. Although widely used clinically, only a few studies have been performed to determine the test reliability. The aim of this study was to determine the inter- and intra-observer reliability of ...Journal Article -
Structure and characterization of a novel chicken biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A)
(2007)BMC Structural BiologyBackground The chicken genome contains a BBP-A gene showing similar characteristics to avidin family genes. In a previous study we reported that the BBP-A gene may encode a biotin-binding protein due to the high sequence similarity with chicken avidin, especially at regions encoding residues known to be located at the ligand-binding site of avidin. Results Here, we expand the repertoire of known macromolecular biotin binders by ...Journal Article -
Classification of a moderately oxygen-tolerant isolate from baby faeces as Bifidobacterium thermophilum
(2007)BMC MicrobiologyBackground Bifidobacteria are found at varying prevalence in human microbiota and seem to play an important role in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Bifidobacteria are highly adapted to the human GIT which is reflected in the genome sequence of a Bifidobacterim longum isolate. The competitiveness against other bacteria is not fully understood yet but may be related to the production of antimicrobial compounds such as bacteriocins. ...Journal Article -
Antibody-mediated delivery of IL-10 inhibits the progression of established collagen-induced arthritis
(2007)Arthritis Research & TherapyThe antibody-mediated targeted delivery of cytokines to sites of disease is a promising avenue for cancer therapy, but it is largely unexplored for the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions. Using both radioactive and fluorescent techniques, the human monoclonal antibodies L19 and G11 (specific to two markers of angiogenesis that are virtually undetectable in normal adult tissues) were found to selectively localize at arthritic ...Journal Article -
The Red Queen and the persistence of linkage-disequilibrium oscillations in finite and infinite populations
(2007)BMC Evolutionary BiologyBackground The Red Queen Hypothesis (RQH) suggests that the coevolutionary dynamics of host-parasite systems can generate selection for increased host recombination. Since host-parasite interactions often have a strong genetic basis, recombination between different hosts can increase the fraction of novel and potentially resistant offspring genotypes. A prerequisite for this mechanism is that host-parasite interactions generate persistent ...Journal Article -
Phylogeography of the Solanaceae-infecting Basidiomycota fungus Rhizoctonia solani AG-3 based on sequence analysis of two nuclear DNA loci
(2007)BMC Evolutionary BiologyBackground The soil fungus Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group 3 (AG-3) is an important pathogen of cultivated plants in the family Solanaceae. Isolates of R. solani AG-3 are taxonomically related based on the composition of cellular fatty acids, phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and beta-tubulin gene sequences, and somatic hyphal interactions. Despite the close genetic relationship among isolates of R. solani AG-3, ...Journal Article -
Experimental evolution of aging in a bacterium
(2007)BMC Evolutionary BiologyBackground Aging refers to a decline in reproduction and survival with increasing age. According to evolutionary theory, aging evolves because selection late in life is weak and mutations exist whose deleterious effects manifest only late in life. Whether the assumptions behind this theory are fulfilled in all organisms, and whether all organisms age, has not been clear. We tested the generality of this theory by experimental evolution ...Journal Article -
Adeno-associated viral vectors engineered for macrolide-adjustable transgene expression In mammalian cells and mice
(2007)BMC BiotechnologyBackground Adjustable gene expression is crucial in a number of applications such as de- or transdifferentiation of cell phenotypes, tissue engineering, various production processes as well as gene-therapy initiatives. Viral vectors, based on the Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) type 2, have emerged as one of the most promising types of vectors for therapeutic applications due to excellent transduction efficiencies of a broad variety of ...Journal Article -
Detection of the pediocin gene pedA in strains from human faeces by real-time PCR and characterization of Pediococcus acidilactici UVA1
(2007)BMC BiotechnologyBackground Bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria are commonly used as natural protective cultures. Among them, strains of the genus Pediococcus are particularly interesting for their ability to produce pediocin, a broad spectrum antimicrobial peptide with a strong antagonistic activity against the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Furthermore, there is increasing interest in isolating new bacteriocin-producing strains of ...Journal Article -
Internalization of novel non-viral vector TAT-streptavidin into human cells
(2007)BMC BiotechnologyJournal Article