The TB Structural Genomics Consortium is an organization devoted to encouraging, coordinating, and facilitating the determination and analysis of structures of proteins from Mycobacterium ...tuberculosis. The Consortium members hope to work together with other M. tuberculosis researchers to identify M. tuberculosis proteins for which structural information could provide important biological information, to analyze and interpret structures of M. tuberculosis proteins, and to work collaboratively to test ideas about M. tuberculosis protein function that are suggested by structure or related to structural information. This review describes the TB Structural Genomics Consortium and some of the proteins for which the Consortium is in the progress of determining three-dimensional structures.
The authors stress the value of the routine use of endorectal US for the preoperative staging of rectal cancer. This method accurately demonstrates the exact level of the lesion, the degree of ...circumferential invasion, the depth of local involvement and the extent of eventual spread beyond the rectal wall, the invasion of the surrounding structures and the presence of enlarged perirectal lymph nodes. A hundred and forty-one patients with rectal carcinoma located 3-16 cm from the ano-cutaneous line were examined with endorectal US preoperatively; a comparison was made between US findings and pathological data, so that a correlation could be made between US (uT) and histologic (pT) findings. A radial probe and a 7-MHz transducer were employed. Our results show US accuracy to be 93.6% with only 4 cases of understaging and 5 of overstaging. A hundred and twenty-nine patients who had undergone major surgery were also studied to evaluate US accuracy in lymph node detection: in 110 cases the actual lymph node status was correctly demonstrated; US diagnostic accuracy was 85.3% with 16 false positives and 3 false negatives. The correct evaluation of the actual local tumor spread, as demonstrated by endoluminal US, allows the choice of the correct treatment, together with a personalized therapeutic schedule, to reduce the incidence of local recurrences and to save, whenever possible, sphincter functionality.
Management decisions affecting wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield include nitrogen (N) fertility rate, cultivar selection, and fungicide application. Since these cultural practices may interact with ...each other and the environment, often times affecting grain yield, test weight, and disease development, they need to be better defined for wheat production in for the Gulf Coast region. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of N rate, fungicide, and cultivar on grain yield, test weight, and disease development. Three N rates (67, 101, and 134 kg.ha-1), two fungicide treatments (no-fungicide control and fungicide), and four high-yielding wheat cultivars with different levels of resistance to leaf rust (Puccinia recondite Rob. ex f. sp. tritici) were evaluated in 12 Louisiana field environments. Environment and interaction between environment and N rate, fungicide, and cultivar were significant for grain yield, leaf rust ratings, and test weight. Grain yield response to N rate was linear in five environments and quadratic in five environments. Although there was little evidence of a N X fungicide interaction for grain yield, increasing N rates increased leaf rust severity. Grain yields were increased by fungicide application in only four of twelve environments with a significant cultivar X fungicide interaction for grain yield. Grain yield increase from foliar fungicides was related to leaf rust severity and resistance of cultivars to leaf rust. Test weight was increased due to N in three environments and decreased in two environments. Test weight increased with fungicide application and varied among cultivars. The findings indicate that 101 kg N ha is probably adequate for maximum yield in most years. Although the higher N rates may increase yield in some years, disease pressure and the need for fungicides may also be increased
