G Kalinowski | PubMed Health

PubMed1996

Deletion analysis of the 5' untranslated region of the Rhizobium meliloti nodF gene.

Efficient establishment of the symbiosis between rhizobia and their host plants requires precise regulation of bacterial nod genes. The nod gene transcripts in Rhizobium meliloti have approximately 200 nucleotides of untranslated sequence 5' of the start codon (5' UTR). We measured the significance of this region by constructing fusions between deletion derivatives of nodF and the reporter beta-glucuronidase (GUS). Flavonoid-inducible expression of the fusions in R. meliloti was evident when extra copies of the positive transcriptional activators NodD1, NodD3, or SyrM were present. The fusions responded normally over a range of inducer concentrations in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii. GUS assays in planta showed no significant difference between the deletion constructs and a wild-type fusion. We conclude that the 5' UTRs of the nod gene transcripts are unlikely to have a significant regulatory role.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed1984

[Serum digitoxin levels in pacemaker patients].

In most cases pacemaker patients represent a diverse geriatric group in which ECG and clinical signs are of minor usefulness in diagnosing digitalis toxicity. We therefore determined serum glycoside concentrations in 200 consecutive patients attending our pacemaker clinic (with a mean maintenance dose of 0.093 mg digitoxin per day) and tried to correlate these to clinical, ECG and chemical findings. Multivariate analyses were also carried out to assess whether serum digitoxin concentrations lay in a subtherapeutic (0 to 8.99 ng/ml), therapeutic (9 to 27 ng/ml) or toxic (above 27 ng/ml) range on the basis of a combination of variables. The mean digitoxin concentration was 24.0 +/- 10.3 ng/ml (0 to 45 ng/ml) and correlated poorly with patient compliance (r = 0.36), serum potassium (r = 0.24), weight (r = 0.17) and digitoxin dose (r = 0.13), but not with ECG and subjective or clinical findings. A prediction of the three ranges of the serum digitoxin concentration was possible by means of variable compliance, body weight and digitoxin dose with a probability of up to 79%. In view of the above-mentioned problems indications for digitalis therapy in pacemaker patients must be constantly reviewed and control determination of serum digitoxin concentration should be frequently undertaken.

Adult↗