The complete mitogenome of the invasive Japanese mud snail Batillaria attramentaria (Gastropoda: Batillariidae) from Elkhorn Slough, California, USA.

Genomic analysis of the invasive marine snail Batillaria attramentaria from Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing, California, USA using 150 bp paired-end Illumina sequences resulted in the assembly of its complete mitogenome. The mitogenome is 16,095 bp in length and contains 2 rRNA, 13 protein-coding, and 22 tRNA genes (GenBank Accession MN557850). Gene content and organization of B. attramentaria are identical to the Turritellidae and Pachychilidae. The phylogenetic analysis of B. attramentaria resolves it in a fully supported clade with these same two families in the superfamily Cerithioidea. Nucleotide BLAST searches of the Elkhorn Slough cox1 gene of B. attramentaria yielded identical sequences from invasive populations from California and British Columbia, and native populations from northeastern and central Japan. These data show that mitogenome sequencing is a useful tool for studying the classification and phylogenetic history Cerithioidea.

Generation of an affinity matrix useful in the purification of natural inhibitors of plasmepsin II, an antimalarial-drug target.

An affinity matrix containing the antimalarial drug target Plm II (plasmepsin II) as ligand was generated. This enzyme belongs to the family of Plasmodium (malarial parasite) aspartic proteinases, known as Plms (plasmepsins). The procedure established to obtain the support has two steps: the immobilization of the recombinant proenzyme of Plm II to NHS (N-hydroxysuccinimide)-activated Sepharose and the activation of the immobilized enzyme by incubation at pH 4.4 and 37 degrees C. The coupling reaction resulted in a high percentage immobilization (95.5%), and the matrices obtained had an average of 4.3 mg of protein/ml of gel. The activated matrices, but not the inactive ones, were able to hydrolyse two different chromogenic peptide substrates and haemoglobin. This ability was completely blocked by the addition of the general aspartic-proteinase inhibitor, pepstatin A, to the reaction mixture. The matrices were useful in the affinity purification of the Plm II inhibitory activity detected in marine invertebrates, such as Xestospongia muta (giant barrel sponge) and the gorgonian (sea-fan coral) Plexaura homomalla (black sea rod), with increases of 10.2- and 5.9-fold in the specific inhibitory activity respectively. The preliminary K(i) values obtained, 46.4 nM (X. muta) and 1.9 nM (P. homomalla), and the concave shapes of the inhibition curves reveal that molecules are reversible tight-binding inhibitors of Plm II. These results validated the use of the affinity matrix for the purification of Plm II inhibitors from complex mixtures and established the presence of Plm II inhibitors in some marine invertebrates.

Uso de la radioangiocardiografía con Tecnesio-99m en la identificación del mixoma de la aurícula derecha: presentación de dos casos / The use of radioangiocardiography with technetium-99m in the detection of right atrial myxoma: report of 2 cases

Se informa de dos pacientes a quienes se les hizo el diagnóstico de mixoma de la aurícula derecha mediante radioangiocardiografia 99m Tc. El tumor se identifica como una zona de fotodeficiencia persistente en las imágenes tanto de primer paso como en equilibrio, además de un acúmulo anormal y lentificación al paso del radionúclido en la aurícula derecha en las imágenes de primer paso. Aun cuando la sensibilidad del procedimiento debe confirmarse, se plantea como un método adicicional de gran utilidad en el diagnóstico no invasivo de este padecimiento. Se sugiere que cuando se puede demostrar un tumor cardiaco tanto por la radioangiocardiografía como por ecocardiografía, ello puede ser evidencia suficiente para efectuar una exploración quirúrgica sin necesidad de caterismo cardíaco