The three major clusters respond to the persistence of two autochthonous strains throughout the study period and an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium bovis outbreak with only two cases was reported since 2002.\n\nMolecular and epidemiological

evidence for the importation of new strains and their spread within the community was found. Immigrant-only Metabolism inhibitor clusters most often grouped patients infected abroad with strains belonging to rare spoligotypes. Conversely, widespread spoligotypes of the Latin-American and Mediterranean (LAM) and Haarlem families were responsible for the majority of the MDR-TB local transmission.\n\nThe demonstration of clusters spanning several Spanish regions that have been ongoing throughout the study period makes it advisable to maintain a continuous

molecular surveillance in order to monitor the spread of MDR-TB. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Mammalian HELQ is a 3′-5′ DNA helicase with strand displacement activity. Here we show that HELQ participates in a pathway of resistance to DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). Genetic disruption of HELQ in human cells enhances cellular sensitivity and chromosome radial formation by the ICL-inducing agent mitomycin C (MMC). A significant fraction of MMC sensitivity is independent of the Fanconi anaemia pathway. Sister chromatid exchange frequency and sensitivity to UV radiation or topoisomerase inhibitors is unaltered. Proteomic analysis reveals EGFR phosphorylation that HELQ BEZ235 in vivo is associated with the RAD51 paralogs RAD51B/C/D and XRCC2, and with the DNA damage-responsive kinase ATR. After treatment with MMC, reduced phosphorylation of the ATR substrate CHK1 occurs in HELQ-knockout cells, and accumulation of G2/M cells is reduced.

The results indicate that HELQ operates in an arm of DNA repair and signalling in response to ICL. Further, the association with RAD51 paralogs suggests HELQ as a candidate ovarian cancer gene.”
“Extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields in cell culture incubators have been measured. Values of the order of tens of mu T were found which is in sharp contrast to the values found in our normal environment (0.05-0.1 mu T). There are numerous examples of biological effects found after exposure to MF at these levels, such as changes in gene expression, blocked cell differentiation, inhibition of the effect of tamoxifen, effects on chick embryo development, etc. We therefore recommend that people working with cell culture incubators check for the background magnetic field and take this into account in performing their experiments, since this could be an unrecognised factor of importance contributing to the variability in the results from work with cell cultures. (c) 2009 International Federation for Cell Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common arthropathy of childhood.