Potential protein post-translational modifications and find potential single amino acid substitutions in hepatitis B large envelope protein.

Post-translational modifications of proteins control many biological processes. This is also important process in virus including hepatitis B. However, there is no in-depth study on the whole hepatitis B virus large envelope protein. In this work, potential protein post-translational modifications in hepatitis B virus large envelope protein were determined by a standard bioinformatics technique. Furthermore, potential single amino acid substitutions in hepatitis B large envelope protein were also determined. It can be seen that there are possible 3 potential protein were post-translational modifications with 1 possible single substitution. This data can be useful for further study on hepatitis B virus mutant as well as planning for new vaccine production.     

Cadaver donation: a retrospective review at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital,Bangkok

Cadavers are a crucial resource for medical education. Currently, donation is the only means of obtaining cadavers for use in Thai medical schools. Some traditional beliefs result in an insufficient number of donated cadavers. This shortage of cadavers may affect the quality of medical training. We report on the present situation regarding the quantity and usage of donated cadavers in the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, during the eight years between 1993 and 2000. During this period, 19,674 cadavers became available (2.459.3 +/- 1,243.7 cadavers/year) as the result of advanced donation. However, only 619 cadavers (3.1%) were actually obtained. Poor preservation and delayed delivery contributed to the underutilization; furthermore, some cadavers were reclaimed. In order to increase the number of cadavers and maintain the quality of medical education, the appropriateness and importance of cadaver donation should be emphasized to the public.     

Endothelin-1 and protein kinase C co-expression in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is becoming one of the most important complications of diabetes at present. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and protein kinase C (PKC) are the two important proteins involved in the pathogenesis of DR. A clarification on the interaction between ET-1 and PKC has not yet been made. Here, the author used a new gene ontology technology to predict the molecular function of ET-1 and PKC in an episode of co-expression. With the use of the GoFigure server, the molecular function of ET-1 and PKC is predicted. According to this study, different pathways can be derived from ET-1 and PKC; however, ET-1–PKC produces the same pathway as PKC. This could mean that the interaction between ET-1 and PKC results in increased activity of the PKC pathway but does not generate any new pathway. This finding can be a good explanation for the co-expression between ET-1 and PKC in the pathogenesis of DR.     

Rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand: change of epidemiology and importance of travel medicine (1996-2005)

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Malaria is still an important infectious disease in Thailand. The study of the incidence of malaria can provide useful data for disease prevention and control. At present, trade and travel can impact on vector-borne diseases, including malaria. Transmission of malaria from an endemic to a non-endemic area can be expected and this can affect the pattern of malaria epidemiology. METHODS: Analysis of rate of malarial infection among foreigners in a tertiary hospital of Thailand in the past decade (1996-2005) was carried out by scrutinising the available published and unpublished. RESULTS: According to this study, two main groups of travellers, the migrant workers from the nearby countries, who bring malaria from the endemic area in their countries and the naive cases as the travellers from the western countries, who expose to malaria during their travelling in Thailand, can be identified. CONCLUSION: Change of epidemiology due to high rate of infection in non-Thai patients and importance of travel on the epidemiology of malaria can be seen from this study.