Methods predicting protein secondary structure improved substantially in the 1990s through the use of evolutionary information taken from the divergence of proteins in the same structural family. Recently, the evolutionary information resulting from improved searches and larger databases has again boosted prediction accuracy by more than four percentage points to its current height of around 76% of all residues predicted correctly in one of the three states, helix, strand, and other. The past year also brought successful new concepts to the field. These new methods may be particularly interesting in light of the improvements achieved through simple combining of existing methods. Divergent evolutionary profiles contain enough information not only to substantially improve prediction accuracy, but also to correctly predict long stretches of identical residues observed in alternative secondary structure states depending on nonlocal conditions. An example is a method automatically identifying structural switches and thus finding a remarkable connection between predicted secondary structure and aspects of function. Secondary structure predictions are increasingly becoming the work horse for numerous methods aimed at predicting protein structure and function. Is the recent increase in accuracy significant enough to make predictions even more useful? Because the recent improvement yields a better prediction of segments, and in particular of beta strands, I believe the answer is affirmative. What is the limit of prediction accuracy? We shall see.

Computational Biology↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Use of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) in occluding thrombosis of a Hickman catheter after bone marrow transplantation: clinical and coagulation physiologic aspects].

A 12 year-old female patient suffering from multifocal Ewing's Sarcoma underwent bone marrow transplantation in March 1992. The donor was the patient's HLA-identical brother. On day 38 following BMT, an occluding catheter thrombosis of the superior vena cava was diagnosed. Lysis therapy using rt-PA was initiated. During therapy, serious bleeding occurred and administration was temporarily discontinued. Normalisation of previously high fibrinogen levels during an acute phase reaction was seen concomitantly with systemic fibrin and probably also fibrinogen fragments as demonstrated using the Western blot technique. Lysis therapy resulted in regained catheter patency, while thrombosis of the superior vena cava persisted. The reduction in the need for the transfusion of packed thrombocytes following lysis was seen as being a positive result. The use of rt-PA following BMT should be carefully weighed against the risks and requires careful patient observation. Due to the systemic fibrinolytic and fibrinogenolytic effects combined with mucositis and thrombocytopenia as a result of transplantation therapy, a high risk of bleeding complications seems likely.

Blood Coagulation Tests↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Strength and coordination training for prevention of falls in the elderly].

Since muscle strength and coordination training in healthy elderly people has been effective in the primary prevention, a program for geriatric patients with falls is presented. Its aim is safer walking by an increase in muscular strength and improved coordination. The exclusion criteria and the size of the training program define a group of over 75 year old patients, who will be compared with a group with light physical exercise in a randomized fashion. The first results show a remarkable increase in strength and a low complication rate. The functional relevance of our program remains to be proven.

Accidental Falls↗