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Biomedical subjects

Maciej Szymański

Publications and source records attributed to Maciej Szymański.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

[Study of the natural history of rectal cancer in 110 patients].

The authors present the natural history of 110 patients with rectal carcinoma, treated at the Surgical Ward of the District Hospital in Staszów (the świetokrzyski region). The aim of this paper is to estimate the degree of early detection of rectal cancer. On the grounds of the conducted studies the authors come to a conclusion that the degree of early detection of rectal cancer in the Staszów region is low; only 21.1% of the cases were diagnosed in ambulant circumstances. It caused the average delay of hospitalization of 10 months. The authors claim that the lack of the Oncology Education Centre in the region or the lack of a programme concerning the fight against rectal cancer in Poland is the reasons of their findings.

Adult↗

5 S rRNA: structure and interactions.

5 S rRNA is an integral component of the large ribosomal subunit in all known organisms. Despite many years of intensive study, the function of 5 S rRNA in the ribosome remains unknown. Advances in the analysis of ribosome structure that have revealed the crystal structures of large ribosomal subunits and of the complete ribosome from various organisms put the results of studies on 5 S rRNA in a new perspective. This paper summarizes recently published data on the structure and function of 5 S rRNA and its interactions in complexes with proteins, within and outside the ribosome.

Base Sequence↗

"Action-at-a distance" of a new DNA oxidative damage product 6-furfuryl-adenine (kinetin) on template properties of modified DNA.

N(6)-furfuryladenine (kinetin, K) was shown to have cytokinin activity and antiageing effects. It also appears to protect DNA against oxidative damage mediated by the Fenton reaction. Kinetin was identified as a natural component of DNA in plant extract, calf thymus DNA, fresh DNA preparations from human cell culture, as well as in human urine. A proposed mechanism of kinetin synthesis includes furfural, the oxidative damage product of a 2-deoxyribose moiety of DNA, which reacts with an adenine residue to form N(6)-furfuryladenine at DNA level. The identification of kinetin in plant cell extracts, as well as human urine, suggests its excision from DNA by repair mechanisms. Since such a bulky modification as kinetin induces conformational changes of DNA, this could lead to mutations. Therefore, it was interesting to analyze an effect of kinetin on coding properties of DNA. Chemically synthesized oligodeoxynucleotide (20-mer) containing kinetin AAAACTGCCGTCCTGAKGAT was used as a primer. It was elongated in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on a template plasmid pEW1 harboring a 210-bp fragment of DNA derived from the 5' end of HIV mRNA. The PCR product of that length containing kinetin in position 17 from the 5' end was isolated and sequenced. Interestingly, DNA polymerase correctly incorporates thymine opposite of kinetin (an adenine derivative) on the complementary strand, but the misincorporations occur in a vicinity of the modified base.

Adenine↗

Noncoding regulatory RNAs database.

The noncoding RNAs database is a collection of currently available sequence data on RNAs, which have no protein-coding capacity and have been implicated in regulation of cellular processes. The RNAs included in the database form very heterogenous group of molecules that act on different levels of information transmission in the cell. It includes RNAs acting on the level of chromatin structure, transcriptional and translational regulation of gene expression, modulation of protein function and regulation of subcellular distribution of RNAs and proteins. Those RNAs, with potential regulatory functions have been identified in prokaryotic, animal and plant cells. The database can be accessed at http://biobases.ibch.poznan.pl/ncRNA/.

Animals↗

Regulation by RNA.

In recent years, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been shown to constitute key elements implicated in a number of regulatory mechanisms in the cell. They are present in bacteria and eukaryotes. The ncRNAs are involved in regulation of expression at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels, by mediating chromatin modifications, modulating transcription factor activity, and influencing mRNA stability, processing, and translation. Noncoding RNAs play a key role in genetic imprinting, dosage compensation of X-chromosome-linked genes, and many processes of differentiation and development.

Animals↗

Noncoding RNA transcripts.

Recent analyses of the human genome and available data about the other higher eukaryotic genomes have revealed that, in contrast to Eubacteria and Archaea, only a small fraction of the genetic material (ca 1.5%) codes for proteins. Most of genomic DNA and its RNA transcripts are involved in regulation of gene expression, which can be exerted at either the transcriptional level, controlling whether a gene is transcribed and to what extent, or at the post-translational level, regulating the fate of the transcribed RNA molecules, including their stability, efficiency of their translation and subcellular localization. Noncoding RNA genes produce functional RNA molecules (ncRNAs) rather than encoding proteins. These stable RNAs act by multiple mechanisms such as RNA-RNA base pairing, RNA-protein interactions and intrinsic RNA activity, as well as regulate diverse cellular functions, including RNA processing, mRNA stability, translation, protein stability and secretion. Non-protein-coding RNAs are known to play significant roles. Along with transfer RNAs, ribosomal RNAs and mRNAs, ncRNAs contribute to gene splicing, nucleotide modification, protein transport and regulation of gene expression.

Animals↗

Beyond the proteome: non-coding regulatory RNAs.

A variety of RNA molecules have been found over the last 20 years to have a remarkable range of functions beyond the well-known roles of messenger, ribosomal and transfer RNAs. Here, we present a general categorization of all non-coding RNAs and briefly discuss the ones that affect transcription, translation and protein function.

Animals↗