46170736
Beyond directed evolution--semi-rational protein engineering and design.
Over the past two decades, directed evolution has transformed the field of protein engineering. The advances in understanding protein structure and function, in no insignificant part a result of directed evolution studies, are increasingly empowering scientists and engineers to device more effective methods for manipulating and tailoring biocatalysts. Abandoning large combinatorial libraries, the focus has shifted to small, functionally rich libraries and rational design. A critical component to the success of these emerging engineering strategies are computational tools for the evaluation of protein sequence datasets and the analysis of conformational variations of amino acids in proteins. Highlighting the opportunities and limitations of such approaches, this review focuses on recent engineering and design examples that require screening or selection of small libraries.
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Tools, tricks and trade secrets: the challenges of disseminating methodology.
The broad range of techniques used in chemical biology presents many challenges in reporting, translating and implementing experimental knowledge. By taking advantage of some readily available solutions and instituting some new approaches, it should be possible to more effectively disseminate technological advances.
9395729
The influence of the newly formed hospice and palliative medicine subspecialty on radiation oncology and end-of-life care.
p s t t o i p a t he American Board of Medical pecialties has announced the foration of hospice and palliative edicine as a new subspecialty. he American Board of Radiology as enthusiastically agreed to serve s 1 of the 10 cosponsoring boards Table 1) for the examination, hich will be administered for the rst time in 2008. The American oard of Hospice and Palliative edicine first established a certifiation program in 1996 to help efine the standard of specialty ractice deemed appropriate for hysicians in hospice and palliative edicine. Nearly 3,000 physicians et the requirements for practical xperience and written examina-
9441766
Radiotherapy for metastatic bone disease: current standards and future prospectus
Changes in population dynamics will require increased end-of-life cancer care in the coming years. Palliative radiotherapy successfully relieves symptoms of advanced cancer, with the most common indication for its use being uncomplicated painful bone metastases. Single-fraction radiotherapy provides successful, time-efficient and cost-effective management of bone metastases. Newer technologies, such as stereotactic body radiotherapy, hold promise for some patients with spine metastases, although their niche has not been properly defined and their use outside of a protocol setting is inappropriate. Surgery should be considered for circumstances of completed or impending pathologic fracture, spinal instability, or spinal cord compression in patients who have adequate performance status and prognosis. Multiple sites of painful metastases may be treated with injectible radiopharmaceuticals or hemibody radiation. The future developments in palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases will mirror several forces affecting all of medicine, including resource allocation, the adoption of clinical guidelines and the integration of newer technologies.
32325782
The Role of Radiation Therapy in Controlling Painful Bone Metastases
The management of painful bone metastases requires multidisciplinary care, with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) providing relief that is effective and time efficient. Patients with bone metastases may require interventions including surgical decompression, osteoclast inhibitors, radiopharmaceuticals, and kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty, though EBRT should be included in the care of most of these patients, as well. Recent treatment-guideline publications for bone metastases greatly define the appropriate use of EBRT for this patient group, and they create a means by which treatment approaches may serve as quality measures of radiotherapy departments.