University of Cologne

About: University of Cologne is a education organization based out in Cologne, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Transplantation. The organization has 32050 authors who have published 66350 publications receiving 2210092 citations. The organization is also known as: Universität zu Köln & Universitatis Coloniensis.

BRENDA, the enzyme database: updates and major new developments

Abstract: BRENDA (BRaunschweig ENzyme DAtabase) represents a comprehensive collection of enzyme and metabolic information, based on primary literature. The database contains data from at least 83,000 different enzymes from 9800 different organisms, classified in approximately 4200 EC numbers. BRENDA includes biochemical and molecular information on classification and nomenclature, reaction and specificity, functional parameters, occurrence, enzyme structure, application, engineering, stability, disease, isolation and preparation, links and literature references. The data are extracted and evaluated from approximately 46,000 references, which are linked to PubMed as long as the reference is cited in PubMed. In the past year BRENDA has undergone major changes including a large increase in updating speed with >50% of all data updated in 2002 or in the first half of 2003, the development of a new EC-tree browser, a taxonomy-tree browser, a chemical substructure search engine for ligand structure, the development of controlled vocabulary, an ontology for some information fields and a thesaurus for ligand names. The database is accessible free of charge to the academic community at http://www.brenda. uni-koeln.de.

Notch signaling is required for arterial-venous differentiation during embryonic vascular development.

Abstract: Recent evidence indicates that acquisition of artery or vein identity during vascular development is governed, in part, by genetic mechanisms. The artery-specific expression of a number of Notch signaling genes in mouse and zebrafish suggests that this pathway may play a role in arterial-venous cell fate determination during vascular development. We show that loss of Notch signaling in zebrafish embryos leads to molecular defects in arterial-venous differentiation, including loss of artery-specific markers and ectopic expression of venous markers within the dorsal aorta. Conversely, we find that ectopic activation of Notch signaling leads to repression of venous cell fate. Finally, embryos lacking Notch function exhibit defects in blood vessel formation similar to those associated with improper arterial-venous specification. Our results suggest that Notch signaling is required for the proper development of arterial and venous blood vessels, and that a major role of Notch signaling in blood vessels is to repress venous differentiation within developing arteries. Movies available on-line

Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography for the Detection of Coronary Stenoses

Abstract: Background An accurate, noninvasive technique for the diagnosis of coronary disease would be an important advance. We investigated the accuracy of coronary magnetic resonance angiography among patients with suspected coronary disease in a prospective, multicenter study. Methods Coronary magnetic resonance angiography was performed during free breathing in 109 patients before elective x-ray coronary angiography, and the results of the two diagnostic procedures were compared. Results A total of 636 of 759 proximal and middle segments of coronary arteries (84 percent) were interpretable on magnetic resonance angiography. In these segments, 78 (83 percent) of 94 clinically significant lesions (those with a ≥50 percent reduction in diameter on x-ray angiography) were also detected by magnetic resonance angiography. Overall, coronary magnetic resonance angiography had an accuracy of 72 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 63 to 81 percent) in diagnosing coronary artery disease. The sensitivity, specificity,...

ASA classification and perioperative variables as predictors of postoperative outcome.

Abstract: In a prospective study of 6301 surgical patients in a university hospital, we examined the strength of association between ASA physical status classification and perioperative risk factors, and postoperative outcome, using both univariate analysis and calculation of the odds ratio of the risk of developing a postoperative complication by means of a logistic regression model. Univariate analysis showed a significant correlation (P