Histologically, early lesions of BOS demonstrate submucosal lymph

Histologically, early lesions of BOS demonstrate submucosal lymphocytic inflammation and disruption of the epithelium of small airways, followed by a buildup of granulation tissue in the airway lumen, resulting in partial obstruction. Subsequently, granulation tissue organizes in a cicatricial pattern with resultant fibrosis and eventually completely obliterates the airway lumen [23]. It is difficult to define the distinct stages of OB development, but each stage has different main pathological features. Our results demonstrate that orthotopic

tracheal allografts were partially obstructed, in which the mucosa underwent buy DZNeP denudation and squamous metaplasia as well as re-epithelization to various degrees, while the submucosa had few myofibroblasts but rising number of inflammatory cells. On the other hand, SGI-1776 clinical trial heterotopic allografts were completely occluded within 4 weeks after transplant, in which the trachea had barely epithelium but abundant inflammatory cells and myofibroblasts. Therefore, pathological changes found in orthotopic and heterotopic allografts are respectively similar to those in different stages of BOS development in patients who received lung transplant. Both orthotopic

and heterotopic tracheal grafts are nonvascularized grafts, and there is no supply of blood to the grafts other than from angiogenesis, which is passively derived from surrounding tissue during the course of wound healing after transplantation. Although our study confirmed that the angiogenesis ability among various transplant sites was different, all the orthotopic syngeneic grafts basically retained normal histological structures. We speculate that transplant site would not be a major factor affecting the development of OB. In lung transplanted patients, OB is preceded by a decrease in microvascular supply to the small airways. This ischemic event may lead to airway damage or increase the tendency Nitroxoline of scar tissue formation as a repair mechanism. The small airways then appear to respond to this insult by angiogenesis [24] and [25]. Compared with orthotopic

allografts, heterotopic allografts formed lesions with less neovascularized vessels but more fibrous tissues like those in the more mature stage of scar formation. Hence, pathological changes in orthotopic and heterotopic allografts may represent the different stages of OB development: those of orthotopic allografts exhibit the early stage of OB development while heterotopic allografts exhibit the advanced stage, but the general trend of lesion development was identical. 20 years after the implementation of the first OB research model [7], the question is “what is the ideal model of OB.” First, this model is time and cost saving: it is not practical to spend over months waiting for the development of OB lesions, while some models are limited in their high cost and availability.

212, p =  076) Using an adaptation of Steiger’s Z test ( Hoerger

212, p = .076). Using an adaptation of Steiger’s Z test ( Hoerger, 2013 and Steiger, 1980), Everolimus ic50 we found the two correlations between F1 and anxiety and F2 and anxiety to be significantly different from each other (ZH = −2.86, p = .004). Total hardiness and all its domains correlated significantly with anxiety (Total: r = −.568, p = <.001; Commitment: r = .−471, p < .001; Control r = −.363, p = .002, Challenge: r = −.280, p = .019). Multiple mediation analyses,

with commitment, control and challenge as mediators, were performed to investigate the indirect effect of psychopathy on anxiety through hardiness (see Fig. 1). No significant direct relationship was found, neither between PCL-R F1 and anxiety nor between PCL-R F2 and anxiety. Significant indirect effects of both PCL-R factors were found, partly mediated through the commitment facet of DRS-15-R. All indirect effects are reported in Table 2. Since only the commitment dimension of psychological hardiness contributed

significantly to the mediation of the relationship between psychopathy and anxiety, a simple mediation model was then calculated to assess the effect size of commitment as a mediator. The indirect effect of commitment in this simple model was −.079 for F1 and .159 for F2 (BootLLCI [95% CI] = -.260, BootULCI [95% CI] = −.024, k2 = .112 for F1; BootLLCI [95% CI] = .048, Gemcitabine purchase BootULCI [95% CI] = .324, k2 = .155 for F2). Kelley’s Kappa-Squared (k2; Hayes, 2013) was used as a measure of effect size. It is interpreted as the indirect effect relative to its maximum possible value in the data, and the measure is bound between 0 and 1, with values closer to 1 signifying bigger effects ( Hayes, 2013 and Preacher and Kelley, 2011). As a deprivation of liberty, imprisonment is believed to be perceived as unpleasant, and incarceration as a major life event has also been linked to illnesses associated with stress (Massoglia, 2008). Since both psychopathy and psychological hardiness have been associated with the ability to remain relatively unaffected by daily stressors, this study examined

how the characteristics of psychological hardiness were for related to, and possibly mediated, the relationship between psychopathy and anxiety. Our initial correlational analysis did not reveal any significant relationship between the total score for psychopathy and anxiety. When psychopathy was divided into the separate dimensions of the two-factor model, however, a negative relationship emerged between F1 and anxiety. A positive, but not significant relationship was also found between F2 and anxiety. While these correlations are not significant at the conventional p < .05 level, they are significantly different from each other and also consistent with other studies ( Hansen et al., 2013 and Harpur et al., 1989). Moreover, a one-tailed analysis yields a significant correlation (p = .025/p = .038).

Advances in transgenic and mutagenesis strategies have already le

Advances in transgenic and mutagenesis strategies have already led to a wide variety of zebrafish cancer models with distinct capabilities for high-throughput screening and in vivo imaging [ 1•, 2, 3•, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16]. Despite significant progress in the past 10 years, however, the unique role of zebrafish GSK J4 ic50 in cancer research has still yet to be defined. Here, we review recent major achievements in the zebrafish cancer field in light of the available models and advances in genomic techniques. We conclude by

discussing future areas of research where zebrafish efforts will be the most effective. Numerous leukemic Erastin ic50 lines have been generated since the first zebrafish model of leukemia was reported in 2003, in a landmark paper showing that expression of mouse c-Myc in transgenic zebrafish unleashed rapid leukemia development [ 1•]. Consisting of a variety of T or B-cell lymphoblastic (ALL) and myeloid (AML) malignancies, zebrafish leukemia is typically modeled through the expression of a frequently mutated proto-oncogene

(such as c-Myc [ 1•], TEL-AML [ 4] and NOTCH1 [ 6]) under the rag2 promoter in developing lymphocytes. A major advantage of this system is the tagging of a fluorescent marker to the gene of interest, enabling powerful real-time tracking of lymphocyte migration and proliferation. An illustrative example of this tool is an elegant work by Feng et al., in studying a Bcl-2;Myc zebrafish model of lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) [ 17]. In this study, Feng MTMR9 et al. monitored the local metastatic

behavior of Discosoma red (ds-RED) tagged zebrafish lymphocytes in transparent casper fish, which had vasculature defined by enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). Through live imaging of these cells, the authors were able to determine that lymphoblast autophagy was responsible for preventing their intravasion into the marrow, a hallmark transition of T-LBL to acute T-ALL. Cross-testing in zebrafish and human T-LBL cell lines revealed that this autophagy was caused by high levels of S1P1, which when suppressed resulted in widespread dissemination of the disease ( Table 1). In another study, live imaging of zebrafish embryos enabled Ridges et al. to identify a selective inhibitor of lymphocyte proliferation that is remarkably effective against human T-ALL xenografts [ 18••]. Ridges et al. screened over 26 000 chemicals for activity that could diminish fluorescent-tagged lymphocyte development in zebrafish larvae. One compound, lenaldekar, induced long-term remission in a zebrafish T-ALL model with encouraging responses in efficacy and toxicity when targeted against human xenografts in mice.

However, these studies were restricted to only one inflammatory m

However, these studies were restricted to only one inflammatory marker, and none of the studies provided a comprehensive view of the inflammatory microenvironment in pediatric tumors or correlated the presence of these markers with inflammation in WT. To learn more about the role of the inflammatory microenvironment in the development of WT, we analyzed tumors for various inflammatory markers and inflammatory immune cells by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. Overall, we found that WT exhibited infiltration of inflammatory

immune cells and overexpression of several inflammatory transcription factors and other inflammatory markers compared with normal kidneys. Our data suggest that a COX-2–mediated inflammatory microenvironment NVP-BKM120 nmr may be important in WT tumorigenesis and that investigating the potential utility of therapeutic targeting of this environment is warranted. Pretreatment tumor tissues and autologous normal kidney specimens were obtained from 16 WT patients aged 7 to 66 months at the time of diagnosis. Informed consent was obtained from each patient’s parent or guardian. Studies were approved by the Institutional Review Board and in accordance with an assurance filed with and approved by the US Department selleck chemical of Health and Human Services. Eight of the patients were males and eight were females, and one patient had bilateral disease.

Of these 16 patients, 4 were at stage IV, 4 were at stage III, 3 were at stage II, and 5 were at stage I of WT disease. Tissues were fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin (FFPE)

in preparation for analysis. A mouse model for the human WT has been generated in our laboratory [9] by Wt1 gene ablation and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) up-regulation by conditional knockout strategy (Wt1−/flH19+/−mCre-ERTM or Wt1-IGF2 mice). These mice developed tumors at the age of 3 months on an average. The tumors and normal kidneys from its littermate controls were collected at the similar age and processed as mentioned earlier for histology and IHC analysis. FFPE specimens were cut in 5-μm sections, which were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. For IHC analysis, FFPE sections from were deparaffinized in xylene, rehydrated sequentially in ethanol (100%, 90%, and 70%), and placed into a 1% phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS; pH 7.4). Tissues were analyzed for infiltration by T cells, B cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and mast cells (MCs). Inflammatory markers analyzed were COX-2, HIF-1, phosphorylated extracellular signal–related kinases 1 and 2 (p-ERK1/2), phosphorylated STAT3 (p-Stat3), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), nitrotyrosine (NT), and VEGF. Simultaneously, to prove the similar expression and infiltration pattern in the mouse model of WT, mouse tumor tissues and control kidneys were immunostained for inflammatory marker COX-2 and predominant inflammatory immune cells, macrophages (F4/80). Details of antibody staining and epitope retrieval are summarized in Table W1.

An RMSEA of less than 08 is indicative of a close fit of the sam

An RMSEA of less than .08 is indicative of a close fit of the sample (empirical) covariance selleck products matrix to the population matrix (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). Goodness of fit of the

overall model was determined using descriptive statistics such as the likelihood ratio chi-square statistic, χ2, (models with a χ2 of zero indicate a theoretical model that fits the data perfectly), p-value (high p-values indicate a model is unlikely to be refuted in other independent samples), and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) index of less than .08 indicating minimal discrepancy between the empirical or sample covariance matrix and the population. The class of models evaluated in this study was nonrecursive. In nonrecursive SEMs the presence of bidirectional feedback loops creates the possibility of a non-stable system resulting in biased parameter estimates. In our models, stability of the nonrecursive system was evaluated using the stability index based on the work of Bentler and Freeman (1983). In all models the stability index was between −1.0 and 1.0 verifying that the nonrecursive models were stable. Separate nonrecursive models were created for the shift and no shift conditions. The no shift

condition revealed connectivity associated with vocalization without error with a chi square fit index of 31.411, RMSEA = .071. Not surprisingly, we found that there are many connections Gefitinib between and within hemispheres. Connections presented in the left hemisphere include left MYO10 M1 to left PMC, left STG, and left IFG which emphasizes the extent of connectivity necessary with the motor cortex to execute

speech accurately. Left IFG showed coupling with left PMC regions commonly associated with the voice and speech network and contributors to speech articulation and retrieval of speech sounds. Left STG showed a relationship with left IFG and likely contributes to voice perception and processing. Right hemisphere connections include right M1 to right IFG and right PMC. A negative connection from right IFG to right M1 was also observed. The connections in the right hemisphere contribute to pitch processing. Cross hemisphere connections include, left STG to right M1, left IFG to right M1, left STG to right STG, and left IFG to right PMC. Lastly, a negative connection is visible from right PMC to left IFG. These cross-hemisphere connections indicate that vocalization requires crosstalk from both hemispheres to ensure accurate vocalization. No shift connectivity is shown in black (Fig. 1). The shift condition consisted of rapid 200 ms shifts presented to the subject. These quick deviations from the subjects’ intended vocal output were likely processed as errors. Therefore, changes in connectivity between the no shift and shift conditions are likely due to this detected error and the processes associated with error correction. Here we present the resulting shift model which yielded a chi square fit index of 32.302, and RMSEA = .072.

Such pharmacologic treatments are now commonly used on children (

Such pharmacologic treatments are now commonly used on children (sometime extremely young) during long periods (2–5 years) with the rationale to maximize the impact on a growing skeleton. However, some concerns have been raised about the equivocal efficiency on the fracture reduction [4] and [5], the accumulation of those long life drugs

and the impact of inhibiting bone remodelling over long periods, which results in the build-up of poor quality, highly mineralized bone [1] and [6]. Doxorubicin It is recognized that the bone tissue is highly responsive to dynamic loading and is able to adapt its architecture and mass to the mechanical loading environment [7], [8] and [9]. Bone remodelling is sensitive to strain magnitude [10] and [11], frequency [12] and [13], number of loading cycles [14], strain rate [15] and rest periods between stimulation [16]. In addition to bone response to high peak strains [17] and [18], there is also evidence of bone adaptation at low strain but high frequency loading [9] and [19]. Because high strain exercises in patient suffering from OI may result in fracture, high frequency low amplitude whole body mechanical

vibration (WBV) is an attractive low-impact and drug-free approach to stimulate bone formation. The therapeutic impact of RG-7204 WBV treatment has been observed on muscle strength, motion, posture and bone density in various osteopenic populations: young women [20] and [21], post-menopausal women [22], [23], [24] and [25] or children with disabling conditions like cerebral palsy [26] or with OI [27] but no effect has been observed on healthy adults [28]. However more investigations are required to confirm the impact of WBV on

bone mass and to identify the most efficient vibration parameters and the most responsive target population [29], [30], [31], [32] and [33]. Numerous studies have investigated the influence of WBV on bone formation using a large variety of animal models (sheep, rat, mouse) [34], [35], [36] and [37], age (growing, young or old adults) [38], [39] and [40], Farnesyltransferase vibration frequency (from 20 to 90 Hz) [41], [42] and [43], maximum peak acceleration (from 0.1 to 3 g) [43] and [44], treatment duration (from 10 to 30 min) and treatment length (from 2 weeks to 1 year). A significant osteogenic effect was observed in the trabecular bone of both the femoral condyle and tibial metaphysis of adult sheep (1 year treatment, 30 Hz, 0.3 g) [35] and [36]. In adult mice, an osteogenic response to WBV is observed in the tibial metaphysis with a non-dose dependent response to acceleration (5 weeks treatment, 45 Hz, 0.1, 0.3 and 1 g) [44]. An influence of the mouse genotype was observed: the osteogenic response to WBV inversely correlated to the low (C57Bl/6J), medium (BALB/c) or high (C3H) bone density of the mouse strain (2 to 3 weeks treatment, 45 Hz, 0.25 g) [37].

The C4 compound was effective in reducing the lipid peroxidation

The C4 compound was effective in reducing the lipid peroxidation at the lowest concentration Selleckchem Small molecule library tested. The IC50 values of the compounds followed the order: C4 < C2 < C3 < C1 against Fe(II)-induced lipid peroxidation (Table 2). For SNP-induced lipid peroxidation, the IC50 values of the compounds followed the order: C4 < C3 < C2 < C1 (Table 2). The Imax values of the compounds against Fe(II)-induced lipid peroxidation was 67%, 81%, 72% and 90% respectively of C1 to C4 ( Table 4). For SNP-induced

lipid peroxidation, the Imax values of the compounds was 69%, 79%, 89% and 93% respectively of C1 to C4 ( Table 4). The organoselenium compounds did not show any significant effects in tests involving Fe(II)-chelating properties, free radical scavenging, thiol-oxidase activities and cellular viability

(data not shown). The curve of ascorbic acid was determine utilizing the concentration 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 μM represented at Fig. 4 as the letters a–e. The diselenides at 400 μM showed total antioxidant activity similar CHIR 99021 to ascorbic acid at 10, 20 and 40 μM. Similarly, the monoselenides at 400 μM demonstrated an antioxidant effect equivalent to that of ascorbic acid at 5, 10 and 20 μM. Fig. 5 demonstrates the GPx activity of the organoselenium compounds. The compounds C1 (Fig. 5A) and C2 (Fig. 5B) did not present any significant GPx activity when compared with the control group. DMSO alone had no significant effect on the GPx activity. However, our data reveals that DPDS, C3 (Fig. 5C) and C4 analogs (Fig. 5D) at both concentrations tested demonstrated GPx-like activity. The monoselenides did not show TrxR activity, while the diselenides demonstrated a significant difference compared to the control

group. As shown in Fig. 6, C3 and C4 demonstrated 13 and 7 times higher TrxR activity, respectively, than the control. The present study aimed to investigate and clarify the antioxidant properties of novel mono- and diselenides compounds. Oxidative stress is involved in various metabolic disorders and in the normal process of aging (Giles et al., 2012 and Mugesh et al., 2001). Additionally, antioxidant therapy has been used in an attempt to repair these harmful effects (Nogueira and Rocha, 2011 and Zadra et al., 2012). In this context, lipid Janus kinase (JAK) peroxidation products MDA and 4-hydroxynonenal have been shown to play significant roles in brain and liver toxicities and can serve as markers of oxidative damage (Chen et al., 2005). Prestes reported that monoselenides, which possess an amino group near the selenium, exhibited decreased MDA formation compared to that found for DPDS (Prestes et al., 2012). The novel mono- and diselenides compounds examined in our study demonstrated antioxidant activity against Fe (II)- and SNP-induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain and liver homogenates.

Mice deficient in Tau and SNCA have been challenged with prions a

Mice deficient in Tau and SNCA have been challenged with prions and in both cases no difference in incubation time was seen [40 and 41]. Mutations in SNCA are associated with familial PD and in contrast, mice expressing mutant SNCA (A53T) show a reduction in incubation time [ 42]. High throughput technologies such as GWAS and expression profiling suggest many candidate genes

but the key challenge is to translate buy PF-01367338 this to phenotypic relevance (Table 1). Therefore, the goal is to develop an in vitro screen for functional validation. This is being done using neuroblastoma derived cell lines that are highly susceptible to prion infection and are able to sustain chronic infection. The scrapie cell assay (SCA) allows rapid bioassay of prions by counting the numbers of individual infected cells in a culture following serial splits after exposure to an unknown prion isolate and then comparing to standard curves and can be combined with RNAi technology to knockdown gene expression either transiently or stably to investigate the effect if any on prion propagation [ 35 and 43]. The assay can be automated and used either in its full format or using chronically infected cells to measure curing of infection when

target genes learn more are manipulated. The SCA is prion strain selective and cannot fully substitute for the disease process in brain or the peripheral pathogenesis before neuroinvasion in natural infections buy Paclitaxel and so some important genes will not report in this system. However, the assay should capture genes involved in the fundamentals of cellular prion infection, propagation and clearance thus providing triage for prioritising candidate genes for future studies. The gold standard for functional validation is to generate a mouse model such as a transgenic, or knockout and look

for a perturbation of phenotype such as incubation time. Generating mouse models can be time consuming and expensive, however, rapidly expanding public repositories such as the International Mouse Knockout Consortium (www.knockoutmouse.org) are generating null alleles for all mouse genes in embryonic stem (ES) cell lines which should considerably speed up the process. Alternatives include the use of viral vectors for RNAi delivery to targeted regions of the brain for which proof of concept has already been provided with Prnp knockdown [ 44]. There is no doubt that genes other than PRNP contribute to prion disease susceptibility and considerable progress has been made towards their identification, however, in human it is becoming clearer that there may be many common variants but these are of modest effect.


“The scorpion envenoming syndrome is an important worldwid


“The scorpion envenoming syndrome is an important worldwide public health problem due to its high incidence and potential severity of symptoms (Ministério

da Saúde, 2009 and Ministério da Saúde, 2013). It occurs mainly in tropical and subtropical countries, where hot and humid GDC 0449 weather favors the scorpion proliferation. Tityus serrulatus, the scorpion of larger medical importance, is responsible for the most serious accidents ( Fundação Nacional de Saúde, 2001). Its venom is composed of a complex mixture of toxic and non-toxic peptides ( Diniz and Gonçalves, 1960). Two types of scorpion toxins have been implicated in the toxicity: toxin gamma (TiTx, a β-type toxin) and tityustoxin (TsTX, an α-type toxin), both with specific affinity to voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) ( Barhanin et al., 1982). Because TsTX was suggested as one of the higher lethal components of the T. serrulatus venom ( Kalapothakis and Chavez-Olortegui, 1997), it was chosen to be tested in this study. The TsTX binds to the site 3 of VGSC, mainly in the activated state, delaying

its inactivation and increasing the cell membrane permeability to sodium. This condition enhances neurotransmitters release, which can stimulate Talazoparib mw many systemic disorders ( Barhanin et al., 1982, Casali et al., 1995, Dorce and Sandoval, 1994 and Massensini et al., 1998). The cardiorespiratory complications pointed as the main “causa mortis” of scorpion envenoming are cardiac arrhythmias, arterial hypertension and hypotension, pulmonary edema and circulatory failure ( Bahloul et al., 2002, Freire-Maia and Campos, 1989, Freire-Maia et al., 1994, Freire-Maia Idoxuridine et al., 1974 and Ismail, 1995). These effects involve the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), prominently governed by the sympathetic branch (SNS), whose

activity is generated and modulated by various central nuclei ( Guyenet, 2006). The direct action of scorpion venom on the central nervous system (CNS) has been neglected due to the understanding that its toxic proteins would not be able to across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) ( Ismail et al., 1974 and Revelo et al., 1996). However, biodistribution assays detected the systemically given labeled toxin in the CNS of developing animals, whose BBB is still immature ( Clot-Faybesse et al., 2000 and Nunan et al., 2003). Additionally, Nunan and colleagues observed that the TsTX distribution in the brain of young rats was about threefold that of an adult. Moreover, the CNS seems to be very sensitive to TsTX ( Nunan et al., 2003). In fact, there is an overwhelming literature about the TsTX effects in the CNS: (a) intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) of TsTX induced convulsions in rats ( Lima et al., 1975); (b) microinjections of TsTX into hippocampus of rats undergoing electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings induced epileptiform discharges ( Sandoval and Lebrun, 2003); (c) intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of TsTX low dose (1.

In general, FRET allows measuring distances in the order of 30–80

In general, FRET allows measuring distances in the order of 30–80 Å, requires a low amount of material and is suitable to collect both structural (in steady-state measurements) and dynamic (in time-resolved selleck chemical measurements) data. The disadvantage of the technique is that it requires bulky hydrophobic tags, limiting the positions where the fluorophores can be placed. At the same time the fluorescent tags might interact with the protein components of the complex, and either perturb the complex architecture or invalidate the assumption of low

fluorescence anisotropy. As an alternative approach to FRET, pulsed electron–electron double-resonance (PELDOR) spectroscopy can be used to determine distances in nucleic acids in the range of 15–70 Å. The method measures the dipole–dipole interaction of two free electrons located on nitroxide spin labels, chemically attached to the nucleic acid at selected positions [49]. Both distance and distance distribution functions can be obtained for double-labelled nucleotides [50]. The advantage of EPR-based distance measurement in comparison to FRET is that the spin labels are relatively

small (usually 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-pyrrolin-1-oxyl-3-acetylene, TPA) [42] and can be introduced both in helical and loop regions with minimal perturbation of the structure. In addition, the same spin labels can be employed for PRE measurements, optimizing the effort mTOR inhibitor in engineering 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase the spin label positions. Clearly a number of such long-range distances, obtained either by FRET or EPR, have the potential to restrict the conformational space available to the RNA and determine the relative orientation of both secondary structure elements in one RNA molecule and of multiple RNA molecules in the complex. In the past few years it has become popular to validate

or complement structural information obtained by NMR with Small Angle Scattering (SAS) data (Fig. 5). Small angle scattering of either X-ray (SAXS) or neutrons (SANS) provides a low-resolution envelope of the particle in solution. The structural information derived from SAS data refers to the overall shape of the molecule and does not report on fine structural details; in this respect it can be considered fully complementary to the information derived by NMR. Examples of the use of SAXS scattering profiles to validate structures derived by NMR can be found in the literature for both proteins [51] and nucleic acids [52] and [53]. Direct structural refinement against the SAXS scattering curve is available in the structure calculation program CNS [54]. Alternatively, SAXS data are used to derive a consensus low-resolution molecular shape: this shape can be employed to constrain the conformational space available to the molecule(s), similarly to the process of fitting flexible atomic structures to Electron Microscopy maps [55].