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Conventional drugs work, as a rule, by inhibiting the enzymatic activity of specific proteins, capping their active site. In this paper we present a model of non-conventional drug design based on the inhibiting effects small peptides obtained from segments of the protein itself have on the folding ability of the system. Such peptides attach to the newly expressed (unfolded) protein and inhibit its folding, inhibition which cannot be avoided but through mutations which in any case denaturate the enzyme. These peptides, or their mimetic molecules, can be used as effective alternative drugs to those already available, displaying the advantage of not suffering from the upraise of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new interstitial harpacticoids were recently collected from groundwater in Tuscany (Central Italy). The Parastenocarididae Parastenocaris reidae sp. nov. was collected from both phreatic and hyporheic habitats of River Serchio, Lucca province, together with specimens of Parastenocaris cf. glacialis Noodt. We describe and discuss the affinities of the former species, and give a preliminary description of the latter. Nitocrella ensifera sp. nov. was collected from the phreatic habitat of Fiora River, Grosseto, and from a well in the same area; this new species is described and its affinities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]