Diurnal variation in CREB phosphorylation and PER1 protein levels in lactotroph cells of melatonin-proficient C3H and melatonin-deficient C57BL mice: similarities and differences

The pineal hormone melatonin plays an important role in the maintenance of rhythmic functions of the hypophyseal pars tuberalis, which controls the lactotroph cells of the pars distalis. To analyze the effects of melatonin deficiency on the activity state of these cells, we have investigated the levels of Ser133-phosphorylated (p)CREB and PER1 protein in immunocytochemically identified lactotroph cells of melatonin-proficient C3H and melatonin-deficient C57BL mice at four different time points of a 12/12 LD cycle. At night, the percentage of lactotroph cells showing a positive nuclear pCREB and PER1 immunoreaction is significantly smaller in C57BL than in C3H mice. In both mouse strains, the percentage of pCREB-immunoreactive cells is minimal in the early morning and gradually increases to reach a maximum in the late night. PER1 levels show a parallel temporal variation in C3H, but in C57BL, they are drastically reduced in the early afternoon. The observation that, during darkness, the percentage of lactotroph cells with nuclear pCREB immunoreaction is significantly higher in C3H than in C57BL mice suggests the existence of a distinct cell population that is under the control of melatonin-dependent intrapituitary signaling. Interestingly, the percentage of pCREB- and PER1-immunoreactive lactotroph cells reaches minimal and maximal values at the same time points. This suggests that the correlation between CREB phosphorylation and PER1 induction differs between these cells and other neuroendocrine centers, e.g., the pineal organ and suprachiasmatic nucleus, displaying a temporal gap between CREB phosphorylation and PER1 induction.This study was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KO758/7-3)     

Structural variation and rates of genome evolution in the grass family seen through comparison of sequences of genomes greatly differing in size

Homology was searched with genes annotated in the Aegilops tauschii pseudomolecules against genes annotated in the pseudomolecules of tetraploid wild emmer wheat, Brachypodium distachyon, sorghum and rice. Similar searches were performed with genes annotated in the rice pseudomolecules. Matrices of collinear genes and rearrangements in their order were constructed. Optical BioNano genome maps were constructed and used to validate rearrangements unique to the wild emmer and Ae. tauschii genomes. Most common rearrangements were short paracentric inversions and short intrachromosomal translocations. Intrachromosomal translocations outnumbered segmental intrachromosomal duplications. The densities of paracentric inversion lengths were approximated by exponential distributions in all six genomes. Densities of collinear genes along the Ae. tauschii chromosomes were highly correlated with meiotic recombination rates but those of rearrangements were not, suggesting different causes of the erosion of gene collinearity and evolution of major chromosome rearrangements. Frequent rearrangements sharing breakpoints suggested that chromosomes have been rearranged recurrently at some sites. The distal 4 Mb of the short arms of rice chromosomes Os11 and Os12 and corresponding regions in the sorghum, B. distachyon and Triticeae genomes contain clusters of interstitial translocations including from 1 to 7 collinear genes. The rates of acquisition of major rearrangements were greater in the large wild emmer wheat and Ae. tauschii genomes than in the lineage preceding their divergence or in the B. distachyon, rice and sorghum lineages. It is suggested that synergy between large quantities of dynamic transposable elements and annual growth habit have been the primary causes of the fast evolution of the Triticeae genomes.     

The positive effects of Mediterranean-neutropenic diet on nutritional status of acute myeloid leukemia patients under chemotherapy

Introduction

Cancer and chemotherapy-induced malnutrition increase death, reduce the response to treatment, and increase multiple kinds of side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Mediterranean-neutropenic diet on the nutritional status of acute myeloid leukemia patients under chemotherapy.

Materials and Methods

50 patients were divided into two groups by a random allocation scheme: the Mediterranean-neutropenic diet (n = 25) and the neutropenic diet group (n = 25). The intervention was implemented during a one month period. The nutritional status was evaluated based on PG-SGA. Serum albumin levels and dietary intake were also measured.

Results

After the intervention, the mean serum albumin level in the intervention group was significantly higher than the beginning of the study (p = 0.09) and in comparison with the control group (p = 0.01). Also, the mean serum albumin level in the control group significantly decreased at the end of the study compared to the beginning of the study (p = 0.03). After intervention, the nutritional status of the patients in the intervention group was significantly improved compared to the control group.

Conclusion

In general, based on the results of this study, the Mediterranean neutropenic diet improves nutritional status during chemotherapy by increasing food intake, preventing weight loss and increasing serum albumin levels

     

The network structure affects the fixation probability when it couples to the birth-death dynamics in finite population

The study of evolutionary dynamics on graphs is an interesting topic for researchers in various fields of science and mathematics. In systems with finite population, different model dynamics are distinguished by their effects on two important quantities: fixation probability and fixation time. The isothermal theorem declares that the fixation probability is the same for a wide range of graphs and it only depends on the population size. This has also been proved for more complex graphs that are called complex networks. In this work, we propose a model that couples the population dynamics to the network structure and show that in this case, the isothermal theorem is being violated. In our model the death rate of a mutant depends on its number of neighbors, and neutral drift holds only in the average. We investigate the fixation probability behavior in terms of the complexity parameter, such as the scale-free exponent for the scale-free network and the rewiring probability for the small-world network.     

Pollen morphological studies in subfamily Suaedoideae (Chenopodiaceae)

The pollen morphology of two Bienertia species and 28 Suaeda species from the Old World has been studied with light and scanning electron microscopy. Pollen morphological characters used in this study include pollen diameter, pore number, pore diameter, operculum diameter, chord distance, exine thickness, plus number and characteristics of exine spinules and operculum spinules. Using these characters, the pollen of Bienertia is clearly distinguished from that of Suaeda. In addition, pollen data support recent molecular studies which merge the genus Borszczowia into Suaeda. The pollen grains of Suaeda show notable variation; in some cases this allows morphological distinctions to be made between species. Taxonomically, pore number is observed to be a more useful character than pollen diameter. Principal components analysis (PCA) shows only a weak correlation between pollen characters and habit (life form), habitat, mode of photosynthesis or phylogenetic relationships. Interestingly, however, the annual C₃ and C₄ species of section Schoberia are usually characterised by a higher pore number than the perennial C₄ species.     

Bioinformatics Analysis of Domain 1 of HCV-Core Protein: Iran

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious global health problem and a cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and...     

Examination of the protective roles of helmet/faceshield and directionality for human head under blast waves

A parametric study was conducted to delineate the efficacy of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as ballistic faceshields and advanced combat helmets, in the case of a blast. The propagations of blast waves and their interactions with an unprotected head, a helmeted one, and a fully protected finite element head model (FEHM) were modeled. The biomechanical parameters of the brain were recorded when the FEHM was exposed to shockwaves from the front, back, top, and bottom. The directional dependent tissue response of the brain and the variable efficiency of PPE with respect to the blast orientation were two major results of this study.     

Intracardiac atrial signal amplitude in congenital and acquired complete heart block

Background

Good and reliable atrial sensing is a fundamental part of atrioventricular (AV) synchrony in dual chamber pacemakers. Due to the floating nature of atrial sensing electrode in single pass dual chamber pacemakers (VDD) compared with two-lead dual chamber pacemakers (DDD), they are more prone to atrial under-sensing and the resulting loss of AV synchrony. We hypothesized that there is a relation between the chronicity of AV block and the amplitude of intracardiac atrial signal amplitudes (IASA).

Methods

Detailed demographic, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic data were recorded in 34 consecutive patients with congenital and acquired complete heart block (CHB). The intracardiac atrial signal amplitudes (IASA) were recorded at implantation time, 48 hours and 2 months post-implantation and compared between the two groups of patients.

Results

The mean age of the study group was 38.73±12.53 years (congenital: 30.08±11.07, acquired: 47.38±6.5). There were no important differences in left atrial or ventricular sizes and in P-wave amplitude in lead II, but the IASA was significantly higher in the congenital group at implantation time (5.21±1.86 vs. 3.38±0.84 mV, P<0.001) and during the follow-up.

Conclusion

The intracardiac atrial signal amplitudes were higher in congenital CHB compared with the acquired CHB. Chronicity (and may be the congenital type) of CHB may be an affecting factor in case selection for VDD pacemaker implantation.