Preparation of a Stable Mycobacterial Tween Hydrolysis Test Substrate

A Tween 80 hydrolysis test substrate was found to be stable at room temperature for at least 6 months.     

Suppressor cells in the spleens of tumor-bearing mice: enrichment by centrifugation on hypaque-ficoll and characterization of the suppressor population.

Spleen cells from mice bearing methylcholanthrene-induced sarcomas or a mammary adenocarcinoma suppressed the mitogen responses of normal spleen and lymph node cells. Lymph node cells from tumor bearers had no suppressive effects. Centrifugation of spleen cells layered on Hypaque-Ficoll (specific gravity of 1.08) produced a dense fraction which pelleted and a light fraction which was retained at the Hypaque-Ficoll-medium interface. Suppressive activity was not found in either fraction of normal spleen cells. In tumor-bearer spleen cells suppressor activity was greatly enriched in the light fraction. Treatment of the suppressor fraction with anti-theta or anti-Ig serum and complement did not remove suppressor activity. However, the suppressor cells were removed by passage through nylon wool or by carbonyl iron treatment. Also, the population which adhered to plastic Petri dishes contained the suppressor cell activity.     

Increased Ribozyme Activity in Crowded Solutions

Noncoding RNAs must function in the crowded environment of the cell. Previous small-angle x-ray scattering experiments showed that molecular crowders stabilize the structure of the Azoarcus group I ribozyme, allowing the ribozyme to fold at low physiological Mg²⁺ concentrations. Here, we used an RNA cleavage assay to show that the PEG and Ficoll crowder molecules increased the biochemical activity of the ribozyme, whereas sucrose did not. Crowding lowered the Mg²⁺ threshold at which activity was detected and increased total RNA cleavage at high Mg²⁺ concentrations sufficient to fold the RNA in crowded or dilute solution. After correcting for solution viscosity, the observed reaction rate was proportional to the fraction of active ribozyme. We conclude that molecular crowders stabilize the native ribozyme and favor the active structure relative to compact inactive folding intermediates.     

Distribution and hormonal regulation of membrane progesterone receptors β and γ in ciliated epithelial cells of mouse and human fallopian tubes

Background  

The controlled beating of cilia of the fallopian tube plays an important role in facilitating the meeting of gametes and subsequently transporting the fertilized egg to its implantation site. Rapid effects of progesterone on ciliary beat frequency have been reported in the fallopian tubes of cows, but the identity of the receptors mediating this non-genomic action of progesterone is not known. We recently identified a member of the non-genomic membrane progesterone receptor family, mPR gamma, as a candidate for mediating these actions of progesterone. Here, we investigated the possible presence of a related receptor, mPR beta, in the fallopian tubes of mice and women as well as the possible hormonal regulation of mPR beta and gamma.     

SSWAP: A Simple Semantic Web Architecture and Protocol for semantic web services

Background  

SSWAP (Simple Semantic Web Architecture and Protocol; pronounced "swap") is an architecture, protocol, and platform for using reasoning to semantically integrate heterogeneous disparate data and services on the web. SSWAP was developed as a hybrid semantic web services technology to overcome limitations found in both pure web service technologies and pure semantic web technologies.     

The effects of age,sex, and habitat on body size and shape of the blackstripe topminnow,Fundulus notatus (Cyprinodontiformes: Fundulidae) (Rafinesque 1820)

Lake and stream habitats pose a variety of challenges to fishes due to differences in variables such as water velocity, habitat structure, prey community, and predator community. These differences can cause divergent selection on body size and/or shape. Here, we measured sex, age, length, and eight different morphological traits of the blackstripe topminnow, Fundulus notatus, from 19 lake and stream populations across four river drainages in central Illinois. Our goal was to determine whether size and shape differed consistently between lake and stream habitats across drainages. We also considered the effects of age and sex as they may affect size and morphology. We found large differences in body size of age 1 topminnows where stream fish were generally larger than lake fish. Body shape mainly varied as a function of sex. Adult male topminnows had larger morphological traits (with the exception of body width) than females, in particular longer dorsal and anal base lengths. Subtle effects of habitat were present. Stream fish had a longer dorsal fin base than lake fish. These phenotypic patterns may be the result of genetic and/or environmental variation. As these lakes are human‐made, the observed differences, if genetic, would have had to occur relatively rapidly (within about 100 years). © 2013 The Linnean Society of London     

N-Methylanilide and N-methylbenzamide derivatives as phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) inhibitors

PDE10A is a recently identified phosphodiesterase with a quite remarkable localization since the protein is abundant only in brain tissue. Based on this unique localization, research has focused extensively on using PDE10A modulators as a novel therapeutic approach for dysfunction in the basal ganglia circuit including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction and obsessive compulsive disorder. Medicinal chemistry efforts identified the N-methyl-N-[4-(quinolin-2-ylmethoxy)-phenyl]-isonicotinamide (8) as a nanomolar PDE10A inhibitor. A subsequent Lead-optimization program identified analogous N-methylanilides and their corresponding N-methylbenzamides (29) as potent PDE10A inhibitors, concurrently some interesting and unexpected binding modes were identified.