Pneumocystis carinii infection in corticosteroid-treated cats

Corticosteroids were administered to produce Pneumocystis carinii infection in cats. Six of 10 cats, injected intramuscularly for 97-141 days with 2 mg/cat twice weekly of betamethasone sodium phosphate, developed a light infection with P. carinii. Six of 7 cats, injected intramuscularly for 11-168 days with 10-25 mg/cat weekly of prednisolone acetate, also developed a light infection with P. carinii. There was no significant difference in the infection rate between the sexes and ages of the cats. Using Giemsa staining and Gomori's methenamine silver nitrate stain, P. carinii organisms were indistinguishable morphologically from human and rat P. carinii. The cysts and trophozoites were usually present singly or in small groups, and they always were adhering to the periphery of alveoli. The inflammatory changes were inconspicuous except for the fact that alveolar macrophages often were seen. Corticosteroid-treated cats should be useful in the study of experimental P. carinii infection. This is the first reported case of experimentally induced P. carinii infection in cats.     

Cloning and Characterization of the Murine GPI Anchor Synthesis GenePigf,a Homologue of the HumanPIGFGene

Many eukaryotic proteins are bound to the plasma membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. Its core backbone, which is conserved in different organisms, is synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum by the sequential addition of glycan components to phosphatidylinositol. One of the human GPI synthesis genes,PIGF(phosphatidylinositol glycan complementation class F), which is involved late in the synthesis pathway, has been cloned. In this study, we isolated complementary and genomic clones ofPigf,a murine counterpart ofPIGF. Pigfencodes a 219 amino acid protein that complements a class F mutation. ThePigfgene consists of six exons spanning 30 kb and was mapped to chromosome 17 at 17E4–E5. These features are very similar toPIGF,thus demonstrating the interspecies conservation of structure, function, gene organization, and genetic locus between these GPI synthesis genes. The results also extend a region in murine distal chromosome 17 that is syntenic to human chromosome 2p16–p22.     

Microtubule sliding in flagellar axonemes of Chlamydomonas mutants missing inner- or outer-arm dynein: velocity measurements on new types of mutants by an improved method.

To help understand the functional properties of inner and outer dynein arms in axonemal motility, sliding velocities of outer doublets were measured in disintegrating axonemes of Chlamydomonas mutants lacking either of the arms. Measurements under improved solution conditions yielded significantly higher sliding velocities than those observed in a previous study [Okagaki and Kamiya, 1986, J. Cell Biol. 103:1895-1902]. As in the previous study, it was found that the velocities in axonemes of wild type (wt) and a mutant (oda1) missing the outer arm differ greatly: 18.5 +/- 4.1 microns/sec for wt and 4.4 +/- 2.3 microns/sec for oda1 at 0.5 mM Mg-ATP. In contrast, axonemes of two types of mutants (ida2 and ida4) that lacked different sets of two inner-arm heavy chains displayed velocities almost identical with the wild-type velocity. Moreover, axonemes of a non-motile double mutant ida2 X ida4 underwent sliding disintegration at a similar high velocity, although less frequently than in axonemes of single mutants. These observations support the hypothesis that the inner and outer dynein arms in disintegrating axonemes drive microtubules at different speeds and it is the faster outer arm that determines the overall speed when both arms are present. The inner arm may be important for the initiation of sliding. The axoneme thus appears to be equipped with two (or more) types of motors with different intrinsic speeds.     

The distribution of 14c from [U-14c]glucose in mice using whole-body autoradiography.

Tissue distribution of radioactive carbon from [U-14C]glucose in the mouse in vivo was studied by whole-body autoradiography. The mice were frozen with Dry-Ice-acetone at 0.5, 1, 5 and 30 min, 1 and 24 hr and 1 and 3 weeks after intraperitoneal injection of [U-14C]glucose. Whole-sagittal sections of the frozen mouse, obtained by using a microtome in a cryostat, were dried in a cryostat and autoradiographed. The resulting dry autoradiographs are called untreated autoradiographs in the present work. The sections were then fixed in cold 6% (w/v) HClO4, dried at room temperature and again autoradiographed. Autoradiographs that have undergone this process are referred to as treated autoradiographs. In both untreated and treated autoradiographs, within 1 min following injection of the labeled glucose, the abdominal cavity had the highest autoradiographic density. At 1 hr, density became highest in Harder's, sublingual and duodenal glands, large intestinal mucosa and tongue, and after 3 weeks, no autoradiographic denisty was present.     

Prevention of PERV infections in pig to human xenotransplantation by the RNA interference silences gene

The possibility of preventing the transmission of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) to human cells using short interfering RNAs (siRNA) was investigated. The siRNA for the p30 of PERV gag region was cloned into pSUPER, the polymerase-III H1-RNA gene promoter. A green fluorescence protein (GFP) was also cloned into pSUPER to establish pSXGH. Pig endothelial cells (PEC) were transduced with the LacZ gene by pseudotype infection, and infected with PERV subtype B, resulting in the formation of PEC(LacZ)/PB. The PEC(LacZ)/PB was next transfected with pSXGH-siRNA. The expression of siRNA was provisionally checked by determining the level of expression of GFP. Culture supernatants of infected cells were then inoculated into HEK293 cells. The siRNA clearly destroyed the PERV infectivity of PEC(LacZ)/PB in both transient cell lines and stable clones. Moreover, the decreased levels of mRNA and gag protein were evidenced in the stable clones by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The final goal of our study was to establish a transgenic pig expressing the siRNA for PERV. The results suggest that siRNA represents a novel approach for controlling PERV infections in clinical xenotransplantation.     

Dynamic perceptual changes in audiovisual simultaneity

Background

The timing at which sensory input reaches the level of conscious perception is an intriguing question still awaiting an answer. It is often assumed that both visual and auditory percepts have a modality specific processing delay and their difference determines perceptual temporal offset.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here, we show that the perception of audiovisual simultaneity can change flexibly and fluctuates over a short period of time while subjects observe a constant stimulus. We investigated the mechanisms underlying the spontaneous alternations in this audiovisual illusion and found that attention plays a crucial role. When attention was distracted from the stimulus, the perceptual transitions disappeared. When attention was directed to a visual event, the perceived timing of an auditory event was attracted towards that event.

Conclusions/Significance

This multistable display illustrates how flexible perceived timing can be, and at the same time offers a paradigm to dissociate perceptual from stimulus-driven factors in crossmodal feature binding. Our findings suggest that the perception of crossmodal synchrony depends on perceptual binding of audiovisual stimuli as a common event.     

Settlement of Planulae of the Moon Jellyfish Aurelia aurita onto Hydrophilic Polycarbonate Plates Modified by Atmospheric Plasma Treatment

It has been reported that planula larvae of some jellyfish prefer artificial substrates for settlement. This research focused on the relationship between the settlement of planulae and the wettability of artificial substrate surfaces. We used atmospheric plasmas to change the wettability of the surfaces of polycarbonate (PC) plates because plasma treatment has no chemical side effects. The treatment made the surfaces hydrophilic, as evidenced by the decrease of contact angle from 85° to 35°. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the change of wettability of the PC plates could be attributed to N₂, which was probably ionized in the air above the plates. Scanning electron microscopy revealed no difference in the surface morphology of the plates before and after plasma treatment. Results of bioassays using treated PC plates showed that planulae tended to preferentially settle on hydrophobic surfaces.