Pharmacologic modulation of RNA splicing enhances anti-tumor immunity

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The relationship between anthocyanin accumulation and photoprotection in young leaves of two dominant tree species in subtropical forests in different seasons

Photosynthesis Research - Increasing amounts of experimental evidence show that anthocyanins provide physiological protection to plants under stress. However, the difference in photoprotection...     

Ultrastructure of the epithelial cells of the ventral prostate from the hopping mouse Notomys alexis

The large ventral prostate of the hopping mouse has abundant secretory units whose epithelial cells vary in height and which often have nuclei in the apical region of the cell. TEM observations indicated two epithelial cell types in which some unusual features occurred. Type A cells had granular endoplasmetic reticulum (GER) whose membranes often formed intracytoplasmic confronting cisternae. Type B cells had more fragmented and vesiculated GER with sparse ribosomes and less frequently also intracytoplasmic confronting confronting cisternae. In the latter cells, two types of granules were found, one of which was derived from the Golgi and the other possibly directly from the GER. Type A cells only had one type of granule present. A highly convoluted membrane was also found at the basal region in many of the cells. The significance of these unusual ultrastructural features has yet to be ascertained.     

The Genetic and Environmental Foundation of the Simple View of Reading in Chinese

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) in Chinese was examined in a genetically sensitive design. A total of 270 pairs of Chinese twins (190 pairs of monozygotic twins and 80 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twins) were tested on Chinese vocabulary and word reading at the mean age 7.8 years and reading comprehension of sentences and passages one year later. Results of behavior-genetic analyses showed that both vocabulary and word reading had significant independent genetic influences on reading comprehension, and the two factors together accounted for most but not all of the genetic influences on reading comprehension. In addition, sentence comprehension had a stronger genetic correlation with word reading while passage comprehension showed a trend of stronger genetic overlap with vocabulary. These findings suggest that the genetic foundation of the SVR in Chinese is largely supported in that language comprehension and decoding are two core skills for reading comprehension in nonalphabetic as well as alphabetic written languages.     

Commitment of hydra interstitial cells to nerve cell differentiation occurs by late S-phase

Nerve cells in hydra differentiate from the interstitial cell, a multipotent stem cell. Decapitation elicits a sharp increase in the fraction of the interstitial cells committed to nerve cell differentiation in the tissue which forms the new head. To investigate when during the cell cycle nerve cell commitment can be stimulated, hydra were pulse-labeled with [³H]thymidine at times from 18 hr before to 15 hr following decapitation; the resulting cohorts of labeled interstitial cells were in the various phases of the cell cycle at the time of decapitation. Increased commitment to nerve cell differentiation within a single cell cycle (≈24 hr) was observed in those cohorts which were at least 6 hr before the end of S-phase (12 hr) at the time of decapitation. The lag time required for decapitation to produce an effective stimulus for nerve cell differentiation was measured by transplanting the stem cells from the regenerating tissue to a neutral environment. Following decapitation, 3 to 6 hr were required for increased nerve cell commitment to be stable to such transplantation. These results suggest that interstitial cells must be stimulated by late S-phase to become committed to undergo nerve cell differentiation following the subsequent mitosis. However, when head regeneration was reversed by grafting a new head onto the regenerating surface, nerve cell differentiation by such committed stem cells was greatly reduced. This indicates that an appropriate tissue environment is required for committed interstitial cells to complete the nerve cell differentiation pathway.     

Synthesis of a 3-methyluridine phosphoramidite to investigate the role of methylation in a ribosomal RNA hairpin.

The synthesis of a 5'-O-BzH-2'-O-ACE-protected-3-methyluridine phosphoramidite is reported [BzH, benzhydryloxy-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)silyl; ACE, bis(2-acetoxyethoxy)methyl]. The phosphoramidite was employed in solid-phase RNA synthesis to generate a series of RNA hairpins containing single or multiple modifications, including the common nucleoside pseudouridine. Three 19-nucleotide hairpin RNAs that represent the 1920-loop region (G(1906)-C(1924)) of Escherichia coli 23S ribosomal RNA were generated. Modifications were present at positions 1911, 1915, and 1917. The stabilities and structures of the three RNAs were examined by using thermal melting, circular dichroism, and NMR spectroscopy     

The effect of established infection on microvascular surgery

The success of microvascular anastomoses in the presence of staphylococcal infection was studied using rat femoral arteries. There was a spontaneous thrombosis rate of 19 percent in normal vessels that traversed the area of infection. Vessels with an anastomosis outside the area of infection had a similar thrombosis rate, but if the anastomotic site was within the infected area itself, the thrombosis rate increased to 75 percent. Inflammatory changes with subsequent fibrosis in the media and adventitia appeared responsible for the thrombosis. The intima was unaffected by the presence of infection. This study suggests that when a microvascular anastomosis is necessary in the presence of infection, the anastomosis should be placed outside the area of infection with a pedicle to traverse the infected area.