Psychological correlates of self-reported functional limitation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Introduction  

Functional status is an integral component of health-related quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of psychological variables in self-reported functional limitation in patients with AS, while controlling for demographic and medical variables.     

Predation of birds in mist nets by callitrichids (primates): how to prevent similar events

We report predation of four birds while caught in mist nets and recommend some means of prevention. Two birds were attacked by Callitrhix jacchus and one by Saguinus midas. The predator in the fourth case was unidentified. These cases were relatively rare, affecting 0.4–4.4% of the captured birds. Two of the predated birds were caught more than 1 m above the ground and may have been accessed from branches. The other two were caught close to the ground. Reducing time intervals between net checks and cutting off branches close to nets may reduce bird predation in mist nets.     

Two forms of sensitization of the local bending reflex of the medicinal leech

Sensitization of the local bending reflex of the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis was studied in a semi-intact preparation in which behavioral and electrophysiological recordings were made simultaneously. 1. Sensitization of local bending could be produced in two ways: by repeated stimulation of the mechanoreceptor sensitive to pressure (the P cell), and by stimulation of the mechanoreceptor sensitive to noxious stimuli (the N cell). 2. Both forms of sensitization produced a central neuronal change, measured as an increase in the number of stimulus-evoked action potentials in cell 3 (an excitor of dorsal longitudinal muscles). 3. Intracellular stimulation of serotonin-containing neurons 21 and 61 mimicked the sensitizing stimuli, but stimulation of the Retzius cell, which also contains serotonin, did not. 4. Stimulation of the Leydig cell, which releases octopamine, decreased the strength of local bending.     

Theory, design, and characterization of a microdialysis flow cell for Raman spectroscopy.

The theory, design, and application of a dialysis flow cell for Raman spectroscopy are described. The flow cell permits rapid collection of Raman spectra concurrent with the efflux of small solute molecules or ions into a solution of macromolecules and is well suited to acquisition of data during hydrogen-isotope exchange reactions of biological molecules. Kinetic parameters of the device are described by a diffusion model, which accounts satisfactorily for the observed rates of efflux of deuterium oxide (K2H = 0.30 min-1), calcium ions (KCa = 0.10 min-1) and EGTA (KEGTA = 0.07 min-1). Application to the kinetics of glutamate protonation in a peptide copolymer [poly(Glu, Lys, Tyr)] shows that pH-titration rates as high as 3.3 pH units/min can be monitored. It is also shown that one can extract first-order hydrogen-isotope exchange rate constants from measured second-order exchanges by taking into account the rate of entry of 2H2O effluent into the bulk H2O solution. Deuterium exchanges of the single-stranded polyribonucleotides poly(rA) and poly(rU) and of the double-stranded RNA genome from bacteriophage phi 6 have been investigated. The measured nucleotide base exchange rates are comparable with those determined previously by other methods. The results indicate that base exchanges as fast as approximately 2 min-1 can be determined reliably with the present design. Application of the Raman flow cell to hydrogen-isotope exchange of the basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor confirms consistency with results obtained previously on this protein by tritiation and NMR techniques.     

Physiological function as regulation of large transcriptional programs: the cellular response to genotoxic stress

The responses to ionizing radiation and other genotoxic environmental stresses are complex and are regulated by a number of overlapping molecular pathways. One such stress signaling pathway involves p53, which regulates the expression of over 100 genes already identified. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that the pattern of stress gene expression has some cell type specificity. It may be possible to exploit these differences in stress gene responsiveness as molecular markers through the use of a combined informatics and functional genomics approach. The techniques of microarray analysis potentially offer the opportunity to monitor changes in gene expression across the entire set of expressed genes in a cell or organism. As an initial step in the development of a functional genomics approach to stress gene analysis, we have recently demonstrated the utility of cDNA microarray hybridization to measure radiation-stress gene responses and identified a number of previously unknown radiation-regulated genes. The responses of some of these genes to DNA-damaging agents vary widely in cell lines from different tissues of origin and different genetic backgrounds. While this again highlights the importance of a cellular context to genotoxic stress responses, it also raises the prospect of expression-profiling of cell lines, tissues, and tumors. Such profiles may have a predictive value if they can define regions of ‘expression space’ that correlate with important endpoints, such as response to cancer therapy regimens, or identification of exposures to environmental toxins.     

A species of Schellackia (Apicomplexa: Lankesterellidae) parasitising east and southeast Asian lizards

Schellackia orientalis n. sp. parasitises the Japanese lizard Takydromus tachydromoides on Honshu and Takydromus sexlineatus in Thailand. Merogony and gamogony occur in the epithelium of the small intestine, and octonucleate oöcysts form in the lamina propria. In infections induced by inoculation of infected blood, sporozoites appeared in blood cells 17–56 days post-inoculation, initially in any type of white blood cell but most commonly in macrophages and monocytes. Both erythroid and leucocytic cells were parasitised after five days. This haemococcidian is another component of the symbiotic complex found in Takydromus species of eastern and southeastern Asia.