10-Year Overview of the Hospital-Based Prevalence and Treatment of Congenital Cataracts: The CCPMOH Experience

A review of 6 years of hospitalization charts from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) revealed that congenital cataracts (CC) accounted for 2.39% of all cataract in-patient cases and that the age at surgery was decreasing before the establishment of the Childhood Cataract Program of the Chinese Ministry of Health (CCPMOH) in December 2010. We aimed to investigate data from the 4 years (January 2011 to December 2014) following the establishment of the CCPMOH, compared, and combined with data from the previous study period (January 2005 to December 2010) to generate a 10-year overview of the hospital-based prevalence and treatment of CC. In the 4-year period after CCPMOH establishment, the prevalence of CC was 2.01% in all hospitalizations, and was 2.78% in all cataract in-patients. Most of the eligible CC in-patients (71%) lived in south China. The ratio of boys to girls was 1.42:1. Nearly 2/3 of the patients underwent cataract extraction with primary intraocular lens (IOL) implantation at a mean age of 78.40±51.45 months, and cataract extraction surgeries without IOL implantation were performed in the remaining 1/3 of patients at a mean age of 10.03±15.92 months. After CCPMOH establishment, an increased incidence of CC was revealed, and the CC in-patients were younger than the patients in the previous period. The 10-year overview (2421 CC in-patients from 206630 hospitalizations) revealed upward trends in both the number and the prevalence of CC and a further reduction in age at surgery. In conclusion, the data from 4-year period after CCPMOH establishment and the 10-year overview showed upward trends in the hospital-based prevalence of CC cases and a further reduction in age at surgery, likely reflecting the effects of the CCPMOH establishment and providing useful information for further CC studies and a valuable foundation for the prevention and treatment of this cause of childhood blindness.     

Winter food availability limits winter survival of Mongolian gerbils (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Meriones unguiculatus</Emphasis>)

Food availability is important to the dynamics of animal social organizations or populations. However, the role of winter food availability in animal population dynamics is still controversial. We carried out an experimental study to test Lack’s hypothesis that reduced food in winter limits survival and spring numbers of breeding individuals of social groups, using the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) as model species. We established 24 gerbil social groups in 24, 10 × 10 m, pens in September 2008. We provided wheat seeds as supplemental food in 12 enclosures from September 2008 to March 2009; the other 12 enclosures, not provided with supplemental food, served as controls. We live-trapped gerbils at a 2-week interval from September to April. Supplemental food during winter increased biweekly survival by 10% relative to that in control groups. Only four control social groups survived to the end of our study whereas all 12 food-supplemented social groups survived through our study period. Supplemental food also increased cumulative numbers of recruits and group sizes of gerbils. We conclude that winter food availability limits winter survival and spring social groups or population sizes of Mongolian gerbils.     

Thermolabile Triose Phosphate Isomerase in a Psychrophilic Clostridium

The psychrophile Clostridium sp. strain 69 contains a thermolabile triose phosphate isomerase which is inactivated rapidly in vitro and in vivo at 32 C.     

Two uvs genes of Aspergillus nidulans with different functions in error-prone repair: uvsI, active in mutation-specific reversion, and uvsC, a recA homolog, required for all UV mutagenesis

Two genes of Aspergillus nidulans are known to function in UV mutagenesis, but have been assigned to different epistasis groups: uvsC, which is also required for meiosis and mitotic recombination, and uvsI, which may have no other function. To clarify their role in error-prone repair and to investigate their interaction, uvsI and uvsC single and uvsI;uvsC double mutant strains were further tested for mutagen sensitivities and characterized for effects on mutation. Spontaneous and induced frequencies were compared in forward and reverse mutation assays. All results confirmed that uvsI and uvsC are members of different epistasis groups, and demonstrated that these uvs mutants have very different defects in UV mutagenesis. The uvsI strains showed wild-type frequencies in all forward mutation tests, but greatly reduced spontaneous and UV-induced reversion of some, but not other, point mutations. In contrast, uvsC had similar effects in all assay systems: namely pronounced mutator effects and greatly reduced UV mutagenesis. Interestingly, the uvsI;uvsC double mutant strains differed from both single mutants; they clearly showed synergism for all types of reversion tested: none were ever obtained spontaneously, nor after induction by UV or EMS (ethylmethane sulfonate). Based on these results, we conclude that uvsI is active in a mutation-specific, specialized error-prone repair process in Aspergillus. In contrast, uvsC, which is now known to show sequence homology to recA, has a basic function in mutagenic UV repair in addition to recombinational repair, similar to recA of Escherichia coli.     

Rat Sertoli and spermatogenic cells express a similar gene, and its product is antigenically related to an outer dense fiber-associated protein.

We have previously reported that a heterodimeric protein secreted by rat Sertoli cells is antigenically related to a protein associated with outer dense fibers of the sperm tail. Therefore, we have explored the possibility that Sertoli and spermatogenic cells express a similar gene encoding a homologous protein. A Sertoli cell heterodimeric protein cDNA probe recognizes specific mRNA in pachytene and round spermatids fractionated by centrifugal elutriation; however, this specific mRNA was less prominent than in cultured Sertoli cells. In agreement with these observations, in situ hybridization experiments show that Sertoli cells are predominantly engaged in active heterodimeric protein mRNA synthesis, while meiotic prophase spermatocytes and spermatids also show significant but less abundant specific mRNA. Immunoblotting experiments demonstrate that, while Sertoli cells synthesize a heterodimeric protein consisting of two disulfide-linked components with molecular masses of 45 and 35 kD, both primary spermatocytes and round spermatids synthesize single 30 kD monomers not associated by disulfide linkage but recognized by antisera to Sertoli cell heterodimeric protein. Immunoblotting and immunogold electron microscopic studies show that antisera to Sertoli cell heterodimeric protein recognize a protein associated with outer dense fibers. This immunoreactivity was abolished by a 5-min pronase treatment, without affecting the integrity of outer dense fibers. Results of this study and previous studies demonstrate that both Sertoli and spermatogenic cells express a similar gene and that an antigenically related product encoded by this gene becomes associated with outer dense fibers during their assembly at spermiogenesis.     

The Drosophila tissue polarity gene starry night encodes a member of the protocadherin family.

The tissue polarity genes control the polarity of hairs, bristles and ommatidia in the adult epidermis of Drosophila. We report here the identification of a new tissue polarity gene named starry night (stan). Mutations in this essential gene alter the polarity of cuticular structures in all regions of the adult body. The detailed polarity phenotype of stan on the wing suggested that it is most likely a component of the frizzled (fz) pathway. Consistent with this hypothesis, stan appears to be downstream of and required for fz function. We molecularly cloned stan and found that it encodes a huge protocadherin containing nine cadherin motifs, four EGF-like motifs, two laminin G motifs, and seven transmembrane domains. This suggests that Stan functions in signal reception, perhaps together with Fz.     

Silencing of RHEB inhibits cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells via inhibition of the mTOR signaling pathway

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is commonly known as one of the most prominent reasons for cancer-related death in China. Ras homolog enriched in brain (RHEB) and the mammalian target activity of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway were found correlated with CRC, but their specific interaction in CRC was still to be investigated. Therefore, we explored whether RHEB gene silencing affected the cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis by directly targeting the mTOR signaling pathway in cells previously harvested from CRC patients. A microarray analysis was subsequently conducted to investigate the relationship between RHEB and mTOR. Eighty-three adjacent normal tissues and CRC tissues were selected. Immunohistochemistry was carried out to detect the positive expression rates of RHEB and Ki-67 in the CRC tissues. Cells were then transfected with different siRNAs to investigate the potential effects RHEB would have on CRC progression. The expressions of RHEB, 4EBP1, ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6K), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), B cell lymphoma 2 (bcl-2), and bcl-2-associated X protein (bax) were determined and then the cell cycle, cell proliferation, and apoptotic rate were also measured. We identified RHEB and mTOR as upregulated genes in CRC. Cells treated with RHEB silencing showed a decreased extent of mTOR, p70S6K, 4EBP1 phosphorylation and expression of RHEB, Ki-67, mTOR, p70S6K, 4EBP1, bcl-2, and PCNA as well as decreased activity of cell proliferation and differentiation; although, the expression of bax was evidently higher. Collectively, our data propose the idea that RHEB gene silencing might repress cell proliferation and differentiation while accelerating apoptosis via inactivating the mTOR signaling pathway.