Intraflagellar transport--the "new motility" 20 years later

Intraflagellar transport is the rapid, bidirectional movement of protein complexes along the length of most eukaryotic cilia and flagella. Discovery of this intracellular process in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 20 years ago led to a rapid discovery of cellular mechanisms that underlie a large number of human ciliopathies. Described herein are the events that led to this discovery.     

The molecular biology of ear development - "Twenty years are nothing"

Views of classical biological problems changed dramatically with the rise of molecular biology as a common framework. It was indeed the new language of life sciences. Molecular biology increasingly moved us towards a unified view of developmental genetics as ideas and techniques were imported to vertebrates from other biological systems where genetics was in a more advanced state. The ultimate advance has been the ability to actually perform genetic manipulations in vertebrate organisms that were almost unthinkable before. During the last two decades these technical advances entered into and affected the research on ear development. These events are still very recent and have been with us for no longer than two decades, which is the reason for the title of this article. This new scenario forms the basis of the current and productive work of many laboratories, and this is what this Special Issue of The International Journal of Developmental Biology wants to show, presenting a snapshot of insights at the beginning of the 21st Century. In this article, we give an overview of the topics that are addressed in this Ear Development Special Issue, and also we take the opportunity to informally dig into the genealogy of some of those topics, trying to link the current work with some classical work of the past.     

Remembering the "golden years" of patient-oriented clinical research: a collective conversation

The period from the end of World War II to the early 1960s has been characterized as the "golden years" of patient-oriented clinical research in the United States, a period catalyzed and fostered by advances in biology and medicine, changes in the organization and financing of research units, and strong moral and political convictions growing out of the war about the importance and possibilities of the scientific enterprise. This account of some of the salient themes, phenomena, and issues in clinical research during that era draws primarily on the proceedings of an oral history conference whose core participants were a number of emeritus physician-investigators who had played major roles in shaping patient-oriented research. The topics that they and the other conferees discussed included the factors that had led the emeritus physician-investigators into clinical research; the organizational attributes of the units where they had trained and worked, focusing particularly on Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; the vital role played by private and federal funding for research and training; and some of the changes in the nature of clinical research, research training, and their relationships to the care of the sick in the decades since the golden years.     

30 some years of heme oxygenase: from a "molecular wrecking ball" to a "mesmerizing" trigger of cellular events

In the beginning, the microsomal HO system was presumed to be made of one isozymes, now known as HO-1, which was cytP450-dependent; and, was thought to be of physiological significance solely in the context of catalysis of hemoglobin heme to bile pigments and CO. A succession of discoveries including characterization of the system as an independent mono-oxygenase, identification of a second form, called HO-2, free radical quenching activity of bile pigments, analogous function of CO in cell signaling to NO, and characterization of the system as HSP32 cognates has led to such an impressive expansion in the number of reports dealing with the HO system that surpass anyone's expectation. This review is a compilation of certain older findings and recent events that together ensure placement of the HO system in the mainstream research for decades to come.     

An overview of the lesson learned in almost 20 years of fight against the "tiger" mosquito

Since its introduction in Italy in 1990, Aedes albopictus has spread quickly across the country, being at present reported in scattered foci in all regions below 600 m of altitude. The most important items of the lesson learned in almost 20 years of fight against the "Tiger" in Italy are here reported and discussed.     

Comparison of mortality in Spain and France,following the method of "potential years of life lost"

Mortality trends in Spain from 13 major causes of death are analyzed for the period 1972-1982 and compared with trends for the same period in France. Increases in mortality in Spain are noted for three causes--malignant tumors, cardiac diseases, and suicides and homicides--whereas significant declines in mortality are noted for pneumonia, influenza, chronic bronchitis, and asthma. Excess mortality for males is common to both countries. (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Reports by anaesthetists to procurators-fiscal: analysis of "anaesthetic deaths" over 10 years in four Scottish teaching hospitals.

Review of 489 "anaesthetic deaths" reported to procurators-fiscal over 10 years disclosed only 30 that were thought to justify such reporting. Most of the remainder occurred in patients so desperately ill at the time of operation that death was expected. Postmortem examinations ordered by the Crown authorities in nearly all cases were probably largely unrewarding and mostly unnecessary. The results suggest that the present regulation on reporting should be revised to focus more attention on the few deaths that occur in patients who have no apparent contraindication to anaesthesia or operation.     

"C.-E.A. Winslow and the early years of public health at Yale, 1915-1925"

C.-E.A. Winslow was the first chairman of the Department of Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine. This paper considers the development and changing agenda of his department, the structure of Yale University, and the maturation of public health as a discipline. Winslow's successes and failures are discussed as they relate to Yale and external societal influences.     

Evaluation of the immunogenic and reactogenic properties of vaccine "Euvax B" in persons aged 16-18 years in different geographical zones of Russia

The comparative evaluation of the reactogenic and immunogenic properties of vaccine "Euvax B" in adolescents aged 16-18 years was carried out in factory housing estate Lvovsky, the Podolsk district, the Moscow region, and in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (AD): in towns Salekhard, Noyabrsk, Muravlenko, in housing estate Tarko-Sale. The evaluation demonstrated that the use of this vaccine in a dose of 20 mg/ml produced no postvaccinal complications and the frequency of postvaccinal reactions was insignificant. Postvaccinal anti-HBs were detected, on the average, in protective concentrations in 98.4 +/- 1.8% of the vaccines (99.0 +/- 1.9% in the Moscow region, 97.7 +/- 3.2% in the Yamalo-Nenets AD). In most of the vaccinated adolescents high concentrations of postvacinal anti-HBs were detected: in 51.4 +/- 9.7% of the vaccinees in the Moscow region and in 89.7 +/- 6.4% in the Yamalo-Nenets AD they exceeded 1,000 I.U./lit. The conclusion was made that in the territories located in subarctic latitudes vaccinal prophylaxis against hepatitis B was safe and highly effective and have no limitations connected with the conditions of the Far North.     

100 years of peroxynitrite chemistry and 11 years of peroxynitrite biochemistry

The paper on the unusual properties of a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and nitrous acid by Baeyer and Villiger from 1901 can be regarded as the first report on peroxynitrite. In 1990, Beckman and co-workers suggested that peroxynitrite, formed from the reaction of superoxide with nitrogen monoxide, could be a transient oxidizing species in vivo, a report that revolutionized investigations in the field of oxidative stress.