Nomenclature systems for the neuroprostanes and for the neurofurans

The isolation of two new classes of human docosahexaenoic acid oxidation products, the neuroprostanes and the neurofurans, have been reported. Facile nomenclature systems that will allow the rational differentiation of each of the isomeric structures comprising the families of NeuroP's and NeuroF's, represented, respectively, by 17-F(4t)-NeuroP 1 and 10-epi-ST-Delta(15)-11-NeuroF 2 are presented.     

Plants for Food and Medicine: Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Society for Economic Botany and the International Society for Ethnopharmacology

Plants for Food and Medicine: Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Society for Economic Botany and the International Society for Ethnopharmacology. H. D. V. Prendergast. N. L. Etkin. D. R. Harris. and P. J. Houghton. eds. Kew, Richmond, UK: Scientific Publications Dept., Royal Botanic Gardens, 1998. 438 pp.     

检验医学专业临床实习管理存在的问题及对策

临床实习是医学理论和临床实践工作有机结合的连接点,是医学生走向临床工作必不可少的重要环节。临床实习教学是医学生教育中一个重要的组成部分,是从课堂到临床、从理论到实践、从理性到感性的重要过程,也是巩固基础知识、理论联系实际、走向独立工作岗位的重要一步。在临床实践过程中,教职人员要培养学生获取、分析和处理疾病信息的能力,正确书写病历、熟练掌握诊疗技术以及与患者及家属和谐沟通的能力。医学检验学是运用现代物理化学方法、手段进行医学诊断的一门学科,通俗的说,就是利用仪器、试剂、CT扫描等检测人的各项指标是否正常,为临床诊断提供依据。因此,加强临床检验医学专业的实习管理工作至关重要。本文从建立合理的教学管理体系、加强临床实习考核制度、完善实习管理、加强教师队伍建设等几个方面,探讨临床检验学实习管理存在的问题,并提出相应的对策,为高等医学院校教学管理工作提供思路。     

The case for the hybrid capital approach for the measurement of the welfare and sustainability

This paper provides an overview of the plethora of approaches that are available to measure welfare and sustainable development. Many methods exist but there is no consensus on the ‘correct’ approach. Furthermore, we also show that the wide variety of sustainable development indictor (SDI) sets which have been adopted also show significant differences. We argue that this is mostly because many of these studies do not use a theoretical approach. We argue that the ‘capital approach’, which is used in the sustainability debate, is the most promising method to enhance international harmonization. Support is mounting in the scientific, policy and statistical communities for this approach in which economic capital, human capital, natural capital and social capital are distinguished. Many applications of this method express these capital stocks in monetary units (the ‘monetary capital approach’). This paper argues that the ‘hybrid capital approach’, in which the capital stocks can also be measured in non-monetary units, is probably more likely to achieve consensus over a large number of countries and institutes. Also a number of challenges remain for the capital approach. We argue that ideally the indicators should be based on satellite accounts of the national accounting framework. Also the capital approach could be further expanded to current welfare, progress of societies, inequality, and the international dimension of sustainability. We conclude that if the hybrid capital approach is adopted it may become easier to make consistent, theoretically sound and policy relevant comparisons between countries.     

Evidence for the spatial separation of the binding sites for substrate and for cytoskeletal proteins on the enzyme aldolase

The effect of the proteolysis of aldolase on both the substrate specificity of the enzyme and binding capacity for actin have been studied. Carboxypeptidase A, trypsin, chymotrypsin and pepsin, all acted to cleave peptides from the C-terminal portion of the enzyme, resulting initially in a marked loss of activity towards fructose-1:6-bisphosphate (FBP), without impairment of activity towards fructose-1-phosphate (F1P). In some cases, however, further proteolysis caused reductions in activity with F1P as well. By correlating the size of the peptide fragments released by these enzymes with the known sequence of aldolase, evidence has been provided that cleavage of His-359 and/or Tyr-361 lead to the loss of FBP activity, while further cleavage of up to six amino acids begin to affect activity against F1P, as well. In regard to the ability of the proteolysed aldolase to bind to F-actin, it was evident from these studies that binding ability was not impaired in the initial stages of proteolysis referred to above, but was retained until the enzyme was extensively degraded. This differential behaviour of the active and binding sites on aldolase clearly establish their separate topographical localization. These results have been discussed in relation to the positioning of these separate sites on the enzyme, the nature of the interaction between aldolase and actin and the phenomenon of enzyme ambiquity in cells and tissues.     

Molecular evidence for the gnathobasic derivation of arthropod mandibles and for the appendicular origin of the labrum and other structures

 Mandibles are feeding appendages functioning as ”jaws” in the arthropod groups in which they occur. Which part of this appendage is involved in food manipulation (limb tip versus limb base), has been used to suggest phylogenetic relationships among some of the major taxa of arthropods (myriapods, crustaceans, and insects). As a way to independently verify the conclusions drawn from previous morphological analyses, we have studied the expression pattern of the gene Distal-less (Dll), which specifies the distal part of appendages. Our results show, in contrast to the traditional view, that both insect and crustacean adult mandibles are gnathobasic, handling food with the basal portion of the appendage. Furthermore, as is evident by the reduction in the number of Dll-expressing cells in the later developmental stages, adult diplopod jaws are also gnathobasic. Thus, jaws of all mandibulates (myriapods, crustaceans, and insects) seem to have a similar gnathobasic structure. We have also found that Dll is expressed in the labra of all arthropod taxa examined, suggesting that this structure is of appendicular derivation. Additionally, the spinnerets and book lungs of spiders, long considered on other grounds to be modified appendages, express Dll, confirming this interpretation. This study shows that, in addition to their use in phylogenetic and population genetic studies, molecular markers can be very useful for inferring the origins of a particular morphological feature. Received: 12 January 1998 / Accepted: 23 March 1998     

Transgenesis for the study and the control of lactation

The study and the control of milk synthesis are required to decipher the mechanisms of gene expression, to improve milk production, to modify milk composition, to induce a resistance to diseases in the mammary gland and to produce recombinant proteins of pharmaceutical interest. Transgenesis has become a mandatory tool to reach these goals. The use of transgenesis is still limited by the difficulty of adding foreign genes in farm animals and mainly by replacing genes by homologous recombination. Transgene expression is also often ill-controlled. The present paper summarizes the current progress in this field with a particular emphasis on expression vectors for transgenes.     

Strategies for the purification and characterization of protein scaffolds for the production of hybrid nanobiomaterials

Rotavirus VP6 self-assembles into high order macrostructures useful as novel scaffolds for the construction of multifunctional hybrid nanobiomaterials. This application requires large quantities of high quality pure material with strict structural consistency. Strategies for obtaining high quality recombinant VP6 and different characterization techniques are explored and compared in this work. VP6 was expressed in the insect cell-baculovirus system. VP6 assemblies were selectively purified utilizing an ion exchange and size exclusion (SE) chromatography. Purification steps were monitored and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), ELISA, SDS-PAGE, HPLC and Western blot. DLS showed that the initial ultrafiltration step removed small particles, the intermediate anion exchange chromatographic step completely removed the baculovirus, whereas the final size exclusion chromatography permitted the selective recovery of correctly assembled VP6 nanotubes and discrimination of non-assembled VP6, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. VP6 assembled into tubular structures with diameter of 75 nm and several nanometers in length. The purification yield was 20% of multimeric assemblies with a purity >98%. The resulting material was suitable for the production of functionalized hybrid nanobiomaterials through in situ synthesis of metallic nanoparticles.     

A method for the concentration and for the colorimetric determination of nanomoles of inorganic pyrophosphate

A generally applicable, inexpensive, and sensitive method for the determination of inorganic pyrophosphate (PP_i) was developed. PP_i was quantitatively separable from solution even in nanomolar concentrations by filtration through a membrane filter in the presence of CaCl₂ and KF. The separated PP_i was dissolved by immersing the filter in 0.5 n H₂SO₄. Inorganic phosphate (P_i) was removed by precipitating it as a phosphomolybdate-triethylamine complex and the PP_i was measured as a green pyrophosphomolybdate in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. Nucleotides and phosphate esters do not react. PP_i can be accurately assayed even when there is a 10⁴-fold excess of P_i. Trimetaphosphate, tripolyphosphate, and tetrapolyphosphate also give this green color, but the rate of the color formation is 50 times slower than that with PP_i. Thus this interference of the polyphosphates can be eliminated or the polyphosphates can be assayed simultaneously with the PP_i in the same sample.     

Evidence for the antimutagenicity and the mutagenicity of selenium

Evidence is summarized for the antimutagenicity as well as the mutagenicity of selenium. In general, antimutagenicity predominates at physiological levels, while mutagenicity occurs at 3 to 1000 times normal physiological levels.     

Improved procedures for the synthesis of phosphomevalonate and for the assay and purification of pig liver phosphomevalonate kinase

An improved procedure for the synthesis of phosphomevalonate using excess free ATP4-, and phenyl agarose to remove contaminating nucleotides, is described. A high-voltage electrophoresis assay, which separates phosphomevalonate from mevalonate 5-diphosphate at pH 3.5, was developed for the assay of phosphomevalonate kinase (ATP:5-phosphomevalonate phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.4.2). High-voltage electrophoresis, at pH 5, could also be used for the separation of mevalonate 5-diphosphate from isopentenyl diphosphate. An alternative method for the purification of phosphomevalonate kinase from pig liver was also developed. The high-voltage electrophoresis assay was used to reassess the metal ion and nucleotide specificity of the pig liver phosphomevalonate kinase. ATP could be partially replaced by ITP and GTP and poorly by CTP and UTP. Apparent activation of the enzyme by free ATP4- was observed as found for mevalonate kinase (C.S. Lee and W.J. O'Sullivan (1983) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 747, 215-224).     

An effective technique for the processing of saliva for the analysis of leptin and adiponectin

The recovery of protein from saliva has been extensively investigated as a method to monitor health. The aim of this study was to compare filtration and centrifugation as two methods of saliva processing necessary for determining the levels of salivary leptin and adiponectin. Thirty-seven healthy patients (median age of 45 years; range 35–73) participated in the study. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected by a drooling technique. An aliquot was filtered using a Millex-Millipore^® (0.45 μm PVDF Dura Pore membrane) syringe and a second aliquot was centrifuged at 15 000 × g for 15 min at 4 °C. Leptin and adiponectin levels were analyzed using an ELISA kit for serum (RayBio^®, GA, USA) with minor modifications. Leptin and adiponectin levels following the filtration technique yielded comparable results with those after centrifugation. Correlation was observed between filtered and centrifuged salivary leptin levels ((r = 0.9155; 95% CI 0.8362–0.9573; p < 0.0001) with concordance correlation coefficient k 0.9114 (95% CI 0.8332–0.9539)). Less correlation was observed for adiponectin ((r = 0.5718; 95% CI 0.3041–0.7558; p = 0.0002) with concordance correlation coefficient k 0.5586 (95% CI 0.2977–0.7419)). Using a Bland–Altman plot, similar measurements for both adipocytokines were observed with mean difference within a 95% CI, and interpreted as no systematic differences between the two processing techniques. This study showed that filtration is an alternative saliva processing technique to retrieve supernatant for protein analysis. Filtered saliva yielded leptin and adiponectin concentrations comparable with those obtained from centrifuged saliva.     

Isolation for bacteria and fungi for the hydrolysis of phthalate and terephthalate esters

Bacterial and fungal strains were isolated from enrichment cultures using diethylphthalate, diethylterephthalate, or ethylene glycol dibenzoate as sole carbon sources.Aureobacterium, Flavobacterium, andMicrococcus species were isolated from diethylphthalate enrichments;Rhodococcus andXanthomonas species were isolated from diethylterephthalate enrichments;Rhodococcus andFusarium species were isolated from ethylene glycol dibenzoate enrichments.     

Regulatory mechanisms for the development of the migratory phenotype: Roles for photoperiod and the gonad

This article is part of a Special Issue “Energy Balance”.     

砧用南瓜品种资源耐热性鉴定及形态指标选择

高温是制约黄瓜生产的重要非生物胁迫因子之一。黄瓜(Cucumis sativus L.)嫁接苗能够有效缓解高温胁迫危害,但目前黄瓜嫁接砧木品种并不多。为此,本研究收集了国内外48份砧用南瓜种质,对萌发期和幼苗期进行高温处理(38℃和42℃),通过UPGMA聚类分析,鉴定其耐热性,并筛选适宜的形态指标。共测定了10个性状(发芽率、发芽势、发芽指数、活力指数、株高、茎粗、全株鲜重、全株干重、壮苗指数、热害指数)指标。结果表明,48份砧用南瓜种质耐热性在萌发期及幼苗期都可以分为4类。在2个时期皆表现出较耐高温的种质为日本绿霸和日本强力士;对高温敏感的种质有11份。种子相对发芽势、相对发芽指数、相对活力指数以及幼苗相对干重可作为砧用南瓜种质资源耐热性鉴定的可靠指标。