Clinico-genetic analysis of congenital biliary atresia

Clinical and genetic analysis of 148 cases of biliary atresia identified in our patients and the literature data allowed to establish the genetic heterogeneity for these congenital malformations, determine the contribution of congenital syndromes to their origin and estimate empirical risk for probands sibs. Possible reasons for a high (9.8%) recurrent risk in sibs of the patients with intrahepatic biliary atresia are discussed. Special examination of probands and their parents to differentiate risk and evaluate the possibility of prenatal diagnosis is proposed. A supposedly "new" syndrome with autosomal recessive mode of inheritance associated with extrahepatic biliary atresia is reported.     

Monascus pigments

Monascus pigments (MPs) as natural food colorants have been widely utilized in food industries in the world, especially in China and Japan. Moreover, MPs possess a range of biological activities, such as anti-mutagenic and anticancer properties, antimicrobial activities, potential anti-obesity activities, and so on. So, in the past two decades, more and more attention has been paid to MPs. Up to now, more than 50 MPs have been identified and studied. However, there have been some reviews about red fermented rice and the secondary metabolites produced by Monascus, but no monograph or review of MPs has been published. This review covers the categories and structures, biosynthetic pathway, production, properties, detection methods, functions, and molecular biology of MPs.     

Lake pigments facilitate analysis of fecal cortisol and behavior in group-housed macaques

Fecal steroid analyses are becoming more popular among both field and laboratory scientists. The benefits associated with sampling procedures that do not require restraint, anesthesia, and blood collection include less risk to both subject and investigator, as well as the potential to obtain endocrine profiles that do not reflect the influence of stress. However, the utility of the fecal steroid method has been limited in field conditions because of problems associated with sample identification. Here, we present evidence that Lake pigments are a valuable tool for the identification of individual fecal samples from group-housed female cynomolgus macaques. Further, we present data that suggest that excreted cortisol can be assayed from such samples, leading to the finding that time of day of sample collection influences cortisol concentrations, with morning samples producing higher values (t = 2.769, P = 0.024). Finally, the collection of physiological data from group-housed animals permits the evaluation of the relationship between endocrine status and behavior. This study demonstrated that morning fecal cortisol was significantly correlated with competitive and proximity behaviors, although not with rank in two stable social groups. In conclusion, the utility and validity of fecal steroid analyses continue to expand with further investigations.     

Photointermediates of visual pigments

Much progress has been made in recent years toward understanding the interactions between various proteins responsible for visual transduction which are initiated by an activated state of visual pigments. However, the changes which take place in the visual pigments themselves to convert them to the activated state are more poorly understood. Many spectroscopic techniques have been applied to this problem in recent years and considerable progress has been made. A major goal of these efforts is to understand at which stages protein change occurs and to characterize its structural features. In the visual system evidence is accumulating, for example, that chromophore independent protein change begins immediately prior to lumirhodopsin formation. Considerable insight has been gained recently into the early intermediates of visual transduction and the stage is set to achieve similar understanding of the later intermediates leading to rhodopsin's activated state.     

Cone visual pigments

Cone visual pigments are visual opsins that are present in vertebrate cone photoreceptor cells and act as photoreceptor molecules responsible for photopic vision. Like the rod visual pigment rhodopsin, which is responsible for scotopic vision, cone visual pigments contain the chromophore 11-cis-retinal, which undergoes cis–trans isomerization resulting in the induction of conformational changes of the protein moiety to form a G protein-activating state. There are multiple types of cone visual pigments with different absorption maxima, which are the molecular basis of color discrimination in animals. Cone visual pigments form a phylogenetic sister group with non-visual opsin groups such as pinopsin, VA opsin, parapinopsin and parietopsin groups. Cone visual pigments diverged into four groups with different absorption maxima, and the rhodopsin group diverged from one of the four groups of cone visual pigments. The photochemical behavior of cone visual pigments is similar to that of pinopsin but considerably different from those of other non-visual opsins. G protein activation efficiency of cone visual pigments is also comparable to that of pinopsin but higher than that of the other non-visual opsins. Recent measurements with sufficient time-resolution demonstrated that G protein activation efficiency of cone visual pigments is lower than that of rhodopsin, which is one of the molecular bases for the lower amplification of cones compared to rods. In this review, the uniqueness of cone visual pigments is shown by comparison of their molecular properties with those of non-visual opsins and rhodopsin. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Retinal Proteins — You can teach an old dog new tricks.