Effects of cholestyramine on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced enteric carcinoma in germfree rats.

Oral administration of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) induced intestinal neoplasms in germfree rats. A supplement of 2% cholestyramine resin in the diet increased the frequency of DMH-induced intestinal tumors and accelerated malignant transformation. Bile acids in the cecal content were determined with and without cholestyramine in order to obtain a correlation between the bile acid metabolism and the enteric carcinogenesis.     

Citrate lyase from Streptococcus diacetilactis

Citrate lyase (EC 4.1.3.6) was purified 38-fold from cell-free extracts of Streptococcus diacetilactis. The enzyme was homogeneous in analytical ultracentrifugation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis The final enzyme preparation contained acetate: HS-citrate lyase ligase—an acetylating enzyme which converts inactive HS-citrate lyase into enzymatically active acetyl-S-citrate lyase. This enzyme activity was purified 25-fold over the crude extract and seemed to be associated with citrate lyase. Partially purified citrate lyase from Leuconostoc citrovorum contained also its acetylating enzyme. Purified citrate lyases from Klebsiella aerogenes and Rhodopseudomonas gelatinosa were devoid of acetylating enzyme activity. The HS-form of citrate lyase from S. diacetilactis was completely acetylated and hence activated by incubation with ATP and acetate for 25 min at 25° C. The enzyme did not acetylate the HS-lyases from R. gelatinosa and K. aerogenes. In contrast to the citrate lyases from R. gelatinosa and K. aerogenes the enzymes from S. diacetilactis and L. citrovorum showed onlya very weak reaction inactivation. It is assumed that this is due to the association of the acetylating enzymes with these lyases.     

Economic Decisions for Others: An Exception to Loss Aversion Law

In everyday life, people often make decisions on behalf of others. The current study investigates whether risk preferences of decision-makers differ when the reference point is no longer their own money but somebody else money. Thirty four healthy participants performed three different monetary risky choices tasks by making decisions for oneself and for another unknown person. Results showed that loss aversion bias was significantly reduced when participants were choosing on behalf of another person compared to when choosing for themselves. The influence of emotions like regret on decision-making may explain these results. We discuss the importance of the sense of responsibility embodied in the emotion of regret in modulating economic decisions for self but not for others. Moreover, our findings are consistent with the Risk-as-feelings hypothesis, suggesting that self-other asymmetrical behavior is due to the extent the decision-maker is affected by the real and emotional consequences of his/her decision.     

Efficacy of different types of aerobic exercise in fibromyalgia syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Introduction  

The efficacy and the optimal type and volume of aerobic exercise (AE) in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are not established. We therefore assessed the efficacy of different types and volumes of AE in FMS.     

Perthamide C Inhibits eNOS and iNOS Expression and Has Immunomodulating Activity In Vivo

Here we have characterized perthamide C, a cyclopeptide from a Solomon Lithistid sponge Theonella swinhoei, which displays an anti-inflammatory/immunomodulatory activity. The study has been performed using the carragenan-induced mouse paw edema that displays an early (0–6 h) and a late phase (24–96 h). Perthamide C significantly inhibits neutrophils infiltration in tissue both in the early and late phases. This effect was coupled to a reduced expression of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the early phase while cyclooxygenase-1 and 2 (COX-1, COX-2), and inducible NOS (iNOS) expression were unaffected. In the late phase perthamide C reduced expression of both NOS isoforms without affecting COXs expression. This peculiar selectivity toward the two enzymes deputed to produce NO lead us to investigate on a possible action of perthamide C on lymphocytes infiltration and activation. We found that perthamide C inhibited the proliferation of peripheral lymphocytes, and that this effect was secondary to its metabolic activation in vivo. Indeed, in vitro perthamide C did not inhibit proliferation as opposite to its metabolite perthamide H.In conclusion, perthamide C selectively interferes with NO generation triggered by either eNOS or iNOS without affecting either COX-1 or COX-2. This in turn leads to modulation of the inflammatory response through a reduction of vascular permeability, neutrophil infiltration as well as lymphocyte proliferation.     

A comparative ecological investigation of two related mayfly nymphs

Zusammenfassung Heptagenia sulphurea wird auf Steinen, H. fuscogrisea in der Vegetation von Fließgewässern gefunden (Fig. 2).In Experimenten wählte H. sulphurea Steine und groben Kies. H. fuscogrisea wählte Batrachium als Substrat, nur ein geringer Anteil der Larven fand sich auf Callitriche (Fig. 3).Die Zeit, die zwischen Loslassen und erneutem Anhaften auf dem Substrat im strömenden Milieu verstreicht, war unterschiedlich bei den zwei Spezies. Die auf Steinen lebende Art reagierte schneller als die aus der Vegetation. H. sulphurea verhielt sich, wenn sie von der Strömung ergriffen worden war, ziemlich passiv, doch trug die turbulente Strömung das Tier dem Substrat zu, so hatte es gewöhnlich sicheren Halt.Im Strömungsaquarium bevorzugt H. sulphurea die strömungsexponierten Bereiche, aber viele waren auch im ruhigen Wasser (Fig. 5).Wurde H. fuscogrisea von der Strömung ergriffen, so führte sie Schwimmbewegungen aus. Erreicht sie eine Haltmöglichkeit an strömungsexponiertem Platz, so wird sie oft weitergetragen. Die Tiere lassen sie meist in ruhigem Wasser nieder.Im Strömungsaquarium bevorzugt H. fuscogrisea überwiegend die Regionen ruhigen Wassers (Fig. 5).Die Zeit zwischen Loslassen und Festsetzen war deutlich durch die Temperatur beeinflußt (Fig. 6).Der dichte Haarbesatz an der hinteren Kante der Femur von H. sulphurea wird als Anpassung an das Leben in der Strömung angesehen, weil er die Wirbelbildung herabsetzen kann. Der Haarbesatz entlang der Tibia bei H. fuscogrisea wird als Anpassung zum Schwimmen angesehen, zu dem these Spezies befähigt ist, wenn sie von der Strömung ergriffen wird (Fig. 8).Die Spezies von Steinen ist etwas mehr abgeflacht als die aus der Vegetation (Fig. 7).     

Stochastic modelling of a single ion channel: interdependence of burst length and number of openings per burst

Previous modelling of single channel behaviour based on Markov processes has been concerned mainly with means and marginal distributions of particular quantities. The present study derives the joint distribution, conditional distributions, and associated mean values for the burst length (T) and the number (N) of openings per burst in two simple three-state models in which bursting is possible, one for an agonist-only and one for a channel blocking mechanism. In both models the conditional mean burst length (E(T/N = r)) increases linearly as a function of the number of openings per burst, while the conditional mean number of openings per burst (E(N/T = x)) is a nonlinear strictly increasing function of burst length, which is asymptotically linear for large burst length. The asymptotic intercept for each model is shown to be less than, equal to, or greater than unity according as mean channel closed-time is less than, equal to, or greater than mean open-time. For parameter values typical of the nicotinic receptor, this intercept is less than unity for the agonist-only model and greater than unity for the blocking model. As a result of the dependence between the number of openings per burst and burst length, it is shown that experimental estimates of the unconditional mean number of openings per burst may be biased if bursts of only short duration are collected.     

Enhanced production of human gamma-interferon in nylon column-fractionated cell cultures

The production of human gamma-interferon (HuIFN-gamma) in unfractionated and nylon wool column-fractionated leukocyte cell cultures stimulated with PMA and PHA was investigated. Production was studied with normal and reduced autologous serum protein levels in 96-hr spinner cultures. A 10- to 15-fold enhancement of production and a 50-fold increase in specific activity of crude HuIFN-gamma was demonstrated in nylon column-fractionated/reduced serum cell cultures. Kinetic analysis revealed a production rate maximum within 6 hr of induction in unprocessed cell cultures, whereas production occurred at an essentially constant rate for 48 hr in fractionated cell cultures.