Courtship Behavior of Zaprionus indianus (Gupta) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) from Populations Colonizing South America

We describe for the first time the sexual behavior and the courtship song of males of the African fly Zaprionus indianus (Gupta), a recent invader of South America. The male courtship song is formed by monocyclic pulses and the courtship behavior is simple when compared to that of species of Drosophila. Two interpulse interval (IPI) distributions were observed: pre-mounting and mounting. No significant difference was observed between the pre-mounting IPIs of males that descended from three geographical populations from South America. We also observed the songs produced by females and the homosexual behavior exhibited by males. A sequence of bursts is produced by females as a refusal signal against males, while males emit a characteristic song that identifies sex genus, which differs from the courtship song. The short courtship and mating latencies recorded reveal vigorous males and receptive females, respectively.     

Ancient large-scale genome duplications: phylogenetic and linkage analyses shed light on chordate genome evolution

Paralogous genes from several families were found in four human chromosome regions (4p16, 5q33-35, 8p12-21, and 10q24-26), suggesting that their common ancestral region underwent several rounds of large- scale duplication. Searches in the EMBL databases, followed by phylogenetic analyses, showed that cognates (orthologs) of human duplicated genes can be found in other vertebrates, including bony fishes. In contrast, within each family, only one gene showing the same high degree of similarity with all the duplicated mammalian genes was found in nonvertebrates (echinoderms, insects, nematodes). This indicates that large-scale duplications occurred after the echinoderms/chordates split and before the bony vertebrate radiation. It has been suggested that two rounds of gene duplication occurred in the vertebrate lineage after the separation of Amphioxus and craniate (vertebrates + Myxini) ancestors. Before these duplications, the genes that have led to the families of paralogous genes in vertebrates must have been physically linked in the craniate ancestor. Linkage of some of these genes can be found in the Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes, suggesting that they were linked in the triploblast Metazoa ancestor.      

In vivo and in vitro processing of seed reserve protein in the endoplasmic reticulum: evidence for two glycosylation steps

Cotyledons of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) synthesize large amounts of the reserve protein phaseolin. The polypeptides are synthesized on membrane-bound polysomes, pass through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and accumulate in protein bodies. For a study of the biosynthesis and processing of phaseolin, developing cotyledons were labeled with radioactive amino acids, glucosamine and mannose, and isolated fractions (polysomal RNA, polysomes, and rough ER) were used for in vitro protein synthesis. Newly synthesized phaseolin present in the ER of developing cotyledons can be fractioned into four glycopolypeptides by SDS PAGE. In vitro synthesis with polysomal RNA results in the formation of two polypeptides by polysome run-off shows that glycosylation is a co-translational event. The two unglycosylated polypeptides formed by polysome run-off are slightly smaller than the two polypeptides formed by in vitro translation of isolated RNA, indicating that a signal peptide may be present on these polypeptides. Run-off synthesis with rough ER produces a pattern of four polypeptides similar to the one obtained by in vivo labeling. The two abundant glycopolypeptides formed by polysome run-off. This result indicates the existence of a second glycosylation event for the abundant polypeptides. Inhibition of glycosylation by Triton X-100 during chain-completion with rough ER was used to show that these two glycosylation steps normally occur sequentially. Both glycosylation steps are inhibited by tunicamycin. Analysis of carhohydrate to protein ratios of the different polypeptides and of trypsin digests of polypeptides labeled with [(3)H]glucosamine confirmed the conclusion that some glycosylated polypeptides contain two oligosaccharide chains, while others contain only one. An analysis of tryptic peptide maps shows that each of the unglycosylated polypeptides is the precursor for one glycosylated polypeptide with one oligosaccharide chain and one with two oligosaccharide chains.     

Antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin and disease activity score in early arthritis: a cohort study

Introduction  

The aim of our study was to investigate the association between arthritic disease activity and antibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV), because such a relation has been suggested.     

In vitro zygotic embryo culture of wild Musa acuminata ssp.malaccensis and factors affecting germination and seedling growth

In vitro zygotic embryo culture of wild banana significantly increased the germination compared to greenhouse grown seeds. Embryo orientation and BAP concentration significantly affected germination rate. These factors together with gelling agent, dark and light conditions and coconut water, also showed variable effects on the number of roots per plant, root length, shoot length, number of days to root emergence and number of days to shoot emergence.     

Hip joint replacement surgery for idiopathic osteoarthritis aggregates in families

In order to determine whether there is a genetic component to hip or knee joint failure due to idiopathic osteoarthritis (OA), we invited patients (probands) undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty for management of idiopathic OA to provide detailed family histories regarding the prevalence of idiopathic OA requiring joint replacement in their siblings. We also invited their spouses to provide detailed family histories about their siblings to serve as a control group. In the probands, we confirmed the diagnosis of idiopathic OA using American College of Rheumatology criteria. The cohorts included the siblings of 635 probands undergoing total hip replacement, the siblings of 486 probands undergoing total knee replacement, and the siblings of 787 spouses. We compared the prevalence of arthroplasty for idiopathic OA among the siblings of the probands with that among the siblings of the spouses, and we used logistic regression to identify independent risk factors for hip and knee arthroplasty in the siblings. Familial aggregation for hip arthroplasty, but not for knee arthroplasty, was observed after controlling for age and sex, suggesting a genetic contribution to end-stage hip OA but not to end-stage knee OA. We conclude that attempts to identify genes that predispose to idiopathic OA resulting in joint failure are more likely to be successful in patients with hip OA than in those with knee OA.     

饲喂黄曲霉毒素B_1大鼠肝中AFB_1-DNA加合物的免疫组织化学研究

应用免疫组织化学ＳＰ法对４例饲喂黄曲霉毒素Ｂ１的Ｗｉｓｔａｒ大鼠肝组织中ＡＦＢ１－ＤＮＡ加合物的染色及常规ＨＥ染色发现,４例肝细胞核均出现异型性,但未见肝细胞坏死、增生灶及肝细胞癌;免疫组化揭示部分肝细胞核出现棕黄色、不均质状的ＡＦＢ１－ＤＮＡ加合物,阳性细胞数占１０～８５％。结果提示免疫组织化学方法可作为一种ＡＦＢ１的定位方法,ＡＦＢ１在动物致癌过程中ＡＦＢ１－ＤＮＡ加合物可能具有启动作用     

Influence of inverse dynamics methods on the calculation of inter-segmental moments in vertical jumping and weightlifting

Background  

A vast number of biomechanical studies have employed inverse dynamics methods to calculate inter-segmental moments during movement. Although all inverse dynamics methods are rooted in classical mechanics and thus theoretically the same, there exist a number of distinct computational methods. Recent research has demonstrated a key influence of the dynamics computation of the inverse dynamics method on the calculated moments, despite the theoretical equivalence of the methods. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the influence of the choice of inverse dynamics on the calculation of inter-segmental moments.     

Ensemble attribute profile clustering: discovering and characterizing groups of genes with similar patterns of biological features

Background  

Ensemble attribute profile clustering is a novel, text-based strategy for analyzing a user-defined list of genes and/or proteins. The strategy exploits annotation data present in gene-centered corpora and utilizes ideas from statistical information retrieval to discover and characterize properties shared by subsets of the list. The practical utility of this method is demonstrated by employing it in a retrospective study of two non-overlapping sets of genes defined by a published investigation as markers for normal human breast luminal epithelial cells and myoepithelial cells.