Histone complements of human tissues,carcinomas, and carcinoma-derived cell lines

Summary The pattern of subtypes of the nucleosomal histories and of historic Hl was investigated in human cells from adult and fetal lung and liver, from carcinoma tissues and from carcinoma-derived cell lines, with the object of comparing these patterns, and their relationship to cell growth rate, with those in cells of other species. The subtype pattern of the nucleosomal histories H2A and H3 shows a correlation with replication rate. In adult tissues, subtype H3-3 predominates over H3-2 and H3-1, and the subtype H2A-1 and H2A-2 are approximately equally abundant. In fetal tissues, lung carcinoma and cultured carcinoma-derived cell lines, the subtype H3-1 is predominant and H2A-1 is more abundant than H2A-2. The subtype pattern of H 1 also differs between normal and carcinoma cells, among different tissues, and in different cell lines derived from the same type of carcinoma. In particular, the relative level of H1° differs in several cell lines showing relatively high rates of replication, and in some cases represents more than 25% of the total H1, similar to the level in slowly replicating normal adult liver and lung tissues. The relative level of H1° does not therefore appear to be correlated in a simple manner with cell growth rate in these human cells.Abbreviations PhMeS0² phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride - SDS sodium dodecyl sulphate     

Experimental allergic orchitis and aspermatogenesis. VI. Transfer of allergic orchitis with immune cells.

Typical experimental allergic orchitis (EAO) and aspermatogenesis were successfully transferred to strain 13 guinea pigs with peritoneal exudate and lymph node cells from male and female donor guinea pigs (lacking detectable antibody) previously sensitized with 9 mug of highly purified GP1 glucoprotein isolated from the sperm acrosome. Attempts to transfer the disease with circulating antibody from hyperimmunized animals were not successful. These studies support a cell-mediated basis for the immunopathologic events in EAO.     

Computer-based 3-dimensional reconstruction of major organ systems of a new aeolid nudibranch subspecies, Flabellina engeli lucianae, from Brazil (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia)

Obtaining accurate and comprehensive anatomical informationfrom small opisthobranch specimens has been a major problem.Computer-based 3-dimensional reconstruction from serial histologicalslides applying AMIRA (TGS Graphics) software is shown to bean efficient and fully reproducible way to analyse tiny andcomplex organ systems in their true relative positions and proportions;this method is herein applied to nudibranchs for the first time.We used Flabellina engeli lucianae n. subsp., a small aeolid(up to 8 mm body preserved length) from subtropical southernBrazil, to illustrate all major organ systems including nervoussystems, and discuss them comparatively. Flabellina engeli lucianaediffers externally from congeners by having a translucent bodywith opaque white and iridescent blue spots, orange ceratalbands, and by the special branching of cerata forming distinctgroups on common peduncles. External and internal differencesfrom the apparently geographically and hydrographically separatedCaribbean specimens of F. engeli engeli Marcus & Marcus,1968 are discussed in detail. (Received 9 January 2006; accepted 10 July 2007)     

Effects of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray Extract on Adipocyte Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (Asteraceae) is widely used in traditional medicine. There is increasing interest on the in vivo protective effects of natural compounds contained in plants against oxidative damage caused from reactive oxygen species. In the present study the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of aqueous, methanol and dichloromethane extracts of leaves of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray were determined; furthermore, free radical scavenging capacity of each extract and the ability of these extracts to inhibit in vitro plasma lipid peroxidation were also evaluated. Since oxidative stress may be involved in trasformation of pre-adipocytes into adipocytes, to test the hypothesis that Tithonia extract may also affect adipocyte differentiation, human mesenchymal stem cell cultures were treated with Tithonia diversifolia aqueous extract and cell viability, free radical levels, Oil-Red O staining and western bolt analysis for heme oxygenase and 5''-adenosine monophoshate-activated protein kinase were carried out. Results obtained in the present study provide evidence that Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray exhibits interesting health promoting properties, resulting both from its free radical scavenger capacity and also by induction of protective cellular systems involved in cellular stress defenses and in adipogenesis of mesenchymal cells.     

Ulteriori indagini sul rapporto tra nichel e acidi malico e malonico in Alyssum

Abstract

Further contribution on the relationship between nickel and malic and malonic acids in Alyssum.—Further research has been carried out on extracts of leaves and seeds of A. bertolonii Desv., grown on serpentine and normal garden soil, in order to investigate the nature of the nickel compounds present in this plant. On the purified extracts, obtained with water and formic acid, malic and malonic acids have been determined through gas-chromatography of the trimethyl-sililderivatives; Ni, Ca, Mg and K have been analysed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

Both malic and malonic acids are present in the leaves of the plants collected on serpentine and therefore rich in nickel, whilst they are present only in small amounts in the plants grown in garden soil. Seeds contain mainly high levels of malic acid. Remarkable amounts of malic acid, related to a high nickel content, have been observed also in the leaves of another nickel accumulator in the genus Alyssum, i.e. A. serpyllifolium Desf. ssp. lusitanicum Dudley et P. Silva, endemic of Portugal serpentines.     

Analysis of Gene Expression in 3D Spheroids Highlights a Survival Role for ASS1 in Mesothelioma

To investigate the underlying causes of chemoresistance in malignant pleural mesothelioma, we have studied mesothelioma cell lines as 3D spheroids, which acquire increased chemoresistance compared to 2D monolayers. We asked whether the gene expression of 3D spheroids would reveal mechanisms of resistance. To address this, we measured gene expression of three mesothelioma cell lines, M28, REN and VAMT, grown as 2D monolayers and 3D spheroids. A total of 209 genes were differentially expressed in common by the three cell lines in 3D (138 upregulated and 71 downregulated), although a clear resistance pathway was not apparent. We then compared the list of 3D genes with two publicly available datasets of gene expression of 56 pleural mesotheliomas compared to normal tissues. Interestingly, only three genes were increased in both 3D spheroids and human tumors: argininosuccinate synthase 1 (ASS1), annexin A4 (ANXA4) and major vault protein (MVP); of these, ASS1 was the only consistently upregulated of the three genes by qRT-PCR. To measure ASS1 protein expression, we stained 2 sets of tissue microarrays (TMA): one with 88 pleural mesothelioma samples and the other with additional 88 pleural mesotheliomas paired with matched normal tissues. Of the 176 tumors represented on the two TMAs, ASS1 was expressed in 87 (50%; staining greater than 1 up to 3+). For the paired samples, ASS1 expression in mesothelioma was significantly greater than in the normal tissues. Reduction of ASS1 expression by siRNA significantly sensitized mesothelioma spheroids to the pro-apoptotic effects of bortezomib and of cisplatin plus pemetrexed. Although mesothelioma is considered by many to be an ASS1-deficient tumor, our results show that ASS1 is elevated at the mRNA and protein levels in mesothelioma 3D spheroids and in human pleural mesotheliomas. We also have uncovered a survival role for ASS1, which may be amenable to targeting to undermine mesothelioma multicellular resistance.     

ARGoS: a modular, parallel, multi-engine simulator for multi-robot systems

We present a novel multi-robot simulator named ARGoS. ARGoS is designed to simulate complex experiments involving large swarms of robots of different types. ARGoS is the first multi-robot simulator that is at the same time both efficient (fast performance with many robots) and flexible (highly customizable for specific experiments). Novel design choices in ARGoS have enabled this breakthrough. First, in ARGoS, it is possible to partition the simulated space into multiple sub-spaces, managed by different physics engines running in parallel. Second, ARGoS?? architecture is multi-threaded, thus designed to optimize the usage of modern multi-core CPUs. Finally, the architecture of ARGoS is highly modular, enabling easy addition of custom features and appropriate allocation of computational resources. We assess the efficiency of ARGoS and showcase its flexibility with targeted experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that simulation run-time increases linearly with the number of robots. A 2D-dynamics simulation of 10,000 e-puck robots can be performed in 60?% of the time taken by the corresponding real-world experiment. We show how ARGoS can be extended to suit the needs of an experiment in which custom functionality is necessary to achieve sufficient simulation accuracy. ARGoS is open source software licensed under GPL3 and is downloadable free of charge.