Breast-feeding still faces many roadblocks,national survey finds.

Although breast-feeding receives strong support from physicians, recent focus groups conducted for Health Canada found that it still faces roadblocks because some new mothers find it too embarrassing. In some cases, their male partners oppose breast-feeding. The solution appears to be more and better education provided very early in pregnancy. There is also a need to "spell out explicitly" the role male partners can play in supporting breast-feeding.     

Biological activity and metabolic clearance of recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone produced in Sp2/0 myeloma cells

Human follicle stimulating hormone is a pituitary glycoprotein that is essential for the maintenance of ovarian follicle development and testicular spermatogenesis. Like other members of the glycoprotein hormone family, it contains a common a subunit and a hormone specific subunit. Each subunit contains two glycosylation sites. The specific structures of the oligosaccharides of human follicle stimulating hormone have been shown to influence both thein vitro andin vivo bioactivity. Since the carbohydrate structure of a protein reflects the glycosylation apparatus of the host cells in which the protein is expressed, we examined the isoform profiles,in vitro bioactivity and metabolic clearance of a preparation of purified recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone derived from a stable, transfected Sp2/0 myeloma cell line, and pituitary human follicle stimulating hormone. Isoelectric focussing and chromatofocussing studies of human follicle stimulating hormone preparations both showed a more basic isoform profile for the recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone compared to that of pituitary human follicle stimulating hormone. The recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone had a significantly higher radioreceptor activity compared to that of pituitary human follicle stimulating hormone, consistent with a greaterin vitro potency. Pharmacokinetic studies in rats indicated a similar terminal half life (124 min) to that of the pituitary human follicle stimulating hormone (119 min). Preliminary carbohydrate analysis showed recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone to contain high mannose and/or hybrid type, in addition to complex type carbohydrate chains, terminating with both2,3 and2,6 linked sialic acids. These results demonstrate that recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone made in the Sp2/0 myeloma cells is sialylated, has a more basic isoform profile, and has a greaterin vitro biological potency compared to those of the pituitary human follicle stimulating hormone.     

Physicochemical and immunological characterization of the type E botulinum neurotoxin binding protein purified fromClostridium botulinum

Type E botulinum neurotoxin is produced byClostridium botulinum along with a neurotoxin binding protein which helps protect the neurotoxin from adversepH, temperature, and proteolytic conditions. The neurotoxin binding protein has been purified as a 118-kDa protein. Secondary structure content of the neurotoxin binding protein as revealed by far-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy was 19% α-helix, 50%β-sheets, 28% random coils, and 3%β-turns. This compared to 22% α-helix, 44%β-sheets, 34% random coils, and noβ-turns of the type E botulinum neurotoxin. The complex of the two proteins revealed 25%α-helix, 45%β-sheets, 27% random coils, and 3%β-turns, suggesting a significant alteration at least in theα-helical folding of the two proteins upon their interaction. Tyrosine topography is altered considerably (28%) when the neurotoxin and its binding protein are separated, indicating strong interaction between the two proteins. Gel filtration results suggested that type E neurotoxin binding protein clearly complexes with type E neurotoxin. The interaction is favored at lowpH as indicated by an initial binding rate of 8.4 min^?1 atpH 5.7 compared to 4.0 min^?1 atpH 7.5 as determined using a fiber optic-based biosensor. The neurotoxin and its binding protein apparently are of equivalent antigenicity, as both reacted equally on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to polyclonal antibodies raised against the toxoid of their complex.     

Identification of Biochemical Defects in Pancreatic Islets of fa/fa Rats: A Developmental Study

KIBENGE, MOLLY T AND CATHERINE B CHAN. Identification of biochemical defects in pancreatic islets of fa/fa rats: a developmental study. Obes Res. 1995;3:171–178. Adult obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats hypersecrete insulin in response to glucose and other secretagogues. Functional changes in islet ot2-adrenoceptors (8) and glycolytic regulation (9) have been reported. In this study, the development of these biochemical lesions in islets isolated from suckling (3 week old) and weanling (5 week old) lean and fa/fa rats was investigated and compared to results in adult animals. Glucose (15 mM)-induced insulin secretion was inhibited by mannoheptulose (MH) in lean (n=8) but not fa/fa (n=10) adult rats, indicating loss of sensitivity of glucokinase to competitive inhibition. Sensitivity to MH was somewhat reduced in the islets of 3- and 5-week-old fa/fa (n=7 and 12) compared to lean (n=15 and 9) rats, requiring 30–100 fold higher concentrations to achieve significant inhibition. At 3 weeks of age fa/fa rats did not differ from lean controls in either islet insulin content or body weight, but both parameters were increased in fa/fa rats by 5 weeks. The presence of altered α₂-adrenoceptor function in fa/fa rats could not be confirmed in this study. Unlike the previous report, prazosin did not antagonize α₂-agonist mediated inhibition of insulin secretion. The presence of defective regulation of the glycolytic pathway by mannoheptulose in suckling and weanling rats may contribute to development of hyperinsulinemia in fa/fa rats.     

The elimination ofO-linked glycans from glycoproteins under non-reducing conditions

A simple procedure is described for the elimination ofO-linked glycans from bovine submaxillary mucin under non-reducing conditions, using triethylamine in aqueous hydrazine. The glycans were isolated as the hydrazones, which were converted to the reducing glycans by exchange with acetone in neutral aqueous solution. The glycan alditols obtained after reduction corresponded to those obtained by the reductive -elimination ofO-glycans.     

Dynamics of colony development in the paper waspPolistes dominulus Christ (Hymenoptera,Vespidae): The influence of prey availability

This study focused on how a decrease in prey availability affected the development of aP. dominulus Christ colony. Nutritional oophagy and larval development were parameters found to be most directly affected. The more indirect effects on the growth of the nest and on offspring production were also analyzed.