Weight loss is not mandatory for exercise-induced effects on health indices in females with metabolic syndrome

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of moderate aerobic training on functional, anthropometric, biochemical, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) parameters on women with metabolic syndrome (MS). Fifteen untrained women with MS performed moderate aerobic training for 15 weeks, without modifications of dietary behaviours. Functional, anthropometric, biochemical, control diet record and HRQOL parameters were assessed before and after the training. Despite body weight maintenance, the patients presented decreases in waist circumference (P = 0.001), number of MS components (P = 0.014), total cholesterol (P = 0.049), HDL cholesterol (P = 0.004), LDL cholesterol (P = 0.027), myeloperoxidase activity (P = 0.002) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances levels (P = 0.006). There were no differences in total energy, carbohydrate, protein and lipid intake pre- and post-training. Furthermore, improvements in the HRQOL subscales of physical functioning (P = 0.03), role-physical (P = 0.039), bodily pain (P = 0.048), general health (P = 0.046) and social functioning scoring (P = 0.011) were reported. Despite the absence of weight loss, aerobic training induced beneficial effects on functional, anthropometric, biochemical and HRQOL parameters in women with MS.     

Plasma membrane proteomes of differentially matured dendritic cells identified by LC-MS/MS combined with iTRAQ labelling

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in polarising Th lymphocyte subsets but it is unclear what molecular events occur when DCs generate Th2-type responses. Here, we analysed plasma membrane-enriched fractions from immature, pro-Th1 and pro-Th2 DCs and used a combination of iTRAQ labelling and LC-MS/MS to quantify changes in the proteomes. Analysis was performed on triplicate biological samples and changes verified by flow cytometry. MHC class II molecules and CD29 were up-regulated in pro-Th1 DCs whilst CD18 and CD44 were up-regulated in pro-Th2 DCs. One of the most down-regulated molecules in pro-Th1 DCs was YM-1 whilst the greatest decrease in pro-Th2 DCs was NAP-22. Other molecules up-regulated in pro-Th2 DC compared to pro-Th1 DCs included some potentially involved in protein folding during antigen processing (clathrin and Rab-7), whilst other non-membrane proteins such as enzymes/transporters related to cell metabolism (malate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, and ATPase Na⁺/K⁺) were also recorded. This suggests that pro-Th2 DCs are more metabolically active while pro-Th1 DCs have a mature ‘end state’. Overall, although several molecules were preferentially expressed on pro-Th2 DCs, our proteomics data support the view of a ‘limited maturation’ of pro-Th2 DCs compared to pro-Th1 DCs.     

The value of needle aspiration cytology of the breast, with an emphasis on the diagnosis of breast disease in young women below the age of 30

Our experience with 4,739 needle aspirations of the breast was reviewed, with an emphasis on the diagnosis of carcinoma in young women under the age of 30 years. Among benign diseases, fibroadenomas were most frequently seen in younger women (24.3% of 919 cases) while cysts were most frequently seen in women 30 years of age and older (20.0%). Fibrocystic conditions were identified in approximately 30% of the women in each group. All younger women with suspicious diagnoses had fibrocystic disease at biopsy; in older women, 75% of the suspicious cases proved to be carcinomas while 25% proved to be fibrocystic diseases. Carcinomas were diagnosed cytologically in 1.3% of younger women and in 9.7% of older women. In young women, in whom breast carcinoma is a rare disorder, it is important that carcinoma be diagnosed without delay so that an appropriate plan of management can be adopted. These findings suggest that needle aspiration cytology can accurately make that diagnosis.     

Intracellular inhibition of human neutrophil elastase by orally active pyrrolidine-trans-lactams

Described are the acylation binding of trans-lactam 1 to porcine pancreatic elastase, the selection of the SO2Me activating group for the lactam N which also confers metabolic stability in hamster liver microsomes, the introduction of aqueous solubility through the piperidine salt 9, the in vivo oral activity of 9 and its bioavailability, and the introduction of 9 as an intracellular neutrophil elastase inhibitor.     

Estimation of the membrane potential of cultured macrophages from the fast potential transient upon microelectrode entry

Analysis of membrane potential recordings upon microelectrode impalement of four types of macrophages (cell lines P388D1 and PU5-1.8, cultured mouse peritoneal macrophages, and cultured human monocytes) reveals that these cells have membrane potentials at least two times more negative than sustained potential values (E(s)) frequently reported. Upon microelectrode entry into the cell (P388D1), the recorded potential drops to a peak value (E(p)) (mean -37 mV for 50 cells, range -15 to -70 mV) within 2 ms, after which it decays to a depolarized potential (E(n)) (mean -12 mV) in about 20 ms. Thereafter, the membrane develops one or a series of slow hyperpolarizations before a final sustained membrane potential (E(s)) (mean -14 mV, range -5 to -40) is established. The mean value of the peak of the first hyperpolarization (E(h)) is -30 mV (range -10 to -55 mV). The initial fast peak transient, measured upon microelectrode entry, was first described and analyzed by Lassen et al. (Lassen, U.V., A.M. T. Nielson, L. Pape, and L. O. Simonsen, 1971, J. Membr. Biol. 6:269-288 for other change in the membrane potential from its real value before impalement to a sustained depolarized value. This was shown to be true for macrophages by two-electrode impalements of single cells. Values of E(p), E(n), E(h), E(s), and membrane resistance (R(m)) measured for the other macrophages were similar to those of P388D1. From these results we conclude that E(p) is a better estimate of the true membrane potential of macrophages than E(s), and that the slow hyperpolarizations upon impalement should be regarded as transient repolarizations back to the original membrane potentials. Thus, analysis of the initial fast impalement transient can be a valuable aid in the estimation of the membrane potential of various sorts of small isolated cells by microelectrodes.     

Algorithms and software for support of gene identification experiments

MOTIVATION: Gene annotation is the final goal of gene prediction algorithms. However, these algorithms frequently make mistakes and therefore the use of gene predictions for sequence annotation is hardly possible. As a result, biologists are forced to conduct time-consuming gene identification experiments by designing appropriate PCR primers to test cDNA libraries or applying RT-PCR, exon trapping/amplification, or other techniques. This process frequently amounts to 'guessing' PCR primers on top of unreliable gene predictions and frequently leads to wasting of experimental efforts. RESULTS: The present paper proposes a simple and reliable algorithm for experimental gene identification which bypasses the unreliable gene prediction step. Studies of the performance of the algorithm on a sample of human genes indicate that an experimental protocol based on the algorithm's predictions achieves an accurate gene identification with relatively few PCR primers. Predictions of PCR primers may be used for exon amplification in preliminary mutation analysis during an attempt to identify a gene responsible for a disease. We propose a simple approach to find a short region from a genomic sequence that with high probability overlaps with some exon of the gene. The algorithm is enhanced to find one or more segments that are probably contained in the translated region of the gene and can be used as PCR primers to select appropriate clones in cDNA libraries by selective amplification. The algorithm is further extended to locate a set of PCR primers that uniformly cover all translated regions and can be used for RT-PCR and further sequencing of (unknown) mRNA.      

The proof is in the poo: Non-invasive method to detect endoparasitic infection

Almost every animal trait is strongly associated with parasitic infection or the potential exposure to parasites. Despite this importance, one of the greatest challenges that researchers still face is to accurately determine the status and severity of the endoparasitic infection without killing and dissecting the host. Thus, the precise detection of infection with minimal handling of the individual will improve experimental designs in live animal research. Here, we quantified extracellular DNA from two species of endoparasitic worm that grow within the host body cavity, hairworms (phylum Nematomorpha) and mermithids (phylum Nematoda), from the frass of their insect host, a cave wētā (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) and an earwig (Dermaptera: Forficulidae), respectively. Frass collection was done at two successive time periods, to test if parasitic growth correlated with relative DNA quantity in the frass. We developed and optimized two highly specific TaqMan assays, one for each parasite-specific DNA amplification. We were able to detect infection prevalence with 100% accuracy in individuals identified as infected through post-study dissections. An additional infection in earwigs was detected with the TaqMan assay alone, probably because some worms were either too small or degraded to observe during dissection. No difference in DNA quantity was detected between sampling periods, although future protocols could be refined to support such a trend. This study demonstrates that a noninvasive and minimally stressful method can be used to detect endoparasitic infection with greater accuracy than dissection alone, helping improve protocols for live animal studies.     

Molecular evolution of a repetitive region within the per gene of Drosophila

The clock gene period (per) controls a number of biological rhythms in Drosophila. In D. melanogaster, per has a repetitive region that encodes a number of alternating threonine-glycine residues. We sequenced and compared this region from several different Drosophila species belonging to various groups within the Drosophila and Sophophora subgenera. This part of per shows a great variability in both DNA sequence and length. Furthermore, analysis of the data suggests that changes in the length of this variable region might be associated with amino acid replacements in the more conserved flanking sequences.