The influence of locked nucleic acid residues on the thermodynamic properties of 2'-O-methyl RNA/RNA heteroduplexes

The influence of locked nucleic acid (LNA) residues on the thermodynamic properties of 2′-O-methyl RNA/RNA heteroduplexes is reported. Optical melting studies indicate that LNA incorporated into an otherwise 2′-O-methyl RNA oligonucleotide usually, but not always, enhances the stabilities of complementary duplexes formed with RNA. Several trends are apparent, including: (i) a 3′ terminal U LNA and 5′ terminal LNAs are less stabilizing than interior and other 3′ terminal LNAs; (ii) most of the stability enhancement is achieved when LNA nucleotides are separated by at least one 2′-O-methyl nucleotide; and (iii) the effects of LNA substitutions are approximately additive when the LNA nucleotides are separated by at least one 2′-O-methyl nucleotide. An equation is proposed to approximate the stabilities of complementary duplexes formed with RNA when at least one 2′-O-methyl nucleotide separates LNA nucleotides. The sequence dependence of 2′-O-methyl RNA/RNA duplexes appears to be similar to that of RNA/RNA duplexes, and preliminary nearest-neighbor free energy increments at 37°C are presented for 2′-O-methyl RNA/RNA duplexes. Internal mismatches with LNA nucleotides significantly destabilize duplexes with RNA.     

C-heterochromatin pattern of ten species of tetrigids (Tetrigidae, Orthoptera)

The karyotypes of species belonging to the Tetrigidae is characterised by structural conservatism. The standard chromosome set of T. japonica, T. simulans, T. bolivari, P. meridionalis, U. depressus, and F. robustus consists of 2n = 13 acrocentric chromosomes in males and 2n = 14 in females, with a sex determining mechanism of X0 male and XX female. C-bands distribution often species belonging to 4 genera were studied. Differences in the position of C-bands and number of chiasma between species are discussed.     

Paradoxical dampening of anti-islet self-reactivity but promotion of diabetes by OX40 ligand

Costimulatory signals received by diabetogenic T cells during priming by or upon secondary encounter with autoantigen are decisive in determining the outcome of autoimmune attack. The OX40-OX40 ligand (OX40L) costimulatory pathway is known to influence T cell responses, prompting us to examine its role in autoimmune diabetes. A null allele at OX40L completely prevented diabetes development in nonobese diabetic mice and strongly reduced its incidence in a TCR transgenic model (BDC2.5). However, somewhat paradoxically, the initial activation of T cells responsive to islet beta cell Ag was slightly faster and more efficient in the absence of OX40L, with an increased degree of cell proliferation and survival in the deficient hosts. Activated T cell migration into and retention within the islets was also slightly accelerated. When challenged in vitro, splenocytes from BDC2.5.OX40L(o/o) mice showed no altered reactivity to exogenously added peptide, no bias to the Th1 or Th2 phenotype, and no alteration in T cell survival. Thus, the OX40/OX40L axis has the paradoxical effect of dampening the early activation and migration of autoimmune T cells, but sustains the long-term progression to autoimmune destruction.     

Resistance to experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis in IL-6-deficient mice is associated with reduced germinal center formation and C3 production

To provide direct genetic evidence for a role of IL-6 in experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG), IL-6 gene KO (IL-6(-/-)) mice in the C57BL/6 background were immunized with Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and evaluated for EAMG. Only 25% of AChR-immunized IL-6(-/-) mice developed clinical EAMG compared to 83% of C57BL/6 (wild-type) mice. A significant reduction in the secondary anti-AChR Ab of IgG, IgG(2b), and IgG(2c), but not the primary or secondary IgM response was observed in AChR-immunized IL-6(-/-) mice, suggesting a possible defect in T cell help and class switching to anti-AChR IgG(2) isotype. The AChR-specific lymphocyte proliferative response, IFN-gamma, and IL-10 production were suppressed in AChR-immunized IL-6(-/-) mice. EAMG resistance in IL-6(-/-) mice was associated with a significant reduction in germinal center formation and decreased serum complement C3 levels. The data provide the first direct genetic evidence for a key role of IL-6 in the autoimmune response to AChR and in EAMG pathogenesis.     

Containment of simian immunodeficiency virus infection in vaccinated macaques: correlation with the magnitude of virus-specific pre- and postchallenge CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses

Macaques infected with the SIV strain SIVmac251 develop a disease closely resembling human AIDS characterized by high viremia, progressive loss of CD4(+) T cells, occurrence of opportunistic infection, cachexia, and lymphomas. We report in this study that vaccination with the genetically attenuated poxvirus vector expressing the structural Ags of SIVmac (NYVAC-SIV-gag, pol, env) in combination with priming with DNA-SIV-gag, env resulted in significant suppression of viremia within 2 mo after mucosal exposure to the highly pathogenic SIVmac251 in the majority of vaccinated macaques. The control of viremia in these macaques was long lasting and inversely correlated to the level of both pre- and postchallenge Gag-specific lymphoproliferative responses, as well as to the level of total SIV-specific CD4(+) T lymphocyte responses at the peak of acute viremia as detected by intracellular cytokine-staining assay. Viremia containment also correlated with the frequency of the immunodominant Gag(181-189)CM9 epitope-specific CD8(+) T cells present before the challenge or expanded during acute infection. These data indicate, for the first time, the importance of vaccine-induced CD4(+) Th cell responses as an immune correlate of viremia containment. The results presented in this work also further demonstrate the potential of a DNA-prime/attenuated poxvirus-boost vaccine regimen in an animal model that well mirrors human AIDS.     

N-terminal domain of the dual-targeted pea glutathione reductase signal peptide controls organellar targeting efficiency

Import of nuclear-encoded proteins into mitochondria and chloroplasts is generally organelle specific and its specificity depends on the N-terminal signal peptide. Yet, a group of proteins known as dual-targeted proteins have a targeting peptide capable of leading the mature protein to both organelles. We have investigated the domain structure of the dual-targeted pea glutathione reductase (GR) signal peptide by using N-terminal truncations. A mutant of the GR precursor (pGR) starting with the second methionine residue of the targeting peptide, pGRdelta2-4, directed import into both organelles, negating the possibility that dual import was controlled by the nature of the N terminus. The deletion of the 30 N-terminal residues (pGRdelta2-30) inhibited import efficiency into chloroplasts substantially and almost completely into mitochondria, whereas the removal of only 16 N-terminal amino acid residues (pGRdelta2-16) resulted in the strongly stimulated mitochondrial import without significantly affecting chloroplast import. Furthermore, N-terminal truncations of the signal peptide (pGRdelta2-16 and pGRdelta2-30) greatly stimulated the mitochondrial processing activity measured with the isolated processing peptidase. These results suggest a domain structure for the dual-targeting peptide of pGR and the existence of domains controlling organellar import efficiency therein.     

The interrelation between the number of deciduous teeth and the morphological maturity of a child

The process of the first dentition is part of a very short period during human development characterised by an extraordinary intensity of growth processes. The main purpose of the present study is to provide information on the relationship between three criteria of biological maturity of children: body height, body weight and the number of milk teeth. The present study is based on a cross-sectional material collected in 30 nurseries in ?ód? (Poland). The analysis was carried out on 1901 children (981 boys and 920 girls) aged from 2 to 36 months. All coefficients of Pearson correlation and partial correlations between the analysed variables are statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The highest value of coefficient correlation was noticed for the relation between dental and chronological age, as well as between dental and morphological age based on body height (about 0.90 and 0.85, respectively). Through an analysis of regression (backward) equations for predicting the number of teeth from chronological age, body weight and body height were calculated. These mathematical equations were confirmed in practice in about 80% of the children. Coefficients of determinations between the analysed variables are high for boys and girls (about 72% and 74%, respectively). This observations demonstrate conclusively that there exists a highly significant relation between deciduous tooth age and morphological age.     

Primary resistance of Helicobacter pylori to antimicrobial agents in Polish children

Helicobacter pylori resistance to antimicrobial agents is an important factor compromising the efficacy of treatment. Therefore the aims of our study were: to determine the prevalence of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole, amoxycillin and tetracycline in children prior to eradication therapy, to compare different methods of susceptibility testing and to detect mutations responsible for clarithromycin resistance. During 1996-2000, 259 H. pylori strains were isolated from antral gastric biopsies. Susceptibility to antimicrobials was determined by the agar dilution method and the Etest. Mutations in the 23S rRNA gene associated with clarithromycin resistance were analysed by PCR-RFLP and direct sequencing. Overall, ninety-six strains (37%) were resistant to metronidazole, 50 strains (19.3%) were resistant to clarithromycin, and 20 strains (7.7%) were simultaneously resistant to both drugs. All cultured isolates were sensitive to amoxycillin and only one isolate (0.4%) was resistant to tetracycline. The agar dilution method and the Etest showed a perfect category correlation for clarithromycin and 4% discrepancies for metronidazole. Primary resistance to clarithromycin was mainly associated with an A2143G mutation in the 23S rRNA gene of H. pylori. The study highlights the high prevalence of H. pylori primary resistance to clarithromycin in Polish children, which implies a need for pretreatment susceptibility testing.     

Both mucosal and systemic routes of immunization with the live,attenuated NYVAC/simian immunodeficiency virus SIV(gpe) recombinant vaccine result in gag-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses in mucosal tissues of macaques

As most human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection occurs via mucosal surfaces, an important goal of vaccination may be the induction of virus-specific immune responses at mucosal sites to contain viral infection early on. Here we designed a study in macaques carrying the major histocompatibility complex class I Mamu-A(*)01 molecule to assess the capacity of the highly attenuated poxvirus NYVAC/simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) SIV(gpe) vaccine candidate administered by the intranasal, intramuscular, or intrarectal route to induce mucosal immunity. All macaques, including one naive macaque, were exposed to SIV(mac251) by the intrarectal route and sacrificed 48 h after infection. The kinetics of immune response at various time points following immunization with NYVAC/SIV(gpe) and the anamnestic response to SIV(mac251) at 48 h after challenge were assessed in blood, in serial rectal and vaginal biopsy samples, and in tissues at euthanasia with an SIV(mac) Gag-specific tetramer. In addition, at euthanasia, antigen-specific cells producing gamma interferon or tumor necrosis factor alpha from the jejunum lamina propria were quantified in all macaques. Surprisingly, antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells were found in the mucosal tissues of all immunized macaques regardless of whether the vaccine was administered by a mucosal route (intranasal or intrarectal) or systemically. In addition, following mucosal SIV(mac251) challenge, antigen-specific responses were mainly confined to mucosal tissues, again regardless of the route of immunization. We conclude that immunization with a live vector vaccine results in the appearance of CD8(+) T-cell responses at mucosal sites even when the vaccine is delivered by nonmucosal routes.     

A study on the nickel II-famotidine complexes

Potentiometric studies have shown that Ni(II) forms three pH-dependent complexes with famotidine (L), namely: [NiHL](3+), [NiL](2+) and [NiH(-2)L]. Two of them have been isolated from solution with a Ni/famotidine ratio of 1:1. At pH 6.0, a paramagnetic complex [NiL](2+) with octahedral geometry is formed in which, most likely thiazole N(9) and guanidine N(3) nitrogens are involved in the metal binding. Additionally, two water molecules and two perchlorate anions, ClO(4)(-), fulfil the coordination sphere. The second complex, [NiH(-2)L], that precipitates at pH 8 is diamagnetic and takes square-planar geometry in which four nitrogen donors: N(3), N(9), N(16) and N(20) coordinate to Ni(II). Potentiometric studies, mass spectrometry, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy are employed to determine and discuss the structure of both complexes. Additionally, 1H, 13C and 15N NMR spectroscopy is used to confirm the binding site in a square-planar complex. The assignment of vibrational bands are made using ab initio HF/CEP-31G method.