Alexithymia,impulsiveness, emotion,and eating dyscontrol: similarities and differences between narcolepsy type 1 and type 2

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - Non-sleep symptoms, as depression, anxiety and overweight, are often encountered in narcoleptic patients. The purposes of this study are to evaluate mood,...     

Effects of Ethylene Control and Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere Storage on ‘Galaxy’ Apple Quality

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - This study aimed to evaluate the interaction of ethylene management in the pre- and post-harvest stages using different storage techniques on the...     

B-50/GAP-43 Binds to Actin Filaments Without Affecting Actin Polymerization and Filament Organization

Abstract: To investigate a possible function of the nervous tissuespecific protein kinase C substrate B-50/GAP-43 in regulati of the dynamics of the submembranous cytoskeleton. we studii the interaction between purified 6–50 and actin. Both the phosphorylated and dephosphorylated forms of 8–50 cosedi-mented with filamentous actin (F-actin) in a Ca²⁺-independent manner. Neither 6–50 nor phospho-6–50 had any effect on the kinetics of actin polymerization and on the critical concentration at steady state, as measured using pyrenylated actin. tight scattering of F-actin samples was not increased in the presence of 550, suggesting that 550 does not bundle actin filaments. The number of actin filaments, determined by [³H]cytochalasin B binding, was not affected by either phospho- or dephospho-B-50, indicating that 550 has neither a severing nor a capping effect. These observations were confirmed by electron microscopic evaluation of negatively stained F-actin samples, which did not reveal any structural changes in the actin meshwork on addition of 6–50, We conclude that 6–50 is an actin-binding protein that does not directly affect actin dynamics.     

Steroid biochemistry and categorization of breast cyst fluid: relation to breast cancer risk

Patients bearing macrocysts of the breast are at higher risk of later developing cancer. The fluid filling the cysts (breast cysts fluid, BCF) contains unusual amounts of steroid conjugates, first androgen and estrogen sulfates. Measuring BCF cations (K⁺, Na⁺) allows categorization of cysts into two major subsets (type I and type II) that are associated with a different degree and/or turnover of apocrine metaplastic cells in the lining epithelium. Type I cysts (high K⁺/ Na⁺ ratio) accumulate huge amounts of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, estrone sulfate, androstane-3, 17β-diol glucuronide, androsterone glucuronide and contain more testosterone and dihydrotestosterone than type II. Conversely, type II cysts (low K⁺/Na⁺ ratio) contain more progesterone and pregnenolone. A cohort study was started in 1983 at the Cancer Prevention Center, Ravenna, Italy, with the aim of evaluating the relationships between the biochemistry of BCF and the incidence of breast cancer in women with gross cystic disease (GCD) of the breast. The bimodal distribution of the cationic pattern has been confirmed from data obtained in 798 patients aspirated. The risk of cyst relapse was significantly higher among women with type I cysts or with multiple cysts at presentation. Twelve incident cases of breast cancer have been diagnosed among women whose BCF was categorized. Eleven out of 12 cases had type I or multiple cysts. The cumulative incidence of breast cancer among patients bearing type I cysts was 2.5%. We conclude that women with GCD bearing type I cysts have an increased breast cancer risk when compared with the counterpart bearing type II cysts or the general population.     

MLC-specific suppressor T lymphocytes in man. I. Their induction in vitro by soluble HLA-DR antigens

Human T lymphocytes precultured for 36 hr in the presence of soluble HLA-DR antigens suppress the MLR response of autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes to allogeneic stimulating cells. The suppression is DR antigen-specific in that it appears that the MLR stimulating cell donor and the soluble suppressor-inducing antigen must share DR specificities. The soluble DR antigens were fractionated from the sera of normal donors using QAE-Sephadex chromatography and CNBr-activated Sepharose immunoadsorption. Similarly prepared HLA-A and -B antigens failed to induce suppressive activity. The suppressive activity of DR-antigen cultured T cells is resistant to mitomycin C treatment and, further, the antigen specificity is maintained with or without mitomycin C treatment. The kinetics of suppressor cell induction as well as the kinetics of suppression in the test MLR cultures are presented. The implications of these results are discussed.     

N-(carboxymethylidene)chitosans and N-(carboxymethyl)chitosans: Novel chelating polyampholytes obtained from chitosan glyoxylate

Glyoxylic acid, added to aqueous suspensions of chitosan, causes immediate dissolution of chitosan and gel formation within 3–4 h if the pH is 4.5–5.5. Solutions at lower pH values gel after 2 min of warming at 60–80°. Chitosan glyoxylate solutions brought to alkaline pH with sodium hydroxide do not precipitate chitosan. Evidence is given that a Schiff base, namely N-(carboxymethylidene)chitosan, is formed. N-(Carboxymethylidene)chitosans are reduced by sodium cyanoborohydride at room temperature to give N-(carboxymethyl)chitosans, obtained as white, free-flowing powders, soluble in water at all pH values. A series of N-(carboxymethyl)chitosans having various degrees of acetylation and N-carboxymethylation was obtained, and characterized by viscometry, elemental analysis, and i.r. spectrometry. For the fully substituted N-(carboxymethyl)chitosans, the pK′ is 2.3, the pK″ is 6.6, and the isoelectric point is 4.1. The addition of N-(carboxymethyl)chitosan to solutions (0.2–0.5mm) of transition-metal ions produces immediate insolubilization of N-(carboxymethyl)chitosan-metal ion chelates.     

The human CD38 gene: polymorphism, CpG island, and linkage to the CD157 (BST-1) gene

 CD38 is a leukocyte activation antigen and ectoenzyme [NAD(P)⁺ glycohydrolase; EC 3.2.2.6] involved in numerous immune functions. The human CD38 gene is complex [eight exons, >80 kilobases (kb) long] located on Chromosome 4p15, and part of the eukaryotic NAD⁺ glycohydrolase/ADP-ribosyl cyclase gene family. Because of the increasing relevance of the CD38 molecule in the host immune response to infectious, tumoral, and metabolic diseases, we investigated the genetic variability and linkage of the human CD38 locus. We report that (1) the restriction endonuclease Pvu II identifies a bi-allelic polymorphism here defined as formed by the alleles CD38 ^* A (12 kb) and CD38 ^* B (9/2.5 kb); (2) their frequency in the healthy Italian Caucasian population is 14% and 86%, respectively; (3) the polymorphic Pvu II site is located at the 5′ end of the first intron of the CD38 gene; (4) in conjunction with the polymorphic site, we identified a 900 base pair CpG island associated with the CD38 gene, with two potential Sp1 binding sites; (5) the CpG island may play a role in the regulation of CD38 expression and is hypomethylated in various cell lines; (6) by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis we show that CD38 and its paralogue, the bone-marrow stromal cell antigen BST-1 (CD157), map to the same 800 kb Avi II fragment, indicating that the two human ecto-NADase genes are closely linked. Received: 16 December 1998 / Revised: 26 January 1999     

SO2-induced decrease in photosynthetic activity in two barley cultivars. Evidence against specific damage at the protein-pigment complex level

This research investigated the SO₂-induced effects on photosynthetic apparatus in two barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars (cv), Panda and Express. Following a chronic treatment with SO₂ (80 ppb, 75 d) neither cv showed any visible signs of injury or chlorosis on leaf surfaces, while a significant reduction in A_max and G_w was detected in both cvs, although to different extents. Thylakoids of SO₂-treated plants showed a decrease in the electron transport activity at the whole chain, photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI) level in both cvs. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of leaf pigments revealed a significant decrease in both cvs, more pronounced in Panda than in Express. Deriphat-polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis (Deriphat-PAGE) and two dimensional (2-D) electrophoretic analyses of the pigment-protein complexes did not show differences in SO₂-treated samples of either cv. HPLC analysis of the green bands also showed no differences in the pigment content of fumigated samples of either cv, except for a decrease in β-carotene content and xanthophyll cycle pigment (VAZ) content respectively at band 1 (PSI) and band 5 (minor light-harvesting polypeptides of PSII) level in cv Panda, where the de-epoxidation index (DEP) significantly increased, while in Express, an increase in VAZ content and DEP value of band 5 was observed. These results suggest that the decrease in the photosynthetic activity can be ascribed, in addition to stomata closure induced by SO₂, to a generalised, rather than specific, pollutant effect on photosynthetic apparatus, which could be interpreted as an adaptation to the adverse environment.     

Large-scale production of peptides using the solid phase continuous flow method. Part 2: preparative synthesis of a 26-mer peptide thrombin inhibitor

A preparative method for the preparation of large peptides is described. An advantageous theoretical weight of peptide/weight of starting resin ratio (tP_w/R_w) of about 0.3 was successfully experimented. The esterification of the first amino acid was realized with a racemization of less than 1%. The study of the coupling conditions led to the use of a diluted acylating mixture that allowed a 56% consumption of the amino acid derivatives (percentage use of amino acids) introduced in the synthesis. The cost analysis of the synthesis showed that the recovery of the amino acid derivatives was not worthwhile. © 1998 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.