Occurrence of subcutaneous zygomycosis (Entomophthoromycosis Basidiobolae) caused by Basidiobolus haptosporus with pulmonary involvement

A case of a two-year-old boy with multiple subcutaneous lesions caused by Basidiobolus haptosporus is presented.The child had also a non-toxic familial goiter and clinical and radiological features of a pulmonary illness. The pulmonary manifestations only disappeared with the treatment with potassium iodide. The authors think that the pulmonary lesions must have arisen by direct spread of the fungus from the subcutaneous lesions of the chest.     

The xylanase introns from Cryptococcus albidus are accurately spliced in transgenic tobacco plants

The xylanase gene from Cryptococcus albidus contains seven introns. Genomic and cDNA clones under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter were transferred into tobacco plants using Agrobacterium-mediated cell transformation. The genes were transcribed and the mRNAs were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using primers on each side of the intron region. About 90% of the amplification products from plants transformed with the genomic clone corresponded to the size of the pre-mRNA (1.2 kb) and 10% represented the spliced product (0.85 kb). The 0.85 kb fragment was cloned and sequenced and the result indicated that the introns from the xylanase gene were accurately spliced by the plant cells.     

Response analysis of vertebrate retina

In a recent work (Ouztöreli, 1980) a mathematical model for studying the neural activities in a vertebrate retina has been investigated, where the basic network contains five interconnected neurons: a receptor cell, a bipolar cell, a horizontal cell, an amacrine cell, and a retinal ganglion cell. More recently, in (Ouztöreli and O'Mara, 1980) the basic network has been extended to a larger network containing twelve neurons. In both of these works, the performances of the basic and extended models were discussed under different structural and processing conditions with constant inputs by using the results of one of our earlier work (Ouztöreli, 1979). In the present paper we investigate by simulations the responses of the basic retinal network to piecewise constant and periodic inputs. The step and frequency responses of the extended retinal network will be discussed in a forthcoming paper.This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada under Grant A-4345 through the University of alberta     

A fast and simple radiometric assay for adenosine deaminase using reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography

A new quantitative radiometric assay for adenosine deaminase is described. The reaction conditions are similar to those used in other radioassays and are shown to result in an activity which increases linearly with time and with enzyme concentration. An original feature of the technique resides in the use of reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography to separate adenosine from inosine. The separation is complete, fast, and reproducible. Both compounds can be recovered almost quantitatively from the plates. The assay is very simple and allows the determination of up to 36 samples in 3 h.     

17β‐Oestradiol facilitates M2 macrophage skewing and ameliorates arrhythmias in ovariectomized female infarcted rats

Epidemiological studies have suggested a lower incidence of arrhythmia‐induced sudden cardiac death in women than in men. 17β‐oestradiol (E2) has been reported to have a post‐myocardial infarction antiarrhythmic effect, although the mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. We investigated whether E2‐mediated antioxidation regulates macrophage polarization and affects cardiac sympathetic reinnervation in rats after MI. Ovariectomized Wistar rats were randomly assigned to placebo pellets, E2 treatment, or E2 treatment +3‐morpholinosydnonimine (a peroxynitrite generator) and followed for 4 weeks. The infarct sizes were similar among the infarcted groups. At Day 3 after infarction, post‐infarction was associated with increased superoxide levels, which were inhibited by administering E2. E2 significantly increased myocardial IL‐10 levels and the percentage of regulatory M2 macrophages compared with the ovariectomized infarcted alone group as assessed by immunohistochemical staining, Western blot and RT‐PCR. Nerve growth factor colocalized with both M1 and M2 macrophages at the magnitude significantly higher in M1 compared with M2. At Day 28 after infarction, E2 was associated with attenuated myocardial norepinephrine levels and sympathetic hyperinnervation. These effects of E2 were functionally translated in inhibiting fatal arrhythmias. The beneficial effect of E2 on macrophage polarization and sympathetic hyperinnervation was abolished by 3‐morpholinosydnonimine. Our results indicated that E2 polarized macrophages into the M2 phenotype by inhibiting the superoxide pathway, leading to attenuated nerve growth factor‐induced sympathetic hyperinnervation after myocardial infarction.