Effect of temperature on respiration of a mesophilic and a thermophilic fungus

The respiratory rates of mycelia of the mesophilic fungus, Aspergillus niger, and the thermophilic fungus, Thermomyces lanuginosus, were comparable at their respective temperature optima for growth. The respiratory rate of A. niger was independent of changes in temperature between 15 and 40 C. The respiratory rate of T. lanuginosus increased with increase in temperature between 25 and 55 C.     

Biology and physiology of Calbindin-D9k in female reproductive tissues: Involvement of steroids and endocrine disruptors

Although Calbindin-D9k (CaBP-9k), a cytosolic calcium binding protein which has calcium binding sites, is expressed in various tissues, i.e., intestine, uterus, and placenta, potential roles of this gene and its protein are not clearly understood. Uterine CaBP-9k may be involved in controlling myometrial activity related with intracellular calcium level and is not under the control of vitamin D despite the presence of vitamin D receptors. But, it is under the control of the sex steroid hormones, estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4), in female reproductive systems including the uterus and placenta. Thus, in this review, we summarize recent research literature in regards to the expression and regulation of CaBP-9k in mammals and introduce the research data of recent studies by us and others.     

IL-13 regulates the immune response to inhaled antigens

The large inhibitory effect of IL-13 blockers on the asthma phenotype prompted us to ask whether IL-13 would play a role in regulating the allergic immune response in addition to its documented effects on structural pulmonary cells. Because IL-13 does not interact with murine T or B cells, but with monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs), we examined the role of IL-13 in the activation of pulmonary macrophages and DCs and in the priming of an immune response to a harmless, inhaled Ag. We found that a majority of cells called "alveolar or interstitial macrophages" express CD11c at high levels (CD11c(high)) and are a mixture of at least two cell types as follows: 1) cells of a mixed phenotype expressing DC and macrophage markers (CD11c, CD205, and F4/80) but little MHC class II (MHC II); and 2) DC-like cells expressing CD11c, CD205, MHC II, and costimulatory molecules. Endogenous IL-13 was necessary to induce and sustain the increase in MHC II and CD40 expression by pulmonary CD11c(high) cells, demonstrated by giving an IL-13 inhibitor as a measure of prevention or reversal to allergen-primed and -challenged mice. Conversely, IL-13 given by inhalation to naive mice increased the expression of MHC II and costimulatory molecules by CD11c(high) cells in an IL-4Ralpha-dependent manner. We found that exogenous IL-13 exaggerated the immune and inflammatory responses to an inhaled, harmless Ag, whereas endogenous IL-13 was necessary for the priming of naive mice with an inhaled, harmless Ag. These data indicate that blockade of IL-13 may have therapeutic potential for controlling the immune response to inhaled Ags.     

The role of hydrophobic properties of chemicals in promoting allosteric reactions

An allosteric reaction has been found in a variety of instances where an inverted parabolic relationship between biological activity and hydrophobicity is apparent, that is the activity first decreases as hydrophobicity increases and after a certain point, activity begins to increase. This could be attributed to the ligands causing a change in the receptor structure. In this report, the role of hydrophobic properties of chemicals in promoting allosteric reactions have been discussed in term of hydrophobicity (logP) by the formulation of a total number of 50 QSAR equations. The QSAR model of this type may be represented by Eq. I.     

Genetically transferred central and peripheral immune tolerance via retroviral-mediated expression of immunogenic epitopes in hematopoietic progenitors or peripheral B lymphocytes.

BACKGROUND: Based on the hypothesis that IgGs are potent tolerogens and that immature lymphohematopoietic antigen-presenting cells (APC), and even mature peripheral B cells, may be effective APC for tolerance induction, we designed an immunoglobulin fusion protein retroviral expression vector to test the role of B cells in a novel gene therapy strategy for the transfer of immune tolerance. METHODS: An immunodominant epitope (residues 12-26 of the lambda repressor cI protein) was fused in frame to an IgG heavy chain in a retroviral vector, which was used to infect either bone marrow cells or activated peripheral B lymphocytes. These cells were transferred into syngeneic recipients, who were subsequently challenged with the 12-26 peptide in adjuvant. RESULTS: Bone marrow (BM) chimeras generated with retrovirally transduced bone marrow were shown to be profoundly unresponsive to the 12-26 peptide at both the humoral and cellular levels, but were competent to respond to an unrelated protein (lysozyme or PPD). Importantly, we also show that immunocompetent adult recipients infused with transduced mature, activated B lymphocytes, are rendered unresponsive by this treatment. Surprisingly, lymphoid-deficient BM progenitors from syngeneic SCID donors could also be transduced to produce tolerogenic APC. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that activated B cells are sufficient to be effective tolerogenic APC in immunocompetent adult mice, but that nonlymphoid cells may also induce tolerance in reconstituted hosts. This approach for gene-transferred tolerogenesis has the potential to be maintained indefinitely, and it requires only knowledge of cDNA sequences of target antigens.     

Length–weight relationships of three freshwater cyprinid fish species from Chalakudy River,South Western Ghats,India

This paper provides length‐weight relationships (LWRs) for three freshwater cyprinid fish species: Barbodes carnaticus (Jerdon, 1849), Hypselobarbus kolus (Sykes, 1839) and Tor khudree (Sykes, 1839) from the Chalakduy River in South Western Ghats of India. Fish samples were collected on a monthly basis between April 2011 to March 2012 using gill nets of different mesh sizes (3.5–10 cm). LWRs for these three species had not been previously reported in FishBase.     

Length‐weight relationship of two cyprinid fish species,Hypselobarbus thomassi (Day, 1874) and Hypselobarbus kurali (Menon & Rema Devi, 1995) from River Kallada,Southern Western Ghats,India

The present study reports the length‐weight relationship (LWRs) of two cyprinid fishes, Hypselobarbus thomassi (Day, 1874) and Hypselobarbus kurali (Menon & Rema Devi, 1995) from River Kallada, Southern Western Ghats, India. About 182 samples of H. thomassi (10.7–60.4 cm TL) and 108 samples of H. kurali (9.8–27.0 cm TL) were collected on a monthly basis between August 2015 to July 2016 using gill nets (1.5–12.0 cm). The ‘b’ values in LWRs were determined as 2.96 for H. thomassi and 2.93 for H. kurali. No previous information is available on LWR data for these two species.     

Effect of magnesium deficiency on the metabolism of glycosamino-glycans in rats

Magnesium deficiency in rats has significant effect on the concentration of different glycosaminoglycans in the tissues, the nature of the change being different in different tissues. Total glycosaminoglycans, chondroitin-4-sulphate + chondroitin-6-sulphate and dermatan sulphate increased in the aorta while hyaluronic acid, heparan sulphate and heparin decreased. In the liver, total glycosaminoglycans, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin-4-sulphate + 6-sulphate and heparin decreased while total glycosamino-glycans and all the glycosaminoglycan fractions increased in the heart. In the kidney, total glycosaminoglycans showed no significant alteration, hyaluronic acid and heparin decreased while chondroitin-4-sulphate + 6-sulphate increased. Activity of biosynthetic enzymesviz. glucosamine-o-phosphate isomerase and UDPG-dehydrogenase showed decrease in the liver. The concentration of 3’-phosphoadenosine 5’-phosphosulphate, activity of sulphate activating system and sulphotransferase were also similarly altered in the liver in magnesium deficiency.     

Detection of IgG and IgE antibodies to Aspergillus fumigatus in human sera by immunogold assay

An immunogold assay (IGA) was developed to detect IgG and IgE antibodies to Aspergillus fumigatus. Sixteen sera from patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), aspergilloma, and normal controls were studied. All sera were also evaluated for antibodies against A. fumigatus by biotin-avidin linked enzyme immunosorbent assay (BALISA) and by agar gel double diffusion method. A. fumigatus specific IgG and IgE antibodies could be detected by IGA in all the patients' sera but not in the sera of normal controls. Both IgG and IgE antibodies to A. fumigatus could be demonstrated in all the sera by BALISA and normal controls showed only low levels of these antibodies. There was a positive correlation between the degree of reactivity detected by IGA, the BALISA titer and the precipitins by agar gel diffusion. It can be concluded that IGA is a reliable, sensitive and simple method capable of detecting both IgG and IgE antibodies against A. fumigatus in patient serum.