新生儿巨细胞病毒感染的检测

建立了用ELISA检测巨细胞病毒(HCMV)IgA抗体的方法,並用于检测北京地区100对母婴的HCMV抗体,母血、脐带血、母乳中HCMV-IgG抗体的阳性率分别为83％,75％和38％,HCMV-IgA抗体的阳性率分别为19％,15％和58％,对其中的16名婴儿半年后追踪观察,5名出生时母、脐血全为阴性的,有2名抗体阳转。8名出生时母、脐血均阳性的,有1名IgA仍阳性並检查发现肝大肋下二指。另1名IgG持续阳性,其他6名婴儿抗体转阴。3名出生时母血HCMV-IgG阳性者中,1名婴儿IgA和‘gG转阳,此时母亲IgA也阳转。随访的16名婴儿中有3名可能是生后半年内受HCMV感染。     

Expression of intermediate filaments and other special markers by testicular germ cell tumors. With reference to embryogenesis.

Distribution of intermediate filament proteins (IFs) and several special markers was studied in 39 testicular germ cell tumors and 8 embryos and foetuses. The similarity and difference between development of germ cell tumor and embryogenesis were immunohistochemically investigated. Seminoma and embryonal carcinoma, as tumoral counterparts of undifferentiated germ cells, were characterized by little IF expression. This study revealed that the maturing and differentiating process in germ cell tumor is different from normal embryonal development and the tumor cells showed leaping maturing steps in tumorigenesis. Immunostaining for IFs helped to discover the further differentiation occurring in embryonal carcinoma and to demonstrate heterogeneous elements in non-seminoma germ cell tumors, which sometimes might not be apparent by light microscopical observation of H&E staining section. According to the findings, two patterns in mixed germ cell tumors are suggested; i.e., combined and diffuse types. The mechanism of tumorigenesis of the two types is supposed to be different. Clinically, the prognosis of most patients with testicular germ cell tumor is fairly good because of the improved chemotherapies that are dependent on histological diagnosis.     

银额果蝇的B染色体研究 2.昆明群体的生活力和B染色体的关系

本文分析了钮额果蝇的生活力和B染色体的关系。结果表明,银额果蝇的B染色体在其生长和发育过程中具双重性调节作用。一方面,B染色体以单一的形式存在于单雌系核型中,即1B或2Bs,可刺激生长、发育,增强生活力。另一方面,在单雌系的细胞中存在多条B染色体,并形成核型多态性,这似乎对生长和发育又有一定的抑制作用而减弱其生活力。     

The purified yeast pre-mRNA splicing factor PRP2 is an RNA-dependent NTPase.

Unlike autocatalyzed self-splicing reactions, nuclear pre-mRNA splicing requires transacting macromolecules and ATP. A protein encoded by the PRP2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required, in conjunction with ATP, for the first cleavage-ligation reaction of pre-mRNA splicing. In this study, we have purified two forms of the PRP2 gene product with apparent molecular weights of 100 kDa and 92 kDa, from a yeast strain overproducing the protein. Both proteins were indistinguishable in their ability to complement extracts derived from a heat-sensitive prp2 mutant. Furthermore, we show that the PRP2 protein is capable of hydrolyzing nucleoside triphosphates in the presence of single-stranded RNAs such as poly(U). However, purified PRP2 by itself did not unwind double-stranded RNA substrates. The fact that an RNA-dependent NTPase activity is intrinsic to PRP2 may account for the ATP requirement in the first catalytic reaction of pre-mRNA splicing.     

Culture and characterization of dental follicle cells from rat molars

Summary Because the dental follicle is necessary for the eruption of teeth of limited eruption, it was the objective of this study to determine if the cells of the follicle could be cultured in vitro. To achieve this, dental follicles and associated enamel organs were dissected from the first and second mandibular molars of 6–7-day-old rats (secretory stage of amelogenesis), and then cultured in a medium that promotes fibroblast growth — the predominant cell type of the dental follicle. The cultured cells grew to confluency and were kept through 3 passages before experimentation. The cultured cells were fibroblastic in shape, elongate with processes, and transmission electron microscopy revealed that they contained an abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum, but did not form desmosomes. Immunofluorescent staining for anti-vimentin showed that all the cells stained and electron-microscopic immunogold labeling indicated that the antibody was associated with intermediate filaments. As revealed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting, the cultured cells synthesized and secreted the extracellular matrix molecules fibronectin and procollagens. Subsequent immunofluorescence staining of permeabilized and non-permeabilized cells confirmed the presence of fibronectin and type I collagen both intra- and extracellularly. Thus, based on all the above characteristics, the cultured cells appeared to be fibroblasts derived from the dental follicle, although a few of the fibroblasts may be derived from undifferentiated mesenchymal cells interposed between the alveolar bone and follicle. Experiments now can be conducted to determine how these cultured cells respond directly to growth factors that alter the rates of tooth eruption.     

A threshold result for an epidemiological model

A threshold parameter R ₀ is identified for an SIRS epidemiological model which has nonlinear incidence and a distributed delay for transfer out of the removed class. For R ₀ < 1, the disease free equilibrium is proved to be the global attractor for all solutions.Research supplied in part by NSERC A-8965     

Synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing degenerate bases and their use as primers in the polymerase chain reaction.

Heptadecaoligodeoxyribonucleotides containing one or more of the bases, 6H,8H-3,4-dihydropyrimido[4,5-c][1,2]oxazin-7-one (P), 2-amino-6-methoxyaminopurine (K), and hypoxanthine (I) and combinations of P with K and I have been synthesised on a DNA synthesiser. The stability of duplexes containing these basemodified oligomers with P/A, P/G, K/C and K/T; P/A, P/G, I/C, I/T and I/A, I/G, I/C, I/T base pairs were compared by measuring their melting transition (Tm) values. Oligomers containing both P and K and P and I were more stable than those with I alone or with mismatches. These oligomers together with one with a P base at the 3'-end were used as primers in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments. They were all effective primers except one with I alone and a triple mismatch. Thus the use of the degenerate bases P and K in primer design is established.     

Properties of phosphorylated NADP+-specific glutamate dehydrogenase fromEscherichia coli

The NADP⁺-specific glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) fromEscherichia coli strain D₅H₃G₇, an enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of -ketoglutarate andl-glutamate, has been shown to be phosphorylated in vitro in an ATP-dependent enzymatic reaction. The phosphorylated protein is extremely acid labile and is unstable at high pH. Treatment of GDH with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEP), a histidine-modifying reagent, blocked the incorporation of³²P from [-³²P]ATP. GDH catalytic activity was also inhibited by DEP treatment. Hydroxylamine, a reagent hydrolyzing phosphoramidates, catalyzed the removal of phosphate from phosphorylated GDH, suggesting that GDH may be phosphorylated at a histidine residue(s). A total enzymatic hydrolysis of phosphorylated GDH, which was electroeluted from a native polyacrylamide gel, was analyzed by a Dowex 1-8X anion exchange chromatography. The presence of³²P-labeled 3-phosphohistidine, characterized and identified from this hydrolysate, demonstrates that a histidine residue(s) is the site of phosphorylation.     

Effects of cyclic AMP and butyrate on cell cycle,DNA, RNA,and purine synthesis of cultured astrocytes

Dibutyryl cyclic monophosphate (dBcAMP) has been shown to inhibit growth, and alter the morphology of astrocytes. However, the potential contribution of its hydrolytic product, butyrate, in inducing some of the changes that have been attributed to dBcAMP, is not clear. DNA, RNA, and purine synthesis were therefore studied in primary astrocyte cultures after 24 hours of exposure to varying concentrations of butyrate, dBcAMP, and agents that increase intracellular cAMP levels. Progression of cells through cell cycle was also studied by flow cytometry. Dibutyryl cAMP partially arrested cells in Go/G1 phase of cell cycle while sodium butyrate increased the percentage population of cells in G2/M phase. DNA synthesis and de novo purine synthesis were inhibited after treatment with dBcAMP, sodium butyrate, and various drugs that increase intracellular cAMP levels. RNA synthesis was increased with cAMP but was not affected by sodium butyrate. Our study shows that at millimolar concentrations, butyrate is capable of altering the cell cycle and inhibiting DNA synthesis in primary astrocyte cultures, in a manner that is similar although not identical to the effects of dBcAMP.