Characterisation of the gene for Drosophila amphiphysin

A sequence similarity search of the Drosophila nucleotide database using vertebrate amphiphysin as a query identified a cDNA that encodes a Drosophila amphiphysin. The predicted protein has conserved sequence domains that should enable it to dimerise and bind to dynamin. Structural modelling suggests that the Src-homology-3 (SH3) domains of vertebrate and Drosophila amphiphysins are highly similar, supporting the putative ability of the latter to bind dynamin. However, the fly amphiphysin shows less conservation to sequences in the vertebrate amphiphysins that bind other endocytic components such as clathrin, AP-2 and endophilin. Amphiphysin is a single-copy gene that maps to position 49B on polytene chromosomes. Messenger RNA of this amphiphysin is expressed widely during embryogenesis and has elevated expression in a number of sites including the foregut, hindgut and epidermis, but not in the central nervous system. Taken together, these data are consistent with a role for Drosophila amphiphysin in endocytosis, but the details of this role may differ from that of vertebrate amphiphysins.     

Modelling the Health Impact of an English Sugary Drinks Duty at National and Local Levels

Background

Increasing evidence associates excess refined sugar intakes with obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Worryingly, the estimated volume of sugary drinks purchased in the UK has more than doubled between 1975 and 2007, from 510ml to 1140ml per person per week. We aimed to estimate the potential impact of a duty on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) at a local level in England, hypothesising that a duty could reduce obesity and related diseases.

Methods and Findings

We modelled the potential impact of a 20% sugary drinks duty on local authorities in England between 2010 and 2030. We synthesised data obtained from the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), drinks manufacturers, Office for National Statistics, and from previous studies. This produced a modelled population of 41 million adults in 326 lower tier local authorities in England. This analysis suggests that a 20% SSB duty could result in approximately 2,400 fewer diabetes cases, 1,700 fewer stroke and coronary heart disease cases, 400 fewer cancer cases, and gain some 41,000 Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) per year across England. The duty might have the biggest impact in urban areas with young populations.

Conclusions

This study adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting health benefits for a duty on sugary drinks. It might also usefully provide results at an area level to inform local price interventions in England.     

nPKC{varepsilon}, a P2Y2-R downstream effector in regulated mucin secretion from airway goblet cells

Airway goblet cell mucin secretion is controlled by agonist activation of P2Y₂ purinoceptors, acting through Gq/PLC, inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP₃), diacylglycerol, Ca²⁺ and protein kinase C (PKC). Previously, we showed that SPOC1 cells express cPKC, nPKC, nPKC, and nPKC; of these, only nPKC translocated to the membrane in correlation with mucin secretion (Abdullah LH, Bundy JT, Ehre C, Davis CW. Am J Physiol Lung Physiol 285: L149–L160, 2003). We have verified these results and pursued the identity of the PKC effector isoform by testing the effects of altered PKC expression on regulated mucin release using SPOC1 cell and mouse models. SPOC1 cells overexpressing cPKC, nPKC, and nPKC had the same levels of ATPS- and phorbol-1,2-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-stimulated mucin secretion as the levels in empty retroviral vector expressing cells. Secretagogue-induced mucin secretion was elevated only in cells overexpressing nPKC (14.6 and 23.5%, for ATPS and PMA). Similarly, only SPOC1 cells infected with a kinase-deficient nPKC exhibited the expected diminution of stimulated mucin secretion, relative to wild-type (WT) isoform overexpression. ATPS-stimulated mucin secretion from isolated, perfused mouse tracheas was diminished in P2Y₂-R null mice by 82% relative to WT mice, demonstrating the utility of mouse models in studies of regulated mucin secretion. Littermate WT and nPKC knockout (KO) mice had nearly identical levels of stimulated mucin secretion, whereas mucin release was nearly abolished in nPKC KO mice relative to its WT littermates. We conclude that nPKC is the effector isoform downstream of P2Y₂-R activation in the goblet cell secretory response. The translocation of nPKC observed in activated cells is likely not related to mucin secretion but to some other aspect of goblet cell biology. protein kinase C; mucins; goblet cells; exocytosis; airways; epithelium; lung     

Removing endogenous tau does not prevent tau propagation yet reduces its neurotoxicity

In Alzheimer's disease and tauopathies, tau protein aggregates into neurofibrillary tangles that progressively spread to synaptically connected brain regions. A prion‐like mechanism has been suggested: misfolded tau propagating through the brain seeds neurotoxic aggregation of soluble tau in recipient neurons. We use transgenic mice and viral tau expression to test the hypotheses that trans‐synaptic tau propagation, aggregation, and toxicity rely on the presence of endogenous soluble tau. Surprisingly, mice expressing human P301Ltau in the entorhinal cortex showed equivalent tau propagation and accumulation in recipient neurons even in the absence of endogenous tau. We then tested whether the lack of endogenous tau protects against misfolded tau aggregation and toxicity, a second prion model paradigm for tau, using P301Ltau‐overexpressing mice with severe tangle pathology and neurodegeneration. Crossed onto tau‐null background, these mice had similar tangle numbers but were protected against neurotoxicity. Therefore, misfolded tau can propagate across neural systems without requisite templated misfolding, but the absence of endogenous tau markedly blunts toxicity. These results show that tau does not strictly classify as a prion protein.     

Occult HCV or delayed viral clearance from lymphocytes of Chronic HCV genotype 3 patients after interferon therapy

Background

A recently discovered occult HCV entity reported by various investigators seems to be highly controversial. Especially, the clinical significance of these findings remains uncertain. For optimal outcome of antiviral therapy, investigation of occult HCV needs a broad-based probe in order to investigate the results of viral therapy and its host/viral interaction. The current study was aimed at determining the prevalence of occult HCV in peripheral blood lymphocytes of predominantly genotype 3 HCV-infected patients after completion of antiviral therapy and to investigate long term outcomes in the presence or absence of PBMC positivity.

Method

A total of 151 chronic, antiHCV and serum RNA-positive patients were enrolled in the study. Patients with a complete virological response at the end of treatment were screened for the presence of viral RNA in their PBMCs and were followed for up to one year for the presence of serum and PBMC viral genomic RNA.

Results

Out of 151 patients, 104 (70%) responded to the prescribed interferon treatment and showed viral-clearance from serum. These were screened for the presence of genomic RNA in their PBMCs. Sixteen samples were PBMC-positive for viral RNA at the end of treatment (EOT). All these patients had also cleared the virus from peripheral blood cells after the 6-12 month follow-up study.

Conclusion

True occult hepatitis C virus does not exist in our cohort. Residual viremia at the EOT stage merely reflects a difference in viral kinetics in various compartments that remains a target of immune response even after the end of antiviral therapy and is eventually cleared out at the sustained viral response (SVR).     

Expression of hemagglutinin esterase protein from recombinant mouse hepatitis virus enhances neurovirulence

Murine hepatitis virus (MHV) infection provides a model system for the study of hepatitis, acute encephalitis, and chronic demyelinating disease. The spike glycoprotein, S, which mediates receptor binding and membrane fusion, plays a critical role in MHV pathogenesis. However, viral proteins other than S also contribute to pathogenicity. The JHM strain of MHV is highly neurovirulent and expresses a second spike glycoprotein, the hemagglutinin esterase (HE), which is not produced by MHV-A59, a hepatotropic but only mildly neurovirulent strain. To investigate a possible role for HE in MHV-induced neurovirulence, isogenic recombinant MHV-A59 viruses were generated that produced either (i) the wild-type protein, (ii) an enzymatically inactive HE protein, or (iii) no HE at all (A. Lissenberg, M. M. Vrolijk, A. L. W. van Vliet, M. A. Langereis, J. D. F. de Groot-Mijnes, P. J. M. Rottier, and R. J. de Groot, J. Virol. 79:15054-15063, 2005 [accompanying paper]). A second, mirror set of recombinant viruses was constructed in which, in addition, the MHV-A59 S gene had been replaced with that from MHV-JHM. The expression of HE in combination with A59 S did not affect the tropism, pathogenicity, or spread of the virus in vivo. However, in combination with JHM S, the expression of HE, regardless of whether it retained esterase activity or not, resulted in increased viral spread within the central nervous system and in increased neurovirulence. Our findings suggest that the properties of S receptor utilization and/or fusogenicity mainly determine organ and host cell tropism but that HE enhances the efficiency of infection and promotes viral dissemination, at least in some tissues, presumably by serving as a second receptor-binding protein.     

Immunodetection of the recombinant GroEL by the Nanobody NbBruc02

Brucella has a great impact on health and economy in Syria, thus much effort is being placed on the development of diagnostics and vaccines. In this context, a wide Nanobody "immune" library was previously established, from which several Brucella-specific binders were isolated. One of these camel genetically engineered heavy-chain antibody fragments was referred to as NbBruc02. The precise antigen of NbBruc02 was presumed to be, according to proteomic approaches, the Brucella heat shock protein of 60?kDa (HSP-60). HSP-60, or alternatively named GroEL, is an interesting Brucella immunodominant antigen with important roles in the parasite life cycle, mainly adhesion and penetration during the infection of macrophages. In the present work, the capacity of NbBruc02 to filtrate the native GroEL from Brucella total extract was tested by immunochromatography approach. The interaction between NbBruc02 and its antigen was further confirmed using recombinant GroEL from Brucella. Interestingly, NbBruc02 was able to immunodetect the native as well as the denatured forms of the rGroEL in ELISA and immunoblotting, respectively. In agreement with previously reported data, NbBruc02 was able only to detect the denatured Yersinia rGroEL. Using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor, NbBruc02 showed a strong interaction, with nanomolar affinity (K (D)?=?~10(-8)?M), with the native rGroEL of Brucella and not of Yersinia. Because the casual conformational changes in the GroEL 3D structure make the base of its function, NbBruc02 by its ability to recognize a "conformational epitope," could open wide perspectives to study the role of GroEL in Brucella physiology.     

Focusing on attention: the effects of working memory capacity and load on selective attention

Background

Working memory (WM) is imperative for effective selective attention. Distractibility is greater under conditions of high (vs. low) concurrent working memory load (WML), and in individuals with low (vs. high) working memory capacity (WMC). In the current experiments, we recorded the flanker task performance of individuals with high and low WMC during low and high WML, to investigate the combined effect of WML and WMC on selective attention.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In Experiment 1, distractibility from a distractor at a fixed distance from the target was greater when either WML was high or WMC was low, but surprisingly smaller when both WML was high and WMC low. Thus we observed an inverted-U relationship between reductions in WM resources and distractibility. In Experiment 2, we mapped the distribution of spatial attention as a function of WMC and WML, by recording distractibility across several target-to-distractor distances. The pattern of distractor effects across the target-to-distractor distances demonstrated that the distribution of the attentional window becomes dispersed as WM resources are limited. The attentional window was more spread out under high compared to low WML, and for low compared to high WMC individuals, and even more so when the two factors co-occurred (i.e., under high WML in low WMC individuals). The inverted-U pattern of distractibility effects in Experiment 1, replicated in Experiment 2, can thus be explained by differences in the spread of the attentional window as a function of WM resource availability.

Conclusions/Significance

The current findings show that limitations in WM resources, due to either WML or individual differences in WMC, affect the spatial distribution of attention. The difference in attentional constraining between high and low WMC individuals demonstrated in the current experiments helps characterise the nature of previously established associations between WMC and controlled attention.