Constitutive and Inducible Proteins in the Root of Chinese Cabbage Infected with Plasmodiophora brassicae

A plant-pathogen system consisting of a Chinese cabbage cultivar and two isolates of Plasmodiophora brassicae was developed for analysing root proteins accumulated in susceptible and resistant responses to the fungus. Proteins extracted at pH 2.8 were analysed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. More than 150 protein spots were resolved. Spots indicating changes in the intensity by the infection of P. brassicae were classified into six types: class 1 contains proteins enhanced in susceptible response; class 2, proteins unique to susceptible response; class 3, proteins repressed in susceptible response: class 4, proteins enhanced in resistant response; class 5, proteins unique to resistant response; and class 6, proteins repressed in resistant response. Two proteins from class 1 and one protein from class 4 were subjected to an N-terminal amino acid sequencing. One of the class 1 protein (25 kDa, pl 7.0) revealed high homology with pathogenesis-related protein group 5.     

Reduction of patient dose in medical radiography by utilizing scattered X-rays: Relation between permissible limit of scatter fraction,viewer brightness,and perceptibility of vision

This paper proposes a new technique for reducing the patient dose when employing medical radiographs prepared by using screen-film systems. In this technique the patient dose can be reduced by employing scattered X-rays in order to obtain the same film density as that realized without the use of scattered X-rays. The minimum perceptible thickness difference ΔX_min, which can be recognized by liminal vision, was psychophysically calculated by considering the energy spectrum of incident X-ray, sensitivity spectrum of the screen layer, and the perception capability of human vision. From the calculated ΔX_mins in various conditions, the permissible upper limit of scatter fraction for obtaining the same ΔX_min for three kinds of luminances, and the fraction of reduction in the primary X-rays were determined.As an example of the results, when the object size required for perception is 1.3 mm, a scatter fraction up to 42% can be permitted at a density D of 1.0 for a luminance of 2548 cd m^?2. When we increase the luminance of the viewer from 478 cd m^?2 to 2548 cd m^?2, the upper limit of the permitted scatter fraction varies from 30% to 42% at a D of 1.0, i.e., the patient dose can be reduced by 17% under the same perceptibility of ΔX_min by utilizing scattered X-rays. This reduction can be successfully achieved by changing the lead content of the grid from 0.45 to 0.38 g cm^?2.     

Restoration of interleukin-2 production in tumor-bearing rats through reducing tumor-derived transforming growth factor β by treatment with bleomycin

We studied mechanisms of immunosuppression caused by tumor-derived transforming growth factor-ß (TGFß) and restoration of the immune response by treatment with bleomycin in rats bearing KDH-8 hepatoma. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) production from splenocytes of KDH-8-tumor-bearing rats progressively decreased as the KDH-8 tumor grew. IL-2 production from concanavalin-A-stimulated normal rat splenocytes was signficiantly inhibited by in vitro cultured KDH-8-tumor-cell-conditioned medium; this inhibition could be blocked by neutralizing the conditioned medium with anti-TGFß antibody. TGFß activities were found in KDH-8-tumor-tissue-conditioned medium without acid treatment and were found in tumor-cell-conditioned medium after acid treatment; TGFß mRNA and TGFß protein were found in cultured KDH-8 tumor cells. These results suggested that the KDH-8-tumor-derived TGFß might be involved in the inhibition of IL-2 production from splenocytes. To determine whether bleomycin chemotherapy could reduce tumor-derived TGFß and restore the immune responses, we treated KDH-8 tumor-bearing rats with bleomycin (5 mg/kg, one shot) at an appropriate time (before the occurrence of immunosuppression) resulting in a significiant reduction of TGFß activity in KDH-8 tumor tissues and restoration of IL-2 production from splenocytes of tumor-bearing rats; KDH-8 tumor growth ultimately regressed. In vitro experiments also showed that TGFß activity, mRNA expression, and protein synthesis in KDH-8 tumor cells were reduced by bleomycin treatment, and that bleomycin-treated-KDH-8-tumor-cell-conditioned medium did not inhibit IL-2 production from normal rat splenocytes. These results suggest that bleomycin treatment restored IL-2 production in tumor-bearing rats through reducing the tumor-derived TGFß.     

Cloning and Characterization of HumanSep1 (hSEP1) Gene and Cytoplasmic Localization of its Product

We isolatedand sequenced a human cDNA (designated as hSEP1)encoding both a homologue of mouse Dhm2 and budding yeast SEP1.The gene was shown to be locatedon the long arm of chromosome3 (3q25-26.1). The putative hSEP1 product (hSEP1p) consistedof 1694 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of about 190kDa. Northern blot analysis showeda major 10-kb mRNA expressedubiquitously in variousorgans as well as a minor 5.5-kb mRNAexpressed relatively highly in the testis and placenta. hSEP1pis localizedin the cytoplasm as examinedb y cytochemical andWestern blot analyses of fractionated cellular extracts. Thebiological function of hSEP1p was discussed in correlation withits cytoplasmic localization.     

Tim4 recognizes carbon nanotubes and mediates phagocytosis leading to granuloma formation

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Normoreninemic hypoaldosteronism in a case of isolated ACTH deficiency

This paper documents the rare and hitherto unreported association between isolated ACTH deficiency and normoreninemic hypoaldosteronism in a 63-year-old woman. Baseline plasma aldosterone and 18-hydroxycorticosterone were extremely low. Both steroids did not respond to exogenous angiotensin II infusion, whereas they were increased in parallel to ACTH stimulation. Thus, acquired dysfunction or congenital dysgenesis of the zona glomerulosa was suspected. The upright posture-furosemide test showed a subnormal but definite plasma aldosterone response coupled with a normal increase in plasma renin activity, indicating that there may be a yet unidentified mechanism(s) underlying the postural increase of aldosterone.     

Improvement of the anoxia-induced mitochondrial dysfunction by membrane modulation

The mitochondrial dysfunction induced by anoxia in vitro was improved with chlorpromazine, cepharanthine, bromophenacyl bromide, and mepacrine without affecting phospholipid or adenine nucleotide metabolisms. The drugs inhibited lipid peroxidation by Fe²⁺, mitochondrial disruption by Ca²⁺, and membrane perturbation by lysolecithin, and retained the activity to control H⁺ permeability across mitochondrial membranes. The drugs appeared to preserve the functions by acting to suppress the development of membrane deterioration which may have resided in the deenergization of mitochondria in the absence of oxygen.     

Cytogenetic studies on natural intergeneric hybridization inAster alliances

In addition to various types of natural hybrids betweenAster ageratoides subsp.ovatus andKalimeris incisa reported earlier, a new backcross type has been discovered. This new type, characterized by the chromosomes of 2n=27L+54S, was most probably produced through fertilization of a normally-reduced gamete of the F₁ plant (2n=72=18L+54S) and an unreduced gamete of subsp.ovatus (2n=36=18L+18S).