Nonspecific and antigen-specific adhesiveness of circulating lymphocytes in dysentery patients undergoing combined therapy using thymalin and indomethacin

Nonspecific adhesiveness of lymphocytes to polyacrylonitrile fiber and the antigen-specific adhesiveness of T-lymphocytes to Shigella flexneri pellicular immunosorbent have been studied in dysentery patients. Short courses of treatment with indomethacin, but not with thymalin (the preparation of thymic hormones), used for immunomodulation, have accelerated the normalization of nonspecific lymphocyte adhesiveness during regression of the disease, while indomethacin, in contrast to thymalin, inhibits antigen-specific T-lymphocyte adhesiveness which increases with the development of immune response.     

Acacia ochracea (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae), a new species from Somalia

Acacia ochracea , a new species in the A. Senegal complex, is described and illustrated. It is a common and conspicuous tree over large areas in the western Bay Region and in the Gedo Region in SW Somalia.     

Quantitative Properties of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA analysis (RAPD) is a methodology that has been used as a tool for monitoring microbial communities. To be useful in this application RAPD, and any other methodology, must show properties that allows for the detection of quantitative changes in composition of the microbiota. Therefore, the objective of this study was to establish whether RAPD possesses such properties. The strategy was to use genomic DNA, extracted from a set of tertiary bacterial mixtures defined according to an experimental mixture design, and containing varying proportions of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas CF600. RAPD-PCR was performed on the mixed DNA extracts and the amplified DNA fragments were separated on sequencing gels to produce genomic fingerprints that were digitized and modeled by Partial Least Squares regression (PLS). Significant predictions were obtained using an external test set for validation, with Root Mean Square Error of Predictions (RMSEP) of 0.21, 0.19 and 0.20 for the proportion of E. coli, B. subtilis and Pseudomonas CF600 respectively. Taken together, the results showed that RAPD patterns quantitatively represented the initial mixture proportions. Therefore, the view that RAPD could be useful for whole microbial community monitoring was strengthened.     

Notes on Convolvulus, Astripomoea, Ipomoea and Merremia (Convolvulaceae) from the Horn of Africa

The six new species Convolvulus scopulatus, a shrub from gypseous semidesert coastal plains in northern Somalia, Astripomoea procera, a woody climber in Acacia-Commiphora bushland on sand in south-central Somalia, Ipomoea hiranensis, a prostrate or climbing shrublet in Acacia-Commiphora bushland in rocky places on sandstone in south-central Somalia, Ipomoea galhareriana, a woody climber in bushland on sand in central Somalia, Ipomoea pogonantha, a woody climber in bushland usually on red soil over limestone in eastern and southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and northern Kenya, and Ipomoea corrugata, a herb with trailing stems in bushland on sandy soil in south-central Somalia, are described, and illustrations are provided for most of them. The new combinations Ipomoea ovatolanceolata (= I. adenoides var. ovatolanceolata) and Merremia obtusa (= M. ampelophylla subsp. obtusa) are made, and a new synonymy is provided for M. ampelophylla. Merremia ellenbeckii is neotypified and M. lobata is placed in synonymy.     

In Vitro Studies on the Putative Function of N-acetylaspartate as an Osmoregulator

Efflux and tissue content of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and amino acids were evaluated from cultured and acutely prepared hippocampal slices in response to changes in osmolarity. The osmoregulator taurine, but not NAA, was lost from both types of slices after moderate reductions in extracellular osmolarity (−60 mOsm) for 10–48 h. Hypoosmotic shock (−166 mOsm) for 5 min resulted in unselective efflux of several amino acids from acutely prepared slices. Notably, the efflux of taurine, but not NAA, was prominent also after the shock. Efflux of NAA was markedly enhanced by NMDA and high K⁺, in particular after the stimulation period. The high K⁺-mediated efflux was decreased by high extracellular osmolarity and a NMDA-receptor antagonist. The results indicate that NAA efflux can be induced by a sudden non-physiological decrease in extracellular osmolarity but not by prolonged more moderate changes in osmolarity. The mechanisms behind the efflux of NAA by high K⁺ are complex and may involve both swelling and activation of NMDA-receptors.     

Proteome-wide evidence for enhanced positive Darwinian selection within intrinsically disordered regions in proteins

Background  

Understanding the adaptive changes that alter the function of proteins during evolution is an important question for biology and medicine. The increasing number of completely sequenced genomes from closely related organisms, as well as individuals within species, facilitates systematic detection of recent selection events by means of comparative genomics.