Genomic insights into acute inflammatory lung injury

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a devastating syndrome (usually associated with sepsis) that represents a major healthcare burden in the United States. We have focused our studies on unraveling the genetic underpinnings of this syndrome utilizing a candidate gene approach to identify novel genes for ALI susceptibility. Two novel genes identified by this approach include pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor (PBEF) and the gene for myosin light chain kinase (MLCK). PBEF protein levels were elevated in human bronchoalveolar lavage and serum samples from patients with ALI, and DNA sequencing identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PBEF promoter (T-1001G, C-1543T) that were overrepresented in patients with sepsis-induced ALI. More recently, we found MLCK single polymorphisms and haplotypes to be associated with human ALI with unique variants observed in African-Americans with ALI. Thus genomic and genetic approaches represent powerful strategies in the identification of novel candidate genes and potential targets for ALI therapies.     

Experimental evidence that egg color indicates female condition at laying in a songbird

The signaling hypothesis of eggshell coloration in birds isbased on the assumption that females of species with blue-greeneggs signal their phenotypic quality to their mates throughdeposition of the antioxidant biliverdin as pigment. Egg pigmentationmay be an expression of the condition of females at laying orof genetic linkages between egg color and female performancevariables. We have supplemented 16 pied flycatcher, Ficedulahypoleuca, females with mealworms before and during laying andcompared the mass and color of their eggs as measured on theday of laying to those of 16 control females with the same nestconstruction and laying dates and clutch sizes. Supplementedfemales laid significantly heavier and more intensely blue-greeneggs than control females. Egg blue-green chroma was significantlyassociated with the amount of biliverdin in eggshells. Egg color,and thus biliverdin content, is an expression of female conditionat laying.     

The public health implications of maternal care trade-offs

The socioeconomic and ethnic characteristics of parents are some of the most important correlates of adverse health outcomes in childhood. However, the relationships between ethnic, economic, and behavioral factors and the health outcomes responsible for this pervasive finding have not been specified in child health epidemiology. The general objective of this paper is to propose a theoretical approach to the study of maternal behaviors and child health in diverse ethnic and socioeconomic environments. The specific aims are: (a) to describe a causal pathway between the utility that women obtain through work outside the home and through child care and disease hazard rates in childhood using an optimization model; (b) to specify the influence of ethnic and socioeconomic factors on model constraints; (c) to use the model as a tool to learn about how different combinations of maternal wage labor and child care time might influence child health outcomes in diverse social contexts; (d) to identify parameters that will require measurement in future research; (e) to discuss research strategies that will enable us to obtain these measurements; and (f) to discuss the implications of the model for biostatistical modeling and public health intervention. Optimization models are powerful heuristic tools for understanding how ethnic, environmental, family, and personal characteristics can place important constraints on both the quality and quantity of care that women can provide to their children. They provide a quantitative appreciation for the difficult trade-offs that most women face between working in order to purchase basic goods that children cannot do without (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, health insurance), and increasing offspring well-being through child care (e.g., training in social skills, affection, protection from environmental hazards, help with homework). The research was funded by a Faculty Scholars Award from the William T. Grant Foundation to A. Magdalena Hurtado. A. Magdalena Hurtado, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. Her research interests include the origins of the sexual division of labor, epidemiology of indigenous peoples, disease susceptibility, the development and intergenerational transmission of antigens and immune defense, immune function and allergic sensitization, and trauma. She also works on public health interventions, biological capital and poverty, and land tenure and human rights in native communities of South America. Carol Lambourne, M.Sc., is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. Her research interests are evolutionary models of child and adolescent development, life history theory, family composition and investment patterns, pubertal timing and psychosexual maturation, juvenile stress, and infanticide. Kim Hill, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. His research interests are modern hunter-gatherers, including extensive fieldwork in lowland South America. Current topics of interest include human evolution, economic strategies, life history theory, the evolution of cooperation, and the emergence of social norms enforced by punishment. He is also involved in economic development, health and education projects with lowland South American native populations. Karen Kessler received her M.S. in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1996. Her research interests are the application of mathematical modeling to the prevention of diabetes and other causes of morbidity and mortality in historical populations.     

Diacheopsis metallica and Diacheopsis kowalskii: comparison of two distinct myxomycete species

The only microscopic slide of Diacheopsis metallica studied by Charles Meylan conserved in Lausanne was examined, and a neotype was proposed for this species. Diacheopsis metallica is compared with other European and American collections and with Diacheopsis kowalskii. Both species are considered distinct due to differences in spore size and morphology of the capillitium. Light microscope and scanning electron microscope photographs of D. metallica and D. kowalskii are presented; the species are new records for Spain.     

Transfection of mammalian cells with connexins and measurement of voltage sensitivity of their gap junctions

Vertebrate gap junction channels are formed by a family of more than 20 connexin proteins. These gap junction proteins are expressed with overlapping cellular and tissue specificity, and coding region mutations can cause human hereditary diseases. Here we present a summary of what has been learned from voltage clamp studies performed on cell pairs either endogenously expressing gap junctions or in which connexins are exogenously expressed. General protocols presented here are currently used to transfect mammalian cells with connexins and to study the biophysical properties of the heterologously expressed connexin channels. Transient transfection is accomplished overnight with maximal expression occurring at about 36 h; stable transfectants normally can be generated within three or four weeks through colony selection. Electrophysiological protocols are presented for analysis of voltage dependence and single-channel conductance of gap junction channels as well as for studies of chemical gating of these channels.     

A new species of Didymium (Myxomycetes) from subantarctic Macquarie Island

A series of specimens of a stalked Didymium collected during an intensive survey of fungal biodiversity on subantarctic Macquarie Island were determined to represent a species new to science. The new species Didymium macquariense is described and compared with other morphologically similar species. Micrographs of the most important morphological characters are provided.     

Measuring the reinforcing strength of abused drugs

Animal models for human diseases are highly valued for their utility in developing new therapies. Animals have long provided suitable platforms for the development of innovative surgical procedures and for the study of disease states that are relatively easy to produce in otherwise healthy animals, such as diabetes or hypertension. Increasingly, new strains of animals susceptible to common human illnesses are being introduced into medical research, promising new inroads into the treatment of a variety of organic disorders. Despite these advances in model development, psychiatric disorders, by and large, remain among the hardest to induce experimentally, and the search for reasonable animal procedures to study diseases of the mind is an ongoing challenge for experimental biologists. An exception to this limitation, however, comes in the study of drug abuse. Major developments in this area of research over the last several decades have steadily advanced our ability to identify pharmacological, genetic, and environmental determinants that contribute to the development of drug dependence and addictive behavior.