Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from HLA-identical siblings following conditioning with busulfan and cyclophosphamide. First results

In the time period from November 1984 to January 1987 eight allogeneic bone marrow transplantation were performed from HLA-identical siblings. The theoretical chance of success in this group was between 21 and 50%, according to the recent data of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, depending on the diagnosis and clinical condition. The average chance was 37.5%. Haemopoietic reconstitution was achieved in 6 recipients, while 2 died of early complications (cytostatic induced hepatocellular damage and fungal sepsis). Another 3 patients died of complications of the intermediate period (pulmonary bleeding, virus hepatitis, graft rejection). The remaining 3 recipients are alive, in excellent clinical condition, including one girl surviving more than 2 years after the transplantation.     

Chemotactic response and motility of the mollusc parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis papillosa towards mucus from different mollusc species

BioControl - Phasmarhabditis papillosa is a promising biocontrol agent of gastropods in crops. To enhance the efficacy of mollusc parasitic nematodes, a better understanding of the chemical...     

The principle of coherence in multi-level brain information processing

Synchronisation has become one of the major scientific tools to explain biological order at many levels of organisation. In systems neuroscience, synchronised subthreshold and suprathreshold oscillatory neuronal activity within and between distributed neuronal assemblies is acknowledged as a fundamental mode of neuronal information processing. Coherent neuronal oscillations correlate with all basic cognitive functions, mediate local and long-range neuronal communication and affect synaptic plasticity. However, it remains unclear how the very fast and complex changes of functional neuronal connectivity necessary for cognition, as mediated by dynamic patterns of neuronal synchrony, could be explained exclusively based on the well-established synaptic mechanisms. A growing body of research indicates that the intraneuronal matrix, composed of cytoskeletal elements and their binding proteins, structurally and functionally connects the synapses within a neuron, modulates neurotransmission and memory consolidation, and is hypothesised to be involved in signal integration via electric signalling due to its charged surface. Theoretical modelling, as well as emerging experimental evidence indicate that neuronal cytoskeleton supports highly cooperative energy transport and information processing based on molecular coherence. We suggest that long-range coherent dynamics within the intra- and extracellular filamentous matrices could establish dynamic ordered states, capable of rapid modulations of functional neuronal connectivity via their interactions with neuronal membranes and synapses. Coherence may thus represent a common denominator of neurophysiological and biophysical approaches to brain information processing, operating at multiple levels of neuronal organisation, from which cognition may emerge as its cardinal manifestation.