<Emphasis Type="Italic">In vitro</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">ex vivo</Emphasis> effect of hyaluronic acid on erythrocyte flow properties

Background  

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is present in many tissues; its presence in serum may be related to certain inflammatory conditions, tissue damage, sepsis, liver malfunction and some malignancies. In the present work, our goal was to investigate the significance of hyaluronic acid effect on erythrocyte flow properties. Therefore we performed in vitro experiments incubating red blood cells (RBCs) with several HA concentrations. Afterwards, in order to corroborate the pathophysiological significance of the results obtained, we replicated the in vitro experiment with ex vivo RBCs from diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, a serum HA-increasing pathology.     

1590名农村中老年人生存质量调查分析(英文)

目的:采用SF-36量表中文版评价农村中老年人生存质量,并为提高农村中老年人的生存质量和健康水平提供科学依据和建议。方法:采用随机抽样的方法,采用面对面访谈的形式,记分方法参照国际生存质量评价计划(IQOLA)的制定标准,评价其生理和心理健康状况。结果:1590名农村中老年人男性生存质量得分高于女性。经济水平对农村中老年人的生理健康的影响大于对其心理健康的影响。配偶健在的农村中老年人的各维度得分均高于无配偶者。农村中老年人的各维度得分随教育水平的升高呈升高趋势。结论:农村中老年人的生存质量与年龄成负相关,同时也受文化程度和经济水平等多个因素的影响。因而,对农村中老年人这一弱势群体应该给予更多关注。     

Selective retrograde transsynaptic transfer of a protein, tetanus toxin, subsequent to its retrograde axonal transport

The fate of tetanus toxin (mol wt 150,000) subsequent to its retrograde axonal transport in peripheral sympathetic neurons of the rat was studied by both electron microscope autoradiography and cytochemistry using toxin-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) coupling products, and compared to that of nerve growth factor (NGF), cholera toxin, and the lectins wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), and ricin. All these macromolecules are taken up by adrenergic nerve terminals and transported retrogradely in a selective, highly efficient manner. This selective uptake and transport is a consequence of the binding of these macromolecules to specific receptive sites on the nerve terminal membrane. All these ligands are transported in the axons within smooth vesicles, cisternae, and tubules. In the cell bodies these membrane compartments fuse and most of the transported macromolecules are finally incorporated into lysosomes. The cell nuclei, the parallel golgi cisternae, and the extracellular space always remain unlabeled. In case the tetanus toxin, however, a substantial fraction of the labeled material appears in presynaptic cholinergic nerve terminals which innervate the labeled ganglion cells. In these terminals tetanus toxin-HRP is localized in 500-1,000 A diam vesicles. In contrast, such a retrograde transsynaptic transfer is not at all or only very rarely detectable after retrograde transport of cholera toxin, NGF, WGA, PHA, or ricin. An atoxic fragment of the tetanus toxin, which contains the ganglioside-binding site, behaves like intact toxin. With all these macromolecules, the extracellular space and the glial cells in the ganglion remain unlabeled. We conclude that the selectivity of this transsynaptic transfer of tetanus toxin is due to a selective release of the toxin from the postsynaptic dendrites. This release is immediately followed by an uptake into the presynaptic terminals.     

A single-nucleotide polymorphism in the human p27<Superscript>kip1</Superscript>gene (-838C>A) affects basal promoter activity and the risk of myocardial infarction

Background  

Excessive proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and leukocytes within the artery wall is a major event in the development of atherosclerosis. The growth suppressor p27^kip1 associates with several cyclin-dependent kinase/cyclin complexes, thereby abrogating their capacity to induce progression through the cell cycle. Recent studies have implicated p27^kip1 in the control of neointimal hyperplasia. For instance, p27^kip1 ablation in apolipoprotein-E-null mice enhanced arterial cell proliferation and accelerated atherogenesis induced by dietary cholesterol. Therefore, p27^kip1 is a candidate gene to modify the risk of developing atherosclerosis and associated ischaemic events (i.e., myocardial infarction and stroke).     

Immunocompetence increases with larval body size in a phytophagous moth

Despite the obvious benefit of an immune system, its efficacy against pathogens and parasites may show great variation among individuals, populations and species. Understanding the causes of this variation is becoming a central theme in ecology. Many biotic and abiotic factors are known to influence immunocompetence (temperature, age, etc.). However, for a given age, size among individuals varies, probably as a result of accumulated resources. Thus, these variable resources could be allocated to immune defence and, consequently, body size may explain part of the variation in immune responsiveness. However, the influence of body size on immune defence is often overlooked. The present study investigates variations in haemocyte count and phenoloxidase activity in larvae of the phytophagous vine moth Eupoecilia ambiguella Hübner of the same age, although differing in body size. The measurements of immune function are made both when the insects are immunologically naïve and 24 h after a bacterial immune challenge. The base levels of these immune parameters do not covary with body size in naïve larvae. After the bacterial immune challenge, more haemocytes and phenoloxidase enzyme are mobilized, and the mobilization of these immune effectors is correlated positively with individual body size. Thus, larger larvae exhibit higher immunocompetence than smaller ones, suggesting that smaller larvae might be more vulnerable to infection. These results suggest that body size is probably an underestimated variable, which nevertheless modulates the insect immune system and should thus be considered as a covariate in insect immune system measurement. It is recommended therefore, that body size should be taken into account in ecological immunity studies with insects. © 2013 The Royal Entomological Society     

Visualization by High Resolution Immunoelectron Microscopy of the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-1 at Inhibitory Synapses of the Mouse Dentate Gyrus

We have recently shown that the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), a non-selective cation channel in the peripheral and central nervous system, is localized at postsynaptic sites of the excitatory perforant path synapses in the hippocampal dentate molecular layer (ML). In the present work, we have studied the distribution of TRPV1 at inhibitory synapses in the ML. With this aim, a preembedding immunogold method for high resolution electron microscopy was applied to mouse hippocampus. About 30% of the inhibitory synapses in the ML are TRPV1 immunopositive, which is mostly localized perisynaptically (∼60% of total immunoparticles) at postsynaptic dendritic membranes receiving symmetric synapses in the inner 1/3 of the layer. This TRPV1 pattern distribution is not observed in the ML of TRPV1 knock-out mice. These findings extend the knowledge of the subcellular localization of TRPV1 to inhibitory synapses of the dentate molecular layer where the channel, in addition to excitatory synapses, is present.