Calorie restricted diet and urinary pentosidine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Low-energy diets and fasting have suppressive effects on rheumatoid arthritis. It was reported recently that urine levels of pentosidine (i.e., an advanced glycation end product formed by glycosylation) is associated with the activity of rheumatoid arthritis. We conducted a regimen of caloric restriction combined with fasting in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and then evaluated urinary pentosidine levels. Ten patients with rheumatoid arthritis underwent a 54-day caloric restriction program. Urinary pentosidine levels were measured and the Lansbury Index were determined by examining the clinical features, blood biochemistry and the inflammation activity of rheumatoid arthritis on days 0, 25 and 54. On day 0, the mean urinary pentosidine level of patients with rheumatoid arthritis was significantly higher than that of the control subjects. On day 54, the mean body weight had reduced due to caloric restriction. The mean values of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and the Lansbury Index of patients both significantly decreased during the study. In addition, although the urinary pentosidine levels showed no significant difference between day 0 and 25, it was significantly decreased at the end of the study (day 54). The study showed that under a low energy diet a reduction of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis was accompanied with a reduction of the urinary pentosidine.     

Development of a new medium useful for the recovery of dermatophytes from clinical specimens by minimizing the carryover effect of antifungal agents

Two surface-active compounds, egg lecithin and polysorbate 80, usually used as the deactivators of various preservatives were tested whether they also counteract either or all of the three major topical antifungal drugs, bifonazole (BFZ), lanoconazole (LCZ) and terbinafine (TBF). Both egg lecithin and polysorbate 80, when added to culture media up to final concentrations of 1.0 and 0.7%, respectively, antagonized the anti-dermatophytic activity of the three drugs in a concentration-dependent manner. A greater extent of antagonistic action was exerted when the two deactivators combined at their maximal levels tested were added; MIC's of BFZ were increased more than 30-fold and those of LCZ and TBF more than 200-fold compared with the values obtained in the absence of the deactivators. Using the agar medium supplemented with the combined deactivators, culture studies were carried out with skin tissues specimens taken from guinea pigs whose feet were infected with dermatophytes and subsequently treated with 1% topical preparations of the three antifungal drugs. The experimental data from this animal study demonstrated that the combined deactivators-supplemented medium yielded increased numbers of fungi compared with the basal medium. It looks, therefore, likely that the fungal recovery on the former medium more correctly reflects to actual fungal burden in the infected lesions than the latter. All these results suggest that the combined deactivators-supplemented medium is more useful for mycological evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of imidazole and allylamine drugs against dermatophytoses in both preclinical and clinical studies.     

Oxygen supply from shoots to roots relative to the total oxygen consumption in rice roots

A new simplified mathematical model was introduced to assess the rate of oxygen supply to plant roots, and to evaluate separately the longitudinal flux through the aerenchymatous system and the transversal flux from the root medium. The parameters were derived from the experiemntal results with decapitated rice seedlings solution-cultured with aeration. With decreasing oxygen concentration in the root medium, the transversal oxygen flux decreased and the longitudinal flux increased so as to compensate for the decrease of the former, but in some older rice seedlings there was observed a growing insufficiency in oxygen supply to the roots.     

The Transient Receptor Potential Channels TRPP2 and TRPC1 Form a Heterotetramer with a 2:2 Stoichiometry and an Alternating Subunit Arrangement

There is functional evidence that polycystin-2 (TRPP2) interacts with other members of the transient receptor potential family, including TRPC1 and TRPV4. Here we have used atomic force microscopy to study the structure of the TRPP2 homomer and the interaction between TRPP2 and TRPC1. The molecular volumes of both Myc-tagged TRPP2 and V5-tagged TRPC1 isolated from singly transfected tsA 201 cells indicated that they assembled as homotetramers. The molecular volume of the protein isolated from cells expressing both TRPP2 and TRPC1 was intermediate between the volumes of the two homomers, suggesting that a heteromer was being formed. The distribution of angles between pairs of anti-Myc antibodies bound to TRPP2 particles had a large peak close to 90° and a smaller peak close to 180°, consistent with the assembly of TRPP2 as a homotetramer. In contrast, the corresponding angle distributions for decoration of the TRPP2-TRPC1 heteromer by either anti-Myc or anti-V5 antibodies had predominant peaks close to 180°. This decoration pattern indicates a TRPP2:TRPC1 subunit stoichiometry of 2:2 and an alternating subunit arrangement.     

Galectin-9 Is a High Affinity IgE-binding Lectin with Anti-allergic Effect by Blocking IgE-Antigen Complex Formation

Galectin (Gal)-9 was first described as an eosinophil chemoattractant. With the progress in research, Gal-9 has come to be known as a versatile immunomodulator that is involved in various aspects of immune regulations, and the entire picture of the function still remains elusive. To uncover as-yet unknown activity of Gal-9, we have been examining the effect of the protein in various disease animal models. Here we show that Gal-9 attenuated asthmatic reaction in guinea pigs and suppressed passive-cutaneous anaphylaxis in mice. These results indicate the mast cell stabilizing effect of Gal-9. In vitro studies of mast cell degranulation involving RBL-2H3 cells demonstrated that Gal-9 suppressed degranulation from the cells stimulated by IgE plus antigen and that the inhibitory effect was completely abrogated in the presence of lactose, indicating lectin activity of Gal-9 is critical. We found that Gal-9 strongly and specifically bound IgE, which is a heavily glycosylated immunoglobulin, and that the interaction prevented IgE-antigen complex formation, clarifying the mode of action of the anti-degranulation effect. Gal-9 is expressed by several mast cells including mouse mast cell line MC/9. The fact that immunological stimuli of MC/9 cells augmented Gal-9 secretion from the cells implies that Gal-9 is an autocrine regulator of mast cell function to suppress excessive degranulation. Collectively, these findings shed light on a novel function of Gal-9 in mast cells and suggest a beneficial utility of Gal-9 for the treatment of allergic disorders including asthma.     

A new lophiid anglerfish,Lophiodes fimbriatus from the coastal waters of Japan

A new species of lophiid anglerfish,Lophiodes fimbriatus, Is described. The holotype was captured from Wakayama and the paratype from Kuba-jima, Okinawa Prefecture, The present species is distinguished from its congeners by the combinations of the following characters: slender and branched tendrils present on both dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body, lightly pigmented illicium, simple vestigial esca, and paired tendrils on the third dorsal spine.     

Abnormal Glycosphingolipid Mannosylation Triggers Salicylic Acid–Mediated Responses in Arabidopsis

The Arabidopsis thaliana protein GOLGI-LOCALIZED NUCLEOTIDE SUGAR TRANSPORTER (GONST1) has been previously identified as a GDP-d-mannose transporter. It has been hypothesized that GONST1 provides precursors for the synthesis of cell wall polysaccharides, such as glucomannan. Here, we show that in vitro GONST1 can transport all four plant GDP-sugars. However, gonst1 mutants have no reduction in glucomannan quantity and show no detectable alterations in other cell wall polysaccharides. By contrast, we show that a class of glycosylated sphingolipids (glycosylinositol phosphoceramides [GIPCs]) contains Man and that this mannosylation is affected in gonst1. GONST1 therefore is a Golgi GDP-sugar transporter that specifically supplies GDP-Man to the Golgi lumen for GIPC synthesis. gonst1 plants have a dwarfed phenotype and a constitutive hypersensitive response with elevated salicylic acid levels. This suggests an unexpected role for GIPC sugar decorations in sphingolipid function and plant defense signaling. Additionally, we discuss these data in the context of substrate channeling within the Golgi.     

Functional role of a putative carbonic anhydrase II-binding domain in the electrogenic Na+ -HCO₃- cotransporter NBCe1 expressed in Xenopus oocytes

The electrogenic Na+ -HCO?? cotransporter NBCe1 plays essential roles in the regulation of systemic and/or local pH. Homozygous inactivating mutations in NBCe1 cause proximal renal tubular acidosis associated with ocular abnormalities. We recently showed that defective membrane expression of NBCe1, caused by several mutations such as Delta65bp (S982NfsX4), is also associated with familial migraine. The Delta65bp mutant is quite unique in that it lacks a putative carbonic anhydrase (CA) II-binding domain but still shows an apparently normal transport activity in Xenopus oocytes. In this addendum, we show that the co-expression of CAII together with the wild-type NBCe1 or the Delta65bp mutant does not enhance the NBCe1 activities in oocytes. Moreover, a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide fails to inhibit the wild-type or the Delta65bp activities co-expressed with CAII. These results indicate that a bicarbonate transport metabolon proposed for the interaction between CAII and NBCe1 does not work at least in Xenopus oocytes.