Tamm-Horsfall protein antibody in patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Circulating antibody to Tamm-Horstall protein (THP) was measured using a radioimmunoassay in forty-five patients on maintenance hemodialysis and compared to levels of antibody titers measured in sera from ten healthy controls. The etiology of the end-stage kidney disease in the patient population was polycystic kidney disease in thirteen, glomerulonephritis in fourteen, diabetic nephropathy in nine, interstial nephritis and chronic pyelonephritis in three each, multiple myeloma in two, and urinary tract obstruction in one. Four patients had significantly elevated titers of antibody to THP but shared no other unifying characteristics. The results also indicate that none of the groups studied had mean antibody titers significantly different from controls. Furthermore, no general trend was apparent between levels of antibody to THP and number of months on dialysis. Observations made during the study revealed that heparinized samples of blood had lower titers of antibody to THP than did non-heparinized samples from the same patient. This finding was repeated when other anti-coagulants, i.e., ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) and sodium citrate, were used. Titers returned toward normal when CaCl2 was added back to samples anticoagulated with EDTA and sodium citrate. This suggests that clotting factors, probably fibrinogen, interfered with the measurement of antibody titers. Therefore, only serum should be used in further investigations of THP antibody using this assay.     

PRIMARY SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF THE FALSE VOCAL CORD

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the false vocal cord may arise on the surface mucosa or may arise beneath it and continue to grow deeply, presenting only a smooth tumescence of the area. These lesions may not cause hoarseness until late in the course of development. Diagnosis of submucosal primary lesions may present difficulty.Widefield laryngectomy is recommended for small primary lesions of the surface mucosa of the false vocal cord. Such lesions do not show edema of the tissues or deep ulceration and do not cause limitation of motion of the false or true vocal cords.For advanced lesions of the false vocal cord which arise on the surface mucosa and cause edema, ulceration and limitation of motion without enlargement of cervical nodes, widefield laryngectomy and elective block dissection of the neck should be done at the primary operation. Patients with such a primary lesion and metastasis to cervical lymph nodes, which are resectable, should be treated in a like manner.Patients with submucosal primary squamous cell carcinoma of the false vocal cord should be treated with widefield laryngectomy and block dissection of the neck, whether or not palpable resectable lymph nodes are noted in the neck. Apparently these lesions metastasize early and widely.     

Chemical and biological properties of an extracellular lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli grown under lysine-limiting conditions

Lipopolysaccharide was prepared from the extracellular lipoglycopeptide produced by the lysine-requiring mutant Escherichia coli A.T.C.C. 12408 grown under lysine-limiting conditions. The lipid moiety, containing glucosamine phosphate and four fatty acids (lauric acid, myristic acid, β-hydroxymyristic acid and palmitic acid) corresponded in composition to lipid A of known bacterial lipopolysaccharides. The components of the polysaccharide moiety were d-glucose, d-galactose, l-glycero-d-manno-heptose, 3-deoxy-2-oxo-octonic acid, ethanolamine and phosphate. These are the constituents of the polysaccharide of the cell-wall antigens from rough strains of E. coli. Lipopolysaccharides were also prepared from whole cells of E. coli 12408 grown with excess or limited amounts of lysine; they were identical in carbohydrate composition with the extracellular lipopolysaccharide. The biological properties of this material also resembled those of known lipopolysaccharides; it was antigenic, pyrogenic, toxic and had adjuvant activity.     

Effects of MgATP, MgADP, and Pi on actin movement by smooth muscle myosin.

To test the idea that the in vitro motility assay is a simplified model system for muscle contraction, the MgATP-dependent movement of actin filaments by thiophosphorylated smooth muscle myosin was characterized in the presence of the products MgADP and inorganic phosphate. The dependence of actin filament velocity on MgATP concentration was hyperbolic with a maximum velocity of 0.6 micron/s and an apparent Km = 40 microM (30 degrees C). MgADP competitively inhibited actin movement by MgATP with a Ki = 0.25 mM. Inorganic phosphate did not affect actin filament velocity in the presence of 1 mM MgATP, but competitively inhibited movement in the presence of 50 microM MgATP with a Ki = 9.5 mM. The effects of ADP and Pi on velocity agree with fiber mechanical studies, confirming that the motility assay is an excellent system to investigate the molecular mechanisms of force generation and shortening in smooth muscle. The rate at which rigor cross-bridges can be recruited to move actin filaments was observed by initiating cross-bridge cycling from rigor by flash photolysis of caged MgATP. Following the flash, which results in a rapid increase in MgATP concentration, actin filaments experienced a MgATP-dependent delay prior to achieving steady state velocity. The delay at low MgATP concentrations was interpreted as evidence that motion generating cross-bridges are slowed by a load due to a transiently high percentage of rigor cross-bridges immediately following MgATP release.     

Initial responses of rove and ground beetles (Coleoptera,Staphylinidae, Carabidae) to removal of logging residues following clearcut harvesting in the boreal forest of Quebec,Canada

Increased interest in biomass harvesting for bioenergetic applications has raised questions regarding the potential ecological consequences on forest biodiversity. Here we evaluate the initial changes in the abundance, species richness and community composition of rove (Staphylinidae) and ground beetles (Carabidae), immediately following 1) stem-only harvesting (SOH), in which logging debris (i.e., tree tops and branches) are retained on site, and 2) whole-tree harvesting (WTH), in which stems, tops and branches are removed in mature balsam fir stands in Quebec, Canada. Beetles were collected throughout the summer of 2011, one year following harvesting, using pitfall traps. Overall catch rates were greater in uncut forest (Control) than either stem-only or whole-tree harvested sites. Catch rates in WTH were greater than SOH sites. Uncut stands were characterized primarily by five species: Atheta capsularis, Atheta klagesi, Atheta strigosula, Tachinus fumipennis/frigidus complex (Staphylinidae) and to a lesser extent to Pterostichus punctatissimus (Carabidae). Increased catch rates in WTH sites, where post-harvest biomass was less, were attributable to increased catches of rove beetles Pseudopsis subulata, Quedius labradorensis and to a lesser extent Gabrius brevipennis. We were able to characterize differences in beetle assemblages between harvested and non-harvested plots as well as differences between whole tree (WTH) and stem only (SOH) harvested sites where logging residues had been removed or left following harvest. However, the overall assemblage response was largely a recapitulation of the responses of several abundant species.     

Bacterial communities associated with healthy and Acropora white syndrome-affected corals from American Samoa

Acropora white syndrome (AWS) is characterized by rapid tissue loss revealing the white underlying skeleton and affects corals worldwide; however, reports of causal agents are conflicting. Samples were collected from healthy and diseased corals and seawater around American Samoa and bacteria associated with AWS characterized using both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods, from coral mucus and tissue slurries, respectively. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone libraries derived from coral tissue were dominated by the Gammaproteobacteria, and Jaccard's distances calculated between the clone libraries showed that those from diseased corals were more similar to each other than to those from healthy corals. 16S rRNA genes from 78 culturable coral mucus isolates also revealed a distinct partitioning of bacterial genera into healthy and diseased corals. Isolates identified as Vibrionaceae were further characterized by multilocus sequence typing, revealing that whilst several Vibrio spp. were found to be associated with AWS lesions, a recently described species, Vibrio owensii, was prevalent amongst cultured Vibrio isolates. Unaffected tissues from corals with AWS had a different microbiota than normal Acropora as found by others. Determining whether a microbial shift occurs prior to disease outbreaks will be a useful avenue of pursuit and could be helpful in detecting prodromal signs of coral disease prior to manifestation of lesions.