Ring 17 chromosome detected by amniocentesis.

A fetus with a 46,XX,r(17) karyotype identified initially by amniocentesis and confirmed by banding studies is described. No significant phenotypic abnormalities were identified despite isolation of the ring chromosome from multiple fetal tissues. This paucity of abnormal features of gross development is consistent with findings in 3 previously reported patients with ring 17 chromosomes.     

Successful maintenance of suckling rat ileum in organ culture.

Ileum from rats 4, 9, 11, 12, and 15 days old can best be maintained for 24 hours in a system using Hanks' Balanced Salt Solution without fetal calf serum, at 25 degrees C and 21% O2. Suckling rat duodenum and jejunum were difficult to maintain well for 24 hours in this system or a variety of other systems that were tried. A temperature of 37 degrees C hastened deterioration of duodenum, jejunum or ileum. With ileum, 3H-thymidine and 14C-leucine were increasingly incorporated into DNA and protein over the 24-hour period. Light microscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy, showed very good preservation of the ileum after 24 hours. The addition to the medium of hydrocortisone, 1 micron, and thyroxine, 0.01 micron, alone or in combination, did not change DNA or protein synthesis, or morphology, possibly because of the relatively short (24 hour) time period. Our organ culture system emphasizes the differences between suckling rat ileum and the rest of the intestine, and provides a new tool for evaluating, over a 24-hour period, the developing rat small intestine.     

Patterns of Root Colonization in Epacridaceous Plants Collected from Different Sites

Root colonization was studied in ten species of the Epacridaceaeat three sites in Victoria by morphological and cross-inoculationexperiments. The sites and genera chosen were Cranbourne [Epacrisimpressa Labill. andLeucopogon ericoides(Smith) R. Br.] andRye [L. parviflorus(Andrews) Lindley] on the Mornington Peninsula,and the Grampians[Astroloma conostephioides(Sond.) Benth.,A.humifusum(Cav.) R. Br.,A pinifolium(R. Br.) Benth,Brachylomadaphnoides(Smith) Benth.,E. impressa, E. impressavar.grandifloraBenth.andStyphelia adscendensR. Br.] in western Victoria. For morphologicalstudies, samples of roots from each species at each site werecleared and stained and examined microscopically. For cross-inoculationstudies, cuttings from each site were struck in potting mediuminoculated with soil from the same and other sites. The ericoidmycorrhizae in the roots of plants found at or grown in Cranbourneand Rye soils were similar. Both were significantly differentfrom the internal hyphae found in the roots of plants foundat or grown in Grampians soils, which were three times largerin diameter and formed dense coils which filled the host celland invaded adjacent epidermal cells. This suggests that morethan one fungus is involved in the relationships, that the MorningtonPeninsula sites had a different fungus from the Grampians siteand that host specificity is low. Vesicular structures werealso found commonly on plants at the Grampians site, in contrastwith other sites. Epacridaceae; root; fungus; mycorrhiza; morphology; inoculation     

Semi-supervised methods to predict patient survival from gene expression data

An important goal of DNA microarray research is to develop tools to diagnose cancer more accurately based on the genetic profile of a tumor. There are several existing techniques in the literature for performing this type of diagnosis. Unfortunately, most of these techniques assume that different subtypes of cancer are already known to exist. Their utility is limited when such subtypes have not been previously identified. Although methods for identifying such subtypes exist, these methods do not work well for all datasets. It would be desirable to develop a procedure to find such subtypes that is applicable in a wide variety of circumstances. Even if no information is known about possible subtypes of a certain form of cancer, clinical information about the patients, such as their survival time, is often available. In this study, we develop some procedures that utilize both the gene expression data and the clinical data to identify subtypes of cancer and use this knowledge to diagnose future patients. These procedures were successfully applied to several publicly available datasets. We present diagnostic procedures that accurately predict the survival of future patients based on the gene expression profile and survival times of previous patients. This has the potential to be a powerful tool for diagnosing and treating cancer.     

Proteomics-based target identification: bengamides as a new class of methionine aminopeptidase inhibitors

LAF389 is a synthetic analogue of bengamides, a class of marine natural products that produce inhibitory effects on tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. A proteomics-based approach has been used to identify signaling pathways affected by bengamides. LAF389 treatment of cells resulted in altered mobility of a subset of proteins on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Detailed analysis of one of the proteins, 14-3-3gamma, showed that bengamide treatment resulted in retention of the amino-terminal methionine, suggesting that bengamides directly or indirectly inhibited methionine aminopeptidases (MetAps). Both known MetAps are inhibited by LAF389. Short interfering RNA suppression of MetAp2 also altered amino-terminal processing of 14-3-3gamma. A high resolution structure of human MetAp2 co-crystallized with a bengamide shows that the compound binds in a manner that mimics peptide substrates. Additionally, the structure reveals that three key hydroxyl groups on the inhibitor coordinate the di-cobalt center in the enzyme active site.     

Ultrasound imaging in an experimental model of fatty liver disease and cirrhosis in rats

Background

Atypical scrapie was first identified in Norwegian sheep in 1998 and has subsequently been identified in many countries. Retrospective studies have identified cases predating the initial identification of this form of scrapie, and epidemiological studies have indicated that it does not conform to the behaviour of an infectious disease, giving rise to the hypothesis that it represents spontaneous disease. However, atypical scrapie isolates have been shown to be infectious experimentally, through intracerebral inoculation in transgenic mice and sheep. The first successful challenge of a sheep with 'field' atypical scrapie from an homologous donor sheep was reported in 2007.

Results

This study demonstrates that atypical scrapie has distinct clinical, pathological and biochemical characteristics which are maintained on transmission and sub-passage, and which are distinct from other strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in the same host genotype.

Conclusions

Atypical scrapie is consistently transmissible within AHQ homozygous sheep, and the disease phenotype is preserved on sub-passage.     

Mapping of citrullinated fibrinogen B-cell epitopes in rheumatoid arthritis by imaging surface plasmon resonance

Introduction  

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently involves the loss of tolerance to citrullinated antigens, which may play a role in pathogenicity. Citrullinated fibrinogen is commonly found in inflamed synovial tissue and is a frequent target of autoantibodies in RA patients. To obtain insight into the B-cell response to citrullinated fibrinogen in RA, its autoepitopes were systematically mapped using a new methodology.     

A type IV modification dependent restriction nuclease that targets glucosylated hydroxymethyl cytosine modified DNAs

The Escherichia coli CT596 prophage exclusion genes gmrS and gmrD were found to encode a novel type IV modification-dependent restriction nuclease that targets and digests glucosylated (glc)-hydroxymethylcytosine (HMC) DNAs. The protein products GmrS (36 kDa) and GmrD (27 kDa) were purified and found to be inactive separately, but together degraded several different glc-HMC modified DNAs (T4, T2 and T6). The GMR enzyme is able to degrade both alpha-glucosy-HMC T4 DNA and beta-glucosyl-HMC T4 DNA, whereas no activity was observed against non-modified DNAs including unmodified T4 cytosine (C) DNA or non-glucosylated T4 HMC DNA. Enzyme activity requires NTP, favors UTP, is stimulated by calcium, and initially produces 4 kb DNA fragments that are further degraded to low molecular mass products. The enzyme is inhibited by the T4 phage internal protein I* (IPI*) to which it was found to bind. Overall activities of the purified GmrSD enzyme are in good agreement with the properties of the cloned gmr genes in vivo and suggest a restriction enzyme specific for sugar modified HMC DNAs. IPI* thus represents a third generation bacteriophage defense against restriction nucleases of the Gmr type.     

Rabeprazole- versus esomeprazole-based eradication regimens for H. pylori infection

BACKGROUND: Different kinds of proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapies could result in different Helicobacter pylori eradication rates. AIM: The aims of this study were to compare the efficacy and safety of rabeprazole- and esomeprazole-based triple therapy in primary treatment of H. pylori infection in Taiwan. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From June 2005 to March 2007, 420 H. pylori-infected patients were randomly assigned to receive a 7-day eradication therapy with either esomeprazole 40 mg daily (EAC group, n = 209) or rabeprazole 20 mg b.i.d. (RAC group, n = 211) in combination with amoxicillin 1 g b.i.d. and clarithromycin 500 mg b.i.d.. Follow-up endoscopy with biopsy was done 12-16 weeks after completion of eradication therapy. Those who refused endoscopic exams underwent (13)C-urea breath test to assess the treatment response. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analysis revealed that the eradication rate was 89.4% in the EAC group and 90.5% in RAC groups (p-value = .72). All of the subjects returned for assessment of compliance (100% in EAC group vs. 99.5% in RAC group, p-value = .32) and adverse events (3.83% in EAC group vs. 6.16% in RAC group, p-value = .27). Sixty (28.7%) and 37 (17.6%) patients in EAC and RAC group, respectively, refused endoscopy and underwent a (13)C-urea breath test to determine the treatment effect. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, rabeprazole- and esomeprazole-based primary therapies for H. pylori infection are comparable in efficacy and safety.