The effect of inflammation on splenic colony formation after the intraperitoneal administration of bone marrow cells

The number of spleen colonies formed after intraperitoneal injection of bone marrow cells increases approximately 100-fold in mice with inflammation induced by nitrocellulose filters implanted into the intraperitoneal cavity. By transplanting these filters together with cells grown on them into intact animals and replacing them with clean filters we have demonstrated that this effect is associated with inflammation focus in the peritoneal cavity rather than with CFU-S proliferation of the filter surface.     

The Administration of Semax and HLDF-6 Peptides to Rats Regulates Protein Synthesis Rhythm in Hepatocytes and Corrects Senescent Disturbances

Russian Journal of Developmental Biology - To clarify the organizing effect of Semax and HLDF-6 peptides on the kinetics of protein synthesis in hepatocytes, in addition to an in vitro study...     

Investigation of daily mitotic activity of the birch, Betula pendula Roth

A study was made of the daily mitotic activity in the seedling root meristem of birch trees growing in an ecologically clear area--the biological station of Voronezh State University "Venevitinovo". The peak of mitotic activity was exposed at 9 a. m. (according to winter time). The rise of mitotic index was noted at 9 and 12 p. m. due to an increase in the share of cells being in the prophase stage, and to a high number of dividing cells with persistent nucleoli. A possibility of prolongation of the mitotic cycle time is supposed to be due to cell delay in prophase stage, which may be associated with anthropogenic and nature-climatic influences on the original trees themselves and on their seed progeny. This makes it possible to consider the investigated region as only conventionally clear, because of the availability of a high recreative pressure upon the trees.     

Molecular genetic investigation of sugar beet (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Beta vulgaris</Emphasis> L.)

Molecular genetic studies of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) are reviewed as a basis for the development of genomics of this species. The methods used to study structural and functional genomics are considered. The results and their application to increase the efficiency of sugar beet breeding are discussed.     

Variability of the cytological parameters of Pinus sylvestris L. seeds from the unique Hrenovskoy pine forest

Hrenovskoy pine forest is a unique island stand at the boundary of the species range of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris L. This object is of exceptional economic value, because it serves as a forest-seed base for the Voronezh oblast and some other regions of Russia; therefore, the stand and seed qualities have to be monitored constantly. The results of the first cytogenetic study of the seed progeny of P. sylvestris from the Morozov Grove, a high-quality stand in a reserved site within the Hrenovskoy pine forest, are reported. The studies have been performed in order to obtain a more correct assessment of seed quality based not only on their germination and energy of germination (traditionally used by forest breeders), but also on their genomic stability. The latter may be estimated by the stability of chromosome number in the somatic cells of seedlings and the regularity of mitotic divisions, because they also characterize the state of the generative system of parental forms and may serve as an integrated estimate of the stand development homeostasis. Therefore, the chromosome number, mitotic and nucleolar activities, and the number and spectrum of pathological mitoses (PMs) have been determined. Seedlings have been obtained from 240 seeds (collected from 12 trees) that resulted from free pollination. The cytological analysis of the rootlets of these seedlings has not detected any deviations from the chromosome number typical of the species P. sylvestris L. (2n = 24). However, considerable variation has been found in each family with respect to the mitotic index (MI) (from 4.2 +/- 0.36 to 8.1 +/- 0.39%) and the number of PMs (from 0.5 to 2.1%); micronuclei have also been found in each family (from 0.01 to 0.05%). In general, the phenotypic characteristics and the variation pattern of cytological parameters of the progeny of the trees studied in the Hrenovskoy pine forest, together with the high germination rate of seeds (90-98%), indicate that the current state of pines in the Hrenovskoy pine forest can be considered to be satisfactory. However, the presence of micronuclei in all variants and the decrease in MI in some individual plants (which was, on average, 6.1 +/- 0.03% in the sample studied, i.e., significantly lower than that of P. sylvestris from the Usmanskii pine forest (7.3 +/- 1.2%), where the conditions are optimal for this species) may serve as the bioindicators of the deterioration of both the state of trees themselves and the ecological conditions in the Hrenovskoy pine forest. Therefore, the population structure of this valuable autochtonic stand should be reproduced urgently.     

Cytogenetic study of certain Tilia species]

The number of chromosomes, and mitosis and microsporogenesis were studied in Tilia europaea, T. tomentosa, T. cordata and T. platyphyllos under natural conditions of Voronezh region. Significant mixoploidy of meristematic tissue cells in seedling root tips, mitotic activity and meiosis have been demonstrated for the first time. The number of chromosomes in somatic cells varied from 28 to 140-146. The number 2n = 82 was modal for all the studied species. The number of chromosomes in T. europaea has been determined for the first time. The numbers of chromosomes in the genus Tilia are analysed on the basis of the literature and our own data. The peak of mitotic activity in seedlings and juvenile leaves (8-10%) fell on the night: 0-1 a.m. according to the winter time. Microsporogenesis is simultaneous and asynchronous. In some individual trees various abnormalities of meiosis were found: lagging in time in 1 to 5-6 chromosomes, bridges, fusions of spindles. Variations in pollen dimensions, shape and pore number were detected in many trees.     

L<Subscript>2</Subscript>-norm multiple kernel learning and its application to biomedical data fusion

Background  

This paper introduces the notion of optimizing different norms in the dual problem of support vector machines with multiple kernels. The selection of norms yields different extensions of multiple kernel learning (MKL) such as L _∞, L ₁, and L ₂ MKL. In particular, L ₂ MKL is a novel method that leads to non-sparse optimal kernel coefficients, which is different from the sparse kernel coefficients optimized by the existing L _∞ MKL method. In real biomedical applications, L ₂ MKL may have more advantages over sparse integration method for thoroughly combining complementary information in heterogeneous data sources.