Effect of neurotensin on pancreatic function in man

The effect of neurotensin on submaximally-stimulated hepatobiliary and pancreatic secretion was studied in 6 healthy subjects. An intravenous infusion of neurotensin 1.4 ± 0.3 pmol/kg/min, designed to reproduce plasma neurotensin immunoreactivity levels within the physiological range, produced a significant increase in pancreatic bicarbonate output. Plasma concentrations of pancreatic polypeptide rose by 83 ± 16 pmol/l and were associated with a small reduction in trypsin, but no significant change in bilirubin outputs.     

Characterization and the broad cross‐species applicability of 20 anonymous nuclear loci isolated from the Taiwan Hwamei (Garrulax taewanus)

We isolated 20 anonymous nuclear loci (8556 bp in total) from the Taiwan Hwamei (Garrulax taewanus), an endemic songbird of Taiwan. A panel of nine to 15 individuals with unknown relationship was used to characterize polymorphism of these loci. We identified 46 single nucleotide polymorphic sites (SNPs) in 15 polymorphic loci. Frequency of SNPs was one per every 186 bp in average. Nucleotide diversity, θ, ranged from 0.00054 to 0.00371 per locus. We also tested cross‐species applicability of these loci on 17 species from eight different passerine families. All 20 loci could be successfully amplified (ranged from one to 16 species, mean = 7.9 species).     

The effect of active immunization with a conjugate of dopamine and bovine serum albumin on the development of an experimental MPTP-induced depressive syndrome and on the monoamine metabolism in the brain of rats

Active immunization with dopamine conjugated with bovine serum albumin (DA-BSA) or BSA with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) partly suppressed the development of the MPTP-induced depressive syndrome in rats preventing the appearance of "behavioral despair" symptoms: increase in immobility time and higher index of depression in forced-swim test. In DA-BSA-immunized rats the content of DOPA, DA, HVA, NA, and 5-HN in caudate putamen and that of NA in the frontal cortex was increased, while in BSA-immunized rats the content of 5-HT in both brain areas and that of DOPAC in the frontal cortex was decreased both in rats with reduced depressive syndrome and in saline control as compared with intact animals a day after the last drug injection. In DA-BSA-immunized rats with reduced depressive syndrome the increase in DA and 5-HT content in caudate putamen was less expressed and DOPAC content was lower than in saline control. In BSA-immunized depressive rats DA content in the frontal cortex was also reduced as compared to control.     

Seasonality of Rotifers and Temperature in Lough Neagh,N. Ireland

Long runs of seasonal rotifer population data allow analysis of seasonal occurrence using mathematical tools. The application of Fourier analysis to a 15 year dataset describes seasonality in simple mathematical terms. This facilitates comparison of population expression with potential population driving variables and provides a basic modelling tool. Results show that annual patterns of occurrence and density have linkages with annual maximum and minimum environmental temperature, although the exact relationships are not clear.     

Takayasu's arteritis is associated with HLA-B*52, but not with HLA-B*51, in Turkey

Introduction

HLA-B*51 and HLA-B*52 are two close human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele groups with minor amino acid differences. However, they are associated with two different vasculitides (HLA-B*51 in Behçet's disease and HLA-B*52 in Takayasu's arteritis (TAK)) and with major clinical and immunological differences. In this study, we aimed to screen a large cohort of TAK patients from Turkey for the presence of HLA-B*51 and HLA-B*52 as susceptibility and severity factors.

Methods

TAK patients (n = 330) followed at a total of 15 centers were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 37.8 years, and 86% were women. DNA samples from the patients and healthy controls (HC; n = 210) were isolated, and the presence of HLA-B*51 or HLA-B*52 was screened for by using PCR with sequence-specific primers.

Results

We found a significant association of HLA-B*52 with TAK (20.9% vs HC = 6.7%, P = 0.000, OR = 3.7, 95% CI = 2.02 to 6.77). The distribution of HLA-B*51 did not differ between TAK patients and HCs (22.7% vs 24.8%, OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.60 to 1.34). The presence of HLA-B*52 decreased in late-onset patients (> 40 years of age; 12.0%, P = 0.024, OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.20 to 0.91). Patients with angiographic type I disease with limited aortic involvement also had a lower presence of HLA-B*52 compared to those with all other disease subtypes (13.1% vs 26%, P = 0.005, OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.23 to 0.78).

Conclusions

In this study, the previously reported association of TAK with HLA-B*52 in other populations was confirmed in patients from Turkey. The functional relevance of HLA-B*52 in TAK pathogenesis needs to be explored further.     

Micropropagation by tissue culture triggers differential expression of infectious endogenous Banana streak virus sequences (eBSV) present in the B genome of natural and synthetic interspecific banana plantains

The genome of Musa balbisiana spp. contains several infectious endogenous sequences of Banana streak virus (eBSV). We have shown previously that in vitro micropropagation triggers the activation of infectious eBSOLV (endogenous sequences of Banana streak Obino l'Ewai virus ) in the synthetic tetraploid interspecific hybrid FHIA21 (AAAB). In this work, we show that another synthetic tetraploid (AAAB) hybrid and two natural triploid (AAB) plantains are equally prone to the activation of infectious eBSOLV during tissue culture. These results are a strong indication that such activation is a general phenomenon in interspecific Musa cultivars, whether synthetic or natural. We also report the first in-depth study of the correlation between the duration of tissue culture and the level of activation of infectious eBSOLV, and show that specific and common activation patterns exist in these banana plants. We hypothesize that these patterns result from the concomitant activation of infectious eBSOLV and a decrease in the virus titre in neoformed plantlets, resulting from cell multiplication outcompeting virus replication. We provide experimental data supporting this hypothesis. No activation of infectious eBSGFV (endogenous sequences of Banana streak Goldfinger virus) by tissue culture was observed in the two natural AAB plantain cultivars studied here, whereas such activation occurred in the AAAB synthetic hybrid studied. We demonstrate that this differential activation does not result from differences in the structure of eBSGFV, as all banana genomes harbour eaBSGFV-7.     

Mechanisms of transforming growth factor β induced cell cycle arrest in palate development

Immaculate and complete palatal seam disintegration, which takes place at the last phase of palate development, is essential for normal palate development. And in absence of palatal midline epithelial seam (MES) disintegration, cleft palate may arise. It has been established that transforming growth factor (TGF) β induces both epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and/or apoptosis during MES disintegration. It is likely that MES might cease cell cycle to facilitate cellular changes prior to undergoing transformation or apoptosis, which has never been studied before. This study was designed to explore whether TGFβ, which is crucial for palatal MES disintegration, is capable of inducing cell cycle arrest. We studied the effects of TGFβ1 and TGFβ3, potent negative regulators of the cell cycle, on p15ink4b activity in MES cells. We surprisingly found that TGFβ1, but not TGFβ3, plays a major role in activation of the p15ink4b gene. In contrast, following successful cell cycle arrest by TGFβ1, it is TGFβ3 but not TGFβ1 that causes later cellular morphogenesis, such as EMT and apoptosis. Since TGFβ signaling activates Smads, we analyzed the roles of three Smad binding elements (SBEs) on the p15ink4b mouse promoter by site specific mutagenesis and found that these binding sites are functional. The ChIP assay demonstrated that TGFβ1, not TGFβ3, promotes Smad4 binding to two 5' terminal SBEs but not the 3' terminal site. Thus, TGFβ1 and TGFβ3 play separate yet complimentary roles in achieving cell cycle arrest and EMT/apoptosis and cell cycle arrest is a prerequisite for later cellular changes.