Hepatic membranolytic stability alteration by metalloporphins in rats.

The mothers of experimental neonates were administered excess bilirubin for a month, and the neonates were suffering from hyperbilirubinemia. The studies were conducted on the effect of excess bilirubin and metalloporphyrins on plasma membrane and mitochondrial membrane. We have isolated, separated, and estimated phospholipids, and also assayed the activity of phospholipase A2 from whole liver and mitochondrial and microsomal fractions. Excess of bilirubin administration decreased the total phospholipid level and inhibited the phospholipase A2 activity. Cr-PP (chromium protoporphyrin) induces the phospholipase A2 activity which is inhibited by simultaneous bilirubin administration. However, Zn-PP (zinc protoporphyrin) and Mn-PP (manganese protoporphyrin) showed a reverse pattern.     

Urease activity and its Michaelis constant for soil systems

Summary Urea hydrolysis was measured in two separate sets of experiments. (1) Nine soil (0–15 cm) samples were treated with 200 g of urea-N g^–1 dry soil and incubated (at 37°C) at 50 per cent of the water holding capacity. Samples were periodically analysed for the remaining urea-N. The urease activity (time in hoursrequired to hydrolyse half the applied urea-N) was determined to be 5.8 to 15.2 hours in the various soils, which appeared to associate principally with the organic carbon content of the soils (r=–0.80^**). (2) Three soils were treated with 25 to 2000 g urea-N g^–1 dry soil amounting to 0.9 to 72.0 mM urea in 11 soil: solution. The system was buffered at pH 7.2 and agitated for 5h when the remaining urea-N was determined. The values of Km and Vmax were computed by two methods (i) from the integrated form of the Michaelis-Menten equation based on the results of the first study, and (ii) from the Michaelis-Menton equation based on urea hydrolysis in the second study. The integrated method appeared to be more suitable for enzyme kinetic studies in soil systems where the Km and V_max values bore close relationship (r=–0.88^**).     

Population Structure of Clinical and Environmental Vibrio parahaemolyticus from the Pacific Northwest Coast of the United States

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a common marine bacterium and a leading cause of seafood-borne bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Although this bacterium has been the subject of much research, the population structure of cold-water populations remains largely undescribed. We present a broad phylogenetic analysis of clinical and environmental V. parahaemolyticus originating largely from the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States. Repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (REP-PCR) separated 167 isolates into 39 groups and subsequent multilocus sequence typing (MLST) separated a subset of 77 isolates into 24 sequence types. The Pacific Northwest population exhibited a semi-clonal structure attributed to an environmental clade (ST3, N = 17 isolates) clonally related to the pandemic O3:K6 complex and a clinical clade (ST36, N = 20 isolates) genetically related to a regionally endemic O4:K12 complex. Further, the identification of at least five additional clinical sequence types (i.e., ST43, 50, 65, 135 and 417) demonstrates that V. parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis in the Pacific Northwest is polyphyletic in nature. Recombination was evident as a significant source of genetic diversity and in particular, the recA and dtdS alleles showed strong support for frequent recombination. Although pandemic-related illnesses were not documented during the study, the environmental occurrence of the pandemic clone may present a significant threat to human health and warrants continued monitoring. It is evident that V. parahaemolyticus population structure in the Pacific Northwest is semi-clonal and it would appear that multiple sequence types are contributing to the burden of disease in this region.     

Effect of the catechol-O-methyltransferase val(158)met genotype on children's early phases of facial stimuli processing

The ability to process and identify human faces matures early in life, is universal and is mediated by a distributed neural system. The temporal dynamics of this cognitive-emotional task can be studied by cerebral visual event-related potentials (ERPs) that are stable from midchildhood onwards. We hypothesized that part of individual variability in the parameters of the N170, a waveform that specifically marks the early, precategorical phases of human face processing, could be associated with genetic variation at the functional polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (val(158)met) gene, which influences information processing, cognitive control tasks and patterns of brain activation during passive processing of human facial stimuli. Forty-nine third and fourth graders underwent a task of implicit processing of other children's facial expressions of emotions while ERPs were recorded. The N170 parameters (latency and amplitude) were insensitive to the type of expression, stimulus repetition, gender or school grade. Although limited by the absence of met- homozygotes among boys, data showed shorter N170 latency associated with the presence of 1-2 met158 alleles, and family-based association tests (as implemented in the PBAT version 2.6 software package) confirmed the association. These data were independent of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism and the N400 waveform investigated in the same group of children in a previous study. Some electrophysiological features of face processing may be stable from midchildhood onwards. Different waveforms generated by face processing may have at least partially independent genetic architectures and yield different implications toward the understanding of individual differences in cognition and emotions.     

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors neostigmine and physostigmine inhibit induction of alpha-amylase activity during seed germination in barley, Hordeum vulgare var. Jyoti

Acetylcholine (ACh) is an important neurotransmitter whose non-neuronal biological roles are being widely accepted. ACh and components of its metabolism are present in plants. ACh and some inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) share structural similarity (quaternary ammonium group) with some inhibitors of biosynthesis of a plant hormone, gibberellic acid (GA); e.g., 2-Isopropyl-4-dimethylamino-5-methylphenyl-1-piperidine carboxylate methyl chloride (AMO-1618) inhibits GA biosynthesis as well as AChE. The present study explores the possibility that ACh and antiAChE may inhibit GA biosynthesis. Seeds of barley var. Jyoti were germinated in the presence of ACh, its breakdown products - choline and acetate, and two antiAChE - neostigmine and physostigmine (all 10(-5) M). Alpha amylase activity in germinating seeds was measured as a reliable indicator of the level of GA biosynthesis. Alpha amylase activity in barley seeds was significantly reduced after 72 h of treatment with antiChE but not by ACh or its breakdown products. Since germinating barley seeds contain AChE, much of the ACh may have been broken down before its uptake. Quaternary ammonium antiChE neostigmine was more effective (50% inhibition at 10(-5) M) as compared to tertiary ammonium physostigmine (15% inhibition at 10(-5) M). ACh, choline, acetate, neostigmine and physostigmine (all 10(-5) M) did not affect formation of starch-iodine complex or activity of alpha-amylase per se. Our results indicate that quaternary ammonium inhibitors of AChE may inhibit GA biosynthesis.     

Ecology of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus in the Coastal and Estuarine Waters of Louisiana,Maryland, Mississippi,and Washington (United States)

Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus, which are native to estuaries globally, are agents of seafood-borne or wound infections, both potentially fatal. Like all vibrios autochthonous to coastal regions, their abundance varies with changes in environmental parameters. Sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH), and chlorophyll have been shown to be predictors of zooplankton and thus factors linked to vibrio populations. The contribution of salinity, conductivity, turbidity, and dissolved organic carbon to the incidence and distribution of Vibrio spp. has also been reported. Here, a multicoastal, 21-month study was conducted to determine relationships between environmental parameters and V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus populations in water, oysters, and sediment in three coastal areas of the United States. Because ecologically unique sites were included in the study, it was possible to analyze individual parameters over wide ranges. Molecular methods were used to detect genes for thermolabile hemolysin (tlh), thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh), and tdh-related hemolysin (trh) as indicators of V. parahaemolyticus and the hemolysin gene vvhA for V. vulnificus. SST and suspended particulate matter were found to be strong predictors of total and potentially pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus. Other predictors included chlorophyll a, salinity, and dissolved organic carbon. For the ecologically unique sites included in the study, SST was confirmed as an effective predictor of annual variation in vibrio abundance, with other parameters explaining a portion of the variation not attributable to SST.