MBAT: A scalable informatics system for unifying digital atlasing workflows

Background  

Digital atlases provide a common semantic and spatial coordinate system that can be leveraged to compare, contrast, and correlate data from disparate sources. As the quality and amount of biological data continues to advance and grow, searching, referencing, and comparing this data with a researcher's own data is essential. However, the integration process is cumbersome and time-consuming due to misaligned data, implicitly defined associations, and incompatible data sources. This work addressing these challenges by providing a unified and adaptable environment to accelerate the workflow to gather, align, and analyze the data.     

Functional morphology of the neck organ in Artemia salina nauplii

Fine structure of the ion transporting epithelium of the neck organ in the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) nauplius is described. The neck organ is a dome-like gland situated atop the cephalothorax of the larva and is composed of 50 to 60 cuboidal epithelial cells. These cells possess many of the characteristics of salt-secretory cells from other tissues. They contain many mitochondria and exhibit a high degree of plasma membrane elaboration. This membrane amplification takes two forms; the apical plasmalemma is infolded into irregular loops, while the basal and lateral membranes penetrate the cytoplasm in the form of branching sinusoids. The labyrinth of tubular reticulum thus formed fills most of the cell volume. Mitochondria in the labyrinth are often in intimate contact with these tubular membranes and regular arrays of parallel mitochondria with constricted intervening sinusoids are often observed. Other organelles including Golgi complexes, multivesicular bodies, and rough endoplasmic reticulum are also numerous, particularly in the narrow rim of cytoplasm which lies between the apical infolds and the labyrinth. Yolk platelets and glycogen fields are conspicuous in the basal perinuclear regions of the cells.     

Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry

Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry. T. M. Luhrmann. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.337 pp.     

Ciliary receptors associated with the mouth and pharynx of Acoela (Acoelomorpha): a comparative ultrastructural study

The ultrastructure and distribution of receptor cells near the mouth and (where present) the pharynx of Hofstenia miamia, Proporus bermudensis, Conaperta thela, and Convoluta convoluta (Acoela) were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy of specimens stained with a fluorescence marker for actin. Five types of monociliary receptors were identified: (1) non‐collared receptors with a single long and narrow ciliary rootlet; (2) non‐collared receptors with a wide main ciliary rootlet and a smaller posterior rootlet; (3) non‐collared receptors with a single wide and hollow ciliary rootlet with a granulated core; (4) Collar (?) receptors with obliquely radial filament bundles in the cell apex and with a single hollow ciliary rootlet composed of numerous strand‐like elements; and (5) Collar receptors lacking a striated rootlet but with a granular body (swallow's nest rootlet). While H. miamia bears the first two receptor types, P. bermudensis has receptors of type 1, 3 and 5, and Cona. thela and Conv. convoluta have receptors of type 3, 4 and 5. The density of receptors is generally highest at the anterior body tip, regardless of where the mouth is located. Most receptor types occur scattered over the whole body but type 2 receptors of H. miamia are restricted to the pharynx and mouth region. The lack of a common receptor type specific for the mouth and pharynx of the investigated species points to an independent origin of the pharynges in Hofsteniidae and in Proporidae and of the mouth tube in Convolutidae. Moreover, the homology of the so‐called collar receptors in Acoela with typical collar receptors in other invertebrates is questioned.     

Nitrogen fixation ability of exopolysaccharide synthesis mutants of Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 and Rhizobium trifolii is restored by the addition of homologous exopolysaccharides.

Several transposon Tn5-induced mutants of the broad-host-range Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 produce little or no detectable acidic exopolysaccharide (EPS) and are unable to induce nitrogen-fixing nodules on Leucaena leucocephala var. Peru or siratro plants. The ability of these Exo- mutants to induce functioning nodules on Leucaena plants was restored by coinoculation with a Sym plasmid-cured (Nod- Exo+) derivative of parent strain NGR234, purified EPS from the parent strain, or the oligosaccharide from the EPS. Coinoculation with EPS or related oligosaccharide also resulted in formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules on siratro plants. In addition, an Exo- mutant (ANU437) of Rhizobium trifolii ANU794 was able to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on white clover in the presence of added EPS or related oligosaccharide from R. trifolii ANU843. These results demonstrate that the absence of Rhizobium EPSs can result in failure of effective symbiosis with both temperate and subtropical legumes.     

Dissociation between lymphocyte activation for proliferation and for the capacity to adoptively transfer uveoretinitis

We have shown previously that immunization with bovine interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) induces in rats severe eye disease, experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU). This study examined the uveitogenic capacity of IRBP of another species, the monkey, and tested the cross-antigenicity between these two proteins by a battery of immunological assays. Monkey IRBP was found to be approximately 20 times less uveitogenic in Lewis rats than bovine IRBP. High levels of cross-reactivity between bovine and monkey IRBP were demonstrated by antibodies as measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and by the radiometric ear test of delayed-type hypersensitivity, by using rats immunized with either one of the IRBP. On the other hand, lymphocytes from these rats failed to detect the cross-reactivity between the two IRBP by the proliferation response in culture. Yet, such lymphocytes did recognize the nonimmunizing IRBP when activated in culture for acquiring the capacity to adoptively transfer EAU into naive recipients. The data are discussed with regard to the limited usefulness of the lymphocyte proliferation assay for detection of immunopathogenic processes and the role of cross-reacting antigens in initiation of autoimmune responses.     

Immunofluorescence colocalization of the 90-kDa heat-shock protein and microtubules in interphase and mitotic mammalian cells

A mouse monoclonal antibody (AC88) that was raised against the 88-kDa heat-shock protein of the water mold, Achlya ambisexualis, and that cross-reacts with the 90-kDa mammalian heat-shock protein (hsp90), and an antibody against tubulin were used to localize hsp90 and microtubules, respectively, in the same cultured rat endothelial and PtK1 epithelial cells by indirect immunofluorescence. AC88 and tubulin antibodies labeled the same structures in cells at all stages of the cell cycle, regardless of whether cells were permeabilized before or after fixation. Labeling of cell structures by both AC88 and anti-tubulin antibodies was identically affected by treating cells with colcemid. Double labeling with AC88 and anti-tubulin antibodies in interphase and mitotic cells is consistent with the conclusion that all microtubules are labeled and that no subclass of microtubules is preferentially labeled. Fluorescent labeling by AC88 was prevented by preabsorption of the antibody with purified rat hsp90 but was unaffected by preabsorption with purified 6S tubulin dimer. In contrast to AC88, fluorescent labeling by an anti-tubulin antibody was prevented by preabsorption with tubulin dimer but was unaffected by preabsorption with rat hsp90. Western-blot analysis demonstrated no cross-reactivity of AC88 for tubulin and no cross-reactivity of the anti-tubulin antibody for hsp90. A polyclonal antiserum fraction from a rabbit immunized with the 89-kDa heat-shock protein from chicken also labeled the mitotic apparatus in dividing cells and, somewhat less distinctly, fibrous structures in interphase cells. Labeling by hsp89 anti-serum was prevented by absorption with hsp90. AC88 also labeled microtubules in cultured mouse (L929 and 3T3), rat (endothelium and TRST), hamster (CHO) and primate (BSC, COS-1 and HeLa) cell lines. The demonstration of colocalization of hsp90 with microtubules should provide a valuable clue to eventual understanding of the cellular function of this ubiquitous, conserved and abundant stress-response protein.     

Role of endogenous opioids and histamine in morphine induced emesis

The role of opioid and histaminergic system in morphine induced emesis was investigated in dogs. Morphine (25 micrograms, icv) consistently evoked emesis with an average latency of 195 +/- 29 sec which was fully accounted for by an action on the chemoreceptor trigger zone (CTZ) as its ablation rendered animals refractory to vomiting. Intraventricular pretreatment with opioid antagonist naloxone, histamine H1 antagonist mepyramine and H2 antagonists metiamide and cimetidine afforded protection to icv morphine emesis. The CSF histamine concentration was significantly raised 5 min after icv morphine administration. The results suggest that both endogenous opioid and histamine are involved in morphine emesis. Naloxone in high doses (1600 micrograms, icv) elicited emesis which was not blocked by CTZ ablation confirming our earlier report.