Pseudophosphorylated prolactin (S179D PRL) inhibits growth and promotes beta-casein gene expression in the rat mammary gland

We have investigated the individual roles of unmodified prolactin (U-PRL) and a mimic of phosphorylated PRL (S179D PRL) in mammary development. Recombinant versions of the PRLs were delivered to rats throughout pregnancy at a rate of 6 microg/24 h per rat and to non-pregnant females at a rate of 24 microg/24 h per rat. Measurement of progesterone, corticosterone, and estradiol showed no effect of the administered PRLs on the levels of these other mammotropic hormones. Histological and morphometric analysis showed U-PRL to cause mammary growth, whereas S179D PRL inhibited growth. Molecular analysis demonstrated decreased beta-casein expression in the mammary glands of the U-PRL-treated animals at term and increased beta-casein expression in the mammary glands of the S179D PRL-treated animals. Superior beta-casein gene expression in response to S179D PRL versus U-PRL was confirmed in HC11 cells. We conclude that U-PRL is important for growth, whereas S179D PRL promotes at least one measure of differentiated function in the mammary gland.     

Rosuvastatin reduces experimental left ventricular infarct size after ischemia-reperfusion injury but not total coronary occlusion

This study compared the effects of rosuvastatin on left ventricular infarct size in mice after permanent coronary occlusion vs. 60 min of ischemia followed by 24 h of reperfusion. Statins can inhibit neutrophil adhesion, increase nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression, and mobilize progenitor stem cells after ischemic injury. Mice received blinded and randomized administration of rosuvastatin (20 mg.kg(-1).day(-1)) or saline from 2 days before surgery until death. After 60 min of ischemia with reperfusion, infarct size was reduced by 18% (P = 0.03) in mice randomized to receive rosuvastatin (n = 18) vs. saline (n = 22) but was similar after permanent occlusion in rosuvastatin (n = 17) and saline (n = 20) groups (P = not significant). Myocardial infarct size after permanent left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion (n = 6) tended to be greater in NOS3-deficient mice than in the wild-type saline group (33 +/- 4 vs. 23 +/- 2%, P = 0.08). Infarct size in NOS3-deficient mice was not modified by treatment with rosuvastatin (34 +/- 5%, n = 6, P = not significant vs. NOS3-deficient saline group). After 60 min of ischemia-reperfusion, neutrophil infiltration was similar in rosuvastatin and saline groups as was the percentage of CD34(+), Sca-1(+), and c-Kit(+) cells. Left ventricular NOS3 mRNA and protein levels were unchanged by rosuvastatin. Rosuvastatin reduces infarct size after 60 min of ischemia-reperfusion but not after permanent coronary occlusion, suggesting a potential anti-inflammatory effect. Although we were unable to demonstrate that the myocardial protection was due to an effect on neutrophil infiltration, stem cell mobilization, or induction of NOS3, these data suggest that rosuvastatin may be particularly beneficial in myocardial protection after ischemia-reperfusion injury.     

Improvement of landfill leachate biodegradability with ultrasonic process

Landfills leachates are known to contain recalcitrant and/or non-biodegradable organic substances and biological processes are not efficient in these cases. A promising alternative to complete oxidation of biorecalcitrant leachate is the use of ultrasonic process as pre-treatment to convert initially biorecalcitrant compounds to more readily biodegradable intermediates. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of ultrasonic process on biodegradability improvement. After the optimization by factorial design, the ultrasonic were applied in the treatment of raw leachates using a batch wise mode. For this, different scenarios were tested with regard to power intensities of 70 and 110 W, frequencies of 30, 45 and 60 KHz, reaction times of 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes and pH of 3, 7 and 10. For determining the effects of catalysts on sonication efficiencies, 5 mg/l of TiO(2) and ZnO have been also used. Results showed that when applied as relatively brief pre-treatment systems, the sonocatalysis processes induce several modifications of the matrix, which results in significant enhancement of its biodegradability. For this reason, the integrated chemical-biological systems proposed here represent a suitable solution for the treatment of landfill leachate samples.     

Tissue oximetry by diffusive reflective visible light spectroscopy: Comparison of algorithms and their robustness

It is essential to measure tissue oxygen saturation (StO₂) locally and in thin layers of tissue, for example, the bronchial mucosa, skin flaps and small bones. Visible light spectroscopy (VLS) with a shallow penetration depth is suitable method. Although several VLS algorithms have been developed and described, they have not yet been compared to each other. This hinders attempts to compare the clinical results obtained by different algorithms. To address this issue, we compared the algorithms of Harrison, Knoefel, Pittman‐Duling, Sato and our OxyVLS oximeter, which applies the algorithm from Wodick and Lübbers, in a liquid phantom with optical properties of human tissue. We generally observed considerable differences between the algorithms, which were StO₂ dependent. Exceptions were OxyVLS and Sato, showing a high level of agreement with negligible StO₂ dependency. In spite of the considerable deviation between the other algorithms, the difference of StO₂ between them in clinically normal StO₂ was <10%. We did not observe any dependency of the algorithms on hemoglobin content of the phantom or temperature.      

Global Functional Atlas of Escherichia coli Encompassing Previously Uncharacterized Proteins

One-third of the 4,225 protein-coding genes of Escherichia coli K-12 remain functionally unannotated (orphans). Many map to distant clades such as Archaea, suggesting involvement in basic prokaryotic traits, whereas others appear restricted to E. coli, including pathogenic strains. To elucidate the orphans' biological roles, we performed an extensive proteomic survey using affinity-tagged E. coli strains and generated comprehensive genomic context inferences to derive a high-confidence compendium for virtually the entire proteome consisting of 5,993 putative physical interactions and 74,776 putative functional associations, most of which are novel. Clustering of the respective probabilistic networks revealed putative orphan membership in discrete multiprotein complexes and functional modules together with annotated gene products, whereas a machine-learning strategy based on network integration implicated the orphans in specific biological processes. We provide additional experimental evidence supporting orphan participation in protein synthesis, amino acid metabolism, biofilm formation, motility, and assembly of the bacterial cell envelope. This resource provides a “systems-wide” functional blueprint of a model microbe, with insights into the biological and evolutionary significance of previously uncharacterized proteins.     

Die Innervation der Lungenarterien in reimplantierten Hundelungen

Zusammenfassung Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen am Nervenplexus der Pulmonalarterien reimplantierter Lungen von Hunden, deren Überlebenszeiten zwischen 20 Tagen und 5 Monaten lagen, haben zu folgenden Ergebnissen geführt: Im distal von der Arterienanastomose gelegenen Abschnitt der A. pulmonalis ist der größte Teil der Nervenfasern degeneriert. Diese degenerierten Fasern gehören zu extrapulmonalen Ganglienzellen (Grenzstrang des Sympathicus, N. vagus, extrapulmonaler Plexus peribronchialis). Zwischen Adventitia und Media der mittleren und kleinen Äste der A. pulmonalis können reichlich intakte Nervenfasern beobachtet werden, und im Bereich der Arteriolen fallen nur intakte Axone auf. An den terminalen Axonen sind synaptische Anschwellungen mit den feinstrukturellen Merkmalen adrenergischer oder cholinergischer Nerven nachzuweisen.In biochemischen Untersuchungen wurden Gehalt und Aufnahme von Noradrenalin (NA) in Stamm-, Lappen- und Segmentarterienwänden von normalen und reimplantierten Hundelungen quantitativ bestimmt. Die Reimplantationszeiten betrugen hierbei 6, 15 und 20 Tage. In teilweiser Übereinstimmung mit den elektronenmikroskopischen Befunden haben diese biochemischen Untersuchungen ergeben, daß im distal von der Arterienanastomose gelegenen Teil der A. pulmonalis praktisch keine NA-Aufnahme oder -Speicherung mehr nach-weisbar ist.Die Befunde werden wie folgt interpretiert: Die Innervation der mittleren Pulmonalarterienäste erfolgt zum Teil, die der kleinen und kleinsten Arterienäste ausschließlich von intrapulmonalen Ganglienzellen des Plexus peribronchialis aus, während die A. pulmonalis mit ihren großen Ästen im wesentlichen von extrapulmonalen Ganglienzellen innerviert wird.

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The innervation of the pulmonary arteries in reimplanted canine lungsStudies of ultrastructure, noradrenalin content and uptake

Summary Electron microscopic studies on pulmonary arteries 20 days to 5 months after lung reimplantations (dogs) yielded the following results: In the plexus arterialis of the stem of the pulmonary artery most of the nerve fibres were found to be degenerated. These fibres belong to extrapulmonary ganglionic cells (i.e., sympathetic chain, vagus nerve, extrapulmonary peribronchial nerve plexus). Whereas in the nerve plexus of some of the branches of the pulmonary arteries and at the site of the arterioles no degenerated nerve fibres could be detected. The fibres which survived showed synaptic swellings with the fine structural characteristics of either adrenergic or cholinergic nerve terminals.Further investigations on the content and uptake of noradrenalin (NA) are consistent with the assumption that a part of the adrenergic nerves survived in the walls of the pulmonary arteries of reimplanted lungs, 6, 15, and 20 days after reimplantations. The highest decrease in the NA-content as well as in the NA-uptake was found in the stem of the artery in reimplanted lungs. Our present and previous findings lead to the following conclusion: in reimplanted lungs autonomic innervation of middle-sized, smaller, and smallest branches of the pulmonary artery is mainttained. The innervating nerve terminals belong to ganglionic cells of the plexus peribronchialis.

Mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

The impact of tree modification by African elephant (Loxodonta africana) on herpetofaunal species richness in northern Tanzania

In Africa, no other nonhuman animal fulfils the role of ecosystem engineers to the extent of the elephant. However, little is known about the relationship between elephant modified habitats and species composition of other animals. Our objective was to sample the herpetofauna within an Acacia habitat that varied in the degree of elephant impact. If elephant foraging was only modifying but not degrading or enriching the habitat, then herpetofauna species abundance and richness were predicted to be similar in elephant damaged and elephant excluded areas. We conducted this study at Endarakwai Ranch in northeastern Tanzania for 6 months in 2007 and 2008. We sampled herpetofaunal species richness and abundance within high, medium and low elephant damaged areas and in a plot that excluded elephants. Areas of heavy damage yielded higher species richness than the exclusion plot. Species diversity did not differ between the damaged areas and the exclusion plot. Frogs were more abundant in areas of high damage; in contrast, toads were found the least in high damage areas. The results support the notion that free ranging elephants influence herpetofaunal species distribution by creating habitat complexity through modifying the woodland area.