Iminoglycinuria in a child in Czechoslovakia

Summary The child with iminoglycinuria is in our observation. Hyperprolinuria was seen at 5 months by screening program. The child was repeatedly examined in the hospital and was seen last time at 16 months. IQ was 67, in the urine were excessive amounts of glycine, proline a hydroxyproline. In the blood aminoacids were in normal levels. In the child was noticed the same increase of proline in the blood as in the control child of the same age following loading test with L-proline, indicating normal intestinal absoption. Both parents and father's sister's 2-year-old mentally retarded child exhibit excessive glycinuria. The father, his sister, father's father, and grandfather are partialy, congenitaly deaf.     

Efficient apoptosis and necrosis induction by proteasome inhibitor: bortezomib in the DLD-1 human colon cancer cell line

The inhibition of the 26S proteasome evokes endoplasmic reticulum stress, which has been shown to be implicated in the antitumoral effects of proteasome inhibitors. The cellular and molecular effects of the proteasome inhibitor—bortezomib—on human colon cancer cells are as yet poorly characterized. Bortezomib selectively induces apoptosis in some cancer cells. However, the nature of its selectivity remains unknown. Previously, we demonstrated that, in contrast to normal fibroblasts, bortezomib treatment evoked strong effect on apoptosis of breast cancer cells incubated in hypoxic and normoxic conditions. The study presented here provides novel information on the cellular effects of bortezomib in DLD-1 colon cancer cells line. We observe twofold higher percentage of apoptotic cells incubated for 48 h with 25 and 50 nmol/l of bortezomib in hypoxic conditions and four-, fivefold increase in normoxic conditions in comparison to control cells, incubated without bortezomib. It is of interest that bortezomib evokes strong effect on necrosis of DLD-1 colon cancer cell line. We observe the sixfold increase in necrosis of DLD-1 cells incubated with 25 or 50 nmol/l of bortezomib for 48 h in hypoxia and fourfold increase in normoxic conditions in comparison to adequate controls. We suggest that bortezomib may be candidates for further evaluation as chemotherapeutic agents for human colon cancer.     

Ethylene and IAA interactions in the inhibition of photoperiodic flower induction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pharbitis nil</Emphasis>

It has been shown that both IAA and ethylene application inhibit flower induction in the short-day plant Pharbitis nil. However application of IAA has elevated ethylene production in this plant, as well. Strong enhancement of ethylene production is also correlated with the night-break effect, which completely inhibits flowering. In order to determine what the role of IAA and ethylene is in the photoperiodic flower induction in Pharbitis nil, we measured changes in their levels during inductive and non-inductive photoperiods, and the effects of ethylene biosynthesis and action inhibitors on inhibition of flowering by IAA. Our results have shown that the inhibitory effect of IAA on Pharbitis nil flowering is not physiological but is connected with its effect on ethylene biosynthesis.     

Distribution of elements in rabbit liver lobule

The elemental composition of rabbit liver was determined by the PIXE and micro-PIXE methods. The mean concentrations of P, S, Cl, K, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Rb measured by both methods were similar. The latter method also allowed for localization of elements within lobule territory. It has been found that some elements are more prevalent in the veins (Cl, Fe) and others in the liver parenchyma (P, Cu, Zn). Moreover, Zn showed the characteristic intralobular distribution. Some methodological aspects of microbeam application to biological materials were also discussed.     

Attraction ofCarpoglyphus lactis (Acarina: Acaridae) to selected organic compounds

Various chemicals commonly found in food (twelve monosaccharides, nine sugar alcohols, twenty triglycerides, eleven unsaturated fatty acids and nine saturated fatty acids) were tested in different concentrations for their ability to attract and sustain feeding by the dried-fruit mite,Carpoglyphus lactis (L.). Oleic acid, -d-glucose and some triglycerides act as phagoincitants and phagostimulants, whiled-fucose and trilaurin are phagodeterrents.     

Purification by affinity chromatography of the dicarboxylate carrier from bovine heart mitochondria

Submitochondrial particles were prepared from bovine heart mitochondria, solubilized with Triton X-114 in the presence of lipids and submitted to hydroxylapatite chromatography. The eluate obtained, containing a mixture of mitochondrial carriers, was processed further by affinity chromatography using as ligand p-aminophenylsuccinate coupled via a diazo bond to aminohexyl-Sepharose 4B. The activity of the dicarboxylate exchanger was measured after reconstitution into asolectin vesicles at each step of the purification procedure. All samples studied were found to display substrate and inhibitor specificity similar to those described for the dicarboxylate carrier in mitochondria. The specific activity of the final material eluted from the affinity column was found to be about 1000-times higher than that of the Triton X-114 extract of submitochondrial particles. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the affinity chromatography eluate showed the presence of only two polypeptides.