Circadian expression of clock genes in purified hematopoietic stem cells is developmentally regulated in mouse bone marrow.

Objective: Clock genes are known to mediate circadian rhythms in the central nervous system and peripheral organs. Although they are expressed in mouse hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells, it is unknown if they are related to circadian rhythms in these cells. We therefore investigated the 24-hour patterns in the activity of several clock genes in the bone marrow (BM) side population (SP) primitive stem cells, and compared these 24-hour patterns to clock gene variations in the whole BM and liver.

Prevention of mental health problems: rationale for a universal approach.

Background And Objective: Mental health problems are a public health issue affecting as many as 20% of children in modern communities. Risk factors for externalising and internalising problems can occur in infancy. Infants at high risk live in stressed families with parent mental health problems, substance misuse, relationship conflict, social isolation, financial problems or infant temperamental difficulty.

Morphometric discrimination of early life stage Lampetra tridentata and L. richardsoni (Petromyzonidae) from the Columbia River Basin.

The effectiveness of morphometric and meristic characteristics for taxonomic discrimination of Lampetra tridentata and L. richardsoni (Petromyzonidae) during embryological, prolarval, and early larval stages (i.e.

Allele-specific relative telomere lengths are inherited.

Previous studies have indicated that single relative telomere lengths are defined in the zygote. In order to explore the possibility that single telomere lengths segregate in families, we compared relative telomere lengths obtained from allelic chromosome extremities transmitted from parent to child, representing a total of 31 independent meiotic events. We find a significant positive correlation of 0.

Comparison of synthesis of 15 alpha-hydroxylated steroids in males of four North American lamprey species.

Recent studies have provided evidence that 15 alpha-hydroxytestosterone (15 alpha-T) and 15 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (15 alpha-P) are produced in vitro and in vivo in adult male sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus), and that circulatory levels increase in response to injections with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). We examined four species from the Petromyzontidae family including silver lampreys (Ichthyomyzon unicuspis), chestnut lampreys (I. castaneus), American brook lampreys (Lethenteron appendix), and Pacific lampreys (Entosphenus tridentatus) to determine if these unusual steroids were unique to sea lampreys or a common feature in lamprey species.

Retention of chromosome arm 5q in stage II colon cancers identifies 83% of liver metastasis occurrences.

The decision to use chemotherapy in the treatment of colon cancer patients depends on the risk of developing metastases, as estimated by clinicopathological staging combining body imaging and pathological findings. The aim of this study was to identify all chromosome arms that, when allelotyped, correlate with the metastatic process, add prognostic information to pathology, and are of relevance for predicting metachronous metastases. A 5-year follow-up survey enrolled 401 MSS (microsatellite stable) colon cancer patients who were divided into three groups.

Laplace-Dirichlet energy field specification for deformable models. an FEM approach to active contour fitting.

The construction of large scale computer models for complex biological systems requires the fitting of curves or surfaces to anatomical data sets. Algorithms recently developed to perform this task are based on the displacement of an initial model contour. There are several problems associated with this approach.

Chains, dimers, and sandwiches: melting behavior of DNA nanoassemblies.

We have studied, in experiment and theory, the melting behavior of DNA nanoassemblies of perylenediimide-bis-oligonucleotides (PON), in which two short oligonucleotide chains (16- or 24-mers) are attached to the extremities of a spacer molecule. By varying both the sequence orientation (exchange of 3' and 5' ends neighboring the spacer) and the oligomer composition of the solutions, nanoassemblies of different complexity can be generated. Our results show a subtle dependence of the melting behavior on the supramolecular arrangement of the DNA-based assemblies.

The optimum knee flexion angle for skyline radiography is thirty degrees.

There is wide variation in practice among orthopaedic surgeons regarding the use of skyline tangential patellar radiographs of the patellofemoral joint in patients with anterior knee pain. Various techniques are available for taking such radiographs and numerous radiologic parameters can be measured from them. There is no information as to which knee flexion angle is superior when taking skyline radiographs.

Effects of green tea polyphenols on murine transplant-reactive T cell immunity.

Green tea polyphenols (GrTP), the active ingredient of green tea, may have immunosuppressive properties, but whether and how GrTP affect transplant-reactive T cells is unknown. To address this, we tested the effects of GrTP on in vitro and in vivo transplant-reactive T cell immunity. GrTP inhibited IFNgamma secretion by cultured monoclonal T cells and by alloreactive T cells in mixed lymphocyte reactions.

Effects of T cell frequency and graft size on transplant outcome in mice.

The features that determine whether graft-reactive T lymphocytes develop into effector cells capable of mediating organ destruction are not well understood. To investigate potential factors involved in this process, we first confirmed that female recipient mice acutely rejected minor Ag-disparate male skin, but not heart transplants. Despite this difference in outcome, heart and skin transplantation induced antidonor T cell responses of similar magnitude, specificity, and cytokine profile.

Intrinsic susceptibility to radiation-induced apoptosis of human lymphocyte subpopulations.

Purpose: With the aim to evaluate intrinsic radiosensitivity, the susceptibility of lymphocyte subpopulations to radiation-induced apoptosis was determined. The investigated parameters included measurement reliability, phenotypic variance, intra- and inter-individual variability, and correlations between radiation-induced and spontaneous apoptosis.

Methods And Materials: Quiescent lymphocytes of 63 healthy volunteers, sampled up to four times over a 1-year period were gamma-irradiated in vitro.

HPLC and ELISA analyses of larval bile acids from Pacific and western brook lampreys.

Comparative studies were performed on two native lamprey species, Pacific lamprey (Lampetra tridentata) and western brook lamprey (Lampetra richardsoni) from the Pacific coast along with sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) from the Great Lakes, to investigate their bile acid production and release. HPLC and ELISA analyses of the gall bladders and liver extract revealed that the major bile acid compound from Pacific and western brook larval lampreys was petromyzonol sulfate (PZS), previously identified as a migratory pheromone in larval sea lamprey. An ELISA for PZS has been developed in a working range of 20 pg-10 ng per well.

Magnetic cell sorting for enriching Schwann cells from adult mouse peripheral nerves.

We have devised a simple method to purify mitotically active Schwann cells (SC) from peripheral nerves of adult mice. Nerves were predegenerated in vitro for 7 days and after dissociation cells were plated on poly-L-lysine/laminin coated dishes in N2 serum-free culture medium supplemented with forskolin and heregulin-beta1. Primary cultures were purified from contaminating fibroblasts by magnetic cell sorting (MACS) based on SC membrane specific expression of p75(NGFR) and enriched to about 99% of SC after MACS from 34 to 91% before sorting.

Intraventricular insulin decreases kappa opioid-mediated sucrose intake in rats.

The hormone insulin acts in the central nervous system (CNS) as a regulator of body adiposity and food intake. Recent work from our laboratory has provided evidence that one way by which insulin may decrease food intake is by decreasing the rewarding properties of food. Evidence from others suggests that endogenous opioids may mediate the palatable properties of foods, and insulin may decrease nonfood-related reward via interaction with some CNS kappa opioid systems.

Is human sentence parsing serial or parallel? Evidence from event-related brain potentials.

In this ERP study we investigate the processes that occur in syntactically ambiguous German sentences at the point of disambiguation. Whereas most psycholinguistic theories agree on the view that processing difficulties arise when parsing preferences are disconfirmed (so-called garden-path effects), important differences exist with respect to theoretical assumptions about the parser's recovery from a misparse. A key distinction can be made between parsers that compute all alternative syntactic structures in parallel (parallel parsers) and parsers that compute only a single preferred analysis (serial parsers).

Comparison of the LISS and a retrograde-inserted supracondylar intramedullary nail for fixation of a periprosthetic distal femur fracture proximal to a total knee arthroplasty.

Simulated supracondylar fractures were created proximal to posterior cruciate ligament-retaining total knee arthroplasty components in paired human cadaver femora and stabilized with either a retrograde-inserted locked supracondylar nail or the Less Invasive Stabilization System (LISS; Synthes USA, Paoli, PA). Loads were applied to create bending and torsional moments on the simulated fracture stabilized with either no gap or a 10-mm gap. The LISS exhibited less torsional stability with anterior (P<.

Mental health parity: a review of research and a bibliography.

This article summarizes the content of a meeting held in July 2001 to (1) review what is known about the effect of parity based on research already done, (2) identify what is likely to be known from research in progress, and (3) identify the knowledge gaps that still exist. An annotated bibliography of studies and reports on parity from 1996 through 2001 is included.

In vivo blockade of macrophage migration inhibitory factor prevents skin graft destruction after indirect allorecognition.

Background: The effector mechanisms that ultimately destroy transplanted tissues are poorly understood. In particular, it is not clear how CD4+ T cells primed to donor-derived determinants expressed on recipient MHC molecules (the indirect pathway) can mediate graft destruction in the absence of cognate recognition of peptide: MHC on the graft cells themselves. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) inhibits macrophage movement and is a proinflammatory and regulatory cytokine known to be essential for development of delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions.

Identification of homozygous deletions at chromosome 16q23 in aflatoxin B1 exposed hepatocellular carcinoma.

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) represents the most frequent genetic alteration observed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Chromosome 16q is of particular interest as it exhibits LOH in 29% of HCC tumors and is frequently lost in breast, prostate, ovarian and gastric carcinomas. We genotyped 157 HCC tumors for 17 microsatellite markers distributed on chromosome 16q and determined a common region of LOH localized between the markers D16S518 and D16S504.

Calcaneal compartment syndrome after tibial fractures.

Compartment syndrome of the newly discovered calcaneal compartment of the foot is a theoretical possibility following tibial fracture due to the communication with the deep posterior compartment of the calf. Forty-nine patients were reviewed at least 18 months after open or closed tibial shaft fractures treated with tibial nailing in order to determine the prevalence of foot deformities secondary to previously undetected calcaneal or leg compartment syndromes. Ankle movements, foot height, length of feet and degree of clawing of the toes were all measured and compared with the unaffected opposite side.

Case and reanalysis.

In this paper we discuss an asymmetry in the Case system of German and its implications for human sentence processing: the asymmetry between nominative/accusative and dative case. Starting from the assumption that dative case has a distinct grammatical representation--dative DPs are embedded into an extra structural layer KP--the results of two experiments will be presented, which show that dative assignment during reanalysis is accompanied by additional processing operations that are not needed when accusative or nominative are assigned. In particular, we show that dative assignment during reanalysis triggers reaccess to the mental lexicon, giving rise to greater processing difficulty.

[Semi-automated quantitative method for detecting the loss of heterozygosity at the long arm of chromosome 4 in hepatocellular carcinoma].

Objectives: Chromosomal deletions are the most frequent genetic alterations observed in hepatocellular carcinoma. Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 4q has been observed in 40% of hepatocellular carcinomas suggesting the presence of a tumor suppressor gene which has not yet been identified.

Methodology: We developed a semi-automated quantitative genotyping method which allowed us to characterize 119 hepatocellular carcinomas with 22 fluorescent microsatellite markers distributed on chromosome 4q.