Light-induced dynamics in photosystem I electron transfer.

Protein dynamics are likely to play important, regulatory roles in many aspects of photosynthetic electron transfer, but a detailed description of these coupled protein conformational changes has been unavailable. In oxygenic photosynthesis, photosystem I catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of plastocyanin or cytochrome c and the reduction of ferredoxin. A chlorophyll (chl) a/a' heterodimer, P(700), is the secondary electron donor, and the two P(700) chl, are designated P(A) and P(B).

Bait acceptability for delivery of oral rabies vaccine to free-ranging dogs on the Navajo and Hopi Nations.

In many areas of the world, only 30 to 50% of dogs are vaccinated against rabies. On some US Indian Reservations, vaccination rates may be as low as 5 to 20%. In 2003 and 2004, we evaluated the effectiveness of commercially available baits to deliver oral rabies vaccine to feral and free-ranging dogs on the Navajo and Hopi Nations.

Slow cortical potentials in human aversive trace conditioning.

The aim of the present study was to better understand the cortical structures and neuronal processes involved in aversive differential trace conditioning in healthy subjects. According to previous findings in literature, we tested whether the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN) in an emotional trace-conditioning paradigm shows a frontocentral maximum reflecting affective anticipation, e.g.

Priming of CD8+ T cells during central nervous system infection with a murine coronavirus is strain dependent.

Virus-specific CD8(+) T cells are critical for protection against neurotropic coronaviruses; however, central nervous system (CNS) infection with the recombinant JHM (RJHM) strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) elicits a weak CD8(+) T-cell response in the brain and causes lethal encephalomyelitis. An adoptive transfer model was used to elucidate the kinetics of CD8(+) T-cell priming during CNS infection with RJHM as well as with two MHV strains that induce a robust CD8(+) T-cell response (RA59 and SJHM/RA59, a recombinant A59 virus expressing the JHM spike). While RA59 and SJHM/RA59 infections resulted in CD8(+) T-cell priming within the first 2 days postinfection, RJHM infection did not lead to proliferation of naïve CD8(+) T cells.

Pharmacologic properties of AG-012986, a pan-cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor with antitumor efficacy.

AG-012986 is a multitargeted cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor active against CDK1, CDK2, CDK4/6, CDK5, and CDK9, with selectivity over a diverse panel of non-CDK kinases. Here, we report the potent antitumor efficacies of AG-012986 against multiple tumor lines in vitro and in vivo. AG-012986 showed antiproliferative activities in vitro with IC(50)s of <100 nmol/L in 14 of 18 tumor cell lines.

Anorexia nervosa: selective processing of food-related word and pictorial stimuli in recognition and free recall tests.

Objective: Maladaptive processing of food cues is considered pivotal in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa. However, the influence of hunger and differences in processing because of the type of stimuli remain largely unclear.

Method: Memory bias for food-related pictorial and semantic stimuli was assessed in a recognition and a free recall test in 16 anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, 16 control participants with food intake prior to the study (CG-FI) and 16 control participants with a fasting period prior to the study (CG-NF).

The vibrational spectrum of the secondary electron acceptor, A1, in photosystem I.

Photosystem I (PSI) is a multisubunit protein complex which carries out light-induced, transmembrane charge separation in oxygenic photosynthesis. In PSI, the electron-transfer pathway consists of chlorophyll and phylloquinone molecules, as well as iron-sulfur clusters. There are two phylloquinone molecules, which are located in structurally symmetric positions in the reaction center.

Longitudinal assessment of response preparation and evaluation in migraine gives evidence for deviant maturation.

Evidence for deviant maturation of sensory processing in migraine has come recently from cross-sectional studies during childhood. Age-dependent development of response preparation and evaluation is characterized using a longitudinal design in school-aged migraine patients and controls in order to challenge the hypothesis of migraine as a maturation disorder. Forty-six children with migraine and 57 healthy controls aged 6-18 years were investigated and followed up 4 years later using a simple acoustic contingent negative variation (CNV) paradigm.

Parafibromin, a component of the human PAF complex, regulates growth factors and is required for embryonic development and survival in adult mice.

Parafibromin, a transcription factor associated with the PAF complex, is encoded by the HRPT2 gene, mutations of which cause the hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome (OMIM145001). To elucidate the function of parafibromin, we generated conventional and conditional Hrpt2 knockout mice and found that Hrpt2(-/-) mice were embryonic lethal by embryonic day 6.5 (E6.

Inhibition of MAPK kinase signaling pathways suppressed renal cell carcinoma growth and angiogenesis in vivo.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways play essential roles in cell proliferation and differentiation. Recent studies also show the activation of MAPK signaling pathways in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and angiogenesis of multiple human malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). To assess the role of this pathway in regulating the proliferation and survival of RCC cells, we first examined the expression of MAPK kinase (MKK) and MAPK in clear cell RCC and confirmed the overexpression of MKK1 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) in these tumors.

The topography of the scalp-recorded visual N700.

Objective: To describe the topography of the N700 component of the scalp-recorded visual event-related potential (ERP) and to provide fundamental knowledge of the conditions under which it occurs.

Methods: We examined the time-course of visual ERP in response to the short (100ms) and prolonged (7s) presentation of simple salient visual stimuli separated by long interstimulus intervals employing high-resolution 64-channel DC-EEG. Current source density (CSD) mapping and spatio-temporal dipole source analysis were performed.

Importance of hemodynamic forces as signals for exercise-induced changes in endothelial cell phenotype.

Current evidence indicates that the ability of physical activity to sustain a normal phenotype of arterial endothelial cells (ECs) plays a central role in the beneficial effects of exercise (Ex) on atherosclerotic disease. Here we evaluate the strength of evidence that shear stress (SS) and/or circumferential wall stress (stretch) are the primary signals, produced by bouts of Ex, that signal altered gene expression in arterial ECs, thereby resulting in a less atherogenic EC phenotype. Current literature indicates that SS is a signal for expression of antiatherogenic genes in cultured ECs, in ECs of isolated arteries, and in ECs of arteries in intact animals.

Maintenance treatment with risperidone or low-dose haloperidol in first-episode schizophrenia: 1-year results of a randomized controlled trial within the German Research Network on Schizophrenia.

Objective: Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) have proven superior to first-generation antipsychotics regarding relapse prevention, mainly in multiple-episode patients. Practice guidelines recommend SGAs as first-line treatment particularly in first-episode patients, although evidence for this group is still limited. Accordingly, the hypothesis of whether 1-year relapse rate in first-episode schizophrenia under maintenance treatment with risperidone is lower compared to haloperidol in low dose was tested.

Iron starvation and culture age activate metacaspases and programmed cell death in the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana.

In the modern ocean, phytoplankton maintain extremely high primary production/biomass ratios, indicating that they bloom, die, and are replaced weekly. The molecular mechanisms regulating cellular mortality and turnover are largely unknown, even though they effectively short-circuit carbon export to the deep ocean and channel primary productivity to microbial food webs. Here, we present morphological, biochemical, and molecular evidence of caspase-mediated, autocatalytic programmed cell death (PCD) in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana in response to iron starvation.

Increased event-related potential latency and amplitude variability in schizophrenia detected through wavelet-based single trial analysis.

Analysis of single-trial event-related potentials can potentially yield important information about the underlying brain dynamics. We were specifically interested in latency and amplitude variability of the P3 component in patients with schizophrenia. For this purpose we developed a method for analyzing single-trial ERPs based on a wavelet smoothing algorithm, which is presented in detail.

Am I safe? The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex 'detects' when an unpleasant event does not occur.

The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) is implicated in contingency detection and the evaluation of emotionally significant stimuli. However, the mechanisms whereby an individual can effectively avoid painful or unpleasant events are not well understood. We therefore examined whether the absence of an unpleasant somatosensory stimulus could evoke a response in the human VLPFC as a correlate of contingency detection (the feeling that "I am safe") without any immediately preceding stimulus.

Diet-induced obesity and diabetes reduce coronary responses to nitric oxide due to reduced bioavailability in isolated mouse hearts.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine nitric oxide (NO)-mediated coronary vascular responses in a mouse model of obesity and diabetes induced by a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. We hypothesized that endogenous NO bioavailability would be reduced in obese/diabetic mouse hearts due to enhanced superoxide anion production, and that coronary smooth muscle responses to exogenous NO would be reduced.

Methods: Age-matched, male C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control diet or a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.

Sexual dysfunction in psychiatric inpatients the role of antipsychotic medication.

Introduction: Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of antipsychotic medication. Although increased prolactin levels caused by antipsychotic agents are believed to play a major role with regard to sexual side effects, the underlying mechanism of antipsychotic agent-induced sexual dysfunction remains poorly understood.

Methods: In a multicentric study 587 psychiatric inpatients were assessed by means of a self-rating sexual questionnaire.

Altered role of smooth muscle endothelin receptors in coronary endothelin-1 and alpha1-adrenoceptor-mediated vasoconstriction in Type 2 diabetes.

Regulation of vascular tone and blood flow involves interactions between numerous local and systemic vascular control signals, many of which are altered by Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Vascular responses to endothelin-1 (ET-1) are mediated by endothelin type A (ET(A)) and type B (ET(B)) receptors that have been implicated in cross talk with alpha(1)-adrenoceptors (alpha(1)-AR). ET(A) and ET(B) receptor expression and plasma ET-1 levels are elevated in T2D; however, whether this influences coronary alpha(1)-AR function has not been examined.

Butterbur root extract and music therapy in the prevention of childhood migraine: an explorative study.

Background: Migraine is very common in school-aged children, but despite a number of pharmacological and non-pharmacological options for prophylaxis, randomized controlled evidence in children is small. Evidence-based prophylactic drugs may have considerable side effects.

Objective: This study was to assess efficacy of a butterbur root extract (Petadolex) and music therapy in primary school children with migraine.

Intra-individual reaction time variability in schizophrenia, depression and borderline personality disorder.

Intra-individual reaction time variability (IIV) in neuropsychological task performance reflects short term fluctuations in performance. Increased IIV has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and could be related to a deficient neural timing mechanism, but the role of IIV in adult patients with other psychiatric disorders has not been established. Therefore, we compared IIV measures obtained in a Go/Nogo task from patients with schizophrenia, major depression and borderline personality disorder.