CreZOO--the European virtual repository of Cre and other targeted conditional driver strains.

The CreZOO (http://www.crezoo.org/) is the European virtual repository of Cre and other targeted conditional driver strains.

Finding and sharing: new approaches to registries of databases and services for the biomedical sciences.

The recent explosion of biological data and the concomitant proliferation of distributed databases make it challenging for biologists and bioinformaticians to discover the best data resources for their needs, and the most efficient way to access and use them. Despite a rapid acceleration in uptake of syntactic and semantic standards for interoperability, it is still difficult for users to find which databases support the standards and interfaces that they need. To solve these problems, several groups are developing registries of databases that capture key metadata describing the biological scope, utility, accessibility, ease-of-use and existence of web services allowing interoperability between resources.

Mouse Resource Browser--a database of mouse databases.

The laboratory mouse has become the organism of choice for discovering gene function and unravelling pathogenetic mechanisms of human diseases through the application of various functional genomic approaches. The resulting deluge of data has led to the deployment of numerous online resources and the concomitant need for formalized experimental descriptions, data standardization, database interoperability and integration, a need that has yet to be met. We present here the Mouse Resource Browser (MRB), a database of mouse databases that indexes 217 publicly available mouse resources under 22 categories and uses a standardised database description framework (the CASIMIR DDF) to provide information on their controlled vocabularies (ontologies and minimum information standards), and technical information on programmatic access and data availability.

Models for financial sustainability of biological databases and resources.

Following the technological advances that have enabled genome-wide analysis in most model organisms over the last decade, there has been unprecedented growth in genomic and post-genomic science with concomitant generation of an exponentially increasing volume of data and material resources. As a result, numerous repositories have been created to store and archive data, organisms and material, which are of substantial value to the whole community. Sustained access, facilitating re-use of these resources, is essential, not only for validation, but for re-analysis, testing of new hypotheses and developing new technologies/platforms.

Activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B by corticotropin-releasing factor in human monocytes.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) exerts proinflammatory effects in peripheral tissues, whereas the intracellular pathways mediating these effects have not been completely characterized yet. We have previously shown that CRF induces nuclear factor-kappaB DNA-binding activity in mouse and human leukocytes. Here we demonstrate that in the human monocytic THP-1 cells, CRF activates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and ERK1/2 pathways.

Terbutaline inhibits corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) expression in human trophoblast cells.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of beta-adrenergic agonists on the regulation of the expression of the placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene.

Study Design: Term placentae were collected at the time of elective cesarean section, and trophoblast cells were harvested, isolated, and cultured. The isolated trophoblasts were plated, cultured and subsequently treated with cortisol, terbutaline, RU486, or vehicle control.

Role for prostaglandins in the regulation of type 1 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in human granulosa-lutein cells.

11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11betaHSD) enzymes regulate glucocorticoid availability in target tissues. 11betaHSD1 is the predominant isoenzyme expressed and active in human granulosa-lutein (hGL) cells. This study investigated the effects of pharmacological inhibitors of prostaglandin (PG) synthesis on 11betaHSD1 activities and expression in hGL cells.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone contributes to the peripheral inflammatory response in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Peripheral corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is thought to have proinflammatory effects. We used the model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) to study the role of CRH in an immune-mediated disease. We showed that CRH-deficient mice are resistant to EAE, with a decrease in clinical score as well as decreased cellular infiltration in the CNS.

Roles for prostaglandins in the steroidogenic response of human granulosa cells to high-density lipoproteins.

In human granulosa-lutein cells, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) can stimulate progesterone synthesis. The objective of the present study was to establish whether prostaglandins (PGs) participate in the steroidogenic response to HDL. Both HDL and apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) stimulated concentration-dependent increases in PGE2, cAMP and progesterone accumulation.

NF-kappaB participates in the corticotropin-releasing, hormone-induced regulation of the pituitary proopiomelanocortin gene.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone is a main regulator of mammalian stress response by stimulating pituitary proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene expression, and thus adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion, which then causes glucocorticoid release from the adrenal. In a recent study in the pituitary corticotroph cell line AtT20, oxidative stress stimulated the activity of nuclear transcription factor B (NF-kappaB), whereas corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) inhibited both the constitutive and the oxidative stress-induced NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity. To further investigate the role of NF-kappaB on the CRH-induced pituitary POMC gene activation, AtT20 cells were transiently transfected with a POMC-luciferase construct mutated at an NF-kappaB binding site.