SPO71 mediates prospore membrane size and maturation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The mechanisms that control the size and shape of membranes are not well understood, despite the importance of these structures in determining organelle and cell morphology. The prospore membrane, a double lipid bilayer that is synthesized de novo during sporulation in S. cerevisiae, grows to surround the four meiotic products.

Differentiating Tower of Hanoi performance: interactive effects of psychopathic tendencies, impulsive response styles, and modality.

Previous research has demonstrated that performance on the computerized Tower of Hanoi is lower than performance on the manual Tower of Hanoi. The present study was conducted to elucidate potential factors that contribute to performance differences across modalities. Personality characteristics related to psychopathy and impulsive response styles were hypothesized to be correlates of poor performance on the computerized version of the Tower of Hanoi, which is a problem-solving task that requires working memory, planning, and inhibition.

SERPINA3 (aka alpha-1-antichymotrypsin).

Recent advances in proteomic, transcriptomic and genomic technologies have revealed much about the ACT protein and gene. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the structure and potential physiological roles of the ACT protein, catalogue the regulatory elements that have been implicated in expression of the ACT gene, describe its tissue-specific expression and list the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the gene that track ACT variability. The ACT gene has been implicated in a number of complex human disorders and its potential involvement as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease has been the subject of intensive research.

Effects of Alzheimer's peptide and alpha1-antichymotrypsin on astrocyte gene expression.

We employed gene array technology to investigate the effects of alpha1-antichymotrypsin (ACT), soluble or fibrillar Alzheimer's peptide (Abeta(1-42)) alone and the combination of ACT/Abeta(1-42) on human astrocytes. Using a 1.2-fold change as significance threshold, 398 astrocyte genes showed altered expression in response to these treatments compared to controls.

Positional cloning of a novel gene influencing asthma from chromosome 2q14.

Asthma is a common disease in children and young adults. Four separate reports have linked asthma and related phenotypes to an ill-defined interval between 2q14 and 2q32 (refs. 1-4), and two mouse genome screens have linked bronchial hyper-responsiveness to the region homologous to 2q14 (refs.

Demographic attributes of dispersing southern bog lemmings (Synaptomys cooperi) in eastern Kansas.

Demographic attributes of southern bog lemmings colonizing two removal grids were compared with those of residents on neighboring control grids over a two year period in eastern Kansas. There was a positive association between the number of lemmings colonizing the removal grids and density of the control grids. Overall, 41% of the losses from the two control grids was accounted for by dispersal.