Kishenehna prima, a new genus and species of darner dragonfly (Odonata, Aeshnidae, Gomphaeschninae) from the early middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation of Montana, USA.

We describe the darner dragonfly Kishenehna prima n. gen. and sp.

Cretaceous and Eocene fossils of the rare extant genus Synneuron Lundstrom (Diptera: Canthyloscledidae): evidence of a true Pangean clade.

The first two fossil species of the canthyloscelid genus Synneuron are described based on compression wings. Synneuron eomontana sp. nov.

Review of the fossil record of Bolitophilidae, with description of new taxa and discussion of position of Mangas Kovalev (Diptera: Sciaroidea).

The dipteran family Bolitophilidae, with the single extant genus Bolitophila, is a small family of mycophagous flies. In marked contrast to related families such as Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae, the family has a poor fossil record with no definite species assigned to the genus. In addition, the position of the extinct Cretaceous subfamily Mangasinae Kovalev, 1986 (described in Bolitophillidae) has been controversial and it has been suggested that species in this clade may belong to other sciaroid families.

A re-description of the fossil damselfly Eolestes syntheticus Cockerell, 1940 (Odonata: Zygoptera: Eolestidae n. fam.) with description of new taxa from the Eocene of North America.

The enigmatic species Eolestes syntheticus Cockerell, 1940, from the Early Eocene of North America, previously attributed to the lestoid family Synlestidae, is re-examined in light of the discovery of new material from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation in northwestern Montana. E. syntheticus and a new species, Eolestes ramosus sp.

Hemoglobin-derived porphyrins preserved in a Middle Eocene blood-engorged mosquito.

Although hematophagy is found in ~14,000 species of extant insects, the fossil record of blood-feeding insects is extremely poor and largely confined to specimens identified as hematophagic based on their taxonomic affinities with extant hematophagic insects; direct evidence of hematophagy is limited to four insect fossils in which trypanosomes and the malarial protozoan Plasmodium have been found. Here, we describe a blood-engorged mosquito from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation in Montana. This unique specimen provided the opportunity to ask whether or not hemoglobin, or biomolecules derived from hemoglobin, were preserved in the fossilized blood meal.

Compression fossil Mymaridae (Hymenoptera) from Kishenehn oil shales, with description of two new genera and review of Tertiary amber genera.

Compression fossils of three genera and six species of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are described from 46 million year old Kishenehn oil shales in Montana, USA. Two new genera are described: Eoeustochus Huber, gen. n.

Differentiating primary human cells in rapid-throughput discovery applications.

Primary cultures of human cells provide an increasingly important alternative to using virally transformed or otherwise immortalized cell lines or to using cloned cell lines derived from human or animal tumors. Advances in primary cell culture techniques, media formulations, and other reagents have enabled routine culture of primary cells derived from human tissues for biomedical research and drug discovery approaches such as high content screening. That primary cells retain the phenotypic characteristics of the original tissue is one main advantage over immortalized cell lines.

Tenofovir exhibits low cytotoxicity in various human cell types: comparison with other nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Clinical studies with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, an oral prodrug of the nucleotide analog tenofovir, recently approved for the treatment of HIV, have demonstrated antiviral activity and good tolerability in HIV-infected patients. In order to better understand the cytotoxicity profile of tenofovir relative to the other nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), the in vitro effects of these agents were evaluated in various human cell types. Tenofovir inhibited the proliferation of liver-derived HepG2 cells and normal skeletal muscle cells with CC(50) values of 398 and 870 microM, respectively.