Static and Dynamic Accuracy and Occlusion Robustness of SteamVR Tracking 2.0 in Multi-Base Station Setups.

The tracking of objects and person position, orientation, and movement is relevant for various medical use cases, e.g., practical training of medical staff or patient rehabilitation.

Quality of life and clinical characteristics of self-improving congenital ichthyosis within the disease spectrum of autosomal-recessive congenital ichthyosis.

Background: Autosomal-recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) is a heterogeneous group of ichthyoses presenting at birth. Self-improving congenital ichthyosis (SICI) is a subtype of ARCI and is diagnosed when skin condition improves remarkably (within years) after birth. So far, there are sparse data on SICI and quality of life (QoL) in this ARCI subtype.

Mutation update for CYP4F22 variants associated with autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis.

Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) is a heterogeneous group of rare disorders of keratinization characterized by generalized abnormal scaling of the skin. Ten genes are currently known to be associated with ARCI: TGM1, ALOXE3, ALOX12B, NIPAL4 (ICHTHYIN), ABCA12, CYP4F22, PNPLA1, CERS3, SDR9C7, and SULT2B1. Over a period of 22 years, we have studied a large patient cohort from 770 families with a clinical diagnosis of ARCI.

Does Context Matter? Convergent and Divergent Findings in the Cross-Institutional Evaluation of Graduate Teaching Assistant Professional Development Programs.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play important instructional roles in introductory science courses, yet they often have little training in pedagogy. The most common form of teaching professional development (PD) for GTAs is a presemester workshop held at the course, department, or college level. In this study, we compare the effectiveness of presemester workshops at three northeastern research universities, each of which incorporated scientific teaching as the pedagogical content framework.

XGef influences XRINGO/CDK1 signaling and CPEB activation during Xenopus oocyte maturation.

CPEB-mediated polyadenylation-induced translation of several developmentally important mRNAs drives Xenopus laevis oocyte meiotic progression and production of fertilizable eggs. To date, the signal transduction events that induce CPEB activation remain somewhat unclear, however, XGef has been shown to be involved in this process. P42 MAPK (ERK2) activity and XRINGO accumulation are also required for the activating phosphorylation of CPEB.

MAPK interacts with XGef and is required for CPEB activation during meiosis in Xenopus oocytes.

Meiotic progression in Xenopus oocytes, and all other oocytes investigated, is dependent on polyadenylation-induced translation of stockpiled maternal mRNAs. Early during meiotic resumption, phosphorylation of CPE-binding protein (CPEB) is required for polyadenylation-induced translation of mRNAs encoding cell cycle regulators. Xenopus Gef (XGef), a Rho-family guanine-exchange factor, influences the activating phosphorylation of CPEB.

XGef mediates early CPEB phosphorylation during Xenopus oocyte meiotic maturation.

Polyadenylation-induced translation is an important regulatory mechanism during metazoan development. During Xenopus oocyte meiotic progression, polyadenylation-induced translation is regulated by CPEB, which is activated by phosphorylation. XGef, a guanine exchange factor, is a CPEB-interacting protein involved in the early steps of progesterone-stimulated oocyte maturation.

XGef is a CPEB-interacting protein involved in Xenopus oocyte maturation.

XGef was isolated in a screen for proteins interacting with CPEB, a regulator of mRNA translation in early Xenopus development. XGef is a Rho-family guanine nucleotide exchange factor and activates Cdc42 in mammalian cells. Endogenous XGef (58 kDa) interacts with recombinant CPEB, and recombinant XGef interacts with endogenous CPEB in Xenopus oocytes.

Differential processing of the Xenopus ATP(CTP):tRNA nucleotidyltransferase mRNA.

The ATP(CTP):tRNA nucleotidyltransferase (CCA-adding enzyme) adds CCA to the 3(') end of immature or damaged tRNAs. It is reported on here the cloning, expression analysis, and functional characterization of the Xenopus CCA-adding enzyme, XCCA (GenBank Accession #AF466151). It is demonstrated that XCCA adds cytosine and adenosine residues to the ends of prepared tRNA and is therefore a functional CCA-adding enzyme.

Weekly docetaxel and estramustine in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

The combination of docetaxel and estramustine has exhibited synergistic activity both in prostate cancer cell lines and in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Based on these promising preclinical and phase I/II data, we conducted a study of weekly docetaxel and estramustine in patients with metastatic HRPC and a poor performance status. A total of 30 patients received (1) a 3-day course of oral estramustine during weeks 1 and 2 of each 3-week cycle plus (2) docetaxel, 35 mg/m(2) intravenously on day 2 of weeks 1 and 2.

Differences in arginine vasotocin gene transcripts and cortisol secretion in trout with high or low endogenous melanin-concentrating hormone secretion.

Previous studies on trout suggest that melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) acts at both hypothalamic and pituitary levels to restrain the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone and hence cortisol during stress. Using in situ hybridization, the present work examined whether high rates of MCH secretion were associated with changes in the synthesis of arginine vasotocin (AVT), one of the corticotropin secretogogues. It also examined whether high endogenous MCH secretion restrains cortisol secretion during intense as well as mild stress, and how exogenous MCH affects the rise in plasma cortisol following injection stress.

CPEB degradation during Xenopus oocyte maturation requires a PEST domain and the 26S proteasome.

Cytoplasmic poly(A) elongation is widely utilized during the early development of many organisms as a mechanism for translational activation. Targeting of mRNAs for this mechanism requires the presence of a U-rich element, the cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE), and its binding protein, CPEB. Blocking cytoplasmic polyadenylation by interfering with the CPE or CPEB prevents the translational activation of mRNAs that are crucial for oocyte maturation.

The effects of acute and chronic stresses on vasotocin gene transcripts in the brain of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the fish pituitary, which occurs in times of stress, is stimulated by several hypothalamic neuropeptides, one of which is arginine vasotocin (AVT). This study investigates whether gene expression for AVT is up-regulated during acute or chronic stress. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were subjected to one of two forms of acute stress-either 2 h confinement followed by 2 h recovery, or capture and transfer to low water for 2 min followed by 4 h recovery in their home tank before autopsy.

Translation of a unique transcript for protein isoaspartyl methyltransferase in haploid spermatids: implications for protein storage and repair.

The mammalian testis contains high levels of a protein, L-isoaspartyl (D-aspartyl) O-methyltransferase (PIMT), postulated to play a role in the repair of age-damaged proteins. To examine the regulation of PIMT concentrations during the development of spermatozoa, poly(A)+ RNA was isolated from purified populations of pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids. Northern blot analysis revealed that a unique 1.

Phosphorylation of CPE binding factor by Eg2 regulates translation of c-mos mRNA.

Full-grown Xenopus oocytes arrest at the G2/M border of meiosis I. Progesterone breaks this arrest, leading to the resumption of the meiotic cell cycles and maturation of the oocyte into a fertilizable egg. In these oocytes, progesterone interacts with an unidentified surface-associated receptor, which induces a non-transcriptional signalling pathway that stimulates the translation of dormant c-mos messenger RNA.

The clam 3' UTR masking element-binding protein p82 is a member of the CPEB family.

During early development gene expression is controlled principally at the translational level. Oocytes of the surf clam Spisula solidissima contain large stockpiles of maternal mRNAs that are translationally dormant or masked until meiotic maturation. Activation of the oocyte by fertilization leads to translational activation of the abundant cyclin and ribonucleotide reductase mRNAs at a time when they undergo cytoplasmic polyadenylation.

Specificity of RNA binding by CPEB: requirement for RNA recognition motifs and a novel zinc finger.

CPEB is an RNA binding protein that interacts with the maturation-type cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE) (consensus UUUUUAU) to promote polyadenylation and translational activation of maternal mRNAs in Xenopus laevis. CPEB, which is conserved from mammals to invertebrates, is composed of three regions: an amino-terminal portion with no obvious functional motif, two RNA recognition motifs (RRMs), and a cysteine-histidine region that is reminiscent of a zinc finger. In this study, we investigated the physical properties of CPEB required for RNA binding.

CPEB controls the cytoplasmic polyadenylation of cyclin, Cdk2 and c-mos mRNAs and is necessary for oocyte maturation in Xenopus.

Cytoplasmic polyadenylation is a key mechanism controlling maternal mRNA translation in early development. In most cases, mRNAs that undergo poly(A) elongation are translationally activated; those that undergo poly(A) shortening are deactivated. Poly(A) elongation is regulated by two cis-acting sequences in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of responding mRNAs, the polyadenylation hexanucleotide AAUAAA and the U-rich cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE).

CPEB is a specificity factor that mediates cytoplasmic polyadenylation during Xenopus oocyte maturation.

The translational activation of several maternal mRNAs during Xenopus oocyte maturation is stimulated by cytoplasmic poly(A) elongation, which requires the uridine-rich cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE) and the hexanucleotide AAUAAA. Here, we have enriched a CPE-binding protein (CPEB) by single-step RNA affinity chromatography, have obtained a CPEB cDNA, and have assessed the role of CPEB in cytoplasmic polyadenylation. The 62 kDa CPEB contains two RNA recognition motifs, and within this region, it is 62% identical to orb, an oocyte-specific RNA-binding protein from Drosophila.

The genes encoding the somatic and testis-specific isotypes of the mouse cytochrome c genes map to paralogous regions of chromosomes 6 and 2.

Using mouse probes specific to cytochrome cs and to cytochrome cT, the single-copy genes encoding these two proteins have been mapped to paralogous chromosomal regions by analysis of restriction fragment length variants in interspecific crosses. The gene for cytochrome cs, Cycs, maps to a position between Tcrb and Cbl-1 on proximal mouse Chromosome 6, and the gene for cytochrome cT, Cyct, maps between Gad-1 and Sfpi-1 on mouse Chromosome 2.