Animal-assisted Interventions as an Adjunct to ABA Services: Clinician Practices and Perceptions.

Although the popularity of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) continues to increase, an examination of these practices among clinician populations that may incorporate AAI in their clinical services are largely absent from the literature. This study examined the practices and desirability of incorporating animals into ABA services. A total of 544 ABA clinicians completed a web-based survey.

The E5 gene product of rhesus papillomavirus is an activator of endogenous Ras and phosphatidylinositol-3'-kinase in NIH 3T3 cells.

We examined the effect of two rhesus papillomavirus 1 (RhPV) oncogenes on cytokine-induced signal transduction pathways leading to the possible activation of Ras protein (p21ras) and phosphatidylinositol kinase. p21ras in both the activated (GTP-bound) and inactivated (GDP-bound) states were quantitated. NIH 3T3 cell lines expressing the RhPV 1 E5 gene or epidermal growth factor receptor cDNA had about a sixfold higher ratio of p21ras-bound GTP to p21ras-bound GDP as compared with parental NIH 3T3 cells or a cell line expressing the RhPV 1 E7 gene under normal culture conditions, yet expressed similar levels of p21ras.

The expression levels of the human papillomavirus type 16 E7 correlate with its transforming potential.

The transforming potential of the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 has been defined largely in the E7, E6, and E5 oncoproteins, with the major transforming capability residing in the E7 gene. In this paper, we found that in cooperation with the activated ras, the HPV16 E7 gene when expressed in a retroviral vector could fully transform baby rat kidney (BRK) cells in transfections, whereas the same construct could only immortalize the BRK cells following retroviral infection. This inability to transform correlated with the low levels of E7 gene RNA expression in the viral infected cells, which harbor a lower number of copies of the E7 gene constructs.

The E6 gene of human papillomavirus type 16 is sufficient for transformation of baby rat kidney cells in cotransfection with activated Ha-ras.

The transforming potential of the E6 open reading frame (ORF) of the human papillomavirus type 16 was investigated with transformation assays in cotransfections with an activated ras gene. The E6 ORF driven by the heterologous CMV promoter could fully transform baby rat kidney cells (BRK) in cooperation with ras. The transformed cells grew in soft agar and induced tumors in athymic nude mice.

Cellular transformation by a unique isolate of human papillomavirus type 11.

Infection with human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV 11) is associated with benign epithelial proliferations and rarely with malignant and metastasizing tumors. Because of the biological diversity displayed in tissues infected with HPV 11, we have examined the capacity of various isolates of HPV 11 to transform cultured cells and compared their molecular differences by DNA sequence analysis. Five isolates of HPV 11 were examined for their ability to transform primary neonatal rat kidney epithelial cells and NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts in DNA transfection experiments using calcium phosphate precipitation.