Cell cycle arrest as a hallmark of insect diapause: changes in gene transcription during diapause induction in the drosophilid fly, Chymomyza costata.

The division cycle of CNS cells was arrested in G0/G1 (86.6%) and G2 (12.8%) phases in diapausing larvae of Chymomyza costata.

Strong purifying selection on the Odysseus gene in two clades of sibling species of the Drosophila montium species subgroup.

The Odysseus (OdsH) gene was duplicated from its ancestral neuron-expressed gene, unc-4, and then evolved very rapidly under strong positive Darwinian selection as a speciation gene causing hybrid-male sterility between closely related species of the Drosophila simulans clade. Has OdsH also experienced similar positive selection between Drosophila sibling species other than those of the simulans clade? We cloned and sequenced OdsH and unc-4 from two clades of the Drosophila montium species subgroup, the Drosophila lini and the Drosophila kikkawai clades. The ratios of Ka/Ks for OdsH were remarkably low between sibling species of these two clades, suggesting that OdsH has been subjected to strong purifying selection in these two clades.

Photoperiod-sensitive developmental delay in facet mutants of the drosophilid fly, Chymomyza costata and the genetic interaction with timeless.

Previously, we demonstrated that the biological clock gene, timeless (tim), is potentially involved in photoperiodic diapause induction in the larvae of the drosophilid fly Chymomyza costata. Suppression of tim transcription was inevitably associated with the loss of diapause induction even under diapause-promoting short-day conditions. In the present paper, I report a novel gene, facet (fa), which may genetically interact with tim in photoperiodically controlled larval development in this species.

Natural history of lumbar disc hernia with radicular leg pain: Spontaneous MRI changes of the herniated mass and correlation with clinical outcome.

A prospective sequential MRI study was done to investigate the morphologic changes of the lumbar disc hernia (LDH). We also studied the relationship between the MRI changes and the type of LDH and the clinical outcome. MRI was performed every 3 months from the onset for a maximum of 24 months in 42 patients with radicular leg pain and symptoms definitely diagnosed as caused by LDH.