Role of acetyl coenzyme A synthesis and breakdown in alternative carbon source utilization in Candida albicans.

Acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) is the central intermediate of the pathways required to metabolize nonfermentable carbon sources. Three such pathways, i.e.

Adjuvant perioperative portal vein or peripheral intravenous chemotherapy for potentially curative colorectal cancer: long-term results of a randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aims: The perioperative use of a single course adjuvant portal vein infusion chemotherapy in patients with potentially curable colorectal cancer has been shown to significantly improve overall survival but did not reduce the occurrence of liver metastases (SAKK 40/81) [Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) Lancet 345(8946):349-353, 1995]. The objective of the present prospective, three-arm randomized multicenter trial was to assess whether peripheral venous administration of adjuvant chemotherapy regimen based on 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and mitomycin C decreases the occurrence of liver metastases as well as prolongs disease-free and overall survival.

Materials And Methods: Stages I-III colorectal cancer patients (n = 753) were randomized to receive either surgery alone (control arm), surgery plus postoperative portal venous infusion of 5-FU 500 mg/m(2) plus heparin given for 24 hours for seven consecutive days plus mitomycin C 10 mg/m(2) given on the first day (arm 2), or surgery and the same chemotherapy regimen administered by peripheral venous route (arm 3).

Rosiglitazone reduces renal and plasma markers of oxidative injury and reverses urinary metabolite abnormalities in the amelioration of diabetic nephropathy.

Recent studies suggest that thiazolidinediones ameliorate diabetic nephropathy (DN) independently of their effect on hyperglycemia. In the current study, we confirm and extend these findings by showing that rosiglitazone treatment prevented the development of DN and reversed multiple markers of oxidative injury in DBA/2J mice made diabetic by low-dose streptozotocin. These diabetic mice developed a 14.

Development of a multipurpose ion source for LC-MS and GC-API MS.

Over the past decade, multimode ion sources operating at atmospheric pressure (i.e., more than one ionization method is operative in the ion source enclosure) have received considerable interest.

Energetics of embryonic development: effects of temperature on egg and hatchling composition in a butterfly.

Phenotypic plasticity may allow an organism to adjust its phenotype to environmental needs. However, little is known about environmental effects on offspring biochemical composition and turnover rates, including energy budgets and developmental costs. Using the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana and employing a full-factorial design with two oviposition and two developmental temperatures, we explore the consequences of temperature variation on egg and hatchling composition, and the associated use and turnover of energy and egg compounds.

Effects of temperature on reproductive output, egg provisioning, juvenile hormone and vitellogenin titres in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana.

Environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity is common in nature. Hormones, affecting multiple traits and signaling to a variety of distant target tissues, provide a mechanistic link between environments, genes and trait expression, and may therefore well be involved in the regulation phenotypic plasticity. Here, we investigate whether in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana temperature-mediated plasticity in egg size and number, with fewer but larger eggs produced at lower temperatures and vice versa, is under control of juvenile hormone, and whether different temperatures cause differences in egg composition.

Adult nutrition and butterfly fitness: effects of diet quality on reproductive output, egg composition, and egg hatching success.

Background: In the Lepidoptera it was historically believed that adult butterflies rely primarily on larval-derived nutrients for reproduction and somatic maintenance. However, recent studies highlight the complex interactions between storage reserves and adult income, and that the latter may contribute significantly to reproduction. Effects of adult diet were commonly assessed by determining the number and/or size of the eggs produced, whilst its consequences for egg composition and offspring viability were largely neglected (as is generally true for insects).

Synthesis of fluorescent polyisoprene nanoparticles and their uptake into various cells.

Fluorescent polyisoprene nanoparticles were synthesized by the miniemulsion technique as marker particles for cells. The uptake of the non-functionalized polyisoprene nanoparticles, without any transfection agents, into different adherent (HeLa) and also suspension (Jurkat) cell lines is strikingly efficient and fast compared to other polymeric particles, and leads to high loading of the cells. The intracellular polyisoprene particles are localized as single particles in endosomes distributed throughout the entire cytoplasm.

An evidence-based medicine approach in determining factors that may affect outcome in lumbar total disc replacement.

Study Design: Literature research.

Objective: To analyze the available evidence about a variety of factors that might affect outcome of lumbar artificial disc replacement.

Summary Of Background Data: Evaluating the scientific merit of new technology is important for a clinician considering incorporating these techniques.

Effects of the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 on female reproduction and juvenile hormone biosynthesis in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus and the butterfly Bicyclus anynana.

Apart from regulating insect development, juvenile hormones (JHs) play an important role in insect reproduction, where they initiate vitellogenin synthesis and regulate the uptake of yolk by the ovary. JH synthesis is a tightly regulated process controlled by neurons and peptidergic neurosecretory cells. One of the known stimulatory regulators of JH biosynthesis is glutamate, and its N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been recently found in the cockroach Diploptera punctata.

Positive inotropic effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) involve activation of Na+/H+ and Na+/Ca2+ exchangers.

Background: There is evidence that the tea catechin epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) modulates myocardial contractility. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined.

Aims: To study potential signalling pathways involved in EGCG-induced contractile parameters.

Critical loads and their exceedances at intensive forest monitoring sites in Europe.

Intensive forest monitoring by means of harmonised methods has been conducted in Europe for more than a decade. Risks of atmospheric nitrogen and sulphur deposition are assessed by means of calculations of critical loads and their exceedances. In the present study throughfall and bulk deposition of nitrate (N-NO(3)), ammonium (N-NH(4)) and sulphate (S-SO(4)) show marked spatial patterns and temporal trends.

Deployment of the encapsulation-dehydration protocol to cryopreserve microalgae held at the Sammlung von Algenkulturen, Universitat Gottingen, Germany.

Encapsulation-dehydration was applied to cryopreserve 14 diverse algal strains, representing eukaryotic terrestrial microalgae; of these 12 survived to form cell colonies after recovery from cryostorage. Surviving algae had varying degrees of tolerance to osmotic dehydration and desiccation in this vitrification-based cryoprotective strategy. The extent of algal regrowth was affected by the mode of desiccation (silica gel or air-flow), the duration of evaporative desiccation and exposure to light during early recovery phase.

Characteristics of catechin- and theaflavin-mediated cardioprotection.

Catechins and theaflavins-the main polyphenolic substances of green and black tea, respectively-exert a plethora of beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. In a model of H(2)O(2)-mediated oxidative stress, we investigated the effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and theaflavin-3,3'-digallate (TF3) on neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Pretreatment with EGCG or TF3 1 hr prior to induction of oxidative stress by H(2)O(2) effectively protected cardiac myocytes as determined by measuring release of lactate dehydrogenase after 24 hrs.

Spatial fluctuations of optical emission from single ZnO/MgZnO nanowire quantum wells.

MgZnO/ZnO quantum wells on top of ZnO nanowires were grown by pulsed laser deposition. Ensembles of spatially fluctuating and narrow cathodoluminescence peaks with single widths down to 1 meV were found at the spectral position of the quantum well emission at 4 K. In addition, the number of these narrow QW peaks increases with increasing excitation power in micro-photoluminescence, thus pointing to quantum-dot-like emission centers.

What is the correlation of in vivo wear and damage patterns with in vitro TDR motion response?

Study Design: This study combined the evaluation of retrieved total disc replacements (TDRs) with a biomechanical study using human lumbar spines. Thirty-eight CHARITE TDRs were retrieved from 32 patients after 7.3 years average implantation.

RhoA/ROCK-mediated switching between Cdc42- and Rac1-dependent protrusion in MTLn3 carcinoma cells.

Rho GTPases are versatile regulators of cell shape that act on the actin cytoskeleton. Studies using Rho GTPase mutants have shown that, in some cells, Rac1 and Cdc42 regulate the formation of lamellipodia and filopodia, respectively at the leading edge, whereas RhoA mediates contraction at the rear of moving cells. However, recent reports have described a zone of RhoA/ROCK activation at the front of cells undergoing motility.

Carboxylated superparamagnetic iron oxide particles label cells intracellularly without transfection agents.

Cell labeling by superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO) has emerged as a potentially powerful tool to monitor trafficking of transplanted cells by magnetic resonance tomography, e.g., in studies for tissue repair.

Protein disulfide isomerase acts as an injury response signal that enhances fibrin generation via tissue factor activation.

The activation of initiator protein tissue factor (TF) is likely to be a crucial step in the blood coagulation process, which leads to fibrin formation. The stimuli responsible for inducing TF activation are largely undefined. Here we show that the oxidoreductase protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) directly promotes TF-dependent fibrin production during thrombus formation in vivo.

Carnitine acetyltransferases are required for growth on non-fermentable carbon sources but not for pathogenesis in Candida albicans.

Carbon starvation is a significant stress encountered by the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans, and mutations in several pathways required to assimilate non-fermentable carbon sources attenuate virulence. These pathways -- beta-oxidation, the glyoxylate cycle and gluconeogenesis -- are compartmentalized in the fungal cell between the peroxisome, mitochondria and cytosol; thus, the cell must transport key intermediates between these organelles. Transport of acetyl-CoA, a particularly important intermediate of carbon metabolism, is catalysed by membrane-associated carnitine acetyltransferases (CATs).

SLIC-1/sorting nexin 20: a novel sorting nexin that directs subcellular distribution of PSGL-1.

P-Selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) is a mucin-like glycoprotein expressed on the surface of leukocytes that serves as the major ligand for the selectin family of adhesion molecules and functions in leukocyte tethering and rolling on activated endothelium and platelets. Previous studies have implicated the highly conserved cytoplasmic domain of PSGL-1 in regulating outside-in signaling of integrin activation. However, molecules that physically and functionally interact with this domain are not completely defined.

The distribution of ion acceptance in atmospheric pressure ion sources: spatially resolved APLI measurements.

It is demonstrated that spatially resolved mass selected analysis using atmospheric pressure laser ionization mass spectrometry (APLI MS) represents a new powerful tool for mechanistic studies of ion-molecule chemistry occurring within atmospheric pressure (AP) ion sources as well as for evaluation and optimization of ion source performance. A focused low-energy UV laser beam is positioned computer controlled orthogonally on a two-dimensional grid in the ion source enclosure. Resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) of selected analytes occurs only within the confined volume of the laser beam.

Role of heme in the antifungal activity of the azaoxoaporphine alkaloid sampangine.

Sampangine, a plant-derived alkaloid found in the Annonaceae family, exhibits strong inhibitory activity against the opportunistic fungal pathogens Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Aspergillus fumigatus. In the present study, transcriptional profiling experiments coupled with analyses of mutants were performed in an effort to elucidate its mechanism of action. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism, we show that sampangine produces a transcriptional response indicative of hypoxia, altering the expression of genes known to respond to low-oxygen conditions.

CTA4 transcription factor mediates induction of nitrosative stress response in Candida albicans.

This work has identified regulatory elements in the major fungal pathogen Candida albicans that enable response to nitrosative stress. Nitric oxide (NO) is generated by macrophages of the host immune system and commensal bacteria, and the ability to resist its toxicity is one adaptation that promotes survival of C. albicans inside the human body.

Cerebrovascular responses to incremental exercise during hypobaric hypoxia: effect of oxygenation on maximal performance.

We sought to describe cerebrovascular responses to incremental exercise and test the hypothesis that changes in cerebral oxygenation influence maximal performance. Eleven men cycled in three conditions: 1) sea level (SL); 2) acute hypoxia [AH; hypobaric chamber, inspired Po(2) (Pi(O(2))) 86 Torr]; and 3) chronic hypoxia [CH; 4,300 m, Pi(O(2)) 86 Torr]. At maximal work rate (W(max)), fraction of inspired oxygen (Fi(O(2))) was surreptitiously increased to 0.