Platelet response to serotonin in patients with stable coronary heart disease.

Patients with heart disease and depression have an increased mortality rate. Both behavioral and biologic factors have been proposed as potential etiologic mechanisms. Given that the pathophysiology of depression is considered to involve disruption in brain serotonergic signaling, we investigated platelet response to serotonin stimulation in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

The Dietary Supplement Protandim Decreases Plasma Osteopontin and Improves Markers of Oxidative Stress in Muscular Dystrophy Mdx Mice.

Therapeutic options for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common and lethal neuromuscular disorder in children, remain elusive. Oxidative damage is implicated as a pertinent factor involved in its pathogenesis. Protandim((R)) is an over-the-counter supplement with the ability to induce antioxidant enzymes.

Very mild stress of pregnant rats reduces volume and cell number in nucleus accumbens of adult offspring: some parallels to schizophrenia.

Pregnant rats subjected to very mild stress give birth to pups who, when examined as adults, exhibited behavioral and anatomical anomalies that resemble some aspects of schizophrenia. The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is reduced in volume by 20.7 +/- 3.

Practice patterns in haemophilia A therapy--a survey of treatment centres in the United States.

A survey was conducted to ascertain practice patterns for haemophilia A therapy in the United States. Questionnaire data were supplied by 52 haemophilia centres with a total of 4129 patients under treatment. Most participating centres were affiliated with academic/teaching hospitals or institutions.

Role of local contractile activity and muscle fiber type on LPL regulation during exercise.

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of local contractile activity on lipoprotein lipase (LPL) regulation in skeletal muscle. Short-term voluntary run training increased LPL mRNA concentration and LPL immunoreactive mass about threefold in white skeletal muscles of the rat hindlimb (all P < 0.01).

Stimulation of open complex formation by nicks and apurinic sites suggests a role for nucleation of DNA melting in Escherichia coli promoter function.

We report the effects of depurination and prenicking at various positions of the phage lambda prmup-1Delta265 promoter DNA on the rate of open complex formation. We have found that depurination and prenicking at positions around the -10 region strongly stimulated the rate of open complex formation. Since nicking and depurination are known to destabilize DNA helical structure, our observations indicate that the instability of the -10 region is important for open complex formation.

Characterization of the closed complex intermediate formed during transcription initiation by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase.

We have carried out detailed DNase I footprinting studies of the closed complex formed on the phage lambda prmup-1 Delta265 promoter under reaction conditions such that the contribution of the open complex to the footprint was negligible. Detailed quantification shows that the closed complex detected has the same binding constant as that determined in kinetic studies. The footprinting pattern of the closed complex shows major differences from that of the open complex.

Changing the mechanism of transcriptional activation by phage lambda repressor.

The first steps of transcription initiation include binding of RNA polymerase to a promoter to form an inactive, unstable, closed complex (described by an equilibrium constant, K(B)) and isomerization of the closed complex to an active, stable, open complex (described by a forward rate constant, k(f)). lambda cI protein activates the PRM promoter by specifically increasing k(f). A positive control mutant, cI-pc2, is defective for activation because it fails to raise k(f).

Antisense RNA control of gene expression in bacteriophage P22. II. Kinetic mechanism and cation specificity of the pairing reaction.

The bacteriophage P22 sar RNA-ant mRNA pairing reaction was characterized kinetically. The pairing reaction proceeds by a three-step pathway. First, reversible base pairs form between complementary hairpin loops in sar RNA and ant RNA (Kd = 270 nM).

Antisense RNA control of gene expression in bacteriophage P22. I. Structures of sar RNA and its target, ant mRNA.

Sar RNA is an antisense RNA that is partly responsible for the negative regulation of antirepressor synthesis during development of bacteriophage P22 (Liao SM et al., 1987, Genes & Dev 1:197-203; Wu Th, Liao SM, McClure WR, Susskind MM, Genes & Dev 1:204-212). The structures of sar RNA and its target, ant mRNA, were probed using limited RNase digestion as a function of Mg2+ concentration.

Good and bad models of market reform for managed care.

The author argues that free market competition has not been given a fair chance in the health care industry and that the basic characteristics of a sound market can be met in the United States if the problem of asymmetric information is efficiently addressed. He proposes the "Buy-Right" system as an effective model for market reform.

Identification of synaptophysin-like immunoreactivity in the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa).

Synaptophysin is a membrane protein of synaptic vesicles that serves as an antigenic marker for nervous and endocrine systems in mammals. Monoclonal antisera generated against synaptophysin were used for immunocytochemical staining in tissues of the tentacles of the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). Specific staining, visible at the light and electron microscope levels, was found in the tentacle.

Investigations of fetal development models for prenatal drug exposure and schizophrenia. Prenatal d-amphetamine effects upon early and late juvenile behavior in the rat.

Recent evidence suggests that mid-pregnancy is a critical period for production of fetal abnormalities that cause behavioral and neuropathological changes in adult offspring. The present experiments provide an animal model of these effects by treating pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats during gestational days 11-14 with d-amphetamine (AM). Offspring were tested for neurological signs, foraging activity, reversal learning, and sensitivity to amphetamine challenge.

Neurofilament-like immunoreactivity in the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa).

The neuronal cytoskeleton contains neurofilament proteins that serve as markers for nervous tissue in many species across phyla. Antiserum generated to mammalian neurofilaments was used for immunocytochemical staining of tissues in the sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). Specific staining, visible at the light and electron microscope levels, was found in the tissues of the tentacle.

Selective binding of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to topoisomers of minicircles carrying the TAC16 and TAC17 promoters.

We have studied the effect of DNA supercoiling on open complex formation by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase at the TAC16 and TAC17 promoters. A two-dimensional gel retardation assay was used to measure the relative rate of association between RNA polymerase and the TAC promoters on individual topoisomers. Plasmid DNAs usually have several promoters that complicate the analysis of RNA polymerase binding to only one of them.

The relationship of sweat gland count to electrodermal activity.

This study assessed whether greater skin conductance activity at the distal versus medial site (Scerbo, Freedman, Raine, Dawson, & Venables, 1992) is attributable to a greater number of active (open) sweat glands at the distal site. The number of sweat glands was measured using the Palmar Sweat Index (PSI). Twenty-four subjects were exposed to 10 auditory stimuli.

The effect of United States versus New Zealand Angus germplasm on characteristics of crossbred calves.

Blood selenium concentration at birth and growth from birth through finishing were analyzed on progeny from two birth years of Angus bulls of United States (US) or New Zealand (NZ) origin. Dams of the calves were Polled Hereford x Angus crossbreds whose sires had been selected divergently from the national sire summary to be superior (+) or inferior (-) for yearling weight EPD (G) and for total maternal effects (M) on weaning weight. There was no evidence of differences attributable to calf paternity or dam genetic group in concentration of blood selenium in calves at birth.

Purification and characterization of iotrochotin, a novel toxin from the Caribbean sponge Iotrochota birotulata, which selectively permeabilizes synaptosomes.

A protein termed iotrochotin (IOT) was isolated from the exudate of the Caribbean sponge Iotrochota birotulata using as an assay its stimulation of the release of radioactivity from synaptosomes preloaded with [3H]choline. Sephadex G-50 chromatography of the exudate produced one peak, with a mol. wt of approximately 18,000, which was further resolved into two active fractions by anion exchange chromatography.

Regulation of open complex formation at the Escherichia coli galactose operon promoters. Simultaneous interaction of RNA polymerase, gal repressor and CAP/cAMP.

The regulation of open complex formation at the Escherichia coli galactose operon promoters by galactose repressor and catabolite activator protein/cyclic AMP (CAP/cAMP) was investigated in DNA-binding and kinetic experiments performed in vitro. We found that gal repressor and CAP/cAMP bind to the gal regulatory region independently, resulting in simultaneous occupancy of the two gal operators and the CAP/cAMP binding site. Both CAP/cAMP and gal repressor altered the partitioning of RNA polymerase between the two overlapping gal promoters.

Health care reform under the 'Buy Right' strategy.

According to Walter McClure, Ph.D., the problem of high cost health insurance is not an insurance problem.

Competing promoters in prokaryotic transcription.

Two (or more) bacterial promoters are often found in close proximity, and may compete for the binding of RNA polymerase. These competing promoters have interesting characteristics in vitro and analysis of the competition should be valuable to kinetic studies of more complex transcription systems.

Variation among Angus cows in response to endophyte-infected fescue seed in the diet, as related to their past calf production.

Production of 18, 12-yr-old Angus cows was summarized as the averaged weaning weight deviations of each cow's calves from their like-aged, like-sexed and similarly managed contemporaries. These cows had spent a large part of their productive lives on pastures dominated by endophyte-infected tall fescue, so differences among them in calf production might have been induced partly by differences in susceptibility to fescue toxicosis. Cows were divided randomly into two groups for a 31-d summer feeding trial.

Searching for and predicting the activity of sites for DNA binding proteins: compilation and analysis of the binding sites for Escherichia coli integration host factor (IHF).

An analysis of the sequence information contained in a compilation of published binding sites for E. coli integration host factor (IHF) was performed. The sequences of twenty-seven IHF sites were aligned; the base occurrences at each position, the information content, and an extended consensus sequence were obtained for the IHF site.

Growth of crossbred progeny of polled Hereford sires divergently selected for yearling weight and maternal ability.

Polled Hereford sires (n = 47) were divergently selected on published yearling weight (YW) and maternal (MAT) expected progeny differences (EPD) and mated to grade Angus cows to produce 457 calves in five spring calf crops. Sires selected for high and low YW differed by an average of 6.3 kg in YW EPD and those selected for high and low MAT differed by an average of 4.