Pain due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Is Associated with Deficit of the Endogenous Pain Inhibitory Control.

Objectives: Although pain is a common complication of the hypermobile type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, its underlying mechanisms are still an issue of controversy. In this psychophysical study, we aimed at testing small-fiber function and the endogenous pain inhibitory control in patients with pain due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Methods: In 22 patients with pain due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and 22 healthy participants, matched for age and sex, we tested small-fiber function using quantitative sensory testing and the endogenous pain inhibitory control using the conditioned pain modulation (CPM) protocol.

miRò: a miRNA knowledge base.

miRò is a web-based knowledge base that provides users with miRNA-phenotype associations in humans. It integrates data from various online sources, such as databases of miRNAs, ontologies, diseases and targets, into a unified database equipped with an intuitive and flexible query interface and data mining facilities. The main goal of miRò is the establishment of a knowledge base which allows non-trivial analysis through sophisticated mining techniques and the introduction of a new layer of associations between genes and phenotypes inferred based on miRNAs annotations.

DNA fingerprinting analysis by a PCR based method for monitoring the genotoxic effects of heavy metals pollution.

Environmental pollutants can have deleterious effects on living organisms. At high concentrations, or at high activities, they can cause acute toxicity damaging cells, tissues and organs. Chronic toxification, on the other hand, can also cause serious damage from bio-accumulation.

FOG1 and FOG2 genes, required for the transcriptional activation of glucose-repressible genes of Kluyveromyces lactis, are homologous to GAL83 and SNF1 of saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The fog1 and fog2 mutants of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis were identified by inability to grow on a number of both fermentable and non-fermentable carbon sources. Genetic and physiological evidences suggest a role for FOG1 and FOG2 in the regulation of glucose-repressible gene expression in response to a glucose limitation. The regulatory effect appears to be at the transcriptional level, at least for beta-galactosidase.

Factors related to drug consumption during pregnancy.

A survey on drug intake during pregnancy was carried out in a sample of 3268 women who delivered live-born infants in 11 hospitals located throughout Italy. A large questionnaire on drug use and other aspects of maternal life-style was administered within five days of delivery to 3112 women who consented to the interview. An overall mean consumption of 2.

[Effects of moderate maternal drinking on some neonatal parameters].

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2415 mother/newborn pairs, in order to evaluate the relationship between maternal alcohol consumption and birth weight. The results of this study are consistent with previous reports, that pointed out the casual relationship between maternal drinking during pregnancy, and reduction in birth weight. This reduction was evident only on the subset of smokers.

Allelism of IMP1 and GAL2 genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cloning and characterization of the previously described Saccharomyces cerevisiae IMP1 gene, which was assumed to be a nuclear determinant involved in the nucleomitochondrial control of the utilization of galactose, demonstrate allelism to the GAL2 gene. Galactose metabolism does not necessarily involve the induction of the specific transport system coded by GAL2/IMP1, because a null mutant takes up galactose and grows on it. Data on galactose uptake are presented, and the dependence on ATP for constitutive and inducible galactose transport is discussed.

IMP2, a nuclear gene controlling the mitochondrial dependence of galactose, maltose and raffinose utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The IMP2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is involved in the nucleo-mitochondrial control of maltose, galactose and raffinose utilization as shown by the inability of imp2 mutants to grow on these carbon sources in respiratory-deficient conditions or in the presence of ethidium bromide and erythromycin. The negative phenotype cannot be scored in the presence of inhibitors of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation, indicating that the role of the mitochondria in the utilization of the above-mentioned carbon sources in imp2 mutants is not at the energetical level. Mutations in the IMP2 gene also confer many phenotypic alterations in respiratory-sufficient conditions, e.

Germination of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ascospores without trehalose mobilization as revealed by in vivo 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ascospores germinate in the presence of acetate without any detectable trehalose degradation, as revealed by high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and by a standard colorimetric assay. The results presented here substantiate the hypothesis that in S. cerevisiae trehalose supplies energy during dormancy of the spores and not during the germination process.

The respiratory activities of four Hansenula species.

The respiratory activities and the cytochrome spectra from four species belonging to the genus Hansenula have been analysed. The results obtained and described in this paper show that H. glucozyma possesses only the primary, antimycin A-sensitive respiration, H.

Relationship between growth inhibition and mitochondrial function in petite-negative yeasts. II. Effects of central nervous system drugs upon pathogenic and non-pathogenic Candida species.

Six nervous system drugs which inhibited vegetative reproduction of S. cerevisiae arrested also mitotic division of C. utilis, C.

Relationship between growth inhibition and mitochondrial function in petite-negative yeasts. I. Effects of antibiotics and dyes upon pathogenic and non-pathogenic Candida species.

Antibiotics and dyes which preclude growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in media containing oxidizable carbon sources arrested the growth of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Candida utilis even in glucose medium. The growth in the presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of the various antibiotics and dyes determined a reduction in the cell survival but with no accumulation of respiratory deficient mutants. Under these culture conditions, the total respiration declined leaving a residual antimycin A-resistant--hydroxamate-sensitive O2 uptake, and the amount of the respiratory cytochromes aa3 and b synthesized was reduced.

ALG/alg: a single gene controlling the utilization of lactate in the presence of antimycin in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A strain dependent growth on lactate in the presence of antimycin A (AA) has been observed - the strain D261 can grow on lactate and AA, whereas in the strain K8/6C antimycin A prevents the utilization of lactate and the induction of LDH.Genetic analysis demonstrates that growth on lactate in the presence of AA segregates from D261 as a single nuclear factor which we indicate by ALG1 and alg1 in its dominant and recessive states. alg1 complements the gene(s) which give(s) rise to the same phenotype in K8/6C.

Involvement of mitochondrial protein synthesis in sporulation: effects of erythromycin on macromolecular synthesis, meiosis, and ascospore formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cells of strain Z270 (MAT alpha/MAT alpha) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae did not undergo ascospore formation in buffered or unbuffered acetate sporulation medium in the presence of erythromycin. The drug inhibited sporulation when added within the first 6 to 8 h and affected to different extents some of the metabolic and sporulation-specific events that normally occur during this period. In sporulation medium, protein synthesis was highly sensitive to erythromycin, whereas RNA synthesis was unaffected and premeiotic DNA synthesis was partially inhibited.

The role of the nuclear gene "mitochondrial mutability control" (MMC1) in the process of mutability of the mitochondrial genome by different mutagens in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The accumulation of respiratory deficient (RD) mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae depended upon the mutagens used and upon the presence of the nuclear gene previously identified as MMC1 (one) which we showed to control the spontaneous and the erythromycin-induced RD mutability. In this paper data are reported about the accumulation of RD mutants in the presence of manganous ions (Mn++) and UV which was higher in the mmc1 (one) than in MMC1 strains. We found that the characters 'low spontaneous' and 'low induced' RD mutability by erythromycin, manganous ions and UV, were controlled by the same genetic determinant.

Erythromycin and cycloheximide sensitivities of protein and RNA Synthesis in sporulating cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Environmentally induced modifications controlled by chromosomal and mitochondrial genes.

The purpose of the experiments reported below was to examine the response in sporulation medium of the three diploid cell types MATα MATα, MATα MATα (asporogenic diploids) and MATα MATα (sporogenic diploid) to erythromycin, a specific inhibitor of mitochondrial protein synthesis (MPS) in vegetative cultures, and cycloheximide, a specific inhibitor of cytosol protein synthesis (CPS) in vegetative cultures. When MATα MATα diploids are transferred to sporulation medium a significant fraction of total protein synthesis (CPS + MPS) becomes sensitive to erythromycin in contrast to the behavior of MATa MATa and MATα MATα diploids in which the resistance of CPS to erythromycin is maintained. The decompartmentalization of erythromycin sensitivity is thus cell type specific.

Computer-assisted karyotyping system of banded chromosomes.

The banding automatic system (BAS) we describe in this paper is a computer-assisted karyotyping system suitable for the analysis of both normal and abnormal karyotypes in banded chromosome specimens. In the BAS system recognition of the various features and constituents of the chromosomes is performed by an operator, whereas chromosome identification and classification are entrusted to a computer. The connection between operator and computer is the CYGEN1 program, which is tailored to distinguish chromosome morphology on the basis of the operator input band patterns alone.

Effect of chloramphenicol, antimycin A and hydroxamate on the morphogenetic development of the dimorphic ascomycete Endomycopsis capsularis.

Mitochondrial protein synthesis, primary (antimycin-sensitive) respiration and secondary (antimycin-insensitive, salicyl-hydroxamate-sensitive) respiration, have been characterized in the dimorphic yeast Endomycopsis capsularis. The inhibition by chloramphenicol (CAP) of the morphogenetic development from the yeast-like form to the mycelial structure in this yeast could represent the intervention in the morphogenetic process of mitochondrial protein synthesis, since chloramphenicol blocks in vivo and in vitro mitochondrial protein synthesis. In fact, other functions such as primary and secondary respiration, do not seem to play a role in the morphogenetic development since their inhibition by antimycin A (AA) or by salicyl-hydroxamic acid (SHAM) does not affect the process.

IMP1/imp1: a gene involved in the nucleo-mitochondrial control of galactose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In some strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the induction of enzymes of the Leloir pathway, galactose fermentation and growth on galactose depend on mitochondrial function; mitochondrial dependence is elicited through the recessive allele imp1 of the nuclear gene IMP1. The genetic element IMP1 is not allelic to any of the known GAL genes; IMP1 strains can grow on and ferment galactose in respiratory-deficient (RD) condition or in the presence of the mitochondrial inhibitors ethidium bromide and erythromycin; whereas, imp1 strains can grow on and ferment galactose only in respiratory-sufficient (RS) condition. The imp1 elicited mitochondrial dependence apparently involves regulation of the synthesis of the galactose catabolizing enzymes and synthesis of the galactose specific permease.

Analysis of rho mutability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I. Effects of mmc and pet-ts alleles.

Two additional types of nuclear determinants involved in the control of spontaneous mutability of rho in S. cerevisiae have been identified: mmc and the pet-ts 1, 2, 10, 52 and 53 genes. These genes in their mutated recessive form increase at various extents the number of respiratory deficient cytoplasmic "petite" mutants accumulated.

Different phenotypes for the lactose utilization system in Kluyveromyces and Saccharomyces species.

Analysis of the system for the utilization of lactose in some strains of yeasts belonging to the genera Kluyveromyces and Saccharomyces revealed the occurrence of several genetic variants, corresponding to mutants expected on the basis of the model of Jacob and Monod for the lac system in E. coli. These results could be useful in the taxonomic analysis and in the phylogenetic evaluation of the Saccharomycetaceae.