Cellular attachment of viruses determines their cell tropism and species specificity. For entry, vaccinia, the prototypic poxvirus, relies on four binding proteins and an eleven-protein entry fusion complex. The contribution of the individual virus binding proteins to virion binding orientation and membrane fusion is unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn normal anatomy, the kidneys and adrenal glands are contained within the renal fascia and separated by a connective tissue capsule derived from mesenchymal tissue. Incomplete encapsulation can occur during embryonic development, resulting in adrenal-renal fusion. The true incidence of this developmental anomaly is unknown, as it has primarily been described in the literature following incidental detection on surgical or histological examination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMechanistic differences in the development and function of adaptive, high-affinity antibody-producing B-2 cells and innate-like, "natural" antibody-producing B-1a cells remain poorly understood. Here we show that the multi-functional dynein light chain (DYNLL1/LC8) plays important roles in the establishment of B-1a cells in the peritoneal cavity and in the ongoing development of B-2 lymphoid cells in the bone marrow of mice. Epistasis analyses indicate that Dynll1 regulates B-1a and early B-2 cell development in a single, linear pathway with its direct transcriptional activator ASCIZ (ATMIN/ZNF822), and that the two genes also have complementary functions during late B-2 cell development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHow MYC promotes the development of cancer remains to be fully understood. Here, we report that the Zn(2+)-finger transcription factor ASCIZ (ATMIN, ZNF822) synergizes with MYC to activate the expression of dynein light chain (DYNLL1, LC8) in the murine Eμ-Myc model of lymphoma. Deletion of Asciz or Dynll1 prevented the abnormal expansion of pre-B cells in pre-cancerous Eμ-Myc mice and potentiated the pro-apoptotic activity of MYC in pre-leukemic immature B cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFI raise several concerns with Earp and colleagues' analysis of enhancement through neurochemical modulation of love as a key issue in contemporary neuroethics. These include: (i) strengthening their deflation of medicalization concerns by showing how the objection that love should be left outside of the scope of medicine would directly undermine the goal of medicine; (ii) developing stronger analysis of the social and political concerns relevant to neurochemical modulation of love, by exploring and suggesting possible counters to ways in which 'wellbeing' may be used as a tool of oppression; (iii) providing reasons to support a broad need for ecological investigation of, and indeed ecological education concerning, neurotechnology; (iv) suggesting ways in which philosophy, and the humanities more broadly, remain directly relevant to responding effectively to issues in contemporary neuroethics.
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