Tackling the plant proteome: practical approaches, hurdles and experimental tools.

The study of complex biological questions through comparative proteomics is becoming increasingly attractive to plant biologists as the rapidly expanding plant genomic and expressed sequence tag databases provide improved opportunities for protein identification. This review focuses on practical issues associated with comparative proteomic analysis, including the challenges of effective protein extraction and separation from plant tissues, the pros and cons of two-dimensional gel-based analysis and the problems of identifying proteins from species that are not recognized models for functional genomic studies. Specific points are illustrated using data from an ongoing study of the tomato and pepper fruit proteomes.

Antidiabetic effect of diasulin, a herbal drug, on blood glucose, plasma insulin and hepatic enzymes of glucose metabolism in hyperglycaemic rats.

Aim: The present study was designed to investigate the effect of diasulin, a polyherbal drug, on blood glucose, plasma insulin and the activities of hepatic glucose metabolic enzymes in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

Methods: Male Wistar rats, body weight of 180-200 g (12 normal and 30 diabetic rats), were used in this study. The rats were divided into seven groups after the induction of alloxan diabetes.

Proteomics as a way to identify extra-radicular fungal proteins from Glomus intraradices- RiT-DNA carrot root mycorrhizas.

To identify fungal proteins involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, root-inducing transferred-DNA transformed roots of carrot (Daucus carota L.) were in vitro inoculated with Glomus intraradices. Proteins extracted from the extra-radical fungus were analysed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

Transient claw hand owing to a bee sting. A report of two cases.

We describe two patients with claw hand as a result of a bee sting. It is likely that this was caused by the apamin in the sting which has an effect on the upper limb, at the spinal cord and on the peripheral nerves. It is important to recognise that the claw hand is not owing to compartment syndrome.

Effect of Piper betle leaf extract on alcoholic toxicity in the rat brain.

The protective effect of Piper betle, a commonly used masticatory, has been examined in the brain of ethanol-administered Wistar rats. Brain of ethanol-treated rats exhibited increased levels of lipids, lipid peroxidation, and disturbances in antioxidant defense. Subsequent to the experimental induction of toxicity (i.

Oceanic forcing of Sahel rainfall on interannual to interdecadal time scales.

We present evidence, based on an ensemble of integrations with NSIPP1 (version 1 of the atmospheric general circulation model developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in the framework of the Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Project) forced only by the observed record of sea surface temperature from 1930 to 2000, to suggest that variability of rainfall in the Sahel results from the response of the African summer monsoon to oceanic forcing, amplified by land-atmosphere interaction. The recent drying trend in the semiarid Sahel is attributed to warmer-than-average low-latitude waters around Africa, which, by favoring the establishment of deep convection over the ocean, weaken the continental convergence associated with the monsoon and engender widespread drought from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Influence of Piper betle on hepatic marker enzymes and tissue antioxidant status in ethanol-treated Wistar rats.

Piper betle L. is a commonly used masticatory in Asia. This study was carried out to investigate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties of P.

Clinical, bacteriologic and histopathologic studies on induced leptospirosis in stray dog pups.

Eighteen 8-12 days old stray dog (canis familiaris mongrel) pups of either sex; 6 pups each in test groups and control group were infected with lepotspiral serovars autumnalis and canicola. The experimental animals, clinical, bacteriologic and histopathologic kinetics were observed. Both the serovars had evoked typical clinical manifestations.

X-ray structure of barium titanate - missed opportunities.

Anomalous X-ray scattering effects are quite extensive in the noncentrosymmetric ferroelectric structure of barium titanate, and typical estimates for three published X-ray diffraction experiments are computed. These data show that the Bijvoet pairs should not be averaged before least-squares refinement for this polar crystal with small atomic displacements from a higher symmetric space group.

Leptospira autumnalis isolated from a human case from Avadi, India, and the serovar's predominance in local rat and bandicoot populations.

Leptospira were successfully isolated from the urine of an Indian patient who had been clinically diagnosed as having leptospirosis. In an attempt to determine the source of this infection, 28 rats (Rattus rattus) and 58 bandicoots (Bandicota bengalensis) living in the vicinity of the patient's home in Avadi, a suburban area of the city of Chennai (Madras), India, were then investigated. Each animal was checked for infection by microscopical examination of fresh and stained urine, serological analysis of serum, and the culture of urine and kidney samples.

Ethanol induced changes in prostatic lipid profiles of albino rats.

Alcohol induced changes in the ventral and dorsolateral prostatic lipid profiles were studied. The results obtained from the present study indicate that alcohol consumption leads to significant alterations in the ventral and dorsolateral prostatic lipids. An increase in the ventral prostate total cholesterol and total glyceride glycerol was observed, but a reverse trend was seen in total phospholipid.