Corticosteroid-induced apoptosis in mouse airway epithelium: effect in normal airways and after allergen-induced airway inflammation.

Background: Damage to the airway epithelium is one prominent feature of the damage seen in chronic asthma. Cortico-steroids induce apoptosis in inflammatory cells, which in part explains their ability to suppress airway inflammation. However, corticosteroid therapy does not necessarily reverse the epithelial damage seen in asthmatic airways.

"The worst are women-doctors": nineteenth-century attitudes toward the appearance and professionalism of women physicians.

Will you think it queer if I say a word as to dress from a man's standpoint? If you want to see ill-dressed people, the worst are women-doctors, platform ladies, college professors (men), and the folks generally who are over-valuers of learning. In the effort to dress the mind, I pray you not to forget the body. I never saw a professional woman who had not lost some charm.

Benzoquinonoid ansamycins possess selective tumoricidal activity unrelated to src kinase inhibition.

The benzoquinonoid ansamycin antibiotics herbimycin A and geldanamycin have been shown to reverse the oncogenic phenotype of pp60v-src transformed cells as well as induce differentiation in a number of in vitro model systems, reportedly due to their inhibition of src family protein tyrosine kinases. We now report that these agents are potent cytotoxins in vitro against a panel of highly malignant human tumor cell lines possessing primitive neural features. Proliferation and/or survival of fibroblasts, primary neuronal cultures, and several leukemia cell lines are unaffected at concentrations resulting in greater than 99% cell loss in sensitive lines.

Familial goiter in bongo antelope (Tragelaphus eurycerus).

Congenital defects in thyroglobulin (Tg) synthesis in animals have proven to be useful models for the study of Tg synthesis and regulation. Defects in Tg synthesis have been well described in Afrikander cattle, Australia Merino sheep, and goats in The Netherlands. This report describes a study of goiter in a nondomesticated bovine species, bongo antelope (Tragelaphus eurycerus), an African bovid.

Characterization of phosphate residues on thyroglobulin.

Follicular 19 S thyroglobulin (molecular weight 660,000) from rat, human, and bovine thyroid tissues contains approximately 10-12 mol of phosphate/mol of protein. These phosphate residues can be radiolabeled when rat thyroid hemilobes, FRTL-5 rat thyroid cells, or bovine thyroid slices are incubated in vitro with [32P]phosphate. Thus labeled, the [32P]phosphate residues comigrate with unlabeled 19 S follicular thyroglobulin on sucrose gradients and gel filtration columns; are specifically immunoprecipitated by an antibody preparation to rat or bovine thyroglobulin as appropriate; and co-migrate with authentic 19 S thyroglobulin when subjected to analytic or preparative gel electrophoresis.

In vitro evidence that carbohydrate moieties derived from uromodulin, an 85,000 dalton immunosuppressive glycoprotein isolated from human pregnancy urine, are immunosuppressive in the absence of intact protein.

Our laboratory recently reported the purification of a unique immunosuppressive glycoprotein isolated from human pregnancy urine (7). This glycoprotein, which we term uromodulin, has a m.w.

Noncovalent interactions of a 26,000-dalton peptide with 19 S human thyroglobulin.

Extensive succinylation of 19 S normal human thyroglobulin having a high iodine content results in the formation of a 26,000-Da peptide. One-half mole of the peptide is obtained from 1 mol of the high molecular weight glycoprotein. The dissociation of the peptide is accompanied by the appearance of an intense absorption band which has a maximum at 264 nm.

Specificity of thyroglobulin interactions with thyroid cells and membranes.

Homologous species specificity is demonstrated with bovine and human thyroglobulin in which the two terminal sugars of the B carbohydrate chain, sialic acid and galactose have been removed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The species specificity is demonstrated by measuring the ability of the deglycosylated thyroglobulin derivatives to inhibit thyrotropin-induced increases in cAMP in human, rat and bovine thyroid cells in culture. Thus human-human or bovine-bovine interactions have higher activity coefficients by at least an order of magnitude than their heterologous counterparts.

Receptor structure and function: an exploratory approach using the thyrotropin receptor as a vehicle.

The purpose of this chapter is not to present the final or even correct model of TSH receptor structure and function. Rather, the current speculative model presented is used to open the door to a more broad view of the receptor problem and controversy as it has evolved today. Questions of how we define a receptor are clearly very much in flux and much more difficult than initially considered when a chemical approach is taken.

Interferon interactions with thyroid cells.

Iodide uptake by functioning rat thyroid (FRTL) cells is increased by mouse interferon. The effect is detectable using purified interferon; it is not accompanied by an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP levels, is measurable within 20 min, and is prevented by cholera toxin, an agent which inhibits interferon's antiviral activity. The effect of interferon is biphasic with maximally increased iodide uptake (approximately 2-fold) evident at about 300 international mouse units per ml (U/ml) and lesser effects evident at higher concentrations (greater than 1000 U/ml).

Binding of thyroglobulin to bovine thyroid membranes. Role of specific amino acids in receptor recognition.

Bovine thyroglobulin was treated with increasing ratios of succinic anhydride, trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid, tetranitromethane, and N-acetylimidazole in an attempt to assess the role of lysine or tyrosine residues in binding to thyroid membrane receptors. Extensive succinylation results in dissociation to 12 S thyroglobulin with retention of a considerable portion of the three-dimensional structure. Only 25% of the lysine residues can be modified by trinitrophenylation without affecting inter-subunit interactions.

Thyroglobulin interactions with thyroid membranes. Relationship between receptor recognition of N-acetylglucosamine residues and the iodine content of thyroglobulin preparations.

Bovine thyroglobulin has been subjected to sequential glycohydrolase treatment in order to define further the components of the carbohydrate chain which are important in binding of the glycoprotein to bovine thyroid membranes. Preparations of asialoagalactothyroglobulin exhibit the best binding, suggesting that exposed N-acetylglucosamine residues on the B carbohydrate chain of thyroglobulin play an important role in the interaction of thyroglobulin with the thyroid membranes. Enhanced binding of asialoagalactothyroglobulin to microsomal, lysosomal, and Golgi membranes, as well as to thyroid cells in culture, was also observed.

Protein abnormalities in macrophages bearing asbestos.

Computerized techniques for the evaluation of O'Farrell two-dimensional electrophoretic gels have been applied to proteins derived from asbestos bearing macrophages. Preliminary results indicate definite changes in the protein content of cells depending on fiber phagocytosis.

A spectrophotometric study of the reaction of boro-hydride with trinitrophenyl derivatives of amino acids and proteins.

The absorption spectra of trinitrophenyl derivatives of poly(L-lysine) and L-asparaginase undergo irreversible changes in the presence of KBH4. The spectra of trinitrophenyl derivatives of N-acetyl-L-lysine and N-acetyl-L-cysteine are also affected by the addition of the reducing agent. A broad absorption band with a maximum at 426 nm appears in the presence of low concentrations of borohydride with a concomitant decrease in absorbance of the 346 nm band which is characteristic of 1-substituted 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl compounds.

[X-ray diagnosis of cranio-vertebral anomalies].

On the basis of an analysis of the radiological data of 66 patients with craniovertebral anomalies the following forms of them were distinguished: 1) basilar impression; 2) assimilation of the atlas; 3) coarctation of the atlanto-occipital segment; 4) anomaly of the C1-dens. The main radiological signs revealed in the patients with different forms of craniovertebral anomalies with the aid of craniometric techniques and linear and angular indices are presented. The importance of tomography and myelography in the diagnosis of medullar compression and of its concomitant anomalies is emphasized, pneumomyelography being preferred against positive myelography.

The effect of trinitrophenylation on subunit interactions in L-asparaginase.

L-Asparaginase (L-asparagine amidohydrolase, EC 3.5.1.