Molecular rearrangements in papillary thyroid carcinomas.

Papillary thyroid cancer is unusual among epithelial malignancies in that it is associated with a number of chromosomal rearrangements. The most common of these is the Ret oncogene, normally silent in the follicular cell, but which has been shown to be rearranged to the promoter region of a variety of different genes, all of which are constituently expressed in the thyroid follicular cell. It has been suggested that chromosomes in the thyroid cell are arranged within the nucleus in such a way as to predispose the cell to inappropriate fusion in the advent of DNA double-strand breakage.

The GJA8 allele encoding CX50I247M is a rare polymorphism, not a cataract-causing mutation.

Purpose: The aim of this study was the genetic, cellular, and physiological characterization of a connexin50 (CX50) variant identified in a child with congenital cataracts.

Methods: Lens material from surgery was collected and used for cDNA production. Genomic DNA was prepared from blood obtained from the proband and her parents.

A method for low volume and low Se concentration samples and application to paired cerebrospinal fluid and serum samples.

The well-known beneficial health effects of Se have demanded the development of rapid and accurate methods for its analysis. A flow injection (FI) method with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as a selenium-selective detector was optimized. Flow injection was carried out using a Knauer 1100 smartline inert series liquid chromatograph coupled with a Perkin Elmer DRC II ICP-mass spectrometer.

Lack of transmission of mouse minute virus (MMV) from in vitro-produced embryos to recipients and pups due to the presence of cumulus cells during the in vitro fertilization process.

The risk of transmission of mouse minute virus (MMV) to recipients of murine embryos arising from in vitro fertilization (IVF) of cumulus-enclosed oocytes (CEOs) or without cumulus cells (CDOs) in the presence of MMV-exposed (10(4) TCID(50) [mean tissue culture infective dose]/ml MMVp [prototype strain of MMV]) spermatozoa was evaluated. Also, the time after embryo transfer to detection of MMV antibody and the presence of MMV DNA in the mesenteric lymph nodes of recipients and pups were investigated. All mice were MMV free, but two seropositive recipients and four seropositive pups were found in the group with CDOs.

A new Fgf10 mutation in the mouse leads to atrophy of the harderian gland and slit-eye phenotype in heterozygotes: a novel model for dry-eye disease?

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to characterize a new slit-eye phenotype in the mouse.

Methods: Genomewide linkage analysis was performed, and a candidate gene was sequenced. Eyes of the mutants were described morphologically, histologically, and by in situ hybridization.

Thiobacillus thiophilus sp. nov., a chemolithoautotrophic, thiosulfate-oxidizing bacterium isolated from contaminated aquifer sediments.

Strain D24TN(T) was enriched and isolated from sediment collected from a tar oil-contaminated aquifer at a former gasworks site located in Duesseldorf-Flingern, Germany. Cells of strain D24TN(T) were rod-shaped, non-spore-forming and stained Gram-negative. Thiosulfate was used as an electron donor.

Continuous single-cell imaging of blood generation from haemogenic endothelium.

Despite decades of research, the identity of the cells generating the first haematopoietic cells in mammalian embryos is unknown. Indeed, whether blood cells arise from mesodermal cells, mesenchymal progenitors, bipotent endothelial-haematopoietic precursors or haemogenic endothelial cells remains controversial. Proximity of endothelial and blood cells at sites of embryonic haematopoiesis, as well as their similar gene expression, led to the hypothesis of the endothelium generating blood.

Effect of NO2(-) on stable isotope fractionation during bacterial sulfate reduction.

The effects of low NO2(-) concentrations on stable isotope fractionation during dissimilatory sulfate reduction by strain Desulfovibrio desulfuricans were investigated. Nitrite, formed as an intermediate during nitrification and denitrification processes in marine and freshwater habitats, inhibits the reduction of the sulfuroxy intermediate SO3(2-) to H2S even at low concentrations. To gain an understanding of the inhibition effect of the reduction of the sulfuroxy intermediate on stable isotope fractionation in sulfur and oxygen during bacterial sulfate reduction, nitrite was added in the form of short pulses.

DNA-based stable isotope probing enables the identification of active bacterial endophytes in potatoes.

A (13)CO2 (99 atom-%, 350 ppm) incubation experiment was performed to identify active bacterial endophytes in two cultivars of Solanum tuberosum, cultivars Desirée and Merkur. We showed that after the assimilation and photosynthetic transformation of (13)CO2 into (13)C-labeled metabolites by the plant, the most directly active, cultivar specific heterotrophic endophytic bacteria that consume these labeled metabolite scan be identified by DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP).Density-resolved DNA fractions obtained from SIP were subjected to 16S rRNA gene-based community analysis using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and sequencing of generated gene libraries.

An evolutionary and structural characterization of mammalian protein complex organization.

Background: We have recently released a comprehensive, manually curated database of mammalian protein complexes called CORUM. Combining CORUM with other resources, we assembled a dataset of over 2700 mammalian complexes. The availability of a rich information resource allows us to search for organizational properties concerning these complexes.

Ventilation and drug delivery to the paranasal sinuses: studies in a nasal cast using pulsating airflow.

Background: Although there is a high incidence of nasal disorders including chronic sinusitis, there is limited success in the topical drug delivery to the nose and the paranasal sinuses. This is caused by the nose being an efficient filter for inhaled aerosol particles and the paranasal sinuses being virtually non ventilated

Method: The objective of this study was to visualize the efficiency of sinus ventilation in a nasal cast using dynamic 81mKr-gas imaging in combination with pulsating airflows. Furthermore, the efficiency of the deposition of radiolabelled aerosol was assessed.

Chromosomal changes characterize head and neck cancer with poor prognosis.

It is well established that genetic alterations may be associated to prognosis in tumor patients. This study investigates chromosomal changes that predict the clinical outcome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and correlate to characteristic clinicopathological parameters. We applied comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to tissue samples from 117 HNSCC patients scheduled for radiotherapy.

Specific lentiviral shRNA-mediated knockdown of cyclin D1 in mantle cell lymphoma has minimal effects on cell survival and reveals a regulatory circuit with cyclin D2.

Cyclin D1 overexpression is the hallmark of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). However, the importance of cyclin D1 in the maintenance and progression of the disease remains to be defined. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of cyclin D1 overexpression using an efficient cyclin D1-shRNA and a lentiviral system in well-characterized MCL cell lines.

"Sighted C3H" mice--a tool for analysing the influence of vision on mouse behaviour?

It is unclear what role vision plays in guiding mouse behaviour, since the mouse eye is of comparably low optical quality, and mice are considered to rely primarily on other senses. All C3H substrains are homozygous for the Pde6b(rd1) mutation and get blind by weaning age. To study the impact of the Pde6b(rd1) mutation on mouse behaviour and physiology, sighted C3H (C3H.