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Sample records for beta microseminoprotein immunoreactivity

  1. Reproductive tissue expression and sperm localization of porcine beta-microseminoprotein

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Maňásková-Postlerová, Pavla; Davidová, Nina; Šulc, Miroslav; Philimonenko, Anatoly; Hozák, Pavel; Jonáková, Věra

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 344, č. 2 (2011), s. 341-353 ISSN 0302-766X R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA303/09/1285; GA ČR GD523/08/H064; GA MZd(CZ) NS10009; GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06011; GA MŠk(CZ) LC07017; GA MŠk(CZ) LC545 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50520701; CEZ:AV0Z50520514; CEZ:AV0Z50200510 Keywords : porcine beta-microseminoprotein * reproductive organs * spermatozoa * immunofluorescence * sperm acrosome * boar Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry Impact factor: 3.114, year: 2011

  2. The rs10993994 risk allele for prostate cancer results in clinically relevant changes in microseminoprotein-beta expression in tissue and urine.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Whitaker, H.C.; Kote-Jarai, Z.; Ross-Adams, H.; Warren, A.Y.; Burge, J.; George, A.; Bancroft, E.; Jhavar, S.; Leongamornlert, D.; Tymrakiewicz, M.; Saunders, E.; Page, E.; Mitra, A.; Mitchell, G.; Lindeman, G.J.; Evans, D.G.; Blanco, I.; Mercer, C.; Rubinstein, W.S.; Clowes, V.; Douglas, F.; Hodgson, S.; Walker, L.; Donaldson, A.; Izatt, L.; Dorkins, H.; Male, A.; Tucker, K.; Stapleton, A.; Lam, J.; Kirk, J.; Lilja, H.; Easton, D.; Cooper, C.; Eeles, R.; Neal, D.E.

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Microseminoprotein-beta (MSMB) regulates apoptosis and using genome-wide association studies the rs10993994 single nucleotide polymorphism in the MSMB promoter has been linked to an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The promoter location of the risk allele, and its ability to

  3. Diurnal variation of. beta. -endorphin like immunoreactivity in rat brain, pituitary gland, and plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Izquierdo, I.A.; Perry, M.L.S.; Carrasco, M.A.; Dias, R.D. (Rio Grande do Sul Univ., Porto Alegre (Brazil). Inst. de Biociencias); Orsingher, O.A. (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (Argentina))

    1984-09-01

    ..beta..-endorphin like immunoreactivity was measured in the brain, pituitary gland and plasma of rats at 2 A.M, 8 A.M, 2 P.M and 8 P.M. Values were higher in the brain and pituitary gland at 8 P.M and in the plasma at 8 A.M and 2 P.M. The findings suggest a circadian rhythm in the production and release of ..beta..-endorphin immunoreactive material.

  4. β-Microseminoprotein Endows Post Coital Seminal Plasma with Potent Candidacidal Activity by a Calcium- and pH-Dependent Mechanism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edström Hägerwall, Anneli M. L.; Rydengård, Victoria; Fernlund, Per; Mörgelin, Matthias; Baumgarten, Maria; Cole, Alexander M.; Malmsten, Martin; Kragelund, Birthe B.; Sørensen, Ole E.

    2012-01-01

    The innate immune factors controlling Candida albicans are mostly unknown. Vulvovaginal candidiasis is common in women and affects approximately 70–75% of all women at least once. Despite the propensity of Candida to colonize the vagina, transmission of Candida albicans following sexual intercourse is very rare. This prompted us to investigate whether the post coital vaginal milieu contained factors active against C. albicans. By CFU assays, we found prominent candidacidal activity of post coital seminal plasma at both neutral and the acid vaginal pH. In contrast, normal seminal plasma did not display candidacidal activity prior to acidification. By antifungal gel overlay assay, one clearing zone corresponding to a protein band was found in both post coital and normal seminal plasma, which was subsequently identified as β-microseminoprotein. At neutral pH, the fungicidal activity of β-microseminoprotein and seminal plasma was inhibited by calcium. By NMR spectroscopy, amino acid residue E71 was shown to be critical for the calcium coordination. The acidic vaginal milieu unleashed the fungicidal activity by decreasing the inhibitory effect of calcium. The candidacidal activity of β-microseminoprotein was mapped to a fragment of the C-terminal domain with no structural similarity to other known proteins. A homologous fragment from porcine β-microseminoprotein demonstrated calcium-dependent fungicidal activity in a CFU assay, suggesting this may be a common feature for members of the β-microseminoprotein family. By electron microscopy, β-microseminoprotein was found to cause lysis of Candida. Liposome experiments demonstrated that β-microseminoprotein was active towards ergosterol-containing liposomes that mimic fungal membranes, offering an explanation for the selectivity against fungi. These data identify β-microseminoprotein as an important innate immune factor active against C. albicans and may help explain the low sexual transmission rate of Candida

  5. Plasma beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity and its variations in baboons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Golanov, E.V.; Fufacheva, A.A.; Parin, S.B.

    1986-04-01

    This paper determines the level of beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (beta-elir) in the blood plasma of baboons and studies its changes in certain situations. For radioimmunoassay of beta-ELIR in the blood plasma, a standard kit and the appropriate technique were used. The background plasma beta-ELIR level of the baboons, in a state of quiet wakefulness, was 0.0 = 1.0 fmoles/ml. The total level of b-ELIR was 134 plus or minus 24 pg/ml. The data show that elevation of the plasma b-ELIR level accompanies stress formation, including the development of a state of shock in baboons. A definite role in the regulation of the plasma b-endorphin level may be played by the paraventricular-perifornical region of the hypothalamus.

  6. beta. -endorphin-like and. alpha. -MSH-like immunoreactivities in human milk

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferrando, T.; Rainero, I.; De Gennaro, T.; Oggero, R.; Mostert, M.; Dattola, P.; Pinessi, L. (Univ. of Turin (Italy))

    1990-01-01

    We measured with radioimmunoassay the {beta}-endorphin-like and {alpha}-MSH-like immunoreactivities in milk and plasma of 8 lactating women. Mean {beta}-endorphin concentrations ({plus minus} SD) were 16.6 {plus minus} 6.7 fmol/ml in milk and 9.9 {plus minus} 4.1 fmol/ml in plasma. {alpha}-MSH concentrations were 39.4 {plus minus} 15.5 pg/ml in milk and 18.2 {plus minus} 8.4 pg/ml in plasma. The concentrations of both peptides in milk were significantly higher than in plasma. No significant correlation between milk and plasma concentrations of these peptides was found.

  7. The effects of cysteamine on thyrotropin and immunoreactive beta-endorphin secretion in the rat

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Millard, W.J.; Sagar, S.M.; Badger, T.M.; Carr, D.B.; Arnold, M.A.; Spindel, E.; Kasting, N.W.; Martin, J.B.

    1983-02-01

    We examined the effects of the thiol agent cysteamine (CSH), which is known to deplete the hypothalamus of immunoreactive somatostatin, on physiological TSH and beta- endorphin secretion in the adult male rat. CSH at doses of 90 and 300 mg/kg CSH produced a rapid decline in plasma TSH, whereas a dose of 30 mg/kg did not alter plasma TSH levels. After the higher doses of CSH, TSH levels in the blood remained lower than control values on day 2, but returned to normal by 1 week. This decrease in TSH within the plasma was not associated with a reduction in hypothalamic TRH concentrations. The TSH response to 500 ng/kg TRH was normal in CSH-treated animals. Blockade of norepinephrine synthesis with diethyldithiocarbamate (500 mg/kg) or fusaric acid (100 mg/kg) inhibited TSH secretion in a manner similar to that of CSH. beta-Endorphin-like immunoreactivity (bet-End-LI) was elevated in the plasma immediately after CSH (300 mg/kg) administration. This was associated with a 58% reduction in anterior pituitary beta-End-LI and no change in hypothalmic beta-End-LI. Plasma beta-End-LI returned to normal on day 2. The increase in plasma beta-End-LI induced by immobilization stress was not compromised by CSH treatment. The observed effects of CSH on both TSH and beta-End-LI are consistent with a reduction in central norepinephrine neurotransmission through the known actin of CSH to inhibit dopamine-beta-hydroxylase. Acute stress may play a role as well in the observed changes in TSH and beta-End-LI secretion.

  8. Ionizing radiation alters beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity in brain but not blood

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mickley, G.A.; Stevens, K.E.; Moore, G.H.; Deere, W.; White, G.A.; Gibbs, G.L.; Mueller, G.P.

    1983-01-01

    Previous behavioral and pharmacological studies have implicated endorphins in radiation-induced locomotor hyperactivity of the C57BL/6J mouse. However, the endogenous opiate(s) responsible for this behavioral change have not been identified. The present study measured beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (beta-END-LI) in brain, blood, and combined brain and pituitary samples from irradiated and sham-irradiated C57BL/6J mice. After radiation exposure, levels of beta-END-LI decreased significantly in the brain. A similar, but not statistically significant, decline was measured in combined brain and pituitary samples. Concentrations of blood beta-END-LI were not changed by irradiation. These radiogenic changes in beta-END-LI are in some ways similar to those observed after other stresses. However, radiation-induced locomotor hyperactivity may be mediated more by alterations of beta-END-LI in the brain than in the periphery. Other endogenous opiate systems may also contribute to this behavioral change in the C57BL/6J mouse

  9. Ionizing radiation alters beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity in brain but not blood

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mickley, G.A.; Stevens, K.E.; Moore, G.H.; Deere, W.; White, G.A.; Gibbs, G.L.; Mueller, G.P.

    1983-12-01

    Previous behavioral and pharmacological studies have implicated endorphins in radiation-induced locomotor hyperactivity of the C57BL/6J mouse. However, the endogenous opiate(s) responsible for this behavioral change have not been identified. The present study measured beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (beta-END-LI) in brain, blood, and combined brain and pituitary samples from irradiated and sham-irradiated C57BL/6J mice. After radiation exposure, levels of beta-END-LI decreased significantly in the brain. A similar, but not statistically significant, decline was measured in combined brain and pituitary samples. Concentrations of blood beta-END-LI were not changed by irradiation. These radiogenic changes in beta-END-LI are in some ways similar to those observed after other stresses. However, radiation-induced locomotor hyperactivity may be mediated more by alterations of beta-END-LI in the brain than in the periphery. Other endogenous opiate systems may also contribute to this behavioral change in the C57BL/6J mouse.

  10. The rs10993994 risk allele for prostate cancer results in clinically relevant changes in microseminoprotein-beta expression in tissue and urine.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayley C Whitaker

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Microseminoprotein-beta (MSMB regulates apoptosis and using genome-wide association studies the rs10993994 single nucleotide polymorphism in the MSMB promoter has been linked to an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The promoter location of the risk allele, and its ability to reduce promoter activity, suggested that the rs10993994 risk allele could result in lowered MSMB in benign tissue leading to increased prostate cancer risk.MSMB expression in benign and malignant prostate tissue was examined using immunohistochemistry and compared with the rs10993994 genotype. Urinary MSMB concentrations were determined by ELISA and correlated with urinary PSA, the presence or absence of cancer, rs10993994 genotype and age of onset. MSMB levels in prostate tissue and urine were greatly reduced with tumourigenesis. Urinary MSMB was better than urinary PSA at differentiating men with prostate cancer at all Gleason grades. The high risk allele was associated with heterogeneity of MSMB staining and loss of MSMB in both tissue and urine in benign prostate.These data show that some high risk alleles discovered using genome-wide association studies produce phenotypic effects with potential clinical utility. We provide the first link between a low penetrance polymorphism for prostate cancer and a potential test in human tissue and bodily fluids. There is potential to develop tissue and urinary MSMB for a biomarker of prostate cancer risk, diagnosis and disease monitoring.

  11. The rs10993994 risk allele for prostate cancer results in clinically relevant changes in microseminoprotein-beta expression in tissue and urine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitaker, Hayley C; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Ross-Adams, Helen; Warren, Anne Y; Burge, Johanna; George, Anne; Bancroft, Elizabeth; Jhavar, Sameer; Leongamornlert, Daniel; Tymrakiewicz, Malgorzata; Saunders, Edward; Page, Elizabeth; Mitra, Anita; Mitchell, Gillian; Lindeman, Geoffrey J; Evans, D Gareth; Blanco, Ignacio; Mercer, Catherine; Rubinstein, Wendy S; Clowes, Virginia; Douglas, Fiona; Hodgson, Shirley; Walker, Lisa; Donaldson, Alan; Izatt, Louise; Dorkins, Huw; Male, Alison; Tucker, Kathy; Stapleton, Alan; Lam, Jimmy; Kirk, Judy; Lilja, Hans; Easton, Douglas; Cooper, Colin; Eeles, Rosalind; Neal, David E

    2010-10-13

    Microseminoprotein-beta (MSMB) regulates apoptosis and using genome-wide association studies the rs10993994 single nucleotide polymorphism in the MSMB promoter has been linked to an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The promoter location of the risk allele, and its ability to reduce promoter activity, suggested that the rs10993994 risk allele could result in lowered MSMB in benign tissue leading to increased prostate cancer risk. MSMB expression in benign and malignant prostate tissue was examined using immunohistochemistry and compared with the rs10993994 genotype. Urinary MSMB concentrations were determined by ELISA and correlated with urinary PSA, the presence or absence of cancer, rs10993994 genotype and age of onset. MSMB levels in prostate tissue and urine were greatly reduced with tumourigenesis. Urinary MSMB was better than urinary PSA at differentiating men with prostate cancer at all Gleason grades. The high risk allele was associated with heterogeneity of MSMB staining and loss of MSMB in both tissue and urine in benign prostate. These data show that some high risk alleles discovered using genome-wide association studies produce phenotypic effects with potential clinical utility. We provide the first link between a low penetrance polymorphism for prostate cancer and a potential test in human tissue and bodily fluids. There is potential to develop tissue and urinary MSMB for a biomarker of prostate cancer risk, diagnosis and disease monitoring.

  12. β-Microseminoprotein endows post coital seminal plasma with potent candidacidal activity by a calcium- and pH-dependent mechanism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Edström Hägerwall, Anneli; Rydengård, Victoria; Fernlund, Per

    2012-01-01

    is very rare. This prompted us to investigate whether the post coital vaginal milieu contained factors active against C. albicans. By CFU assays, we found prominent candidacidal activity of post coital seminal plasma at both neutral and the acid vaginal pH. In contrast, normal seminal plasma did...... not display candidacidal activity prior to acidification. By antifungal gel overlay assay, one clearing zone corresponding to a protein band was found in both post coital and normal seminal plasma, which was subsequently identified as β-microseminoprotein. At neutral pH, the fungicidal activity of β......-microseminoprotein and seminal plasma was inhibited by calcium. By NMR spectroscopy, amino acid residue E(71) was shown to be critical for the calcium coordination. The acidic vaginal milieu unleashed the fungicidal activity by decreasing the inhibitory effect of calcium. The candidacidal activity of β...

  13. Purification and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of β-microseminoprotein from human seminal plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Vijay; Roske, Yvette; Singh, Nagendra; Heinemann, Udo; Singh, Tej P.; Yadav, Savita

    2009-01-01

    The preliminary X-ray data of β-microseminoprotein isolated from human seminal plasma at 2.4 Å resolution are reported. β-Microseminoprotein (β-MSP) is a small cysteine-rich protein with a molecular mass of 10 kDa. It was first isolated from human seminal plasma and has subsequently been identified from several species. Comparison of the amino-acid sequences of β-MSP proteins suggests that the protein is a rapidly evolving protein. The function of β-MSP is poorly understood. Furthermore, no crystal structure has been reported of any β-MSP; therefore, determination of the crystal structure of β-MSP is the foremost task in order to understand the function of this protein completely. Here, the purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of β-MSP from human seminal plasma are described. The protein was purified using anion-exchange and size-exclusion chromatography and the purified protein was crystallized using 0.1 M ammonium sulfate, 0.1 M HEPES buffer pH 7.0 and 20%(w/v) PEG 3350. The crystals belonged to the tetragonal space group P4 3 22 and contained three β-MSP molecules in the asymmetric unit. X-ray intensity data were collected to 2.4 Å resolution

  14. Adrenocorticotropin, beta-endorphin, and beta-lipotropin in normal thyroid and lung: possible implications for ectopic hormone secretion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clements, J A; Funder, J W; Tracy, K; Morgan, F J; Campbell, D J; Lewis, P; Hearn, M T

    1982-12-01

    The expression of the proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene by normal lung and thyroid was examined by measurement of the content of ACTH, beta-lipotropin (beta LPH), and beta-endorphin (beta EP) in porcine lung and thyroid tissue. Acid extracts of normal porcine lung and thyroid tissue each contained appreciable amounts of immunoreactive (ir) ACTH, ir-beta LPH, and ir-beta EP. The content of ir-beta LPH in both tissues exceeded by severalfold, on a molar basis, the content of ir-ACTH and ir-beta EP, suggesting that the common precursor POMC was processed predominantly to peptides other than ir-ACTH and ir-beta EP. A porcine thyroid extract (Calcitare, porcine calcitonin, Armour) showed equivalent levels of beta EP-like immunoreactivity and bioactivity, measured by opiate radioreceptor assay; in contrast, ACTH-like bioactivity, measured by rat zona fasciculata steroidogenesis, was only 4% of ACTH-like immunoreactivity. On reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography, Calcitare showed multiple peaks of ACTH-like immunoreactivity, one of which coeluted with porcine ACTH-(1-39), and two much smaller peaks of beta EP-like immunoreactivity, of which the smaller coeluted with porcine beta EP. These data suggest that both lung and thyroid gland synthesize POMC, which in normal tissue is usually predominantly processed to species other than ACTH and beta EP. Ectopic secretion of ACTH and beta EP by lung and thyroid neoplasms may thus represent the loss of a system(s) normally responsible for processing the precursor beyond ACTH and beta EP.

  15. Biosynthesis and release of beta-endorphin-, N-acetyl beta-endorphin-, beta-endorphin-(1-27)-, and N-acetyl beta-endorphin-(1-27)-like peptides by rat pituitary neurointermediate lobe: beta-endorphin is not further processed by anterior lobe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liotta, A.S.; Yamaguchi, H.; Krieger, D.T.

    1981-01-01

    Continuous labeling and pulse-chase techniques were employed to study the synthesis and secretion of multiple forms of immunoreactive beta-endorphin by cultured dispersed rat anterior lobe cells and intact neurointermediate pituitary lobe. Intact neurointermediate lobes incorporated radiolabeled amino acids into four to six forms of immunoreactive beta-endorphin. Four of these forms were physicochemically similar to authentic beta-endorphin, N-acetylated beta-endorphin, beta-endorphin-(1-27), and N-acetylated beta-endorphin-(1-27). Pulse-chase studies indicated that a beta-lipotropin-like molecule served as a metabolic intermediate for a beta-endorphin-like molecule. As beta-endorphin-like material accumulated in the cell, some of it was N-acetylated (approximately 18% at 2 hr chase and approximately 65% at 18 hr chase). At later chase times, beta-endorphin-(1-27)- and N-acetylated beta-endorphin-(1-27)-like peptides were the predominant molecular species detected. All endorphin forms were detected in unlabeled tissue maintained in culture or tissue continuously labeled for 72 hr and were released into the medium under basal, stimulatory (10(-8) M norepinephrine), or inhibitory (10(-7) M dopamine) incubation conditions. In all cases, beta-endorphin-(1-27)-like species were the predominant forms (more than 70% of total) present in the cells and released into the medium. In contrast, approximately 90% of radiolabeled immunoreactive beta-endorphin extracted from anterior lobe cells and medium similarly incubated appeared to represent the authentic beta-endorphin molecule. Continuous labeling (72 hr) revealed the beta-lipotropin/beta-endorphin molar ratio to be approximately 4. We conclude that, in anterior lobe, most of the beta-endorphin is not processed further and is released intact, while in neurointermediate lobe, it serves as a biosynthetic intermediate

  16. Labelling of. beta. -endorphin (. beta. -END) and. beta. -lipotropin (. beta. -LPH) by /sup 125/I

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deby-Dupont, G.; Joris, J.; Franchimont, P. (Universite de Liege (Belgique)); Reuter, A.M.; Vrindts-Gevaert, Y. (Institut des Radioelements, Fleurus (Belgique))

    1983-01-01

    5 ..mu..g of human ..beta..-endorphin were labelled with 2 mCi /sup 125/I by the chloramine T technique. After two gel filtrations on Sephadex G-15 and on Sephadex G-50 in phosphate buffer with EDTA, Trasylol and mercapto-ethanol, a pure tracer was obtained with a specific activity about 150 ..mu..Ci/..mu..g.Kept at + 4/sup 0/C, the tracer remained utilizable for 30 days without loss of immunoreactivity. The labelling with lactoperoxydase and the use of another gel filtration method (filtration on Aca 202) gave a /sup 125/I ..beta..-END tracer with the same immunoreactivity. The binding of this tracer to the antibody of an anti-..beta..-END antiserum diluted at 1/8000 was 32% with a non specific binding of 2%. 5 ..mu..g of human ..beta..-lipotropin were labelled with 0.5 mCi /sup 125/I by the lactoperoxydase method. After two gel filtrations on Sephadex G-25 and on Sephadex G-75 in phosphate buffer with EDTA, Trasylol and mercapto-ethanol, a pure tracer with a specific activity of 140 ..mu..Ci/..mu..g was obtained. It remained utilizable for 30 days when kept at + 4/sup 0/C. Gel filtration on Aca 202 did not give good purification, while gel filtration on Aca 54 was good but slower than on Sephadex G-75. The binding to antibody in absence of unlabelled ..beta..-LPH was 32% for an anti-..beta..-LPH antiserum diluted at 1/4000. The non specific binding was 2.5%.

  17. Mechanism of action of cysteamine in depleting prolactin immunoreactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sagar, S.M.; Millard, W.J.; Martin, J.B.; Murchison, S.C.

    1985-01-01

    The thiol reagent cysteamine (CSH) depletes anterior pituitary cells of immunoreactive PRL both in vivo and in vitro. The authors examined the hypothesis that CSH affects either the solubility or immunoreactivity of PRL through a mechanism involving thiol-disulfide exchange. Adult female rats were treated with either CSH (300 mg/kg, sc) or an equimolar dose of ethanolamine as a control. Anterior pituitary glands were extracted in 0.1 M sodium borate buffer, pH 9.0. Treatment of pituitary extracts with beta-mercaptoethanol (BME) destroys the immunoreactivity of PRL. However, extraction in the presence of reduced glutathione or CSH of pituitaries of rats treated with CSH restores immunoreactive PRL to control levels. Extracts were also subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). On gels of pituitary extracts of CSH-treated rats, the band that comigrates with purified PRL is diminished compared to that in ethanolamine-treated controls. However, extraction of the pituitaries in sodium dodecyl sulfate-containing buffer followed by chemical reduction with BME restores the PRL band. Therefore, CSH acts on PRL through a thiol-related mechanism to yield a product that is poorly soluble in aqueous buffer at pH 9 and is poorly immunoreactive. Dispersed anterior pituitary cells in tissue culture were incubated with L-[ 35 S]methionine to radiolabel newly synthesized peptides. PAGE followed by autoradiography confirmed the above results obtained in vivo

  18. Radioimmunological evidence for beta-endorphin in human cerebrospinal fluid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graf, M.

    1982-01-01

    Both-endomorphin-like immunoreactivity in human cerebrospinal fluid was determined by two different radioimmunoassays. Measurements made using a bought RIA-kit (Immuno Nuclear Corporation) produced results which were too high compared to results from the literature. The procedure for the beta-endophin radioimmunoassay of Hoellt et al. was followed, the various steps studied and in part modified. Here both beta endorphin and beta-lipotropin were labelled with I-125 and a new method introduced for separating I - -125 following labelling. Studies on the specificity of the method revealed that, in addition to beta-endorphin, beta-lipotropin and two further non-identified fluid fractions were also determined but that the specificity of the RIA's could be significantly increased by prior extraction of the fluid with silicic acid. Determinations of beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity in 28 different human fluids using this RIA gave values from below 20 pg/ml to 70 pg/ml thus confirming literature values. (orig.) [de

  19. Beta-endorphin and alpha-n-acetyl beta-endorphin; synthesis, conformation and binding parameter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lovegren, E.S.

    1986-01-01

    Beta-endorphin (EP) is a 31-residue opioid peptide found in many tissues, including the pituitary, brain and reproductive tract. Alpha-amino-acetyl beta-endorphin (AcEP) was characterized spectroscopically by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism in deuterated water and trifluoroethanol (TFE). Both EP and AcEP bind to neuroblastoma N2a cells. This binding was not mediated through opiate receptors, and both peptides seemed to bind at common sites. Ovarian immunoreactive-EP levels were determined for immature and mature rates. These levels were found to be responsive to exogenous gonadotropin treatment in immature animals. A large percentage of the immunoreactive-EP is present in follicular fluid, and most of the endorphin-like peptides were acetylated, as measured by radioimmunoassay. Chromatogaphic analysis suggested at least three EP-like species: EP, a carboxy-terminally cleaved and an amino-terminally acetylated EP.

  20. Infundibular neurons of the human hypothalamus simultaneously reactive with antisera against endorphins, ACTH, MSH and beta-LPH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bugnon, C; Bloch, B; Lenys, D; Fellmann, D

    1979-06-27

    In man, discrete neurons of the infundibular (arcuate) nucleus contain compounds that can be stained with anti-endorphin (alpha and beta), anti-ACTH, anti-MSH (alpha and beta) and anti-beta-LPH immune sera (I.S.). In the fetus, certain neurons stain with anti-beta-endorphin or anti((17--39)ACTH starting from the 11th week of fetal life. At the ultrastructural level, these neurons contain elementary granules that are immunoreactive with anti-beta-endorphin. In the adult, neurons immunoreactive with anti-beta-endorphin are found in the infundibular nucleus. Their axonal fibers terminate around blood vessels in the neurovascular zone and in the pituitary stalk, or establish contacts with non-immunoreactive perikarya of the infundibular nucleus. These neurons can be stained with anti(17--39)ACTH and anti-beta-endorphin I.S. The most reactive are also stained moderately with anti-alpha-MSH, anti-beta-MSH, anti-beta-LPH, anti-alpha-endorphin, or anti(1--24)ACTH I.S. These results indicate that, in man, compound(s) identical with or immunologically related to endorphins, beta-LPH, ACTH and MSH are secreted by certain hypothalamic neurons. These agents probably originate from a common precursor molecula similar to the so-called pro-opiocortin.

  1. Thymosin beta 4 and thymosin beta 10 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Theunissen

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4 and thymosin beta 10 (Tβ10 are two members of the beta-thymosin family involved in many cellular processes such as cellular motility, angiogenesis, inflammation, cell survival and wound healing. Recently, a role for beta-thymosins has been proposed in the process of carcinogenesis as both peptides were detected in several types of cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression pattern of Tβ4 and Tβ10 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC. To this end, the expression pattern of both peptides was analyzed in liver samples obtained from 23 subjects diagnosed with HCC. Routinely formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded liver samples were immunostained by indirect immunohistochemistry with polyclonal antibodies to Tβ4 and Tβ10. Immunoreactivity for Tβ4 and Tβ10 was detected in the liver parenchyma of the surrounding tumor area. Both peptides showed an increase in granular reactivity from the periportal to the periterminal hepatocytes. Regarding HCC, Tβ4 reactivity was detected in 7/23 cases (30% and Tβ10 reactivity in 22/23 (97% cases analyzed, adding HCC to human cancers that express these beta-thymosins. Intriguing finding was seen looking at the reactivity of both peptides in tumor cells infiltrating the surrounding liver. Where Tβ10 showed a strong homogeneous expression, was Tβ4 completely absent in cells undergoing stromal invasion. The current study shows expression of both beta-thymosins in HCC with marked differences in their degree of expression and frequency of immunoreactivity. The higher incidence of Tβ10 expression and its higher reactivity in tumor cells involved in stromal invasion indicate a possible major role for Tβ10 in HCC progression.

  2. Latent transforming growth factor beta1 activation in situ: quantitative and functional evidence after low-dose gamma-irradiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehrhart, E. J.; Segarini, P.; Tsang, M. L.; Carroll, A. G.; Barcellos-Hoff, M. H.; Chatterjee, A. (Principal Investigator)

    1997-01-01

    The biological activity of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta) is controlled by its secretion as a latent complex in which it is noncovalently associated with latency-associated peptide (LAP). Activation is the extracellular process in which TGF-beta is released from LAP, and is considered to be a primary regulatory control. We recently reported rapid and persistent changes in TGF-beta immunoreactivity in conjunction with extracellular matrix remodeling in gamma-irradiated mouse mammary gland. Our hypothesis is that these specific changes in immunoreactivity are indicative of latent TGF-beta activation. In the present study, we determined the radiation dose response and tested whether a functional relationship exists between radiation-induced TGF-beta and collagen type III remodeling. After radiation exposures as low as 0.1 Gy, we detected increased TGF-beta immunoreactivity in the mammary epithelium concomitant with decreased LAP immunostaining, which are events consistent with activation. Quantitative image analysis demonstrated a significant (P=0.0005) response at 0.1 Gy without an apparent threshold and a linear dose response to 5 Gy. However, in the adipose stroma, loss of LAP demonstrated a qualitative threshold at 0.5 Gy. Loss of LAP paralleled induction of collagen III immunoreactivity in this tissue compartment. We tested whether TGF-beta mediates collagen III expression by treating animals with TGF-beta panspecific monoclonal antibody, 1D11.16, administered i.p. shortly before irradiation. Radiation-induced collagen III staining in the adipose stroma was blocked in an antibody dose-dependent manner, which persisted through 7 days postirradiation. RNase protection assay revealed that radiation-induced elevation of total gland collagen III mRNA was also blocked by neutralizing antibody treatment. These data provide functional confirmation of the hypothesis that radiation exposure leads to latent TGF-beta activation, support our interpretation of the

  3. Muscarinic supersensibility of anterior pituitary ACTH and beta-endorphin release in major depressive illness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Risch, S.C.; Gillin, J.C.; Janowsky, D.S.

    1986-01-01

    Since numerious physiological systems display muscarinic receptor supersensitivity in major depressive illnesses, the authors have hypothesize that anterior pituitary release of ACTH and beta-Endorphin immunoreactivity may also be muscarinically supersensitive in depression. The studies were conducted under FDA-approved IND and with local human subjects committee approval. Plasma ACTH concentrations were determined as follows: samples were assayed in duplicate using equilibrium radioimmunoassay utilizing a rabbit anti-porcine ACTH antibody. Significance ofchanges in plasma cortisol, ACTH and beta-endorphin immunoreactivity after physostigmine and saline were determined by repeated measures analysis of variance. In all subject groups, physostigmine (relative to placebo) caused significant increases in plasma concentrations of cortisol, ACTH, and beta-endorphin immonoreactivity

  4. Plasma. beta. -endorphin and stress hormone levels during adaptation and stress

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lishmanov, Yu.B.; Trifonova, Zh.V.; Tsibin, A.N.; Maslova, L.V.; Dement' eva, L.A.

    1987-09-01

    This paper describes a comparative study of ..beta..-endorphin and stress hormone levels in the blood plasma of rats during stress and adaptation. Immunoreactive ..beta..-endorphin in the blood plasma was assayed by means of a kit after preliminary isolation of the ..beta..-endorphin fraction by affinity chromatography on sepharose; ACTH was assayed with a kit and cortisol, insulin, thyroxine and tri-iodothyronine by means of kits from Izotop. Determination of plasma levels of ..beta..-endorphin and other opioids could evidently be an important method of assessing the state of resistance of the organism to stress.

  5. Astrocytic expression of the Alzheimer's disease beta-secretase (BACE1) is stimulus-dependent

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartlage-Rübsamen, Maike; Zeitschel, Ulrike; Apelt, Jenny

    2003-01-01

    The beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme (BACE1) is a prerequisite for the generation of beta-amyloid peptides, which give rise to cerebrovascular and parenchymal beta-amyloid deposits in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. BACE1 is neuronally expressed in the brains of humans and experimental...... paradigms studied. In contrast, BACE1 expression by reactive astrocytes was evident in chronic but not in acute models of gliosis. Additionally, we observed BACE1-immunoreactive astrocytes in proximity to beta-amyloid plaques in the brains of aged Tg2576 mice and Alzheimer's disease patients....

  6. Specific radioimmunoassay of human. beta. -endorphin in unextracted plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wiedemann, E. (Univ. of California, Berkeley); Saito, T.; Linfoot, J.A.; Li, C.H.

    1979-09-01

    With an antiserum against human ..beta..-endorphin (..beta..-EP) crossreacting <2% with human ..beta..-lipotropin (..beta..-LPH) by weight we have developed a radioimmunoassay that can detect 1 pg ..beta..-EP in diluted raw plasma. In a.m. fasting plasma of 14 normal subjects ..beta..-EP ranged from <5 to 45 pg/ml. ..beta..-EP was elevated in untreated, but normal in successfully treated Cushing's disease; undetectable in a patient with adrenal adenoma; extremely high in Nelson's syndrome; and elevated in a patient with bronchogenic carcinoma before, but undetectable after tumor resection. In subjects with intact hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, ..beta..-EP was undectectable after dexamethasone and increased after metyrapone administration and insulin-induced hypoglycemia. ..beta..-EP concentration was considerably lower in serum than in simultaneously collected plasma, but increased in serum left unfrozen for several hours after clot removal. Thus, ..beta..-EP behaves like a hormone responding to the same stimuli as ACTH and ..beta..-LPH and blood appears to contain enzymes both generating and destroying immunoreactive ..beta..-EP.

  7. Morphological Features of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Immunoreactive ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The current immunohistochemical study used the antibody against tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to observe the immunoreactive elements in the mouse pancreas. The results indicated the presence of immunoreactive nerve fibers and endocrine cells. The immunopositive nerve fibers appeared as thick and thin bundles; thick ...

  8. Characterization of proteins from boar prostate

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Maňásková, Pavla; Ryšlavá, H.; Tichá, M.; Jonáková, Věra

    2002-01-01

    Roč. 48, - (2002), s. 283-290 ISSN 8755-8920. [International Congress of Reproductive Immunology /8./. Opatija, 02.07.2001-06.07.2001] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA310/00/0205; GA ČR GP303/02/P069 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5052915 Keywords : boar prostate * beta-microseminoprotein * serotransferrin Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry Impact factor: 1.413, year: 2002

  9. Increased central immunoreactive beta-endorphin content in patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and in alcoholics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Summers, J A; Pullan, P T; Kril, J J; Harper, C G

    1991-01-01

    beta-endorphin, adrenocorticotrophin, and alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone were measured by radioimmunoassay in three areas of human brain at necropsy in seven subjects with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and in 52 controls. Thiamin concentration in six brain areas was also measured. Mamillary body beta-endorphin concentrations were significantly increased in those with the syndrome compared with controls, and those controls with high alcohol intake showed increased mamillary body beta-endorphin compared with controls with low alcohol intake. Brain thiamin concentration was similar in both groups, with the exception of the brainstem, where it was reduced in subjects with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Thalamic beta-endorphin in controls was inversely correlated with thiamin in frontal white matter, frontal cortex, parietal white matter and parietal cortex, while beta-endorphin in the hypothalamus of patients was inversely correlated with thiamin in frontal cortex, parietal white matter, thalamus and brainstem. These results suggest that there is a disturbance of the endorphinergic system in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome which may be related to alcohol intake. PMID:1650797

  10. Fetal pancreatic beta-cell function in pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus: relationship to fetal acidemia and macrosomia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvesen, D R; Brudenell, J M; Proudler, A J; Crook, D; Nicolaides, K H

    1993-05-01

    Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between fetal pancreatic beta-cell function and fetal acidemia and macrosomia in pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus. A cross-sectional study at the Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, London, was performed. In 32 pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus cordocentesis was performed at 36 to 39 weeks' gestation for the measurement of umbilical venous blood pH, PO2, PCO2, lactate, and glucose concentration; plasma insulin immunoreactivity; and insulin/glucose ratio. A reference range for plasma insulin and insulin/glucose ratio was constructed by studying fetal blood samples from 80 women who did not have diabetes mellitus. Mean umbilical venous blood pH was significantly lower and plasma insulin immunoreactivity and insulin/glucose ratio were significantly higher than the appropriate normal mean for gestation. There were significant associations between (1) maternal and fetal blood glucose concentrations (r = 0.95, p < 0.0001), (2) fetal blood glucose and plasma insulin immunoreactivity (r = 0.57, p < 0.01), (3) fetal plasma insulin immunoreactivity and blood pH (r = -0.39, p < 0.05), and (4) fetal insulin/glucose ratio and degree of macrosomia (r = 0.76, p < 0.0001). Fetal pancreatic beta-cell hyperplasia is implicated in the pathogenesis of both fetal acidemia and macrosomia.

  11. The morphological and chemical characteristics of striatal neurons immunoreactive for the alpha1-subunit of the GABA(A) receptor in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldvogel, H J; Kubota, Y; Trevallyan, S C; Kawaguchi, Y; Fritschy, J M; Mohler, H; Faull, R L

    1997-10-01

    The distribution, morphology and chemical characteristics of neurons immunoreactive for the alpha1-subunit of the GABA(A) receptor in the striatum of the basal ganglia in the rat brain were investigated at the light, confocal and electron microscope levels using single, double and triple immunohistochemical labelling techniques. The results showed that alpha1-subunit immunoreactive neurons were sparsely distributed throughout the rat striatum. Double and triple labelling results showed that all the alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons were positive for glutamate decarboxylase and immunoreactive for the beta2,3 and gamma2 subunits of the GABA(A) receptor. Three types of alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons were identified in the striatum on the basis of cellular morphology and chemical characteristics. The most numerous alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons were medium-sized, aspiny neurons with a widely branching dendritic tree. They were parvalbumin-negative and were located mainly in the dorsolateral regions of the striatum. Electron microscopy showed that these neurons had an indented nuclear membrane, typical of striatal interneurons, and were surrounded by small numbers of axon terminals which established alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive synaptic contacts with the soma and dendrites. These cells were classified as type 1 alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons and comprised 75% of the total population of alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons in the striatum. The remaining alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons comprised of a heterogeneous population of large-sized neurons localized in the ventral and medial regions of the striatum. The most numerous large-sized cells were parvalbumin-negative, had two to three relatively short branching dendrites and were designated type 2 alpha1-subunit-immunoreactive neurons. Electron microscopy showed that the type 2 neurons were characterized by a highly convoluted nuclear membrane and were sparsely covered with small axon

  12. Association of Cysteine-Rich Secretory Protein 3 and β-Microseminoprotein with Outcome after Radical Prostatectomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bjartell, Anders S.; Al-Ahmadie, Hikmat; Serio, Angel M.; Eastham, James A.; Eggener, Scott E.; Fine, Samson W.; Udby, Lene; Gerald, William L.; Vickers, Andrew J.; Lilja, Hans; Reuter, Victor E.; Scardino, Peter T.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose It has been suggested that cysteine-rich secretory protein 3 (CRISP-3) and β-microseminoprotein (MSP) are associated with outcome in prostate cancer. We investigated whether these markers are related to biochemical recurrence and whether addition of the markers improves prediction of recurring disease. Experimental Design Tissue microarrays of radical prostatectomy specimens were analyzed for CRISP-3 and MSP by immunohistochemistry. Associations between marker positivity and postprostatectomy biochemical recurrence [prostate-specific antigen (PSA) >0.2 ng/mL with a confirmatory level] were evaluated by univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Multivariable analyses controlled for preoperative PSA and pathologic stage and grade. Results Among 945 patients, 224 had recurrence. Median follow-up for survivors was 6.0 years. Patients positive for CRISP-3 had smaller recurrence-free probabilities, whereas MSP-positive patients had larger recurrence-free probabilities. On univariate analysis, the hazard ratio for patients positive versus negative for CRISP-3 was1.53 (P = 0.010) and for MSP was 0.63 (P = 0.004). On multivariable analysis, both CRISP-3 (P = 0.007) and MSP (P = 0.002) were associated with recurrence. The hazard ratio among CRISP-3– positive/MSP-negative patients compared with CRISP-3– negative/MSP-positive patients was 2.38. Adding CRISP-3 to a base model that included PSA and pathologic stage and grade did not enhance the prediction of recurrence, but adding MSP increased the concordance index minimally from 0.778 to 0.781. Conclusion We report evidence that CRISP-3 and MSP are independent predictors of recurrence after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer. However, addition of the markers does not importantly improve the performance of existing predictive models. Further research should aim to elucidate the functions of CRISP-3 and MSP in prostate cancer cells. PMID:17634540

  13. Immunoreactivity for thymosin beta 4 and thymosin beta 10 in the adult rat oro-gastro-intestinal tract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Nemolato

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4 and thymosin beta 10 (Tβ10 are two members of the β-thymosin family, involved in multiple cellular activities in different organs in multiple animal species. Here we report the expression pattern of Tβ4 and Tβ10 in rat tissues, in the gut and in annexed glands. The two peptide were differently expressed: Tβ4 was absent in salivary glands whereas Tβ10 was expressed in parotid and in submandibular glands. Tβ4 was mildly expressed in the tongue and in the oesophagus, where Tβ10 was absent. A similar expression was found in the stomach, ileum and colon mucosa. In pancreas Tβ4 reactivity was restricted to the Langerhans islet cells; Tβ4 was also detected in the exocrine cells. Both peptide were not expressed in liver cells. When the rat expression pattern in rat organs was compared to reactivity for Tβ4 and Tβ10 in humans, marked differences were found. Our data clearly indicate a species-specific expression of Tβ4 and Tβ10, characterized by the actual unpredictability of the expression of these peptides in different cells and tissues. The common high expression of Tβ4 in mast cells, both in humans and in rats, represents one of the few similarities between these two species.

  14. Suppression of amyloid beta A11 antibody immunoreactivity by vitamin C: possible role of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides derived from glypican-1 by ascorbate-induced, nitric oxide (NO)-catalyzed degradation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Fang; Cappai, Roberto; Ciccotosto, Giuseppe D; Svensson, Gabriel; Multhaup, Gerd; Fransson, Lars-Åke; Mani, Katrin

    2011-08-05

    Amyloid β (Aβ) is generated from the copper- and heparan sulfate (HS)-binding amyloid precursor protein (APP) by proteolytic processing. APP supports S-nitrosylation of the HS proteoglycan glypican-1 (Gpc-1). In the presence of ascorbate, there is NO-catalyzed release of anhydromannose (anMan)-containing oligosaccharides from Gpc-1-nitrosothiol. We investigated whether these oligosaccharides interact with Aβ during APP processing and plaque formation. anMan immunoreactivity was detected in amyloid plaques of Alzheimer (AD) and APP transgenic (Tg2576) mouse brains by immunofluorescence microscopy. APP/APP degradation products detected by antibodies to the C terminus of APP, but not Aβ oligomers detected by the anti-Aβ A11 antibody, colocalized with anMan immunoreactivity in Tg2576 fibroblasts. A 50-55-kDa anionic, sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable, anMan- and Aβ-immunoreactive species was obtained from Tg2576 fibroblasts using immunoprecipitation with anti-APP (C terminus). anMan-containing HS oligo- and disaccharide preparations modulated or suppressed A11 immunoreactivity and oligomerization of Aβ42 peptide in an in vitro assay. A11 immunoreactivity increased in Tg2576 fibroblasts when Gpc-1 autoprocessing was inhibited by 3-β[2(diethylamino)ethoxy]androst-5-en-17-one (U18666A) and decreased when Gpc-1 autoprocessing was stimulated by ascorbate. Neither overexpression of Gpc-1 in Tg2576 fibroblasts nor addition of copper ion and NO donor to hippocampal slices from 3xTg-AD mice affected A11 immunoreactivity levels. However, A11 immunoreactivity was greatly suppressed by the subsequent addition of ascorbate. We speculate that temporary interaction between the Aβ domain and small, anMan-containing oligosaccharides may preclude formation of toxic Aβ oligomers. A portion of the oligosaccharides are co-secreted with the Aβ peptides and deposited in plaques. These results support the notion that an inadequate supply of vitamin C could contribute to late onset AD

  15. Adenosine deaminase complexing protein (ADCP) immunoreactivity in colorectal adenocarcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    ten Kate, J; van den Ingh, H F; Khan, P M; Bosman, F T

    1986-04-15

    Immunoreactive adenosine deaminase complexing protein (ADCP) was studied in 91 human colorectal adenocarcinomas. The expression of ADCP was correlated with that of secretory component (SC) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), with the histological grade and the Dukes' stage of the carcinomas. The histological grade was scored semi-quantitatively according to 5 structural and 4 cytological variables. ADCP expression was observed in 3 different staining patterns, namely: (1) diffuse cytoplasmic (77% of the carcinomas); (2) granular cytoplasmic (13%); and (3) membrane-associated (66%). These patterns were observed alone or in combination. Eleven percent of the carcinomas exhibited no ADCP immunoreactivity. Linear regression analysis showed that the expression of ADCP correlates with that of SC and CEA. However, no significant correlation emerged between the histological parameters or the Dukes' stage and any of the immunohistological parameters. Comparison of the histological characteristics of carcinomas exhibiting little or no ADCP immunoreactivity with those showing extensive immunoreactivity, showed that membranous ADCP immunoreactivity occurs more frequently in well-differentiated carcinomas. Structural parameters showed a better correlation with membranous ADCP expression than the cytological variables. It is concluded that membranous expression of ADCP and CEA are indicators of a high level of differentiation as reflected primarily in the structural characteristics of the tumor.

  16. FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of Hydra

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J; Dockray, G J; Schot, L P

    1982-01-01

    FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity has been localized in different parts of the hydra nervous system. Immunoreactivity occurs in nerve perikarya and processes in the ectoderm of the lower peduncle region near the basal disk, in the ectoderm of the hypostome and in the ectoderm of the tentacles...

  17. Serotonin Immunoreactive Cells and Nerve Fibers in the Mucosa of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    hydroxytryptamine) immunoreactivity in the pyloric mucosa of the rat stomach. The immunoreactive elements included the endocrine cells, mast cells and mucosal nerve fibers in the lamina propria. The immunopositive endocrine cells were oval in ...

  18. 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 expression in the newly formed Leydig cells after ethane dimethanesulphonate treatment of adult rats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katerina Georgieva

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11beta-HSD catalyzes the reversible conversion of physiologically active corticosterone to the biologically inert 11beta-dehydrocorticosterone in rat testis and protect the Leydig cells (LCs against the suppressive effect of glucocorticoids. The developmental pathway of the adult LCs population is accompanied with an increase in the 11beta-HDS activity. Thus, 11beta-HDS together with its role in controlling the toxicological effect of glucocorticoids on LCs can be used as a marker for their functional maturity. Ethane 1,2-dimethanesulphonate (EDS treatment of adult rats become unique appropriate model, which enable to answer many questions related to the differentiation of adult LCs in the prepubertal rat testis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the specific changes in the 11beta-HDS type 2 immunoreactivity in tandem with the expression of androgen receptor (AR during renewal of LCs population after EDS treatment. In the present study, we observed the first appearance of immunostaining for 11beta-HSD2 in new LCs population on day 14 after EDS administration when the progenitor LCs were detected. Our immunohistochemical analysis revealed progressive increases in the 11beta-HSD2 reaction intensity on 21 days after EDS treatment and reached a maximum on day 35. AR immunoexpression was found in new LCs on day 14 and 21 after EDS injection with an increasing curve of intensity. The most prominent AR immunostaining in new population LCs was evident by 35 days after EDS and that coincided with the increased number of LCs and restoration of adult LCs population. Our results demonstrated similar pattern of immunoreactivity for 11beta-HSD2 and AR in new LCs population after EDS treatment and suggested that the changes in 11beta-HSD2 expression can be used for evaluation of adult LCs differentiation in rat testis.

  19. Molecular investigations of BK(Ca) channels and the modulatory beta-subunits in porcine basilar and middle cerebral arteries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansson, Helle Wulf; Hay-Schmidt, Anders; Poulsen, Asser Nyander

    2009-01-01

    arteries using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR. Western blotting was used to detect immunoreactivity for the porcine BK(Ca) channel alpha-subunit and beta-subunit proteins. The BK(Ca) channel alpha-subunit RNA and protein distribution patterns were......Large conductance calcium-activated potassium (BK(Ca)) channels are fundamental in the regulation of cerebral vascular basal tone. We investigated the expression of the mRNA transcripts for the BK(Ca) channel and its modulatory beta-subunits (beta1-beta4) in porcine basilar and middle cerebral...... visualized using in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence studies, respectively. The study verified that the BK(Ca) channel alpha-subunit is located to smooth muscle cells of porcine basilar and middle cerebral arteries. The mRNA transcript for beta1-, beta2- and beta4-subunit were shown by RT...

  20. Temperature dependence of immunoreactions using shear horizontal surface acoustic wave immunosensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kogai, Takashi; Yatsuda, Hiromi; Kondoh, Jun

    2017-07-01

    In this paper, the temperature dependence of immunoreactions, which are antibody-antigen reactions, on a shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) immunosensor is described. The immunosensor is based on a reflection-type delay line on a 36° Y-cut 90° X-propagation quartz substrate, where the delay line is composed of a floating electrode unidirectional transducer (FEUDT), a grating reflector, and a sensing area between them. In order to evaluate the temperature dependence of immunoreactions, human serum albumin (HSA) antigen-antibody reactions are investigated. The SH-SAW immunosensor chip is placed in a thermostatic chamber and the changes in the SH-SAW velocity resulting from the immunoreactions are measured at different temperatures. As a result, it is observed that the HSA immunoreactions are influenced by the ambient temperature and that higher temperatures provide more active reactions. In order to analyze the immunoreactions, an analytical approach using an exponential fitting method for changes in SH-SAW velocity is employed.

  1. Phylogenetic study of the oxytocin-like immunoreactive system in invertebrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizuno, J; Takeda, N

    1988-01-01

    1. A phylogenetic study of oxytocin (OXT)-like immunoreactive cells was performed by the PAP method in the central nervous system of invertebrates. 2. The immunoreactivity was detected in the nerve cells of Hydra magnipapillata of the Coelenterata; Neanthes japonica and Pheretima communissima of the Annelida; Oncidium verrucosum, Limax marginatus and Meretrix lamarckii of the Mollusca; and Baratha brassica of the Arthropoda. 3. No immunoreactive cells were found in Bipalium sp. of the Platyhelminthes; Pomacea canaliculata, Aplysia kurodai, Bradybaena similaris and Achatina fulica of the Mollusca; and Gnorimosphaeroma rayi, Procambarus clarkii, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, Helice tridens and Gryllus bimaculatus of the Arthropoda; Asterina pectinifera of the Echinodermata; and Halocynthia roretzi of the Protochordata. 4. These results demonstrate that an OXT-immunoreactive substance is widely present not only in vertebrates but also in invertebrates. 5. OXT seems to have been introduced into these invertebrates at an early stage of their phylogenetic history.

  2. Ontogeny of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity in the Brazilian opossum brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, C A; Jeyapalan, M; Ross, L R; Jacobson, C D

    1991-12-17

    We have studied the anatomical distribution of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactive (CCK-IR) somata and fibers in the brain of the adult and developing Brazilian short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica. Animals ranged in age from the day of birth (1PN) to young adulthood (180PN). A nickel enhanced, avidin-biotin, indirect immunohistochemical technique was used to identify CCK-IR structures. Somata containing CCK immunoreactivity were observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, thalamus, midbrain, and brainstem in the adult. Cholecystokinin immunoreactive fibers had a wide distribution in the adult Monodelphis brain. The only major region of the brain that did not contain CCK-IR fibers was the cerebellum. The earliest expression of CCK immunoreactivity was found in fibers in the dorsal brainstem of 5-day-old opossum pups. It is possible that the CCK-IR fibers in the brainstem at 5PN are of vagal origin. Cholecystokinin immunoreactive somata were observed in the brainstem on 10PN. The CCK-IR cell bodies observed in the brainstem at 10PN may mark the first expression of CCK-IR elements intrinsic to the brain. A broad spectrum of patterns of onset of CCK expression was observed in the opossum brain. The early occurrence and varied ontogenesis of CCK-IR structures indicates CCK may be involved in the function of a variety of circuits from the brainstem to the cerebral cortex. The early expression of CCK-IR structures in the dorsal brainstem suggests that CCK may modulate feeding behavior in the Monodelphis neonate. Cholecystokinin immunoreactivity in forebrain structures such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, medial preoptic area, thalamus and cortical structures indicates that CCK may also be involved in circadian rhythmicity, reproductive functions, as well as the state of arousal of the Brazilian opossum. The ontogenic timing of CCK immunoreactivity in specific circuitry also indicates that CCK expression does not occur simultaneously throughout the

  3. FMRFamide immunoreactivity in the nervous system of the medusa Polyorchis penicillatus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J; Spencer, A N

    1984-01-01

    with several antisera to oxytocin/vasopressin and bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide. The morphology and location of most FMRFamide-immunoreactive neurons in Polyorchis coincides with two identified neuronal systems, which have been recently discovered from neurophysiological studies....... immunoreactivity was found in neurons of the ectodermal nerve nets of the manubrium and tentacles, in neurons of the sensory epithelium, and in neurons at the periphery of the sphincter muscle. Strong immunoreactivity was also present in processes and perikarya of the whole outer nerve ring, in the ocellar nerves...

  4. Parvalbumin and calbindin immunoreactivity in the cerebral cortex of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrer, I; Zujar, M J; Admella, C; Alcantara, S

    1992-01-01

    To investigate the morphology and distribution of nonpyramidal neurons in the brain of insectivores, parvalbumin and calbindin 28 kDa immunoreactivity was examined in the cerebral cortex of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). Parvalbumin-immunoreactive cells were found in all layers of the isocortex, but in contrast to other mammals, a laminar organisation or specific regional distribution was not seen. Characteristic parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons were multipolar cells with large ascending and descending dendrites extending throughout several layers. Calbindin-immunoreactive neurons were similar to those found in other species, although appearing in smaller numbers than in the cerebral cortex of more advanced mammals. The morphology and distribution of parvalbumin- and calbindin-immunoreactive cells in the piriform and entorhinal cortices were similar in hedgehogs and rodents. Parvalbumin-immunoreactive cells in the hippocampal complex were pyramidal-like and bitufted neurons, which were mainly found in the stratum oriens and stratum pyramidale of the hippocampus, and in the stratum moleculare and hilus of the fascia dentata. Heavily stained cells were found in the deep part of the stratum granulare. Intense calbindin immunoreactivity occurred mainly in the granule cell and molecular layers of the dentate gyrus and in the mossy fibre layer. The most outstanding feature in the hippocampal complex of the hedgehog was the extension of calbindin immunoreactivity to CA1 field of the hippocampus, suggesting, in agreement with other reports, that mossy fibres can establish synaptic contacts throughout the pyramidal cell layer. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 PMID:1452472

  5. Analysis of p53- immunoreactivity in astrocytic brain tumors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shinkarenko T.V.

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available P53 is an antioncogene with the frequently occured mutations in human tumor cells, leading to corresponding protein overexpression which can be detected by immunohistochemistry. Researches dedicated to the investigation of possibilities of using this technique gave controversial results. The authors investigated features of p53 protein expression in astrocytic brain tumors with different degrees of malignancy. Analyzed the relationship of the expression level of p53 by tumor cells with clinical parameters and Ki-67 proliferation index (PI as well. Tissues were collected from 52 cases with diagnosed astrocytic brain tumors. The sections were immunohistochemically stained with p53 and Ki-67. For each marker, 1000 tumor cells were counted and the ratio of positive tumor cells was calculated using software package ImageJ 1,47v. In normal brain tissue p53- expression was not identified. p53-immunoreactive tumor cells were detected in 25% (1/4 pilocytic astrocytomas, 33.3% (2/6 of diffuse astrocytomas, 53.8% (7/13 anaplastic astrocytomas, 58.6% (17/29 glioblastomas. A high proportion of p53-immunoreactive cells (> 30% was observed only in glioblastomas. The level of p53-imunoreactivity was not related to the age, gender and Grade WHO (p> 0,05. Spearman correlation coefficient between the relative quantity of ki-67- and p53-immunoreactive nuclei showed weak direct correlation (0.023, but the one was not statistically significant (p> 0,05. The level of p53-imunoreactivity is not dependent from age and sex of patients, Grade (WHO and proliferative activity (p>0,05 but the high level of p53-immunoreactive cells (>30% is found in glioblastoma specimens only, that may be due to the accumulation of mutations in DNA of tumor cells. There is insignificant weak relationship between relative quantities of ki-67- and p53-immunoreactive tumor cells (p>0,05.

  6. Beta-lipotropin is the major component of the plasma opioid response to surgical stress in humans

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Porro, C.A.; Facchinetti, F.; Bertellini, E.; Petraglia, F.; Stacca, R.; Barbieri, G.C.; Genazzani, A.R.

    1987-12-07

    There is growing experimental evidence that beta-endorphin immunoreactivity is raised by surgical stress in patients undergoing general anesthesia. As the assay methods employed to date did not allow to fully discriminate between beta-endorphin and its immediate precursor, beta-lipotropin, the authors have investigated in the present study plasma levels of these two peptides by separating them by chromatography on plasma extracts prior to radioimmunoassay. Beta-lipotropin, but not beta-endorphin, plasma levels were found to be significantly elevated during surgery in the general anesthesia group, while no change was found in either peptide concentration in the spinal one. Cortisol plasma levels also increased significantly 90 minutes after the beginning of surgery. Although the sampling time they adopted may have prevented them from detecting an early peak of beta-endorphin during the first 30 minutes of surgery, the major component of the pituitary opioid response to surgical stress appears to be related to beta-lipotropin. This is in agreement with results of experimental work on various kinds of stress in animals and humans and seems to rule out a role for plasma beta-endorphin in post-operative analgesia. 38 references, 1 figure, 1 table.

  7. Effect of Chitosan Properties on Immunoreactivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravindranathan, Sruthi; Koppolu, Bhanu prasanth; Smith, Sean G.; Zaharoff, David A.

    2016-01-01

    Chitosan is a widely investigated biopolymer in drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering and vaccine development. However, the immune response to chitosan is not clearly understood due to contradicting results in literature regarding its immunoreactivity. Thus, in this study, we analyzed effects of various biochemical properties, namely degree of deacetylation (DDA), viscosity/polymer length and endotoxin levels, on immune responses by antigen presenting cells (APCs). Chitosan solutions from various sources were treated with mouse and human APCs (macrophages and/or dendritic cells) and the amount of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) released by the cells was used as an indicator of immunoreactivity. Our results indicate that only endotoxin content and not DDA or viscosity influenced chitosan-induced immune responses. Our data also indicate that low endotoxin chitosan (chitosan in preclinical studies in order for this valuable biomaterial to achieve widespread clinical application. PMID:27187416

  8. Immunoreactivity for calcium-binding proteins defines subregions of the vestibular nuclear complex of the cat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baizer, Joan S; Baker, James F

    2005-07-01

    The vestibular nuclear complex (VNC) is classically divided into four nuclei on the basis of cytoarchitectonics. However, anatomical data on the distribution of afferents to the VNC and the distribution of cells of origin of different efferent pathways suggest a more complex internal organization. Immunoreactivity for calcium-binding proteins has proven useful in many areas of the brain for revealing structure not visible with cell, fiber or Golgi stains. We have looked at the VNC of the cat using immunoreactivity for the calcium-binding proteins calbindin, calretinin and parvalbumin. Immunoreactivity for calretinin revealed a small, intensely stained region of cell bodies and processes just beneath the fourth ventricle in the medial vestibular nucleus. A presumably homologous region has been described in rodents. The calretinin-immunoreactive cells in this region were also immunoreactive for choline acetyltransferase. Evidence from other studies suggests that the calretinin region contributes to pathways involved in eye movement modulation but not generation. There were focal dense regions of fibers immunoreactive to calbindin in the medial and inferior nuclei, with an especially dense region of label at the border of the medial nucleus and the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi. There is anatomical evidence that suggests that the likely source of these calbindin-immunoreactive fibers is the flocculus of the cerebellum. The distribution of calbindin-immunoreactive fibers in the lateral and superior nuclei was much more uniform. Immunoreactivity to parvalbumin was widespread in fibers distributed throughout the VNC. The results suggest that neurochemical techniques may help to reveal the internal complexity in VNC organization.

  9. Immunoreactive 'TSH' in urinary concentrates of Graves' disease patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Herle, A.; Orgiazzi, J.; Greipel, M.A.; Slucher, J.A.; Honbo, K.S.; Hopital de l'Antiquaille, 69 - Lyon

    1978-01-01

    A double antibody radioimmunoassay was used to analyse immunoreactive thyrotrophin in urinary concentrates from fourteen patients with hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease, in three subjects with primary hypothyroidism, and in six normal subjects. Immunoreactive thyrotrophin was detectable in eleven subjects with Graves' disease, in one subject with primary hypothyroidism, and in four normal subjects. The mean urinary thyrotrophin concentration was significantly higher in Graves' disease (492+-99.9μU/24h(SEM)(n=11)) than in normal subjects (177+-26.4μU/24h(SEM)(n=4)(P [de

  10. Significance of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist/interleukin-1 beta ratio as a prognostic factor in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikuniya, T; Nagai, S; Takeuchi, M; Mio, T; Hoshino, Y; Miki, H; Shigematsu, M; Hamada, K; Izumi, T

    2000-01-01

    Various factors such as serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE) activity, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid lymphocyte percent, CD4/CD8 ratio, and shadows on chest radiograph have been identified as indexes of disease activity in patients with sarcoidosis. However, it remains to be confirmed whether these factors can predict clinical outcomes. To examine whether the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra)/IL-1 beta ratio can predict the clinical course, we prospectively followed the clinical courses of 30 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis 4 years after measurement of immunoreactive amounts of IL-1ra or IL-1 beta in the culture supernatants obtained from BAL fluid macrophages. Immunoreactive amounts of IL-1ra or IL-1 beta were measured using ELISA. Changes in pulmonary function, sACE activity, and shadows on chest radiographs during observation periods were evaluated as markers of changes in disease activity. We found that the patients whose shadows on chest radiographs showed improvement had a higher molar IL-1ra/IL-1 beta ratio than the patients whose shadows persistently remained 4 years after BAL examination (p sACE activity at the time of the last observation to sACE activity at the time of BAL (sACE(LAST)/sACE(BAL), p sACE(LAST)/sACE(BAL) ratio was significantly lower in patients whose shadows on chest radiographs decreased than in those whose shadows remained unchanged (p < 0.005). The IL-1ra/IL-1 beta ratio in the BAL fluid macrophage culture supernatants in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis could be a useful marker in predicting the persistence of granulomatous lesions (chronicity). Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

  11. Reproduction-associated immunoreactive peptides in the nervous systems of prosobranch gastropods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ram, J L; Gallardo, C S; Ram, M L; Croll, R P

    1998-12-01

    Antibodies against reproductive peptides of Aplysia and Lymnaea were used to localize homologous immunoreactive peptides in the nervous systems of three prosobranch species: Busycon canaliculatum, Concholepas concholepas, and Tegula atra. Positive control experiments in L. stagnalis demonstrated the broad species range of the anti-egg-laying hormone (anti-ELH) antibody used in this study, and showed binding of anti-alpha-caudodorsal-cell peptide (anti-alpha-CDCP) to the same cells in cerebral and buccal ganglia. Dot immunoassays with synthetic ELH confirmed the reactivity and sensitivity (concholepas and T atra, ELH-like immunoreactivity was found in cerebral ganglia, and in T. atra in fibers in the cerebral ganglia and cerebral-pedal connectives. Thus, cerebral ganglia are the major locus of the ELH-like immunoreactivity in prosobranchs.

  12. Insulin-like immunoreactive substances in the rat

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Felix, J -M; Sutter-Dub, M -T; Legrele, C; Billaudel, B; Sutter, B C.J.; Jacquot, R [Reims Univ., 51 (France). Lab. de Physiologie Animale

    1975-12-01

    Chromatography on G/sub 50/ or G/sub 100/ sephadex column of rat plasma or serum divides up the insulin-like immunoreactive material into three peaks: monomere insulin, proinsulin and a fraction of molecular weight between 50 and 100,000. This fraction is virtually absent (less than 1%) from immunoreactive material extracted from the pancreas. Comparison of the results obtained by methods using double or simple antibodies (charcoal dextran) and study of fixation in vitro of labelled insulin, taken up by various plasma proteins, suggest that the high molecular weight material includes insulin more or less broken down and linked to proteins. Furthermore, when a double antibody method is used, the alpha globulins and albumin in the rat present also an insulin-like reactivity. This disadvantage does not occur with the charcoal dextran method which is more specific.

  13. APP with Kunitz type protease inhibitor domain (KPI) correlates with neuritic plaque density but not with cortical synaptophysin immunoreactivity in Alzheimer's disease and non-demented aged subjects: a multifactorial analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, S S; Sandbrink, R; Beyreuther, K; Schmitt, H P

    1995-01-01

    The formation of beta A4 amyloid protein in neuritic plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and advanced age is a complex process that involves a number of both cellular and molecular mechanisms, the interrelations of which are not yet completely understood. We have examined quantitatively, in AD and aged controls an extended spectrum of amyloid plaque-related cellular and molecular factors and the cortical synaptophysin immunoreactivity (synaptic density) in order to check for interrelations between them by multifactorial analysis. In 3 cases of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) aged 72, 80 and 82 years, and 9 controls aged 43-88 (mean age 65) years, the cortical synaptophysin immunoreactivity was assessed, together with the numbers of neurons, astrocytes and microglial cells, senile plaques, of tangle-bearing neurons, and the amount of beta A4 amyloid precursor protein (APP) with and without the Kunitz type serine protease inhibitor (KPI) domain. The main results were: APP including the KPI domain (KPI-APP) correlated with the number of neuritic plaques, regardless of whether they occurred in SDAT or non-demented controls. There was no significant difference in the amount of KPI-APP between SDAT and controls. Conversely, APP695 (without KPI) was significantly reduced in SDAT. KPI-APP did not correlate with the synaptophysin immunoreactivity (RGVA), while APP695 showed a significant correlation with the latter in all evaluations. It also correlated with the neuron counts, which was not true for KPI-APP. These results support previous findings indicating that KPI-APP is an important local factor for amyloid deposition in the neuritic plaques, both in AD and in non-demented aged people. On the contrary, KPI-APP does not seem to be significantly involved in the mechanisms of synaptic change outside of the plaques.

  14. In vitro release of cholecystokinin octapeptide-like immunoreactivity from rat brain synaptosomes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klaff, L.J.; Hudson, A.; Sheppard, M.; Tyler, M.

    1981-01-01

    Enriched synaptosome fractions prepared by differential centrifugation and ultracentrifugation of homogenates of rat cortex, striatum, thalamus and hypothalamus contained over 65% of the total immunoreactive cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) in each area. A calcium dependent release of immunoreactive CCK-8 from these fractions in vitro in response to 2 depolarizing stimuli (60 mM KCl and 75 μM veratrine) has been demonstrated. Released CCK-8 immunoreactivity showed parallelism when serial dilutions were compared with the CCK-8 dose-response curve and eluted similarly to synthetic CCK-8 on Sephadex G-50 superfine chromatography. These results provide further evidence for a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator role for CCK-8 in brain

  15. Urocortin-like immunoreactivity in the primary lymphoid organs of the duck (Anas platyrhynchos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. De Luca

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Urocortin (UCN is a 40 aminoacid peptide which belongs to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF family. This family of peptides stimulates the secretion of proopiomelanocortin (POMC-derived peptides, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH, b-endorphin and melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH in the pituitary gland. In the present study, using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, the distribution of UCN in the primary lymphoid organs of the duck was investigated at different ages. In the cloacal burse and thymus, Western blot demonstrated the presence of a peptide having a molecular weight compatible with that of the mammalian UCN. In the cloacal burse, immunoreactivity was located in the medullary epithelial cells and in the follicular associated and cortico-medullary epithelium. In the thymus, immunoreactivity was located in single epithelial cells. Double labelling immunofluorescence studies showed that UCN immunoreactivity completely colocalised with cytokeratin immunoreactivity in both the thymus and cloacal burse. Statistically significant differences in the percentage of UCN immunoreactivity were observed between different age periods in the cloacal burse. The results suggest that, in birds, urocortin has an important role in regulating the function of the immune system.

  16. Metabolic clearance rate and urinary clearance of purified beta-core

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wehmann, R.E.; Blithe, D.L.; Flack, M.R.; Nisula, B.C.

    1989-01-01

    We injected a highly purified preparation of the beta-core molecule, a fragment of hCG beta excreted in pregnancy urine, into five men and three women to determine its kinetic parameters, MCR, and urinary clearance. The beta-core molecule was distributed in an initial volume [1950 +/- 156 (mean +/- SEM) mL/m2 body surface area] approximately equal to the estimated plasma volume. Its disappearance was multiexponential on a semilogarithmic plot, with a rapid phase t1/2 of 3.5 +/- 0.7 min and a slow phase t1/2 of 22.4 +/- 4.2 min. The transit time (the mean time spent by a molecule of beta-core in transit) was 20.6 +/- 2.1 min. The MCR was 192.0 +/- 8.0 mL/min.m2 body surface area. About 5% of the injected dose of beta-core was excreted into the urine in the first 30 min after injection, and low levels of excretion persisted for up to 7 days. The urinary clearance rate of beta-core was 13.7 +/- 1.4 mL/min.m2, accounting for about 8% of the elimination of beta-core from the plasma. The beta-core immunoreactivity in serum and urine was characterized by gel filtration and three independent RIA systems to show that its properties were indistinguishable from those of the injected beta-core. Serum levels of beta-core in pregnant women were less than 0.2 ng/mL, while the amounts excreted in their urine were as much as 5 mg/day. Based on these clearance parameters of beta-core in normal subjects, less than 0.2% of the beta-core excreted in pregnancy urine is derived by urinary clearance of plasma beta-core. Therefore, more than 99% of the beta-core excreted in pregnancy urine is derived from beta-core in a compartment separate from plasma. In particular, these data indicate that there is relatively little placental secretion of beta-core into plasma and that placental secretion does not account for the vast majority of beta-core in pregnancy urine

  17. Rett Syndrome Mutant Neural Cells Lacks MeCP2 Immunoreactive Bands.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Bueno

    Full Text Available Dysfunctions of MeCP2 protein lead to various neurological disorders such as Rett syndrome and Autism. The exact functions of MeCP2 protein is still far from clear. At a molecular level, there exist contradictory data. MeCP2 protein is considered a single immunoreactive band around 75 kDa by western-blot analysis but several reports have revealed the existence of multiple MeCP2 immunoreactive bands above and below the level where MeCP2 is expected. MeCP2 immunoreactive bands have been interpreted in different ways. Some researchers suggest that multiple MeCP2 immunoreactive bands are unidentified proteins that cross-react with the MeCP2 antibody or degradation product of MeCP2, while others suggest that MeCP2 post-transcriptional processing generates multiple molecular forms linked to cell signaling, but so far they have not been properly analyzed in relation to Rett syndrome experimental models. The purpose of this study is to advance understanding of multiple MeCP2 immunoreactive bands in control neural cells and p.T158M MeCP2e1 mutant cells. We have generated stable wild-type and p.T158M MeCP2e1-RFP mutant expressing cells. Application of N- and C- terminal MeCP2 antibodies, and also, RFP antibody minimized concerns about nonspecific cross-reactivity, since they react with the same antigen at different epitopes. We report the existence of multiple MeCP2 immunoreactive bands in control cells, stable wild-type and p.T158M MeCP2e1-RFP mutant expressing cells. Also, MeCP2 immunoreactive bands differences were found between wild-type and p.T158M MeCP2e1-RFP mutant expressing cells. Slower migration phosphorylated band around 70kDa disappeared in p.T158M MeCP2e1-RFP mutant expressing cells. These data suggest that threonine 158 could represent an important phosphorylation site potentially involved in protein function. Our results clearly indicate that MeCP2 antibodies have no cross-reactivity with similar epitopes on others proteins, supporting the

  18. Effect of Chitosan Properties on Immunoreactivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sruthi Ravindranathan

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Chitosan is a widely investigated biopolymer in drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering and vaccine development. However, the immune response to chitosan is not clearly understood due to contradicting results in literature regarding its immunoreactivity. Thus, in this study, we analyzed effects of various biochemical properties, namely degree of deacetylation (DDA, viscosity/polymer length and endotoxin levels, on immune responses by antigen presenting cells (APCs. Chitosan solutions from various sources were treated with mouse and human APCs (macrophages and/or dendritic cells and the amount of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α released by the cells was used as an indicator of immunoreactivity. Our results indicate that only endotoxin content and not DDA or viscosity influenced chitosan-induced immune responses. Our data also indicate that low endotoxin chitosan (<0.01 EU/mg ranging from 20 to 600 cP and 80% to 97% DDA is essentially inert. This study emphasizes the need for more complete characterization and purification of chitosan in preclinical studies in order for this valuable biomaterial to achieve widespread clinical application.

  19. Immunoreactive somatomedin A in human serum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, K.; Brandt, J.; Enberg, G.; Fryklund, L.

    1979-01-01

    A RIA has been developed for somatomedin A (SM-A) utilizing Sepharose-bound antibodies. This assay, measuring SM-A, the insulin-like growth factors 1 and 2, and somatomedin C, allows determination in serum samples. In comparison with a serum standard, the mean serum levels in patients with acromegaly or GH deficiency and healthy subjects were 8.7 +- 0.7 (n=25), 0.24 +- 0.02 (n=25), and 1.15 +- 0.11 U/ml, respectively. The correlation coefficient between immunoreactive SM-A and SM-A by radioreceptor assay was highly significant (r=0.93), although the potency ratio of SM-A between the two groups of patients was higher in the RIA than in the radioreceptor assay. Gel chromatography revealed that SM-A in acromegalic serum is bound to a carrier protein which is absent in patients with GH deficiency. After gel chromatography at low pH, 90% of applied immunoreactive SM-A was recovered in the low molecular weight fraction and consisted mainly of neutral polypeptides

  20. Diurnal levels of immunoreactive erythropoietin in normal subjects and subjects with chronic lung disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miller, M.E.; Garcia, J.F.; Cohen, R.A.; Cronkite, E.P.; Moccia, G.; Acevedo, J.

    1981-10-01

    Serum levels of immunoreactive erythropoietin (Ep) were measured in 48 normal male and female volunteers, ages 20-60 years, to establish a control value for Ep of 18.5 +/- 5.0 (mean +/- SD) mU/ml. Levels of the hormone were also measured sequentially over a 24 h period of time in an additional 17 normal volunteers with no diurnal variation. Diurnal levels of immunoreactive Ep were also measured in 30 subjects, with chronic lung disease. These patients, in contrast to normal subjects exhibited a diurnal variation in the level of immunoreactive Ep with peak levels occurring at midnight. The only variable measured which correlated with the serum immunoreactive Ep level in subjects with chronic lung disease was the level of carboxyhaemoglobin (P less than 0.02).

  1. Comparative tumour localization properties of radiolabelled monoclonal antibody preparations of defined immunoreactivities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pimm, M.V.; Baldwin, R.W.

    1987-01-01

    The immunoreactive fraction of an anti-CEA monoclonal antibody preparation has been progressively decreased by the addition of increasing proportions of impurity in the form of immunologically inert mouse immunoglobulin. Following radioiodination, the immunoreactive fractions of the preparations were determined and their localization in a human tumour xenograft in nude mice was assessed. There was a progressive decline in tumour localization, from tumour to blood ratios of 2:1 with unadulterated antibody to 0.6:1 with preparations only 15% with respect to the initial antibody. These findings demonstrate that the immunoreactive fraction of monoclonal antibody preparations is a major limiting factor in tumour localization and this has implications for experimental and clinical applications of monoclonal antibodies. (orig.)

  2. A Study on the Glucose and Immunoreactive Insulin Response during Oral Glucose Tolerance Test in Patients with Chronic Liver Diseases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choe, Kang Won; Lee, Hong Kyu; Koh, Chang Soon; Lee, Mu Ho [Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1973-03-15

    The blood glucose and plasma immunoreactive insulin (IRI) levels were measured during aral glucose tolerance test in 7 healthy subjects and 6 patients with chronic liver diseases. The glucose tolerance was impaired in 5 of the 6 patients and normal in I. Plasma IRI responses were markedly increased and delayed in all patients, suggesting endogenous insulin resistance. Patients with more glucose intolerance showed less increase in plasma IRI than the group with less intolerance. lt is suggested that some insulin antagonists may decrease the peripheral insulin sensitivity and stimulate compensatory hyperactivity of pancreatic islets. If the compensatory hyperactivity is inadequate due to gemetic predisposition to diabetes mellitus or exhaustion of beta-cells of pancreatic islets, the glucose intolerance and overt diabetes mellitus may ensue.

  3. Binding of radioiodinated human. beta. -endorphin to serum proteins from rats and humans, determined by several methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sato, H.; Sugiyama, Y.; Sawada, Y.; Iga, T.; Hanano, M.

    1985-10-07

    Binding of immunoreactive radioiodinated human ..beta..-endorphin (/sup 125/I-..beta..-EP) to rat serum was demonstrated by gel filtration of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP in pooled rat serum on Sephadex G-200. Two radioactive peaks associated with proteins eluted from the column. The first peak eluted at the void volume containing lipoproteins, ..cap alpha../sub 2/- and ..beta../sub 2/-macroglobulins, and the second peak at the fraction of albumin. Binding of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP to albumin was directly proved by gel filtration of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP in buffer containing 4% human serum albumin on Sephadex G-200. Equilibrium dialysis was not applicable to investigating the interaction of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP with serum proteins, because of the intense nonspecific adsorption to the semi-permeable membrane and the degradation of the peptide during dialysis. Therefore, in order to quantitatively evaluate the binding of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP in sera from rats and humans, the authors utilized four other methods (ultrafiltration, charcoal adsorption, polyethylene glycol precipitation and equilibrium gel filtration). These methods corresponded well with each other and indicated 35-44% binding of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP in rat serum. Binding of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP in normal human serum was 36%, determined by ultrafiltration. Serum protein binding of /sup 125/I-..beta..-EP was concentration independent over the concentration range studied (1-1000 nM). 23 references, 4 figures, 1 table.

  4. Ontogenetic organization of the FMRFamide immunoreactivity in the nervus terminalis of the lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiorentino, Maria; D'Aniello, Biagio; Joss, Jean; Polese, Gianluca; Rastogi, Rakesh K

    2002-08-19

    The development of the nervus terminalis system in the lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, was investigated by using FMRFamide as a marker. FMRFamide immunoreactivity appears first within the brain, in the dorsal hypothalamus at a stage around hatching. At a slightly later stage, immunoreactivity appears in the olfactory mucosa. These immunoreactive cells move outside the olfactory organ to form the ganglion of the nervus terminalis. Immunoreactive processes emerge from the ganglion of the nervus terminalis in two directions, one which joins the olfactory nerve to travel to the brain and the other which courses below the brain to enter at the level of the preoptic nucleus. Neither the ganglion of the nervus terminalis nor the two branches of the nervus terminalis form after surgical removal of the olfactory placode at a stage before the development of FMRFamide immunoreactivity external to the brain. Because this study has confirmed that the nervus terminalis in lungfish comprises both an anterior and a posterior branch, it forms the basis for discussion of homology between these branches and the nervus terminalis of other anamniote vertebrates. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  5. Effects of the Maillard Reaction on the Immunoreactivity of Amandin in Food Matrices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chhabra, Guneet S; Liu, Changqi; Su, Mengna; Venkatachalam, Mahesh; Roux, Kenneth H; Sathe, Shridhar K

    2017-10-01

    Amandin is the major storage protein and allergen in almond seeds. Foods, containing almonds, subjected to thermal processing typically experience Maillard browning reaction. The resulting destruction of amino groups, protein glycation, and/or denaturation may alter amandin immunoreactivity. Amandin immunoreactivity of variously processed almond containing foods was therefore the focus of the current investigation. Commercial and laboratory prepared foods, including those likely to have been subjected to Maillard browning, were objectively assessed by determining Hunter L * , a * , b * values. The L * values for the tested samples were in the range of 31.75 to 85.28 consistent with Maillard browning. Three murine monoclonal antibodies, 4C10, 4F10, and 2A3, were used to determine the immunoreactivity of the targeted samples using immunoassays (ELISA, Western blot, dot blot). The tested foods did not exhibit cross-reactivity indicating that the immunoassays were amandin specific. For sandwich ELISAs, ratio (R) of sample immunoreactivity to reference immunoreactivity was calculated. The ranges of R values were 0.67 to 15.19 (4C10), 1.00 to 11.83 (4F10), and 0.77 to 23.30 (2A3). The results of dot blot and Western blot were consistent with those of ELISAs. Results of these investigations demonstrate that amandin is a stable marker protein for almond detection regardless of the degree of amandin denaturation and/or destruction as a consequence of Maillard reaction encountered under the tested processing conditions. Foods containing almond are often subjected to processing prior to consumption. Amandin, the major allergen in almond, may experience Maillard reaction. Understanding the change in amandin immunoreactivity as a result of Maillard reaction is important for amandin detection and production of hypoallergenic food products. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

  6. Intraneuronal Aβ immunoreactivity is not a predictor of brain amyloidosis-β or neurofibrillary degeneration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegiel, Jerzy; Kuchna, Izabela; Nowicki, Krzysztof; Frackowiak, Janusz; Mazur-Kolecka, Bozena; Imaki, Humi; Wegiel, Jarek; Mehta, Pankaj; Silverman, Wayne; Reisberg, Barry; deLeon, Mony; Wisniewski, Thomas; Pirttilla, Tuula; Frey, Harry; Lehtimäki, Terho; Kivimäki, Tarmo; Visser, Frank; Kamphorst, Wouter; Potempska, Anna; Bolton, David; Currie, Julia; Miller, David

    2007-01-01

    Amyloid β (Aβ) immunoreactivity in neurons was examined in brains of 32 control subjects, 31 people with Down syndrome, and 36 patients with sporadic Alzheimer’s disease to determine if intraneuronal Aβ immunoreactivity is an early manifestation of Alzheimer-type pathology leading to fibrillar

  7. INHIBIN IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN GONADAL AND NON-GONADAL TUMORS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    DEJONG, FH; GROOTENHUIS, AJ; STEENBERGEN, J; VANSLUIJS, FJ; FOEKENS, JA; TENKATE, FJW; OOSTERHUIS, JW; LAMBERTS, SWJ; KLIJN, JGM

    1990-01-01

    Inhibin immunoreactivity was estimated in a number of gonadal and non-gonadal tumors. Dog Sertoli cell tumors and human granulosa cell and Leydig cell tumors contained high concentrations of inhibin-like material. Levels, comparable with those in normal testes and ovaries were detected in human

  8. Immunoreactive serum opsonic alpha 2 sb glycoprotein as a noninvasive index of RES systemic defense after trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, J E; Saba, T M

    1979-01-01

    Reticuloendothelial system (RES) depression has been correlated with diminished resistance to trauma, shock, and sepsis in man and animals. Previous studies have related the depression of RES hepatic Kupffer cell phagocytic function after trauma to diminished bioassayable opsonic activity. The present study determined if the loss of biological activity and RES alteration correlated with immunoreactive serum opsonic alpha 2 SB glycoprotein levels after trauma. Serum opsonic activity was measured by liver slice bioassay, and immunoreactive opsonic protein was measured by rocket electroimmunoassay. RE function was determined by colloid clearance over a 24-hour post-trauma period. Anesthetized rats (250-300 gm) subjected to sublethal or severe (greater than LD50) whole-body NCD trauma were the shock models investigated. Immunoreactive levels in 63 rats prior to injury were 518 +/- 24 microgram/ml. Neither biological nor immunoreactive levels were altered over 24 hours in anesthetized sham-traumatized controls. Temporal alteration in the initial decrease and recovery pattern of biologically active and immunoreactive opsonic protein levels significantly correlated following both sublethal and severe injury. Moreover, the patterns of immunoreactive levels of the opsonic protein correlated with the functional phagocytic activity of the RES as determined by vascular clearance of a test dose of blood-borne radiolabeled particulates. This glycoprotein falls after trauma, and the magnitude and duration of the decline increases with severity of injury. Immunoreactive opsonic alpha 2 SB glycoprotein appears to be an accurate measurement of circulating opsonic activity and RE Kupffer cell function after trauma, especially with respect to clearance. Thus, immunoreactive opsonic protein warrants clinical consideration as a noninvasive measure of reticuloendothelial systemic defense in patients after trauma and burn.

  9. Loss of nonphosphorylated neurofilament immunoreactivity in temporal cortical areas in Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thangavel, R; Sahu, S K; Van Hoesen, G W; Zaheer, A

    2009-05-05

    The distribution of immunoreactive neurons with nonphosphorylated neurofilament protein (SMI32) was studied in temporal cortical areas in normal subjects and in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). SMI32 immunopositive neurons were localized mainly in cortical layers II, III, V and VI, and were medium to large-sized pyramidal neurons. Patients with AD had prominent degeneration of SMI32 positive neurons in layers III and V of Brodmann areas 38, 36, 35 and 20; in layers II and IV of the entorhinal cortex (Brodmann area 28); and hippocampal neurons. Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) were stained with Thioflavin-S and with an antibody (AT8) against hyperphosphorylated tau. The NFT distribution was compared to that of the neuronal cytoskeletal marker SMI32 in these temporal cortical regions. The results showed that the loss of SMI32 immunoreactivity in temporal cortical regions of AD brain is paralleled by an increase in NFTs and AT8 immunoreactivity in neurons. The SMI32 immunoreactivity was drastically reduced in the cortical layers where tangle-bearing neurons are localized. A strong SMI32 immunoreactivity was observed in numerous neurons containing NFTs by double-immunolabeling with SMI32 and AT8. However, few neurons were labeled by AT8 and SMI32. These results suggest that the development of NFTs in some neurons results from some alteration in SMI32 expression, but does not account for all, particularly, early NFT-related changes. Also, there is a clear correlation of NFTs with selective population of pyramidal neurons in the temporal cortical areas and these pyramidal cells are specifically prone to formation of paired helical filaments. Furthermore, these pyramidal neurons might represent a significant portion of the neurons of origin of long corticocortical connection, and consequently contribute to the destruction of memory-related input to the hippocampal formation.

  10. Antibody-dendrimer conjugates: the number, not the size of the dendrimers, determines the immunoreactivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wängler, C; Moldenhauer, G; Eisenhut, M; Haberkorn, U; Mier, W

    2008-04-01

    Radioimmunotherapy using antibodies with favorable tumor targeting properties and high binding affinity is increasingly applied in cancer therapy. The potential of this valuable cancer treatment modality could be further improved by increasing the specific activity of the labeled proteins. This can be done either by coupling a large number of chelators which leads to a decreased immunoreactivity or by conjugating a small number of multimeric chelators. In order to systematically investigate the influence of conjugations on immunoreactivity with respect to size and number of the conjugates, the anti-EGFR antibody hMAb425 was reacted with PAMAM dendrimers of different size containing up to 128 chelating agents per conjugation site. An improved dendrimer synthesis protocol was established to obtain compounds of high homogeneity suitable for the formation of defined protein conjugates. The quantitative derivatization of the PAMAM dendrimers with DOTA moieties and the characterization of the products by isotopic dilution titration using (111)In/(nat)In are shown. The DOTA-containing dendrimers were conjugated with high efficiency to hMAb425 by applying Sulfo-SMCC as cross-linking agent and a 10- to 25-fold excess of the thiol-containing dendrimers. The determination of the immunoreactivities of the antibody-dendrimer conjugates by FACS analysis revealed a median retained immunoreactivity of 62.3% for 1.7 derivatization sites per antibody molecule, 55.4% for 2.8, 27.9% for 5.3, and 17.1% for 10.0 derivatization sites per antibody but no significant differences in immunoreactivity for different dendrimer sizes. These results show that the dendrimer size does not influence the immunoreactivity of the derivatized antibody significantly over a wide molecular weight range, whereas the number of derivatization sites has a crucial effect.

  11. Levels of immunoreactive inhibin-like material in urine during the menstrual cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dandekar, S.P.; Vanage, G.R.; Arbatti, N.J.; Sheth, A.R.

    1983-01-01

    Using a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay, the authors determined levels of inhibinlike material in the urine of eight healthy women with normal menstrual cycle length of 28 +- 4 days. The results revealed a cyclic variation in urinary immunoreactive inhibin levels during the menstrual cycles, with a sharp rise in levels three to four days prior to luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) peaks. These levels of immunoreactive inhibin may thus serve as a parameter to detect impending LH surge. (author)

  12. FMRFamide- and neurotensin-immunoreactive elements in the intestine of some polyclad and triclad flatworms (Turbellaria).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Punin MYu; Markosova, T G

    2000-01-01

    By means of immunohistochemistry with antisera to tetrapeptide FMRFamide and regulatory peptides neurotensin and calcitonin intestines of marine turbellarians Notoplana atomata, N. humilis (Polycladida) and Procerodes littoralis (Tricladida) were investigated. In all flatworms polymorphous cells and processes reacting with antibodies to FMRFamide and neurotensin but not with calcitonin were revealed. These cell elements are localized both in the epithelium and beneath it. FMRFamide-immunoreactive cells and processes of investigated turbellarians and neurotensin-immunoreactive elements in P. littoralis obviously belong to the nervous system, while intraepithelial neurotensin-immunoreactive cells of polyclads share some morphological features with endocrine-like cells.

  13. Substance P immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord of the turtle Trachemys dorbigni following peripheral nerve injury

    OpenAIRE

    Partata, Wania Aparecida; Krepsky, Ana Maria Rocha; Xavier, Leder Leal; Marques, Maria; Achaval-Elena, Matilde

    2003-01-01

    Immunoreactive substance P was investigated in turtle lumbar spinal cord after sciatic nerve transection. In control animals immunoreactive fibers were densest in synaptic field Ia, where the longest axons invaded synaptic field III. Positive neuronal bodies were identified in the lateral column of the dorsal horn and substance P immunoreactive varicosities were observed in the ventral horn, in close relationship with presumed motoneurons. Other varicosities appeared in the lateral and anteri...

  14. Reduction in brain immunoreactive corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in spontaneously hypertensive rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hashimoto, K.; Hattori, T.; Murakami, K.; Suemaru, S.; Kawada, Y.; Kageyama, J.; Ota, Z.

    1985-01-01

    The brain CRF concentration of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) was examined by rat CRF radioimmunoassay. Anti-CRF serum was developed by immunizing rabbits with synthetic rat CRF. Synthetic rat CRF was also used as tracer and standard. The displacement of 125 I-rat CRF by serially diluted extracts of male Wistar rats hypothalamus, thalamus, midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata, cerebral cortex, cerebellum and neurointermediate lobe was parallel to the displacement of synthetic rat CRF. In both WKY and SHR the highest levels of CRF immunoreactivity were shown by the hypothalamus and neurointermediate lobe, and considerable CRF immunoreactivity was also detected in other brain regions. The CRF immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus, neurointermediate lobe, midbrain, medulla oblongata and cerebral cortex was significantly reduced in SHR and it may suggest that CRF abnormality may be implicated in the reported abnormalities in the pituitary-adrenal axis, autonomic response and behavior of SHR

  15. Synaptology of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)-immunoreactive cells in the nervus terminalis of the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, L M; Pfaff, D W; Schwanzel-Fukuda, M

    1990-05-08

    Light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry were used to examine the structure of LHRH neurons and fibers in the nervus terminalis of the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). LHRH-immunoreactive neurons and fibers form a loose plexus within the fascicular network of the ganglion terminale on the median surface of the olfactory bulb. There are at least two populations of LHRH-immunoreactive neurons within the network of the ganglion terminale: fusiform and round neurons similar to those described in the forebrain. At the ultrastructural level, axosomatic and axodendritic contacts were seen between LHRH-immunoreactive and nonimmunoreactive elements in the ganglion terminale. These contacts were classified as 1) synaptic input, with asymmetric synapses seen between a nonimmunoreactive axon terminal and a LHRH-immunoreactive cell body or a nonimmunoreactive axon terminal and a LHRH-immunoreactive dendritic process. 2) synaptic output, with symmetric synapses seen between LHRH-immunoreactive and nonimmunoreactive processes. This study is the first systematic examination of the ultrastructure of the LHRH-immunoreactive neurons and their synaptic contacts in the nervus terminalis. The possible integrative roles for this LHRH-immunoreactive system are discussed.

  16. Neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity in rat cranial parasympathetic neurons: coexistence with vasoactive intestinal peptide and choline acetyltransferase

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leblanc, G.C.; Trimmer, B.A.; Landis, S.C.

    1987-01-01

    Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is widely distributed in the sympathetic nervous system, where it is colocalized with norepinephrine. The authors report here that NPY-immunoreactive neurons are also abundant in three cranial parasympathetic ganglia, the otic, sphenopalatine, and ciliary, in the rat measured by radioimmunoassay. High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of the immunoreactive material present in the otic ganglion indicates that this material is very similar to porcine NPY and indistinguishable from the NPY-like immunoreactivity present in rat sympathetic neurons. These findings raise the possibility that NPY acts as a neuromodulator in the parasympathetic as well as the sympathetic nervous system. In contrast to what had been observed for sympathetic neurons, NPY-immunoreactive neurons in cranial parasympathetic ganglia do not contain detectable catecholamines or tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity, and many do contain immunoreactivity for vasoactive intestinal peptide and/or choline acetyltransferase. These findings suggest that there is no simple rule governing coexpression of NPY with norepinephrine, acetylcholine, or vasoactive intestinal peptide in autonomic neurons. Further, while functional studies have indicated that NPY exerts actions on the peripheral vasculature which are antagonistic to those of acetylcholine and vasoactive intestinal peptide, the present results raise the possibility that these three substances may have complementary effects on other target tissues

  17. Levels of immunoreactive inhibin-like material in urine during the menstrual cycle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dandekar, S.P.; Vanage, G.R.; Arbatti, N.J.; Sheth, A.R. (Institute for Research in Reproduction, Parel, Bombay (India))

    1983-12-01

    Using a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay, the authors determined levels of inhibin-like material in the urine of eight healthy women with normal menstrual cycle length of 28 +- 4 days. The results revealed a cyclic variation in urinary immunoreactive inhibin levels during the menstrual cycles, with a sharp rise in levels three to four days prior to luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) peaks. These levels of immunoreactive inhibin may thus serve as a parameter to detect impending LH surge. 23 refs.

  18. Effects of chronic ethanol treatment on the in vitro biosynthesis of pro-opiomelanocortin and its posttranslational processing to beta-endorphin in the intermediate lobe of the rat pituitary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seizinger, B.R.; Hoellt, V.; Herz, A.

    1984-09-01

    Chronic treatment of rats with 15% (vol/vol) ethanol in tap water as their only source of liquid over a period of 3 weeks resulted in a strong decrease by almost 50% in tissue levels and in vitro release of immunoreactive beta-endorphin of the neurointermediate pituitary. Moreover, the in vitro incorporation of (3H)phenylalanine into peptides of the neurointermediate pituitary, immunoprecipitable with beta-endorphin antiserum, was found to be decreased by more than 30%. Analysis of beta-endorphin-related peptides on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that chronic ethanol treatment reduced the in vitro biosynthesis of the beta-endorphin precursor pro-opiomelanocortin. This ethanol-induced effect was combined with a retardation in the time course of the posttranslational processing of the precursor into beta-endorphin. Thus, chronic ethanol treatment may influence the activity of enzymes which process the opioid peptide precursor pro-opiomelanocortin, leading to a decreased formation of the final secretory product beta-endorphin.

  19. Hypoxia-induced increases in serotonin-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the medulla oblongata of the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morinaga, Ryosuke; Nakamuta, Nobuaki; Yamamoto, Yoshio

    2016-10-01

    Hypoxia induces respiratory responses in mammals and serotonergic neurons in the medulla oblongata participate in respiratory control. However, the morphological changes in serotonergic neurons induced by hypoxia have not yet been examined and respiratory controls of serotonergic neurons have not been clarified. We herein investigated the distribution of immunoreactivity for serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) in the medulla oblongata of control rats and rats exposed to 1-6h of hypoxia (10% O 2 ). We also examined the medulla oblongata by multiple immunofluorescence labeling for 5-HT, neurokinin 1 receptors (NK1R), a marker for some respiratory neurons in the pre-Bötzinger complex (PBC), and dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH), a marker for catecholaminergic neurons. The number of 5-HT-immunoreactive nerve cell bodies in the raphe nuclei was higher in rats exposed to hypoxia than in control rats. The number of 5-HT-immunoreactive nerve fibers significantly increased in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of rats exposed to 1-6h of hypoxia, caudal ventrolateral medulla of rats exposed to 2-6h of hypoxia, and lateral part of the nucleus of the solitary tract and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve of rats exposed to 1-2h of hypoxia. Multiple immunofluorescence labeling showed that 5-HT-immunoreactive nerve fibers were close to NK1R-immunoreactive neurons in ventrolateral medulla and to DBH-immunoreactive neurons in the medulla. These results suggest that serotonergic neurons partly regulate respiratory control under hypoxic conditions by modulating the activity of NK1R-expressing and catecholaminergic neurons. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  20. Chewing suppresses the stress-induced increase in the number of pERK-immunoreactive cells in the periaqueductal grey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Kentaro; Narimatsu, Yuri; Ono, Yumie; Sasaguri, Ken-Ichi; Onozuka, Minoru; Kawata, Toshitsugu; Yamamoto, Toshiharu

    2015-07-10

    We investigated the effects of chewing under immobilization stress on the periaqueductal gray (PAG) matter using phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK) as a marker of responding cells. Immobilization stress increased pERK-immunoreactive cells in the PAG. Among four subdivisions of the PAG, the increase of immunoreactive cells was remarkable in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral subdivisions. However, increase of pERK-immunoreactive cells by the immobilization stress was not so evident in the dorsomedial and lateral subdivisions. The chewing under immobilization stress prevented the stress-induced increase of pERK-immunoreactive cells in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral subdivisions with statistical significances (p<0.05). Again, chewing effects on pERK-immunoreactive cells were not visible in the dorsomedial and lateral subdivisions. These results suggest that the chewing alleviates the PAG (dorsolateral and ventrolateral subdivisions) responses to stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Healing human myocardial infarction associated with increased chymase immunoreactivity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daemen, M. J.; Urata, H.

    1997-01-01

    We studied the immunoreactivity of the chymase protein in normal human myocardium and in human myocardial infarctions at various postinfarction times using immuno-histochemistry. In noninfarcted hearts chymase was mainly present in cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. At 6 h after infarction the

  2. Bombesin-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of hydra

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J; Dockray, G J; Yanaihara, N

    1981-01-01

    With immunocytochemical methods, nerve cells have been detected in Hydra attenuata containing bombesin-like immunoreactivity. These nerve cells are located in ectoderm of all body regions of the animal and are especially abundant in basal disk and tentacles. Radioimmunoassay of extracts of hydra ...

  3. Oxaliplatin-induced loss of phosphorylated heavy neurofilament subunit neuronal immunoreactivity in rat DRG tissue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Connor Bronwen

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Oxaliplatin and related chemotherapeutic drugs cause painful chronic peripheral neuropathies in cancer patients. We investigated changes in neuronal size profiles and neurofilament immunoreactivity in L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG tissue of adult female Wistar rats after multiple-dose treatment with oxaliplatin, cisplatin, carboplatin or paclitaxel. Results After treatment with oxaliplatin, phosphorylated neurofilament heavy subunit (pNF-H immunoreactivity was reduced in neuronal cell bodies, but unchanged in nerve fibres, of the L5 DRG. Morphometric analysis confirmed significant changes in the number (-75%; P P P = 0.82, NF-M (-1%, P = 0.96 or NF-H (0%; P = 0.93 after oxaliplatin treatment, although the sizes of parvalbumin (-29%, P = 0.047, NF-M (-11%, P = 0.038 and NF-H (-28%; P = 0.0033 immunoreactive neurons were reduced. In an independent comparison of different chemotherapeutic agents, the number of pNF-H-immunoreactive neurons was significantly altered by oxaliplatin (-77.2%; P P = 0.03 but not by carboplatin or paclitaxel, and their mean cell body area was significantly changed by oxaliplatin (-31.1%; P = 0.008 but not by cisplatin, carboplatin or paclitaxel. Conclusion This study has demonstrated a specific pattern of loss of pNF-H immunoreactivity in rat DRG tissue that corresponds with the relative neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin, cisplatin and carboplatin. Loss of pNF-H may be mechanistically linked to oxaliplatin-induced neuronal atrophy, and serves as a readily measureable endpoint of its neurotoxicity in the rat model.

  4. Phylogenetic study of the arginine-vasotocin/arginine-vasopressin-like immunoreactive system in invertebrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizuno, J; Takeda, N

    1988-01-01

    1. A phylogenetic study of arg-vasotocin (AVT)/arg-vasopressin (AVP)-like immunoreactive cells was performed by the PAP method in the central nervous system of invertebrates. 2. The immunoreactivity was detected in the nerve cells of Hydra magnipapillata of the Coelenterata; Neanthes japonica and Pheretima communissima of the Annelida; Pomacea canaliculata, Aplysia kurodai, Oncidium verrucosum, Bradybaena similaris, Achatina fulica, Limax marginatus and Meretrix lamarckii of the Mollusca; Gnorimosphaeroma rayi, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, Gryllus bimaculatus and Baratha brassicae of the Arthropoda; Asterina pectinifera of the Echinodermata; and Halocynthia roretzi of the Protochordata. 3. No immunoreactivity was detected in Bipalium sp. of the Platyhelminthes, or in Procambarus clarkii and Helice tridens of the Arthropoda. 4. From these results, it appears that AVT/AVP is a phylogenetically ancient peptide which is present in a wide variety of invertebrates. 5. The actions of AVT/AVP and its presence in invertebrates are discussed.

  5. Monoclonal antibody to the rat glucocorticoid receptor. Relationship between the immunoreactive and DNA-binding domain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eisen, L.P.; Reichman, M.E.; Thompson, E.B.; Gametchu, B.; Harrison, R.W.; Eisen, H.J.

    1985-01-01

    The region of the glucocorticoid receptor that reacted with a monoclonal antibody (BUGR-1) was identified. In order to identify the immunoreactive region, the rat liver glucocorticoid receptor was subjected to limited proteolysis; immunoreactive fragments were identified by Western blotting. The monoclonal antibody reacted with both the undigested Mr approximately 97,000 receptor subunit and a Mr approximately 45,000 fragment containing the steroid-binding and DNA-binding domains. Digestion by trypsin also produced two steroid-binding fragments of Mr approximately 27,000 and 31,000 which did not react with the antibody and an immunoreactive Mr approximately 16,000 fragment. This Mr approximately 16,000 fragment was shown to bind to DNA-cellulose, indicating that it contained a DNA-binding domain of the receptor. The undigested receptor must have steroid associated with it to undergo activation to a DNA-binding form. However, the Mr approximately 16,000 immunoreactive fragment binds to DNA-cellulose even if it is obtained by digestion of the steroid-free holoreceptor which does not itself bind to DNA

  6. Analysis of the local kinetics and localization of interleukin-1 alpha, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor-beta, during the course of experimental pulmonary tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez-Pando, R; Orozco, H; Arriaga, K; Sampieri, A; Larriva-Sahd, J; Madrid-Marina, V

    1997-01-01

    A mouse model of pulmonary tuberculosis induced by the intratracheal instillation of live and virulent mycobacteria strain H37-Rv was used to examine the relationship of the histopathological findings with the local kinetics production and cellular distribution of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). The histopathological and immunological studies showed two phases of the disease: acute or early and chronic or advanced. The acute phase was characterized by inflammatory infiltrate in the alveolar-capillary interstitium, blood vessels and bronchial wall with formation of granulomas. During this acute phase, which lasted from 1 to 28 days, high percentages of TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha immunostained activated macrophages were observed principally in the interstium-intralveolar inflammatory infiltrate and in granulomas. Electron microscopy studies of these cells, showed extensive rough endoplasmic reticulum, numerous lysosomes and occasional mycobacteria. Double labelling with colloid gold showed that TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha were present in the same cells, but were confined to separate vacuoles near the Golgi area, and mixed in larger vacuoles near to cell membrane. The concentration of TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha as well as their respective mRNAs were elevated in the early phase, particularly at day 3 when the bacillary count decreased. A second peak was seen at days 14 and 21-28 when granulomas appeared and evolved to full maturation. In contrast, TGF-beta production and numbers of immunoreactive cells were low in comparison with the advanced phase of the disease. The chronic phase was characterized by histopathological changes indicative of more severity (i.e. pneumonia, focal necrosis and extensive interstitial fibrosis) with a decrease in the TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha production that coincided with the highest level of TGF-beta. The bacillary counts were highest as the macrophages

  7. Role of neuropsin in parvalbumin immunoreactivity changes in hippocampal basket terminals of mice reared in various environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harumitsu eSuzuki

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In vitro approaches have suggested that neuropsin (or kallikrein 8/KLK8, which controls gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA neurotransmission through neuregulin-1 and its receptor (ErbB4, is involved in neural plasticity (Tamura et al., 2012, 2013. In the present study, we examined whether parvalbumin (PV-positive neuronal networks, the majority of which are ErbB4-positive GABAergic interneurons, are controlled by neuropsin in tranquil and stimulated voluntarily behaving mice.PV-immunoreactive fibers surrounding hippocampal pyramidal and granular neurons in mice reared in their home cage were decreased in neuropsin-deficient mice, suggesting that neuropsin controls PV immunoreactivity. One- or two-week exposures of wild mice to novel environments, in which they could behave freely and run voluntarily in a wheel resulted in a marked upregulation of both neuropsin mRNA and protein in the hippocampus. To elucidate the functional relevance of the increase in neuropsin during exposure to a rich environment, the intensities of PV-immunoreactive fibers were compared between neuropsin-deficient and wild-type mice under environmental stimuli. When mice were transferred into novel cages (large cages with toys, the intensity of PV-immunoreactive fibers increased in wild-type mice and neuropsin-deficient mice. Therefore, behavioral stimuli control a neuropsin-independent form of PV immunoreactivity. However, the neuropsin-dependent part of the change in PV-immunoreactive fibers may occur in the stimulated hippocampus because increased levels of neuropsin continued during these enriched conditions.

  8. Substance P immunoreactivity in the enteric nervous system in Rett syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deguchi, K; Reyes, C; Chakraborty, S; Antalffy, B; Glaze, D; Armstrong, D

    2001-12-01

    Rett syndrome is associated with profound mental retardation and motor disability in girls. It has a characteristic clinical phenotype which includes abnormalities of the autonomic nervous system. Feeding impairment and severe constipation are two symptoms of this autonomic dysfunction. Substance P, an important peptide in the autonomic nervous system, is decreased in the cerebrospinal fluid of Rett syndrome. We have demonstrated that substance P immunoreactivity is significantly decreased in Rett syndrome brain-stem and may be related to the autonomic dysfunction. In this study, we have continued the investigation of substance P in the enteric nervous system. We immunohistochemically examined the normal developing bowel in 22 controls (ages, 14 gestational weeks to 31 years) using formalin fixed tissue, with antibodies to substance P, tyrosine hydroxylase and vasoactive intestinal peptide. We compared the immunoreactivity of normal controls with 14 cases of Rett syndrome (ages, 5-41 years) and observed that the expression of substance P, tyrosine hydroxylase and vasoactive intestinal peptide immunoreactivity in the bowel in Rett syndrome was not significantly different from that of controls. This suggests that the feeding impairment and constipation in Rett syndrome relate to dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system originating outside of the bowel, in the brain-stem, as suggested by our previous study.

  9. Diurnal variation of β-endorphin like immunoreactivity in rat brain, pituitary gland, and plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Izquierdo, I.A.; Perry, M.L.S.; Carrasco, M.A.; Dias, R.D.

    1984-01-01

    β-endorphin like immunoreactivity was measured in the brain, pituitary gland and plasma of rats at 2 A.M, 8 A.M, 2 P.M and 8 P.M. Values were higher in the brain and pituitary gland at 8 P.M and in the plasma at 8 A.M and 2 P.M. The findings suggest a circadian rhythm in the production and release of β-endorphin immunoreactive material. (Author) [pt

  10. Differential Immuno-Reactivity to Genomic DNA, RNA and Mitochondrial DNA is Associated with Auto-Immunity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vilena V. Ivanova

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Circulating auto-reactive antibodies are hallmark features of auto-immune diseases, however little is known with respect to the specificity of such bio-markers. In the present study, we investigated the specificity of anti-nucleic acid antibodies in the blood of subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE and healthy controls. Methods: Sera from 12 SLE cases and 8 controls were evaluated for immuno-reactivity to purified RNA, DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA by enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA. Results: As expected, immuno-reactivity to total nucleic acids was significantly higher in subjects with SLE when compared to healthy controls, however a clear distinction was observed among the various nucleic acid sub-types, with sera from SLE subjects displaying the greatest immuno-reactivity to RNA followed by mtDNA and then total DNA. Conclusion: The identification of auto-reactive antibodies can serve as highly sensitive biomarkers, although their specificity may not always allow diagnostic certainty. The knowledge that auto-antibodies in subjects with SLE display differential immuno-reactivity may help to improve existing diagnostics and may lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of auto-immune disorders.

  11. Different pituitary. beta. -endorphin and adrenal cortisol response to ethanol in individuals with high and low risk for future development of alcoholism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gianoulakis, C.G.; Beliveau, D.; Angelogianni, P.; Meaney, M.; Thavundayil, J.; Tawar, V.; Dumas, M. (McGill Univ., Quebec (Canada))

    1989-01-01

    The purpose of the present studies was to investigate the activity of the adrenal gland and the pituitary {beta}-endorphin system in individuals from families with a 3 generation history of alcoholism, High Risk group, or from families without history of alcoholism, Low Risk group. On the day of testing, blood sample was taken at 9:00 a.m., then the subject drank a placebo drink or an ethanol solution. Additional blood samples were taken at 15, 45 and 120 minutes post-drink. Results indicated that individuals of the High Risk group had lower basal levels of {beta}-endorphin like immunoreactivity ({beta}-EPLIR) than individuals of the Low Risk group. The dose of 0.5 g ethanol/kg B.Wt. induced an induce an increase in the plasma content of {beta}-EPLIR of the High Risk group, but not of the Low Risk group. In the Low Risk group ethanol did not induce an increase above the 9:00 a.m. levels, however, it attenuated the {beta}-endorphin decrease overtime, observed following the placebo drink. Analysis of {beta}-endorphin-like peptides in the plasma of the High Risk group, with Sephadex G-75 chromatography indicated that the major component of the plasma {beta}-EPLIR was {beta}-lipotropin. Plasma cortisol levels, following ethanol intake, presented a small increase in the High Risk group but not in the Low Risk group.

  12. Neurotensin-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of hydra

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J; Carraway, R E; Rökaeus, A

    1981-01-01

    Neurotensin-like immunoreactivity is found in nerve fibers present in all body regions of hydra. The nerve fibers are especially numerous in the ectoderm at the bases of the tentacles and in the ectoderm at a site just above the foot. Radioimmunoassays of acetic-acid extracts of hydra, using vari...

  13. Effects of processing and storage on almond (Prunus dulcis L.) amandin immunoreactivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Mengna; Liu, Changqi; Roux, Kenneth H; Gradziel, Thomas M; Sathe, Shridhar K

    2017-10-01

    A murine monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to assess amandin immunoreactivity in processed and long-term stored almonds. The results demonstrated that amandin immunoreactivity is stable in variously processed almond seeds. Using the ELISA, amandin immunoreactivity could be detected in commercial whole raw and processed (blanched, sliced, dry roasted, and indicated combinations thereof) almond seeds stored for eleven years and eight months, defatted almond seed flours from several almond varieties/hybrids and their borate saline buffer-solubilized protein extracts stored for ten years and seven months, and several almond varieties grown in different California counties (full fat flours and their defatted flour counterparts). Roasting Nonpareil whole full fat almond seeds, full fat flour, and defatted flour at 170°C for 20min each with 2, 5, 10, and 20% w/w corn syrup or sucrose did not prevent amandin detection by ELISA. Similarly, amandin detection in select food matrices spiked with Nonpareil almond protein extract was not inhibited. In conclusion, amandin is a stable target protein for almond detection under the tested processing and storage conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Distribution of obestatin and ghrelin in human tissues: immunoreactive cells in the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and mammary glands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grönberg, Malin; Tsolakis, Apostolos V; Magnusson, Linda

    2008-01-01

    Obestatin and ghrelin are two peptides derived from the same prohormone. It is well established that ghrelin is produced by endocrine cells in the gastric mucosa. However, the distribution of human obestatin immunoreactive cells is not thoroughly characterized. A polyclonal antibody...... that specifically recognizes human obestatin was produced. Using this antibody and a commercial antibody vs ghrelin, the distribution of obestatin and ghrelin immunoreactive cells was determined in a panel of human tissues using immunohistochemistry. The two peptides were detected in the mucosa...... of the gastrointestinal tract, from cardia to ileum, and in the pancreatic islets. Interestingly, epithelial cells in the ducts of mammary glands showed distinct immunoreactivity for both ghrelin and obestatin. By double immunofluorescence microscopy, it was shown that all detected cells were immunoreactive for both...

  15. Impact of food processing and simulated gastrointestinal digestion on gliadin immunoreactivity in rolls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brzozowski, Bartosz

    2018-07-01

    The enzymatic modification of wheat proteins during dough fermentation and its digestion as supported by peptidases of microbiological origin can result in the degradation of important peptides in the pathogenesis of coeliac disease. However, baking bread and the high temperature associated with this could change the physicochemical and immunological properties of proteins. Thermal changes in the spatial structure of proteins and their hydrolysis can lead to a masking or degrading of immunoreactive peptides. The addition of prolyl endopeptidase (PEP), comprising peptidases isolated from Lactobacillus acidophilus 5e2 (LA) or transglutaminase (TG) in the course of fermentation, decreases its immunoreactivity by 83.9%, 51.9% and 18.5%, respectively. An analysis of the fractional composition of gliadins revealed that γ- and ω-gliadins are the proteins most susceptible to enzymatic modification. Hydrolysis of wheat storage proteins with PEP and LA reduces the content of αβ-, γ- and ω-gliadins by 13.7%, 60.2% and 41.9% for PEP and by 22.1%, 43.5% and 36.9% for LA, respectively. Cross-linking of proteins with TG or their hydrolysis by PEP and LA peptidases during the process of forming wheat dough, followed by digesting bread samples with PEP and LA peptidases, decreases the immunoreactivity of bread hydrolysates from 2.4% to 0.02%. The content of peptide detected in polypeptide sequences is 263.4 ± 3.3, 30.9 ± 1.5 and 7.9 ± 0.4 mg kg -1 in samples of hydrolysates of bread digested with PEP, as produced from dough modified by TG, PEP and LA, respectively. Enzymatic pre-modification of proteins during the process of dough fermentation decreases their immunoreactive potential, such that fewer peptides recognised by R5 antibodies are released during the digestion process from the bread matrix. Immunoreactive peptides are degraded more effectively when digestive enzymes are supported by the addition of PEP. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017

  16. Immunoreactivity of 125I-papain labelled by different methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rauch, P.; Fukal, L.; Kas, J.; Tykva, R.

    1984-01-01

    Three different methods of papain iodination (with chloramine-T, lactoperoxidase and conjugation with Bolton-Hunter reagent) have been compared. The highest yield of 125 I-papain could be obtained using lactoperoxidase which enabled to achieve the highest immunoreactivity. 125 I-papain, labelled this way, is suitable for the radioimmunoassay of papain. (author)

  17. Utilization of Exocellular Mannan from Rhodotorula glutinis as an Immunoreactive Antigen in Diagnosis of Leptospirosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsuo, Kouki; Isogai, Emiko; Araki, Yoshio

    2000-01-01

    Previously, Rhodotorula glutinis was reported to produce a large amount of exocellular mannan, having a repeating unit of →3)-d-Manp-(1→4)-d-Manp-(1→. Recently, we found that antigenic polysaccharides of Leptospira biflexa serovar patoc strain Patoc I have the same repeating unit and cross-react with antisera raised against extended strains of other leptospires (K. Matsuo, E. Isogai, and Y. Araki, Carbohydr. Res., in press). This structural identity and the difficulty of producing and isolating antigens led us to confirm the usefulness of Rhodotorula mannan as an immunoreactive antigen in a serological diagnosis of leptospirosis. In the present investigation, we confirmed the structural identity of an exocellular mannan isolated from R. glutinis AHU 3479 and tried to use it as an immunoreactive antigen in a serological diagnosis of leptospirosis. From its chemical analysis and 1H- and 13C-labeled nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, the Rhodotorula mannan was confirmed to consist of the same disaccharide units. Furthermore, such a preparation was shown to immunoreact to various sera from patients suffering with leptospirosis as well as to most rabbit antiserum preparations obtained from immunization with various strains of pathogenic leptospires. Therefore, the Rhodotorula mannan preparation is useful as an immunoreactive antigen in the serological diagnosis for leptospirosis. PMID:11015396

  18. TGF-beta1 inhibits Cx43 expression and formation of functional syncytia in cultured smooth muscle cells from human detrusor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuhaus, Jochen; Heinrich, Marco; Schwalenberg, Thilo; Stolzenburg, Jens-Uwe

    2009-02-01

    Human detrusor smooth muscle cells (hBSMCs) are coupled by connexin 43 (Cx43)-positive gap junctions to form functional syncytia. Gap junctional communication likely is necessary for synchronised detrusor contractions and is supposed to be altered in voiding disturbances. Other authors have shown that the pleiotropic cytokine TGF-beta1 upregulates Cx43 expression in human aortic smooth muscle cells. In this study, we examined the TGF-beta1 effects on Cx43 expression in cultured hBSMCs. hBSMC cultures, established from patients undergoing cystectomy, were treated with recombinant human TGF-beta1. Cx43 expression was then examined by Western blotting, real-time PCR, and immunocytochemistry. Dye-injection experiments were used to study the size of functional syncytia. Dye-coupling experiments revealed stable formation of functional syncytia in passaged cell cultures (P1-P4). Stimulation with TGF-beta1 led to significant reduction of Cx43 immunoreactivity and coupling. Cx43 protein expression was significantly downregulated and Cx43 mRNA was only 30% of the control level. Interestingly, low phosphorylation species of Cx43 were particularly affected. Our experiments demonstrated a significant down regulation of connexin 43 by TGF-beta1 in cultured hBSMCs. These findings support the view that TGF-beta1 is involved in the pathophysiology of urinary bladder dysfunction.

  19. Correlation of cytoplasmic beta-catenin and cyclin D1 overexpression during thyroid carcinogenesis around Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meirmanov, Serik; Nakashima, Masahiro; Kondo, Hisayoshi; Matsufuji, Reiko; Takamura, Noboru; Ishigaki, Katsu; Ito, Masahiro; Prouglo, Yuri; Yamashita, Shunichi; Sekine, Ichiro

    2003-06-01

    The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site (SNTS), the Republic of Kazakhstan, has been contaminated by radioactive fallout. The alteration of oncogenic molecules in thyroid cancer around the SNTS was considered worthy of analysis because it presented the potential to elucidate the relationship between radiation exposure and thyroid cancer. This study aimed to analyze both beta-catenin and cyclin D1 expressions in thyroid carcinomas around the SNTS. We examined nine cases of chronic thyroiditis, eight cases of follicular adenomas, and 23 cases of papillary carcinomas. Immunohistochemically, all carcinomas displayed a strong cytosolic beta-catenin expression, while both chronic thyroiditis and follicular adenomas showed a significantly lower cytoplasmic beta-catenin (22.2% and 37.5%, respectively). No cyclin D1 immunoreactivity was evident in chronic thyroiditis. In contrast, 62.5% of follicular adenomas and 87.0% of papillary carcinoma showed cyclin D1 overexpression. Additionally, a strong correlation between cytoplasmic beta-catenin and cyclin D1 expression was suggested in thyroid tumors. This study revealed a higher prevalence of both aberrant beta-catenin expression and cyclin D1 overexpression in papillary thyroid cancers around the SNTS than sporadic cases. The analysis of the alteration of the Wnt signaling-related molecules in thyroid cancer around the SNTS may be important to gain an insight into radiation-induced thyroid tumorigenesis.

  20. Spatial patterns of FUS-immunoreactive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) in neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, Richard A; Gearing, Marla; Bigio, Eileen H; Cruz-Sanchez, Felix F; Duyckaerts, Charles; Mackenzie, Ian R A; Perry, Robert H; Skullerud, Kari; Yokoo, Hideaki; Cairns, Nigel J

    2011-11-01

    Neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID), a rare form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), is characterized neuropathologically by focal atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, neuronal loss, gliosis, and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) containing epitopes of ubiquitin and neuronal intermediate filament (IF) proteins. Recently, the 'fused in sarcoma' (FUS) protein (encoded by the FUS gene) has been shown to be a component of the inclusions of NIFID. To further characterize FUS proteinopathy in NIFID, we studied the spatial patterns of the FUS-immunoreactive NCI in frontal and temporal cortex of 10 cases. In the cerebral cortex, sectors CA1/2 of the hippocampus, and the dentate gyrus (DG), the FUS-immunoreactive NCI were frequently clustered and the clusters were regularly distributed parallel to the tissue boundary. In a proportion of cortical gyri, cluster size of the NCI approximated to those of the columns of cells was associated with the cortico-cortical projections. There were no significant differences in the frequency of different types of spatial patterns with disease duration or disease stage. Clusters of NCI in the upper and lower cortex were significantly larger using FUS compared with phosphorylated, neurofilament heavy polypeptide (NEFH) or α-internexin (INA) immunohistochemistry (IHC). We concluded: (1) FUS-immunoreactive NCI exhibit similar spatial patterns to analogous inclusions in the tauopathies and synucleinopathies, (2) clusters of FUS-immunoreactive NCI are larger than those revealed by NEFH or ΙΝΑ, and (3) the spatial patterns of the FUS-immunoreactive NCI suggest the degeneration of the cortico-cortical projections in NIFID.

  1. Homogeneous MGMT immunoreactivity correlates with an unmethylated MGMT promoter status in brain metastases of various solid tumors.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Ingold

    Full Text Available The O(6-methylguanine-methyltransferase (MGMT promoter methylation status is a predictive parameter for the response of malignant gliomas to alkylating agents such as temozolomide. First clinical reports on treating brain metastases with temozolomide describe varying effects. This may be due to the fact that MGMT promoter methylation of brain metastases has not yet been explored in depth. Therefore, we assessed MGMT promoter methylation of various brain metastases including those derived from lung (n = 91, breast (n = 72 kidney (n = 49 and from malignant melanomas (n = 113 by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR and MGMT immunoreactivity. Fifty-nine of 199 brain metastases (29.6% revealed a methylated MGMT promoter. The methylation rate was the highest in brain metastases derived from lung carcinomas (46.5% followed by those from breast carcinoma (28.8%, malignant melanoma (24.7% and from renal carcinoma (20%. A significant correlation of homogeneous MGMT-immunoreactivity (>95% MGMT positive tumor cells and an unmethylated MGMT promoter was found. Promoter methylation was detected in 26 of 61 (43% tumors lacking MGMT immunoreactivity, in 17 of 63 (27% metastases with heterogeneous MGMT expression, but only in 5 of 54 brain metastases (9% showing a homogeneous MGMT immunoreactivity. Our results demonstrate that a significant number of brain metastases reveal a methylated MGMT-promoter. Based on an obvious correlation between homogeneous MGMT immunoreactivity and unmethylated MGMT promoter, we hypothesize that immunohistochemistry for MGMT may be a helpful diagnostic tool to identify those tumors that probably will not benefit from the use of alkylating agents. The discrepancy between promoter methylation and a lack of MGMT immunoreactivity argues for assessing MGMT promoter methylation both by immunohistochemical as well as by molecular approaches for diagnostic purposes.

  2. FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity in brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri (Cyclostomata)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jirikowski, G; Erhart, G; Grimmelikhuijzen, C J

    1984-01-01

    Paraffin sections of brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri were immunostained with an antiserum to FMRF-amide. Immunoreactivity was visible in a large number of neurons in the posterior part of the ventromedial hypothalamus and in long neuronal processes extending cranially from...... the hypothalamus to the olfactory system and caudally to the medulla oblongata. FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity was also found in cells of the adenohypophysis. These observations suggest that the hagfish possesses a brain FMRF-amide-like transmitter system and pituitary cells containing FMRF-amide-like material...

  3. Substance P immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord of the turtle Trachemys dorbigni following peripheral nerve injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Partata, W A; Krepsky, A M R; Xavier, L L; Marques, M; Achaval, M

    2003-04-01

    Immunoreactive substance P was investigated in turtle lumbar spinal cord after sciatic nerve transection. In control animals immunoreactive fibers were densest in synaptic field Ia, where the longest axons invaded synaptic field III. Positive neuronal bodies were identified in the lateral column of the dorsal horn and substance P immunoreactive varicosities were observed in the ventral horn, in close relationship with presumed motoneurons. Other varicosities appeared in the lateral and anterior funiculi. After axotomy, substance P immunoreactive fibers were reduced slightly on the side of the lesion, which was located in long fibers that invaded synaptic field III and in the varicosities of the lateral and anterior funiculus. The changes were observed at 7 days after axonal injury and persisted at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days after the lesion. These findings show that turtles should be considered as a model to study the role of substance P in peripheral axonal injury, since the distribution and temporal changes of substance P were similar to those found in mammals.

  4. Substance P immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord of the turtle Trachemys dorbigni following peripheral nerve injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W.A. Partata

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available Immunoreactive substance P was investigated in turtle lumbar spinal cord after sciatic nerve transection. In control animals immunoreactive fibers were densest in synaptic field Ia, where the longest axons invaded synaptic field III. Positive neuronal bodies were identified in the lateral column of the dorsal horn and substance P immunoreactive varicosities were observed in the ventral horn, in close relationship with presumed motoneurons. Other varicosities appeared in the lateral and anterior funiculi. After axotomy, substance P immunoreactive fibers were reduced slightly on the side of the lesion, which was located in long fibers that invaded synaptic field III and in the varicosities of the lateral and anterior funiculus. The changes were observed at 7 days after axonal injury and persisted at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days after the lesion. These findings show that turtles should be considered as a model to study the role of substance P in peripheral axonal injury, since the distribution and temporal changes of substance P were similar to those found in mammals.

  5. Gastrin/CCK-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of coelenterates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J; Sundler, F; Rehfeld, J F

    1980-01-01

    Using immunocytochemistry, gastrin/CCK-like immunoreactivity is found in sensory nerve cells in the ectoderm of the mouth region of hydra and in nerve cells in the endoderm of all body regions of the sea anemone tealia. These results are corroborated by radioimmunoassay: One hydra contains at lea...

  6. FMRFamide immunoreactivity is generally occurring in the nervous systems of coelenterates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimmelikhuijzen, C J

    1983-01-01

    Abundant FMRFamide immunoreactivity has been found in the nervous systems of all hydrozoan, anthozoan, scyphozoan and ctenophoran species that were looked upon. This general and abundant occurrence shows that FMRFamide-like material must play a crucial role in the functioning of primitive nervous...

  7. Proteolysis of bovine beta-lactoglobulin during thermal treatment in subdenaturing conditions highlights some structural features of the temperature-modified protein and yields fragments with low immunoreactivity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iametti, S.; Rasmussen, P.; Frøkiær, Hanne

    2002-01-01

    Bovine beta-lactoglobulin was hydrolyzed with trypsin or chymotrypsin in the course of heat treatment at 55, 60 and 65 C at neutral pH. At these temperatures beta-lactoglobulin undergoes significant but reversible structural changes. In the conditions used in the present study, beta......-lactoglobulin was virtually insensitive to proteolysis by either enzyme at room temperature, but underwent extensive proteolysis when either protease was present during the heat treatment. High-temperature proteolysis occurs in a progressive manner. Mass spectrometry analysis of some large-sized breakdown intermediates...

  8. Neuroanatomy of pars intercerebralis neurons with special reference to their connections with neurons immunoreactive for pigment-dispersing factor in the blow fly Protophormia terraenovae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasuyama, Kouji; Hase, Hiroaki; Shiga, Sakiko

    2015-10-01

    Input regions of pars intercerebralis (PI) neurons are examined by confocal and electron microscopies with special reference to their connections with neurons immunoreactive for pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) in the blow fly, Protophormia terraenovae. PI neurons are a prerequisite for ovarian development under long-day conditions. Backfills from the cardiac recurrent nerve after severance of the posterior lateral tracts labeled thin fibers derived from the PI neurons in the superior medial protocerebrum. These PI fibers were mainly synapsin-negative and postsynaptic to unknown varicose profiles containing dense-core vesicles. Backfilled fibers in the periesophageal neuropils, derived from the PI neurons or neurons with somata in the subesophageal zone, were varicose and some were synapsin-positive. Electron microscopy revealed the presence of both presynaptic and postsynaptic sites in backfilled fibers in the periesophageal neuropils. Many PDF-immunoreactive varicosities were found in the superior medial and lateral protocerebrum and double-labeling showed that 60-88 % of PDF-immunoreactive varicosities were also synapsin-immunoreactive. Double-labeling with the backfills and PDF immunocytochemistry showed that the PI fibers and PDF-immunoreactive varicosities were located close to each other in the superior medial protocerebrum. Results of triple-labeling of PI neurons, PDF-immunoreactive neurons and synapsin-immunoreactive terminals demonstrated that the synapsin-positive PDF-immunoreactive varicosities contacted the PI fibers. These data suggest that PI neurons receive synaptic contacts from PDF-immunoreactive fibers, which are derived from circadian clock neurons, of small ventral lateral neurons (previously called OL2) or posterior dorsal (PD) neurons with somata in the pars lateralis.

  9. Corticotropin-releasing activity of gastrin-releasing peptide in normal men

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knigge, U; Holst, J J; Knuhtsen, S

    1987-01-01

    than 0.0025). GRP dose-dependently stimulated beta-endorphin immunoreactivity compared with the effect of saline [delta beta-endorphin immunoreactivity before and after treatment: GRP I, 6 +/- 1 vs. -3 +/- 1 pmol/L (P less than 0.01); GRP II, 11 +/- 4 vs. -6 +/- 2 pg/mL (P less than 0.025)]. GRP had...

  10. Expression of podoplanin and TGF-beta in glandular odontogenic cyst and its comparison with developmental and inflammatory odontogenic cystic lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alaeddini, Mojgan; Eshghyar, Nosratollah; Etemad-Moghadam, Shahroo

    2017-01-01

    The number of studies investigating the immunohistochemical characteristics of glandular odontogenic cysts (GOCs) is limited, due to its rarity. TGF-beta has been suggested to induce podoplanin expression in some lesions. We aimed to evaluate and compare podoplanin and TGF-beta expression in GOC and other odontogenic cystic lesions. A total of 43 samples including five GOCs, 10 dentigerous cysts (DCs), eight unicystic ameloblastoma (UAs), and 20 radicular cysts (RCs) were selected and subjected to immunohistochemical staining using monoclonal antibodies against podoplanin and TGF-beta. Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for statistical analysis along with Bonferroni for adjusting P-values (P < 0.05). Podoplanin immunoreactivity was observed in 80%, 70%, and 100% of DCs, RCs, and UAs, respectively, while none of the GOCs were positive for this marker (P = 0.004). Significant differences were only found in the GOC specimens. TGF-beta positivity occurred in the capsule and epithelium of all GOCs and DCs, while RCs and UAs demonstrated different expression percentages in the capsular and epithelial tissues. Epithelial TGF-beta showed significant differences among the studied lesions (P = 0.007) with the main difference found between DCs with RCs and DCs with UAs. Lack of podoplanin expression might be involved in the characteristic histologic and behavioral features of GOC, which seems to be unrelated to TGF-beta expression. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. CXCL14-like Immunoreactivity Exists in Somatostatin-containing Endocrine Cells, and in the Lamina Propria and Submucosal Somatostatinergic Nervous System of Mouse Alimentary Tract.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Hirohumi; Yamada, Kentaro; Matsuda, Yasuhiro; Onozuka, Minoru; Yamamoto, Toshiharu

    2017-12-26

    In the present study, we investigated the distribution of CXCL14 immunoreactive endocrine cells and neurons in mouse alimentary tract by immunohistochemistry. CXCL14 immunoreactive endocrine cells were found as closed-type cells in the stomach and open-type cells in the small intestine. The immunostaining of these endocrine cells corresponded with that of the somatostatin-containing endocrine cells. Only a few CXCL14 immunoreactive endocrine cells were seen in the large intestine. CXCL14 immunoreactive fibers were observed in the muscular layer from the stomach to the rectum with most abundance in the rectum. Many CXCL14 immunoreactive fibers were observed in the lamina propria and submucosal layer from the duodenum to the rectum with most abundance in the rectum; these fibers corresponded to the somatostatin-containing nerve fibers. Some CXCL14 immunoreactive neuronal somata that were also immuno-positive for somatostatin, were noted in the submucosal layer of the rectum. However, the remaining parts of the alimentary tract presented with almost negligible immunoreactive somata. The co-localization of CXCL14 and somatostatin suggests that CXCL14 contributes to the function of somatostatin, which include the inhibition of other endocrine and exocrine cells and the enteric nervous systems.

  12. Expression of class III beta tubulin in cervical cancer patients administered preoperative radiochemotherapy: correlation with response to treatment and clinical outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrandina, Gabriella; Martinelli, Enrica; Zannoni, Gian Franco; Distefano, Mariagrazia; Paglia, Amelia; Ferlini, Cristiano; Scambia, Giovanni

    2007-02-01

    Alterations of the beta subunit of tubulin have been reported to be predictive of resistance to radiation and antitubulin agents in several solid tumors. The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical role of beta III tubulin expression as prognostic factor for survival and as a predictive parameter of response to preoperative radiochemotherapy in a single institutional series of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients. The study included 98 LACC patients admitted to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit, Catholic University of Rome and Campobasso between January 1998 and January 2005. Immunohistochemistry was performed by using the polyclonal rabbit anti-beta III tubulin antibody (Covance, Princeton, NJ, USA). The value of 10% immunostained tumor cells was arbitrarily chosen as cut-off value to distinguish cases with high versus low beta III tubulin content. In the whole series, beta III tubulin immunoreaction was detectable in 66/98 cases (67.3%), and the percentage of positively stained cells ranged from 0 to 100% (median=10%). The percentages of cases with high beta III tubulin expression were shown not to be differently distributed according to clinico-pathological characteristics. There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of cases with high beta III tubulin expression according to clinical and pathological response to treatment. During the follow-up period, recurrence and death of disease occurred in 15 and 13 cases, respectively. There was no difference in disease-free and overall survival in cases with high versus low beta III tubulin expression. The assessment of class III beta tubulin status seems of little usefulness in order to identify LACC patients with poor chance of response to concomitant radiochemotherapy and unfavorable prognosis.

  13. Relation between the 2{nu}{beta}{beta} and 0{nu}{beta}{beta} nuclear matrix elements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vogel, Petr [Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Simkovic, Fedor [Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina F1, SK-84248 Bratislava (Slovakia)

    2011-12-16

    A formal relation between the GT part of the nuclear matrix elements M{sub GT}{sup 0{nu}} of 0{nu}{beta}{beta} decay and the closure matrix elements M{sub cl}{sup 2{nu}} of 2{nu}{beta}{beta} decay is established. This relation is based on the integral representation of these quantities in terms of their dependence on the distance r between the two nucleons undergoing transformation. We also discuss the difficulties in determining the correct values of the closure 2{nu}{beta}{beta} decay matrix elements.

  14. Purification of immunoreactive radiolabeled moniclonal antibodies with anti-iodiotypic moniclonal antibodies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Temponi, M.; Pupa, S.; Ferrone, S.

    1990-01-01

    A method is described to purify immunoreactive moniclonal antibodies from radiolabeled monoclonal antibody preparations. The method is based on incubation of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies with insolubilized anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibodies to idiotopes within the antigen-combining site of monoclonal antibodies to be purified an elution of bound monoclonal antibodies with a low pH buffer. The immunoreactive fraction of the purified monoclonal antibodies was at least 82%; the yeald was at least 73%. The purification procedure did not cause any detectable change in the affinity constant of the eluted monoclonal antibodies. The method is simple and rapid; the requirement for anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibodies to idiotopes within the antigen-combining site of the antibodies to be purified is not likely to represent a major limitation in the broad application of the present method, since the hybridoma technology has greatly facilitated the development of anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibodies. (author). 12 refs.; 4 figs.; 1 tab

  15. Premotor nitric oxide synthase immunoreactive pathway connecting lumbar segments with the ventral motor nucleus of the cervical enlargement in the dog.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsala, Jozef; Lukácová, Nadezda; Cízková, Dása; Lukác, Imrich; Kuchárová, Karolína; Marsala, Martin

    2004-03-01

    In this study we investigate the occurrence and origin of punctate nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivity in the neuropil of the ventral motor nucleus in C7-Th1 segments of the dog spine, which are supposed to be the terminal field of an ascending premotor propriospinal nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive pathway. As the first step, nitric oxide synthase immunohistochemistry was used to distinguish nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive staining of the ventral motor nucleus. Dense, punctate nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivity was found on control sections in the neuropil of the ventral motor nucleus. After hemisection at Th10-11, axotomy-induced retrograde changes consisting in a strong upregulation of nitric oxide synthase-containing neurons were found mostly unilaterally in lamina VIII, the medial part of lamina VII and in the pericentral region in all segments of the lumbosacral enlargement. Concurrently, a strong depletion of the punctate nitric oxide synthase immunopositivity in the neuropil of the ventral motor nucleus ipsilaterally with the hemisection was detected, thus revealing that an uncrossed ascending premotor propriospinal pathway containing a fairly high number of nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive fibers terminates in the ventral motor nucleus. Application of the retrograde fluorescent tracer Fluorogold injected into the ventral motor nucleus and analysis of alternate sections processed for nitric oxide synthase immunocytochemistry revealed the presence of Fluorogold-labeled and nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive axons in the ventrolateral funiculus and in the lateral and medial portions of the ventral column throughout the thoracic and upper lumbar segments. A noticeable number of Fluorogold-labeled and nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive somata detected on consecutive sections were found in the lumbosacral enlargement, mainly in laminae VIII-IX, the medial part of lamina VII and in the pericentral region (lamina X), ipsilaterally with the

  16. Impaired specific immunoreactivity in cows with hepatic lipidosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wentink, G H; Rutten, V P; van den Ingh, T S; Hoek, A; Müller, K E; Wensing, T

    1997-05-01

    In this study, hepatic lipidosis in cows was experimentally induced by offering an energy surplus during the dry period. Liver triacylglycerol (TAG) was 16% in the experimental group. In the control group fed the same diet in restricted quantities, liver TAG was about 7%. The animals of both groups were vaccinated with tetanus vaccine at Day 3 after parturition. It was demonstrated that the cows with high liver TAG percentages had lower humoral and cellular (P hepatic lipidosis may be due to impaired immunoreactivity.

  17. Heterogeneity of human plasma insulin: techniques for separating immunoreactive components and their determination by radioimmunoassay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza, Iracelia Torres de Toledo e

    1977-01-01

    When human plasma is filtered on Sephadex G-SO fine, insulin immunoreactivity is recovered in two peaks: 'big insulin', the higher molecular weight component and 'little insulin', the lower molecular component, having elution volumes that correspond to those of porcine proinsulin 125 I and porcine insulin 125 I respectively. The presence of another form of immunoreactive insulin 'big big insulin' was detected from an insuloma suspect and its elution pattern corresponding to serum albumin. The eluates correspondent to 'big' and 'little' insulin as well as 'big big' component were assayed by radioimmunoassay using crystalline human insulin as a standard, porcine insulin 125 tracer and anti insulin serum. The antibody, raised in guinea-pigs, was sensitive and potent being adequate for the assay. The reactivity of insulin and proinsulin was tested against the antibody. The relative proportions of several components of total immunoreactive insulin in plasma were studied in basal conditions in five normal subjects and in the patient JSC with pancreatic insulin-secreting tumor as well as after glucose stimuli in all tolbutamide in JSC. (author)

  18. Chronic hypoxia alters calbindin D-28k immunoreactivity in lingual and laryngeal taste buds in the rat

    OpenAIRE

    Yoshida, T.; Matsuda, H.; Yamamoto, Y.; Hayashida, Y.; Tsukuda, M.; Kusakabe, T.

    2006-01-01

    The distribution and abundance of the calcium binding protein, calbindin D-28k (CB) immunoreactivity in the taste buds of the circumvallate papillae and larynx were compared between normoxic and chronically hypoxic rats (10% O2 for 8 weeks). In the normoxic rats, CB immunoreactivity was observed in some cells and fibers of the intragemmal region of the taste buds in the circumvallate papillae. In contrast, in the subgemmal region of the laryngeal taste buds, fi...

  19. Multi-immunoreaction-based dual-color capillary electrophoresis for enhanced diagnostic reliability of thyroid gland disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woo, Nain; Kim, Su-Kang; Kang, Seong Ho

    2017-08-04

    Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) secretion plays a critical role in regulating thyroid gland function and circulating thyroid hormones (i.e., thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)). A novel multi-immunoreaction-based dual-color capillary electrophoresis (CE) technique was investigated in this study to assess its reliability in diagnosing thyroid gland disease via simultaneous detection of TSH, T3, and T4 in a single run of CE. Compared to the conventional immunoreaction technique, multi-immunoreaction of biotinylated streptavidin antibodies increased the selectivity and sensitivity for individual hormones in human blood samples. Dual-color laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection-based CE performed in a running buffer of 25mM Na 2 B 4 O 7 -NaOH (pH 9.3) allowed for fast, simultaneous quantitative analysis of three target thyroid hormones using different excited wavelengths within 3.2min. This process had excellent sensitivity and detection limits of 0.05-5.32 fM. The results showed 1000-100,000 times higher detection sensitivity than previous methods. Method validation with enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for application with human blood samples showed that the CE method was not significantly different at the 98% confidence level. Therefore, the developed CE-LIF method has the advantages of high detection sensitivity, faster analysis time, and smaller sample amount compared to the conventional methods The combined multi-immunoreaction and dual-color CE-LIF method should have increased diagnostic reliability for thyroid gland disease compared to conventional methods based on its highly sensitive detection of thyroid hormones using a single injection and high-throughput screening. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Comparative analysis of kisspeptin-immunoreactivity reveals genuine differences in the hypothalamic Kiss1 systems between rats and mice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Overgaard, Agnete; Tena-Sempere, Manuel; Franceschini, Isabelle

    2013-01-01

    cells, only after axonal transport inhibition. Interestingly, the density of kisspeptin innervation in the anterior periventricular area was higher in female compared to male in both species. Species differences in the ARC were evident, with the mouse ARC containing dense fibers, while the rat ARC......-immunoreactivity in the mouse compared to the rat, independently of brain region and gender. In the female mouse AVPV high numbers of kisspeptin-immunoreactive neurons were present, while in the rat, the female AVPV displays a similar number of kisspeptin-immunoreactive neurons compared to the level of Kiss1 mRNA expressing...... contains clearly discernable cells. In addition, we show a marked sex difference in the ARC, with higher kisspeptin levels in females. These findings show that the translation of Kiss1 mRNA and/or the degradation/transportation/release of kisspeptins are different in mice and rats....

  1. Immunohistochemical localization of integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin suggests that they do not interact during embryo implantation in ruminants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MacLaren Leslie A

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It has been suggested that trophoblast attachment requires co-expression of integrin alpha V beta 3 and its ligand osteopontin at the fetal-maternal interface. Until now the expression patterns of integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin in the pregnant bovine uterus were unknown. The objectives of this study were to localize integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin in bovine and sheep endometrium during the periimplantation period and to compare the distribution patterns using antibodies that had not yet been tested in sheep. Methods Cell compartments within endometrial tissue sections were scored for immunohistochemical staining intensity and data were analyzed to determine the effects of day of pregnancy or cycle. Results In pregnant bovine endometrium, integrin alpha V beta 3 was detected in luminal epithelium, stroma, myometrium and smooth muscle. A strong band of immunoreactivity was observed in the subepithelial stroma of intercaruncular regions, but there was reduced reactivity in the caruncles and glands. Bovine trophoblast did not express integrin alpha V beta 3 at any stage of pregnancy. In ovine endometrium a different pattern of staining for integrin alpha V beta 3 was observed. Reactivity was not present in the luminal epithelium or trophoblast. There was strong staining of the deep glands and no reactivity in the superficial glands. Osteopontin distribution was similar for sheep and cattle. For both species, apical staining was present on the luminal epithelium and glands and on embryonic tissues. Conclusion In ruminants, integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin do not co-localize at the fetal-maternal interface indicating that these proteins could not interact to facilitate embryo attachment as has been proposed in other species.

  2. Decreased D2-40 and increased p16INK4A immunoreactivities correlate with higher grade of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Zhouping

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background D2-40 has been shown a selective marker for lymphatic endothelium, but also shown in the benign cervical basal cells. However, the application of D2-40 immunoreactivity in the cervical basal cells for identifying the grade of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN has not been evaluated. Methods In this study, the immunoreactive patterns of D2-40, compared with p16INK4A, which is currently considered as the useful marker for cervical cancers and their precancerous diseases, were examined in total 125 cervical specimens including 32 of CIN1, 37 of CIN2, 35 of CIN3, and 21 of normal cervical tissue. D2-40 and p16INK4A immunoreactivities were scored semiquantitatively according to the intensity and/or extent of the staining. Results Diffuse D2-40 expression with moderate-to-strong intensity was seen in all the normal cervical epithelia (21/21, 100% and similar pattern of D2-40 immunoreactivity with weak-to-strong intensity was observed in CIN1 (31/32, 97.2%. However, negative and/or focal D2-40 expression was found in CIN2 (negative: 20/37, 54.1%; focal: 16/37, 43.2% and CIN3 (negative: 22/35, 62.8%; focal: 12/35, 34.3%. On the other hand, diffuse immunostaining for p16INK4A was shown in 37.5% of CIN1, 64.9% of CIN2, and 80.0% of CIN3. However, the immunoreactive pattern of D2-40 was not associated with the p16INK4A immunoreactivity. Conclusions Immunohistochemical analysis of D2-40 combined with p16INK4A may have a significant implication in clinical practice for better identifying the grade of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, especially for distinguishing CIN1 from CIN2/3.

  3. BETA digital beta radiometer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borovikov, N.V.; Kosinov, G.A.; Fedorov, Yu.N.

    1989-01-01

    Portable transportable digital beta radiometer providing for measuring beta-decay radionuclide specific activity in the range from 5x10 -9 up to 10 -6 Cu/kg (Cu/l) with error of ±25% is designed and introduced into commercial production for determination of volume and specific water and food radioactivity. The device specifications are given. Experience in the BETA radiometer application under conditions of the Chernobyl' NPP 30-km zone has shown that it is convenient for measuring specific activity of the order of 10 -8 Cu/kg, and application of a set of different beta detectors gives an opportunity to use it for surface contamination measurement in wide range of the measured value

  4. LHCb: $2\\beta_s$ measurement at LHCb

    CERN Multimedia

    Conti, G

    2009-01-01

    A measurement of $2\\beta_s$, the phase of the $B_s-\\bar{B_s}$ oscillation amplitude with respect to that of the ${\\rm b} \\rightarrow {\\rm c^{+}}{\\rm W^{-}}$ tree decay amplitude, is one of the key goals of the LHCb experiment with first data. In the Standard Model (SM), $2\\beta_s$ is predicted to be $0.0360^{+0.0020}_{-0.0016} \\rm rad$. The current constraints from the Tevatron are: $2\\beta_{s}\\in[0.32 ; 2.82]$ at 68$\\%$CL from the CDF experiment and $2\\beta_{s}=0.57^{+0.24}_{-0.30}$ from the D$\\oslash$ experiment. Although the statistical uncertainties are large, these results hint at the possible contribution of New Physics in the $B_s-\\bar{B_s}$ box diagram. After one year of data taking at LHCb at an average luminosity of $\\mathcal{L}\\sim2\\cdot10^{32}\\rm cm^{-2} \\rm s^{-1}$ (integrated luminosity $\\mathcal{L}_{\\rm int}\\sim 2 \\rm fb^{-1}$), the expected statistical uncertainty on the measurement is $\\sigma(2\\beta_s)\\simeq 0.03$. This uncertainty is similar to the $2\\beta_s$ value predicted by the SM.

  5. Different pattern of haemagglutinin immunoreactivity of equine influenza virus strains isolated in Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kwaśnik Małgorzata

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The immunoreactivity of haemagglutinin (HA polypeptides of equine influenza virus was compared among the strains isolated in Poland, using H3 monoclonal antibody. A stronger signal in immunoblot reaction was observed for A/equi/Pulawy/2008 HA polypeptides compared to A/equi/Pulawy/2006, despite the fact that both strains are phylogenetically closely related and belong to Florida clade 2 of American lineage. The strongest signal, observed in the case of A/equi/Pulawy/2008, seemed to be connected with the presence of G135, I213, E379, and/or V530 instead of R135, M213, G379, and I530 present in A/equi/Pulawy/2006 HA sequence. This implies that point mutations within amino acid sequences of HA polypeptides of equine influenza virus may change their immunoreactivity even when they are not located within five basic antigenic sites.

  6. High feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity in a cat with pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruner, J M; Steiner, J M; Williams, D A; Van Alstine, W G; Blevins, W

    1997-06-15

    A 1.5-year-old domestic shorthair cat was examined because of vomiting and icterus. Clinicopathologic abnormalities included high alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyltransferase activities and high total bilirubin concentration. During abdominal ultrasonography, the left limb and body of the pancreas appeared hypoechoic, and a small quantity of peritoneal effusion was seen. The liver was diffusely hyperechoic, with echogenicity similar to that of the spleen, indicating hepatic lipidosis. Feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity was high, suggesting that the cat also had pancreatitis. The cat was treated with crystalloid fluids and was fed a protein-restricted diet via a percutaneous endoscopically placed gastrostomy tube. The cat's condition continued to deteriorate despite medical treatment, and it was euthanatized. Necropsy confirmed the clinical suspicion of acute pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis. This case suggests that measurement of trypsin-like immunoreactivity may be useful in cats suspected of having pancreatitis.

  7. Interactions between two beta-sheets. Energetics of beta/beta packing in proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, K C; Némethy, G; Rumsey, S; Tuttle, R W; Scheraga, H A

    1986-04-20

    The analysis of the interactions between regularly folded segments of the polypeptide chain contributes to an understanding of the energetics of protein folding. Conformational energy-minimization calculations have been carried out to determine the favorable ways of packing two right-twisted beta-sheets. The packing of two five-stranded beta-sheets was investigated, with the strands having the composition CH3CO-(L-Ile)6-NHCH3 in one beta-sheet and CH3CO-(L-Val)6-NHCH3 in the other. Two distinct classes of low-energy packing arrangements were found. In the class with lowest energies, the strands of the two beta-sheets are aligned nearly parallel (or antiparallel) with each other, with a preference for a negative orientation angle, because this arrangement corresponds to the best complementary packing of the two twisted saddle-shaped beta-sheets. In the second class, with higher interaction energies, the strands of the two beta-sheets are oriented nearly perpendicular to each other. While the surfaces of the two beta-sheets are not complementary in this arrangement, there is good packing between the corner of one beta-sheet and the interior part of the surface of the other, resulting in a favorable energy of packing. Both classes correspond to frequently observed orientations of beta-sheets in proteins. In proteins, the second class of packing is usually observed when the two beta-sheets are covalently linked, i.e. when a polypeptide strand passes from one beta-sheet to the other, but we have shown here that a large contribution to the stabilization of this packing arrangement arises from noncovalent interactions.

  8. Interaction with beta-arrestin determines the difference in internalization behavor between beta1- and beta2-adrenergic receptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiina, T; Kawasaki, A; Nagao, T; Kurose, H

    2000-09-15

    The beta(1)-adrenergic receptor (beta(1)AR) shows the resistance to agonist-induced internalization. As beta-arrestin is important for internalization, we examine the interaction of beta-arrestin with beta(1)AR with three different methods: intracellular trafficking of beta-arrestin, binding of in vitro translated beta-arrestin to intracellular domains of beta(1)- and beta(2)ARs, and inhibition of betaAR-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities by beta-arrestin. The green fluorescent protein-tagged beta-arrestin 2 translocates to and stays at the plasma membrane by beta(2)AR stimulation. Although green fluorescent protein-tagged beta-arrestin 2 also translocates to the plasma membrane, it returns to the cytoplasm 10-30 min after beta(1)AR stimulation. The binding of in vitro translated beta-arrestin 1 and beta-arrestin 2 to the third intracellular loop and the carboxyl tail of beta(1)AR is lower than that of beta(2)AR. The fusion protein of beta-arrestin 1 with glutathione S-transferase inhibits the beta(1)- and beta(2)AR-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activities, although inhibition of the beta(1)AR-stimulated activity requires a higher concentration of the fusion protein than that of the beta(2)AR-stimulated activity. These results suggest that weak interaction of beta(1)AR with beta-arrestins explains the resistance to agonist-induced internalization. This is further supported by the finding that beta-arrestin can induce internalization of beta(1)AR when beta-arrestin 1 does not dissociate from beta(1)AR by fusing to the carboxyl tail of beta(1)AR.

  9. In situ detection and distribution of inflammatory cytokines during the course of infection with Nocardia brasiliensis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solis-Soto, J M; Quintanilla-Rodriguez, L E; Meester, I; Segoviano-Ramirez, J C; Vazquez-Juarez, J L; Salinas Carmona, M C

    2008-05-01

    Actinomycetoma, caused by the intracellular bacterium Nocardia brasiliensis, is characterized by an infiltration of several inflammatory cell populations. To explore aspects of the immune response in the pathogenesis of these bacteria we injected 10(6) CFU in footpads of BALB/c mice. After 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 30 and 90 days immunohistochemistry was performed to compare presence and distribution of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-10, and TGF-beta. Analysis of serial paraffin tissue sections showed strong participation and differences in distribution of cytokine-producing cells during the course of infection. Several TNF-alpha immunoreactive lymphocytes of the dermis were present during the course of the infection, but absent in the site of inflammation. During the first 4 days, IL-1 beta immunoreactivity was observed in dendritic epidermal cells and in cells surrounding the neutrophils around the grain. In later stages of infection, immunoreactive cells to this cytokine were mainly in the periphery of the microabscesses. Strong immunoreactivity was observed with IL-6 during the course of infection. Some cells in the epidermis and dermis, as well as muscle cells and several cells at the periphery of the microabscesses, showed strong IL-6 immunoreactivity. Cells immunoreactive to IL-4, IL-10, IFN-gamma and TGF-beta were present at the site of infection and, in later stages, in cells at the periphery of the microabscesses. In conclusion a mix of proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines are produced at the same time by host cells. According to their distribution, inflammatory cytokines seems to have different functions during the course of infection with the intracellular bacterium N. brasiliensis.

  10. FA1 immunoreactivity in endocrine tumours and during development of the human fetal pancreas; negative correlation with glucagon expression

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tornehave, D; Jensen, Charlotte Harken; Teisner, B

    1996-01-01

    Fetal antigen 1 (FA1) is a glycoprotein containing six epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats. It is closely similar to the protein translated from the human delta-like (dlk) cDNA and probably constitutes a proteolytically processed form of dlk. dlk is homologous to the Drosophila homeotic...... proteins delta and notch and to the murine preadipocyte differentiation factor Pref-1. These proteins participate in determining cell fate choices during differentiation. We now report that FA1 immunoreactivity is present in a number of neuroectodermally derived tumours as well as in pancreatic endocrine...... tumours. A negative correlation between FA1 and glucagon immunoreactants in these tumours prompted a reexamination of FA1 immunoreactants during fetal pancreatic development. At the earliest stages of development, FA1 was expressed by most of the non-endocrine parenchymal cells and, with ensuing...

  11. Localization of amylin-like immunoreactivity in melanocyte-stimulating hormone-containing cells of the pars intermedia but not those of the pars distalis in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) pituitary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Hirohumi; Yamamoto, Toshiharu

    2016-04-01

    Immunohistochemical techniques were employed to investigate the distribution of amylin-like immunoreactivity in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) pituitary. Amylin-immunoreactive cells were observed in the pars intermedia, and these cells were found to be immunoreactive for α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (αMSH) as well. In contrast, αMSH-immunoreactive cells in the pars distalis were immuno-negaitive for amylin. These light microscopic findings were confirmed by immunoelectron microscopy. Amylin-immunoreactive signals were located on the haloes of presumable secretory granules in association with αMSH-immunoreactive signals in the amylin-positive cells. However, in the pars distalis, the αMSH-positive cells did not contain amylin-immunoreactive secretory granules. Western blot analysis of axolotl pituitary extracts revealed the labeling of a protein band at approximately 10.5-kDa by the anti-rat amylin serum, which was not labeled by the anti-αMSH antibody. These findings indicate that amylin secreted from MSH-producing cells in the pars intermedia may modulate MSH secretion in an autocrine fashion and may participate in MSH functions such as fatty homeostasis together with MSH. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  12. Cell-specific expression of calcineurin immunoreactivity within the rat basolateral amygdala complex and colocalization with the neuropeptide Y Y1 receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leitermann, Randy J; Sajdyk, Tammy J; Urban, Janice H

    2012-10-01

    Neuropeptide Y (NPY) produces potent anxiolytic effects via activation of NPY Y1 receptors (Y1r) within the basolateral amygdaloid complex (BLA). The role of NPY in the BLA was recently expanded to include the ability to produce stress resilience and long-lasting reductions in anxiety-like behavior. These persistent behavioral effects are dependent upon activity of the protein phosphatase, calcineurin (CaN), which has long been associated with shaping long-term synaptic signaling. Furthermore, NPY-induced reductions in anxiety-like behavior persist months after intra-BLA delivery, which together indicate a form of neuronal plasticity had likely occurred. To define a site of action for NPY-induced CaN signaling within the BLA, we employed multi-label immunohistochemistry to determine which cell types express CaN and if CaN colocalizes with the Y1r. We have previously reported that both major neuronal cell populations in the BLA, pyramidal projection neurons and GABAergic interneurons, express the Y1r. Therefore, this current study evaluated CaN immunoreactivity in these cell types, along with Y1r immunoreactivity. Antibodies against calcium-calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) and GABA were used to identify pyramidal neurons and GABAergic interneurons, respectively. A large population of CaN immunoreactive cells displayed Y1r immunoreactivity (90%). Nearly all (98%) pyramidal neurons displayed CaN immunoreactivity, while only a small percentage of interneurons (10%) contained CaN immunoreactivity. Overall, these anatomical findings provide a model whereby NPY could directly regulate CaN activity in the BLA via activation of the Y1r on CaN-expressing, pyramidal neurons. Importantly, they support BLA pyramidal neurons as prime targets for neuronal plasticity associated with the long-term reductions in anxiety-like behavior produced by NPY injections into the BLA. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. [Localization of substance P- and FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity in the atrium of the snail Achatina fulica].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shabel'nikov, S V; Bystrova, O A; Martynova, M G

    2008-01-01

    By immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical methods localization of Substanse P (SP) and FMRFamide in the atrium of the snail Achatina fulica was investigated. Nerve fibers innervating the snail atrium contact tightly with the granular cells (GC) situated between muscle and endocardial cells, forming neuroendocrine units. Both neuromediators were found in the cells of the neuroendocrine units. By immunohistochemistry SP- and FMRFamide-immunoreactive material was revealed in the granules of the atrial GC. Elecrtonmicroscopical immunocytochemistry has confirmed the presence of SP- and FMRFamide-immunoreactive material in the granules of the GC and shown their presence in the neurosecretory granules of the nerve endings contacting both the atrial GC and cardiomyocytes.

  14. Advantage of highly immunoreactive monoclonal antibodies in radioimmunoscintigraphy for tumor detection, (1)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yokoyama, Kunihiko

    1988-01-01

    Immunoreactivity (IR) is the fraction of a monoclonal antibody (MoAb) preparation capable of binding to an excess of a specific antigen. One of the most important requirements for successful radioimmunoscintigraphy is to use a highly immunoreactive MoAb. To assess the effect of an antibody IR on biodistribution, a fast and simple purification method has been developed using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system equipped with a hydroxylapatite (HA) column. The column was eluted at ambient temperature with 0.12 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.8). With this system, the F ab fragments from the MoAb 96.5 against the human melanoma associated p97 antigen were separated into two well-resolved peaks at retention times of 6 and 16 min. FEM-XII cells (human skin melanoma cell line) were used in a cell binding assay (CBA) to determine the maximal percent IR and the affinity constant of each HA-HPLC peak. The second peak from an 125 I-F ab 96.5 showed approximately two times greater maximal binding than did the first peak, whereas the affinity constant for the two was the same. This indicated that the F ab 96.5 preparations used in this study were a mixture of more active and less active components. Moreover, prior to the HA-HPLC experiments, these preparations were analyzed with a gel filtration HPLC showing a single molecular weight peak. This suggested that the HA-HPLC separation was not based on molecular weight differences although the separation mechanism of HA has not yet been fully understood. Thereby, it is concluded that the HA-HPLC is a powerful tool to purify MoAbs into the higher immunoreactive fraction which has a potential advantage in tumor targeting. (author)

  15. Difference in transient ischemia-induced neuronal damage and glucose transporter-1 immunoreactivity in the hippocampus between adult and young gerbils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seung Min Park

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Objective(s: The alteration of glucose transporters is closely related with the pathogenesis of brain edema. We compared neuronal damage/death in the hippocampus between adult and young gerbils following transient cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and changes of glucose transporter-1(GLUT-1-immunoreactive microvessels in their ischemic hippocampal CA1 region. Materials and Methods: Transient cerebral ischemia was developed by 5-min occlusion of both common carotid arteries. Neuronal damage was examined by cresyl violet staining, NeuN immunohistochemistry and Fluoro-Jade B histofluorescence staining and changes in GLUT-1 expression was carried out by immunohistochemistry. Results: About 90% of pyramidal neurons only in the adult CA1 region were damaged after ischemia/reperfusion; in the young, about 53 % of pyramidal neurons were damaged from 7 days after ischemia/reperfusion. The density of GLUT-1-immunoreactive microvessels was significantly higher in the young sham-group than that in the adult sham-group. In the ischemia-operated-groups, the density of GLUT-1-immunoreactive microvessels was significantly decreased in the adult and young at 1 and 4 days post-ischemia, respectively, thereafter, the density of GLUT-1-immunoreactive microvessels was gradually increased in both groups after ischemia/reperfusion. Conclusion: CA1 pyramidal neurons of the young gerbil were damaged much later than that in the adult and that GLUT-1-immunoreactive microvessels were significantly decreased later in the young. These data indicate that GLUT-1 might differently contribute to neuronal damage according to age after ischemic insults.

  16. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone immunoreactivity in the adult and fetal human olfactory system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, K H; Patel, L; Tobet, S A; King, J C; Rubin, B S; Stopa, E G

    1999-05-01

    Studies in fetal brain tissue of rodents, nonhuman primates and birds have demonstrated that cells containing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) migrate from the olfactory placode across the nasal septum into the forebrain. The purpose of this study was to examine GnRH neurons in components of the adult and fetal human olfactory system. In the adult human brain (n=4), immunoreactive GnRH was evident within diffusely scattered cell bodies and processes in the olfactory bulb, olfactory nerve, olfactory cortex, and nervus terminalis located on the anterior surface of the gyrus rectus. GnRH-immunoreactive structures showed a similar distribution in 20-week human fetal brains (n=2), indicating that the migration of GnRH neurons is complete at this time. In 10-11-week fetal brains (n=2), more cells were noted in the nasal cavity than in the brain. Our data are consistent with observations made in other species, confirming olfactory derivation and migration of GnRH neurons into the brain from the olfactory placode. Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.

  17. Dopamine D1 and D2 receptor immunoreactivities in the arcuate-median eminence complex and their link to the tubero-infundibular dopamine neurons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Romero-Fernandez

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Dopamine D1 and D2 receptor immunohistochemistry and Golgi techniques were used to study the structure of the adult rat arcuate-median eminence complex, and determine the distribution of the dopamine D1 and D2 receptor immunoreactivities therein, particularly in relation to the tubero-infundibular dopamine neurons. Punctate dopamine D1 and D2 receptor immunoreactivities, likely located on nerve terminals, were enriched in the lateral palisade zone built up of nerve terminals, while the densities were low to modest in the medial palisade zone. A codistribution of dopamine D1 receptor or dopamine D2 receptor immunoreactive puncta with tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive nerve terminals was demonstrated in the external layer. Dopamine D1 receptor but not dopamine D2 receptor immnunoreactivites nerve cell bodies were found in the ventromedial part of the arcuate nucleus and in the lateral part of the internal layer of the median eminence forming a continuous cell mass presumably representing neuropeptide Y immunoreactive nerve cell bodies. The major arcuate dopamine/ tyrosine hydroxylase nerve cell group was found in the dorsomedial part. A large number of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive nerve cell bodies in this region demonstrated punctate dopamine D1 receptor immunoreactivity but only a few presented dopamine D2 receptor immunoreactivity which were mainly found in a substantial number of tyrosine hydroxylase cell bodies of the ventral periventricular hypothalamic nucleus, also belonging to the tubero-infundibular dopamine neurons. Structural evidence for projections of the arcuate nerve cells into the median eminence was also obtained. Distal axons formed horizontal axons in the internal layer issuing a variable number of collaterals classified into single or multiple strands located in the external layer increasing our understanding of the dopamine nerve terminal networks in this region.  Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors may therefore directly

  18. Loss of calretinin immunoreactive fibers in subcortical visual recipient structures of the RCS dystrophic rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vugler, Anthony A; Coffey, Peter J

    2003-11-01

    The retinae of dystrophic Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rats exhibit progressive photoreceptor degeneration accompanied by pathology of ganglion cells. To date, little work has examined the consequences of retinal degeneration for central visual structures in dystrophic rats. Here, we use immunohistochemistry for calretinin (CR) to label retinal afferents in the superior colliculus (SC), lateral geniculate nucleus, and olivary pretectal nucleus of RCS rats aged between 2 and 26 months of age. Early indications of fiber loss in the medial dystrophic SC were apparent between 9 and 13 months. Quantitative methods reveal a significant reduction in the level of CR immunoreactivity in visual layers of the medial dystrophic SC at 13 months (P animals aged 19-26 months the loss of CR fibers in SC was dramatic, with well-defined patches of fiber degeneration predominating in medial aspects of the structure. This fiber degeneration in SC was accompanied by increased detection of cells immunoreactive for CR. In several animals, regions of fiber loss were also found to contain strongly parvalbumin-immunoreactive cells. Loss of CR fibers was also observed in the lateral geniculate nucleus and olivary pretectal nucleus. Patterns of fiber loss in the dystrophic SC compliment reports of ganglion cell degeneration in these animals and the response of collicular neurons to degeneration is discussed in terms of plasticity of the dystrophic visual system and properties of calcium binding proteins.

  19. Immunoreactivity, stability, pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of a monoclonal antibody to human leukemic B cells after three different methods of radioiodination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhenping Zhu; Ghose, T.; Kralovec, Y.; Chunzheng Yang

    1994-01-01

    Dal B02, a murine monoclonal antibody against human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was radioiodinated using chloramine T (Chl.T), Bolton-Hunter (B-H) or N-succinimidyl-p-iodobenzoate (PIB). The preparations had comparable radiochemical purity (>97%) and immunoreactive fraction (65-80%) but the Chl.T-based product was most susceptible to deiodination and loss of immunoreactivity. After i.v. injection into CLL-xenografted nude mice, the preparations had identical patterns of clearance from the blood but the PIB-based product led to more radioactivity in liver and spleen and less in the thyroid compared to the other preparations. The Chl.T-based product showed loss of immunoreactivity in circulation and less tumor-localized radioactivity 168 h after administration. The differences between the B-H-based and PIB-based products were less impressive than between PIB-based and Chl.T-based products. (author)

  20. Sequence swapping does not result in conformation swapping for the beta4/beta5 and beta8/beta9 beta-hairpin turns in human acidic fibroblast growth factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jaewon; Lee, Jihun; Brych, Stephen R; Logan, Timothy M; Blaber, Michael

    2005-02-01

    The beta-turn is the most common type of nonrepetitive structure in globular proteins, comprising ~25% of all residues; however, a detailed understanding of effects of specific residues upon beta-turn stability and conformation is lacking. Human acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-1) is a member of the beta-trefoil superfold and contains a total of five beta-hairpin structures (antiparallel beta-sheets connected by a reverse turn). beta-Turns related by the characteristic threefold structural symmetry of this superfold exhibit different primary structures, and in some cases, different secondary structures. As such, they represent a useful system with which to study the role that turn sequences play in determining structure, stability, and folding of the protein. Two turns related by the threefold structural symmetry, the beta4/beta5 and beta8/beta9 turns, were subjected to both sequence-swapping and poly-glycine substitution mutations, and the effects upon stability, folding, and structure were investigated. In the wild-type protein these turns are of identical length, but exhibit different conformations. These conformations were observed to be retained during sequence-swapping and glycine substitution mutagenesis. The results indicate that the beta-turn structure at these positions is not determined by the turn sequence. Structural analysis suggests that residues flanking the turn are a primary structural determinant of the conformation within the turn.

  1. Serotonin-immunoreactivity in the ventral nerve cord of Pycnogonida--support for individually identifiable neurons as ancestral feature of the arthropod nervous system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenneis, Georg; Scholtz, Gerhard

    2015-07-10

    The arthropod ventral nerve cord features a comparably low number of serotonin-immunoreactive neurons, occurring in segmentally repeated arrays. In different crustaceans and hexapods, these neurons have been individually identified and even inter-specifically homologized, based on their soma positions and neurite morphologies. Stereotypic sets of serotonin-immunoreactive neurons are also present in myriapods, whereas in the investigated chelicerates segmental neuron clusters with higher and variable cell numbers have been reported. This led to the suggestion that individually identifiable serotonin-immunoreactive neurons are an apomorphic feature of the Mandibulata. To test the validity of this neurophylogenetic hypothesis, we studied serotonin-immunoreactivity in three species of Pycnogonida (sea spiders). This group of marine arthropods is nowadays most plausibly resolved as sister group to all other extant chelicerates, rendering its investigation crucial for a reliable reconstruction of arthropod nervous system evolution. In all three investigated pycnogonids, the ventral walking leg ganglia contain different types of serotonin-immunoreactive neurons, the somata of which occurring mostly singly or in pairs within the ganglionic cortex. Several of these neurons are readily and consistently identifiable due to their stereotypic soma position and characteristic neurite morphology. They can be clearly homologized across different ganglia and different specimens as well as across the three species. Based on these homologous neurons, we reconstruct for their last common ancestor (presumably the pycnogonid stem species) a minimal repertoire of at least seven identified serotonin-immunoreactive neurons per hemiganglion. Beyond that, each studied species features specific pattern variations, which include also some neurons that were not reliably labeled in all specimens. Our results unequivocally demonstrate the presence of individually identifiable serotonin-immunoreactive

  2. Sex-related differences in the concentration of Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of an insect, Schistocerca gregaria, revealed by radioimmunoassay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davenport, A.P.; Evans, P.D.

    1986-01-01

    A radioimmunoassay has been used to measure Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in tissue from male and female locusts, Schistocerca gregaria. The pattern of distribution within the two sexes was similar with about equal amounts present in the suboesophageal and 3 thoracic ganglia and a lower concentration in the cerebral ganglion. Female nervous tissue contained more than twice the amount of Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity than did that of males. No consistent immunoreactivity could be detected in the abdominal ganglia or non-neural tissues. The results are discussed in relation to recent evidence that peptides related or identical to enkephalins are present in vertebrates as well as higher organisms. (Auth.)

  3. Expression of transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta) receptors and expression of TGF beta 1, TGF beta 2 and TGF beta 3 in human small cell lung cancer cell lines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damstrup, L; Rygaard, K; Spang-Thomsen, M

    1993-01-01

    A panel of 21 small cell lung cancer cell (SCLC) lines were examined for the presence of Transforming growth factor beta receptors (TGF beta-r) and the expression of TGF beta mRNAs. By the radioreceptor assay we found high affinity receptors to be expressed in six cell lines. scatchard analysis......(r) = 65,000 and 90,000 and the betaglycan (type III) with M(r) = 280,000. Northern blotting showed expression of TGF beta 1 mRNA in ten, TGF beta 2 mRNA in two and TGF beta 3 mRNA in seven cell lines. Our results provide, for the first time, evidence that a large proportion of a broad panel of SCLC cell...... lines express TGF beta-receptors and also produce TGF beta mRNAs....

  4. The ontogenetic development of neurons containing calcium-binding proteins in the septum of the guinea pig: Late onset of parvalbumin immunoreactivity versus calbindin and calretinin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hermanowicz-Sobieraj, Beata; Robak, Anna

    2017-01-01

    The study describes the immunoreactivity of calbindin (CB), calretinin (CR) and parvalbumin (PV), their distribution pattern and the co-distribution of CB and CR as well as CB and PV in the septum of the guinea pig during development. Immunohistochemistry was conducted on embryonic (E40, E50, E60), newborn (P0) and postnatal (P5, P10, P20, P40, P100) guinea pig brains. The presence of both CB and CR was detected at E40, while PV began to be observed at E60. Immunoreactivity for CB was constant throughout ontogeny. In contrast to CR immunoreactivity, PV immunoreactivity was higher in the postnatal stages than in the prenatal and newborn stages. Double immunostaining showed that CB co-localized with CR from E40 onwards, while with PV from P5 onwards, suggesting that CB co-operates with these proteins in the guinea pig septum during different periods of ontogeny. Our results also indicate that among the studied CaBPs, CB exhibited the highest immunoreactivity during both embryonic and postnatal development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Localization of Brain Natriuretic Peptide Immunoreactivity in Rat Spinal Cord

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Essam M Abdelalim

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP exerts its functions through natriuretic peptide receptors. Recently, BNP has been shown to be involved in a wide range of functions. Previous studies reported BNP expression in the sensory afferent fibers in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. However, BNP expression and function in the neurons of the central nervous system are still controversial. Therefore, in this study, we investigated BNP expression in the rat spinal cord in detail using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RT-PCR analysis showed that BNP mRNA was present in the spinal cord and DRG. BNP immunoreactivity was observed in different structures of the spinal cord, including the neuronal cell bodies and neuronal processes. BNP immunoreactivity was observed in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and in the neurons of the intermediate column and ventral horn. Double-immunolabeling showed a high level of BNP expression in the afferent fibers (laminae I-II labeled with calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP, suggesting BNP involvement in sensory function. In addition, BNP was co-localized with CGRP and choline acetyltransferase in the motor neurons of the ventral horn. Together, these results indicate that BNP is expressed in sensory and motor systems of the spinal cord, suggesting its involvement in several biological actions on sensory and motor neurons via its binding to NPR-A and/or NPR-B in the DRG and spinal cord.

  6. Distinct interneuron types express m2 muscarinic receptor immunoreactivity on their dendrites or axon terminals in the hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hájos, N; Papp, E C; Acsády, L; Levey, A I; Freund, T F

    1998-01-01

    In previous studies m2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor-immunoreactive interneurons and various types of m2-positive axon terminals have been described in the hippocampal formation. The aim of the present study was to identify the types of interneurons expressing m2 receptor and to examine whether the somadendritic and axonal m2 immunostaining labels the same or distinct cell populations. In the CA1 subfield, neurons immunoreactive for m2 have horizontal dendrites, they are located at the stratum oriens/alveus border and have an axon that project to the dendritic region of pyramidal cells. In the CA3 subfield and the hilus, m2-positive neurons are multipolar and are scattered in all layers except stratum lacunosum-moleculare. In stratum pyramidale of the CA1 and CA3 regions, striking axon terminal staining for m2 was observed, surrounding the somata and axon initial segments of pyramidal cells in a basket-like manner. The co-localization of m2 with neurochemical markers and GABA was studied using the "mirror" technique and fluorescent double-immunostaining at the light microscopic level and with double-labelling using colloidal gold-conjugated antisera and immunoperoxidase reaction (diaminobenzidine) at the electron microscopic level. GABA was shown to be present in the somata of most m2-immunoreactive interneurons, as well as in the majority of m2-positive terminals in all layers. The calcium-binding protein parvalbumin was absent from practically all m2-immunoreactive cell bodies and dendrites. In contrast, many of the terminals synapsing on pyramidal cell somata and axon initial segments co-localized parvalbumin and m2, suggesting a differential distribution of m2 receptor immunoreactivity on the axonal and somadendritic membrane of parvalbumin-containing basket and axo-axonic cells. The co-existence of m2 receptors with the calcium-binding protein calbindin and the neuropeptides cholecystokinin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide was rare throughout the

  7. Identification of immunoreactive proteins of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from cultured tilapia in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Guangjin; Zhang, Wei; Lu, Chengping

    2013-12-01

    Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B streptococcus, GBS) is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause lethal infections in humans and animals, including aquatic species. Immunoreactive proteins of the S. agalactiae strain, GD201008-001, isolated from cultured tilapia in China, were screened by immunoproteomics using hyperimmune sera, convalescent guinea pig sera and GD201008-001-infected tilapia antisera as primary detection antibodies. A total of 16 different proteins were identified including 13 novel immunoreactive proteins of S. agalactiae. Four proteins, serine-rich repeat glycoprotein 1, branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase (BKD) subunit E2, 5'-nucleotidase family protein and ornithine carbamoyltransferase, were shown to react with the three types of sera and thus were considered to represent novel S. agalactiae vaccine candidate antigens. Our findings represent the basis for vaccine development for piscine S. agalactiae and are necessary for understanding virulence factors and immunogenicity of S. agalactiae with different hosts. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Beta-energy averaging and beta spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stamatelatos, M.G.; England, T.R.

    1976-07-01

    A simple yet highly accurate method for approximately calculating spectrum-averaged beta energies and beta spectra for radioactive nuclei is presented. This method should prove useful for users who wish to obtain accurate answers without complicated calculations of Fermi functions, complex gamma functions, and time-consuming numerical integrations as required by the more exact theoretical expressions. Therefore, this method should be a good time-saving alternative for investigators who need to make calculations involving large numbers of nuclei (e.g., fission products) as well as for occasional users interested in restricted number of nuclides. The average beta-energy values calculated by this method differ from those calculated by ''exact'' methods by no more than 1 percent for nuclides with atomic numbers in the 20 to 100 range and which emit betas of energies up to approximately 8 MeV. These include all fission products and the actinides. The beta-energy spectra calculated by the present method are also of the same quality

  9. Leucine-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity is localized in luteinizing hormone-producing cells in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) pituitary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Hirohumi; Yamamoto, Toshiharu

    2014-02-01

    In this study, we used immunohistochemical techniques to determine the cell type of leucine-enkephalin (Leu-ENK)-immunoreactive cells in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) pituitary. Immunoreactive cells were scattered throughout the pars distalis except for the dorso-caudal portion. These cells were immuno-positive for luteinizing hormone (LH), but they were immuno-negative for adrenocorticotrophic, growth, and thyroid-stimulating hormones, as well as prolactin. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that Leu-ENK-like substance and LH co-localized within the same secretory granules. Leu-ENK secreted from gonadotrophs may participate in LH secretion in an autocrine fashion, and/or may participate in the release of sex steroids together with LH. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Proinsulin maturation disorder is a contributor to the defect of subsequent conversion to insulin in {beta}-cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Jie, E-mail: jie.wang2@osumc.edu [Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States); Osei, Kwame [Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)

    2011-07-22

    Highlights: {yields} Primary proinsulin maturation disorder is inherent in Ins2{sup +/Akita} islets/{beta}-cells. {yields} A consequence is the inefficient conversion of proinsulin to insulin. {yields} Post-translational defects occur as well in the involved PC1/3 and PC2 convertases. {yields} Proinsulin maturation chaos results in defects in the following conversion process. {yields} A link of the proinsulin maturation disorder and hyperproinsulinemia is suggested. -- Abstract: Disproportionate hyperproinsulinemia is an indicator of {beta}-cell dysfunction in diabetes and the basis underlying this abnormality remains obscure. Recently, we have found proinsulin is an aggregation-prone molecule inherent with a low relative folding rate and maintains a homeostatic balance of natively and plentiful non-natively folded states (i.e., proinsulin homeostasis, PIHO) in normal {beta}-cells as a result of the integration of maturation and disposal processes. PIHO is susceptible to environmental and genetic influences. Perturbation of PIHO produces a number of toxic consequences with known association to {beta}-cell failure in diabetes. To explore whether the perturbation of PIHO has a link to disproportionate hyperproinsulinemia, we investigated proinsulin conversion and the involved prohormone convertase 1/3 (PC1/3) and 2 (PC2) in mouse Ins2{sup +/Akita} islets/{beta}-cells that preserve a primary PIHO disorder due to a mutation (C96Y) in the insulin 2 (Ins2) gene. Our metabolic-labeling studies found an increased ratio of proinsulin to insulin in the cellular or released proteins of Ins2{sup +/Akita} islets. Histological, metabolic-labeling, and RT-PCR analyses revealed decreases of the PC1/3 and PC2 immunoreactivities in the {beta}-cells of Ins2{sup +/Akita} islets in spite of no declines of these two convertases at the transcriptional and translational levels. Immunoblot analyses in cloned Ins2{sup +/Akita} {beta}-cells further confirmed the increased ratio of proinsulin

  11. Localization and expression of substance P in transgenic mice overexpressing human APP751 with the London (V717I) and Swedish (K670M/N671L) mutations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Michael; Hutter-Paier, Birgit; Wietzorrek, Georg; Windisch, Manfred; Humpel, Christian; Knaus, Hans Günther; Marksteiner, Josef

    2007-04-27

    Substance P-like immunoreactivity (-LI) is found in neuritic plaques, and is reduced in patients suffering from Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, we examined the distribution and expression of substance P in transgenic mice overexpressing human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) APP751 with the London (V717I) and Swedish (K670M/N671L) mutations. Immunohistochemistry was performed to localize substance P- and glial fibrillary acidic protein-LI by confocal microscopy. In hAPP transgenic mice, the number of beta-amyloid plaques significantly increased from 6 to 12 months. About 5% of beta-amyloid plaques were substance P-immunoreactive. In transgenic mice, the morphology of substance P-immunoreactive structures changed by consisting of swollen and dystrophic neurites mostly associated with beta-amyloid plaques. The overall localization and the relative substance P densities were not different between wild type and transgenic mice at 6 and 12 months. At month 12, a dramatic change in the distribution pattern of substance P-LI was observed as it was now expressed in a high number of reactive astrocytes. This expression of substance P in astrocytes was mainly found in the hippocampal formation and thalamic nuclei with a preferential association with beta-amyloid plaques, whereas in cortical regions only faintly substance P-immunoreactive astrocytes were observed. This study indicates that substance P undergoes complex changes in this animal Alzheimer disease model. Future experiments including substance P antagonists are necessary to further explore the interaction between beta-amyloid deposits and substance P.

  12. Effect of ionizing radiation on gastric secretion and gastric motility in monkeys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Danquechin Dorval, E.; Mueller, G.P.; Eng, R.R.; Durakovic, A.; Conklin, J.J.; Dubois, A.

    1985-08-01

    The prodromal syndrome of radiation sickness is characterized by nausea and vomiting but the pathophysiology and the treatment of this entity is largely unknown. The authors investigated this problem by determining the effects of ionizing radiation on gastric function with and without administration of the dopamine antagonist domperidone. They measured gastric electrical control activity (waves per minute), fractional emptying rate (percent per minute), acid output (microequivalents per minute), and plasma levels of immunoreactive beta-endorphin. Twelve conscious, chair-adapted rhesus monkeys were studied twice before, once immediately after, and once 2 days after a single 800-cGy (800 rads) /sup 60/Co total body irradiation. In addition to causing vomiting, total body irradiation transiently suppressed gastric electrical control activity, gastric emptying and gastric secretion, while increasing plasma levels of immunoreactive beta-endorphin. Domperidone had no effect on vomiting or gastric function either before or after irradiation, but it significantly increased plasma immunoreactive beta-endorphin.

  13. Effect of ionizing radiation on gastric secretion and gastric motility in monkeys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dorval, E.D.; Mueller, G.P.; Eng, R.R.; Durakovic, A.; Conklin, J.J.

    1985-08-01

    The prodromal syndrome of radiation sickness is characterized by nausea and vomiting but the pathophysiology and the treatment of this entity is largely unknown. The authors investigated this problem by determining the effects of ionizing radiation on gastric function with and without administration of the dopamine antagonist domperidone. They measured gastric electrical control activity (waves per minute), fractional emptying rate (percent per minute), acid output (microequivalents per minute), and plasma levels of immunoreactive Beta-endorphin. Twelve conscious, chair-adapted rhesus monkeys were studied twice before, once immediately after, and once 2 days after a single 800-cGy (800 rads) /sup 60/Co total-body irradiation. In addition to causing vomiting, total-body irradiation transiently suppressed gastric electrical control activity, gastric emptying and gastric secretion, while increasing plasma levels of immunoreactive Beta-endorphin. Domperidone had no effect on vomiting or gastric function either before or after irradiation, but it significantly increased plasma immunoreactive Beta endorphin.

  14. Speculative Betas

    OpenAIRE

    Harrison Hong; David Sraer

    2012-01-01

    We provide a model for why high beta assets are more prone to speculative overpricing than low beta ones. When investors disagree about the common factor of cash-flows, high beta assets are more sensitive to this macro-disagreement and experience a greater divergence-of-opinion about their payoffs. Short-sales constraints for some investors such as retail mutual funds result in high beta assets being over-priced. When aggregate disagreement is low, expected return increases with beta due to r...

  15. Characterization of Insulin-Immunoreactive Cells and Endocrine Cells Within the Duct System of the Adult Human Pancreas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Rong; Zhang, Xiaoxi; Yu, Lan; Zou, Xia; Zhao, Hailu

    2016-01-01

    The adult pancreatic duct system accommodates endocrine cells that have the potential to produce insulin. Here we report the characterization and distribution of insulin-immunoreactive cells and endocrine cells within the ductal units of adult human pancreas. Sequential pancreas sections from 12 nondiabetic adults were stained with biomarkers of ductal epithelial cells (cytokeratin 19), acinar cells (amylase), endocrine cells (chromogranin A; neuron-specific enolase), islet hormones (insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide), cell proliferation (Ki-67), and neogenesis (CD29). The number of islet hormone-immunoreactive cells increased from large ducts to the terminal branches. The insulin-producing cells outnumbered endocrine cells reactive for glucagon, somatostatin, or pancreatic polypeptide. The proportions of insulin-immunoreactive count compared with local islets (100% as a baseline) were 1.5% for the main ducts, 7.2% for interlobular ducts, 24.8% for intralobular ducts, 67.9% for intercalated ducts, and 348.9% for centroacinar cells. Both Ki-67- and CD29-labeled cells were predominantly localized in the terminal branches around the islets. The terminal branches also showed cells coexpressing islet hormones and cytokeratin 19. The adult human pancreatic ducts showed islet hormone-producing cells. The insulin-reactive cells predominantly localized in terminal branches where they may retain potential capability for β-cell neogenesis.

  16. Inhibition of beta-catenin and KRAS expressions by Piper betle in azoxymethane-induced colon cancer of male Fischer 344 rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esa, Faezah; Ngah, Wan Zurinah Wan; Jamal, A Rahman A; Mohd Yusof, Yasmin Anum

    2013-12-01

    To investigate the chemopreventive effect of Piper betle (PB) on preneoplastic lesions (aberrant crypt foci [ACF]) induced by azoxymethane (AOM) in rats and its effect on colorectal cancer biomarkers (beta-catenin, KRAS, p53 and p21). A total of 32 male Fischer 344 rats were divided into phase 1 and phase 2 groups (8 and 24 weeks of AOM administration, respectively). Each phase was divided into 4 groups: control or normal saline (NS) (1 mL/kg), AOM (15 mg/kg body weight, once weekly for 2 weeks), PB (75 mg/kg body weight) and AOM + PB. PB was force-fed to rats a week after the second dose of AOM and NS. The colon was cut open longitudinally for methylene blue and immunohistochemistry staining. AOM administration showed formation of ACF at 8 and 24 weeks. PB, however, did not reduce ACF formation at either week, but it managed to reduce beta-catenin expression and KRAS found highly expressed in the AOM group of phase 1 rats. No immunoreactivities of p53 and p21 were detected in phase 2 rats, but instead inflammatory cells were visible in between the lesions. PB may act as a potential chemopreventive agent in the early stage of colon carcinogenesis by suppressing the expressions of beta-catenin and KRAS.

  17. Chromogranin B and Secretogranin II in transgenic mice overexpressing human APP751 with the London (V717I) and Swedish (K670M/N671L) mutations and in Alzheimer patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Michael; Prokesch, Manuela; Hutter-Paier, Birgit; Windisch, Manfred; Stridsberg, Mats; Mahata, Sushil K; Kirchmair, Rudolf; Wietzorrek, Georg; Knaus, Hans-Günther; Jellinger, Kurt; Humpel, Christian; Marksteiner, Josef

    2008-03-01

    Chromogranin B and secretogranin II are major soluble constituents of large dense core vesicles of presynaptic structures and have been found in neuritic plaques of Alzheimer patients. We examined the distribution and expression of these peptides in both transgenic mice over expressing human amyloid-beta protein precursor APP751 with the London (V717I) and Swedish (K670M/N671L) mutations and in human post-mortem brain. In transgenic mice, the number of amyloid-beta plaques and chromogranin immunopositive plaques increased from 6 to 12 months. About 60% of amyloid-beta plaques were associated with chromogranin B and about 40% with secretogranin II. Chromogranin immunoreactivity appeared mainly as swollen dystrophic neurites. Neither synaptophysin- nor glial fibrillary acidic protein- immunoreactivity was expressed in chromogranin immunoreactive structures at any timepoint. Density of chromogranin peptides in hippocampal structures did not change in transgenic animals at any timepoint, even though animals had a poorer performance in the Morris water maze task. In conclusion, our findings in transgenic animals partly resembled findings in Alzheimer patients. Chromogranin peptides were associated with amyloid-beta plaques, but were not reduced in specific brain areas as previously reported by our group. Therefore specific changes of chromogranin peptides observed in Alzheimer patients can be related to amyloid-beta pathology only.

  18. Estrogen receptor-alpha-immunoreactive neurons in the periaqueductal gray of the adult ovariectomized female cat

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VanderHorst, Veronique G.J.M.; Meijer, Ellie; Schasfoort, Fabienne C.; Leeuwen, Fred van; Holstege, Gert

    1998-01-01

    Anatomical and physiological studies in rodent and cat have shown that distinct parts of the midbrain periaqueductal gray (FAG) are important for the estrogen dependent, female reproductive behavior. The present study gives a detailed overview of the estrogen receptor-alpha-immunoreactive (ER-IR)

  19. Expression of beta-catenin, COX-2 and iNOS in colorectal cancer: relevance of COX-2 adn iNOS inhibitors for treatment in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Seok Kwan; Gul, Yunus A; Ithnin, Hairuszah; Talib, Arni; Seow, Heng Fong

    2004-01-01

    Promising new pharmacological agents and gene therapy targeting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) could modulate treatment of colorectal cancer in the future. The aim of this study was to elucidate the expression fo beta-catenin and teh presence of COX-2 and iNOS in colorectal cancer specimens in Malaysia. This is a useful prelude to future studies investigating interventions directed towards COX-2 adn iNOS. A cross-section study using retrospective data over a 2-year period (1999-2000) involved 101 archival, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples of colorectal cancers that were surgically resected in a tertiary referral. COX-2 production was detected in adjacent normal tissue in 34 sample (33.7%) and in tumour tissue in 60 samples (59.4%). More tumours expressed iNOS (82/101, 81.2%) than COX-2. No iNOS expression was detected in adjacent normal tissue. Intense beta-catenin immunoreactivity at the cell-to-cell border. Poorly differentiated tumours had significantly lower total beta-catenin (p = 0.009) and COX-2 scores (p = 0.031). No significant relationships were established between pathological stage and beta-catenin, COX-2 and iNOS scores. the accumulation of beta-catenin does not seem to be sufficient to activate pathways that lead to increased COX-2 and iNOS expression. A high proportion of colorectal cancers were found to express COX-2 and a significant number produced iNOS, suggesting that their inhibitors may be potentially useful as chemotherapeutic agents in the management of colorectal cancer.

  20. Secretoneurin and PE-11 immunoreactivity in the human dental pulp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiner, René; Fischer-Colbrie, Reiner; Bletsa, Athanasia; Laimer, Johannes; Troger, Josef

    2018-02-01

    To explore whether there are differences in the concentration of the secretogranin II-derived peptide secretoneurin and the chromogranin B-derived peptide PE-11 between the healthy and inflamed human dental pulps. Furthermore, colocalization studies with calcitonin gene-related peptide were performed to confirm the sensory origin of the peptidergic nerves in the dental pulp. The concentrations of secretoneurin and PE-11 were determined by highly sensitive radioimmunoassays in extracts of dental pulps, the molecular form of secretoneurin immunoreactivities by RP-HPLC with subsequent radioimmunoassay and colocalization studies with calcitonin gene-related peptide were performed by double immunofluorescence. Only secretoneurin but not PE-11 was detectable by radioimmunoassays whereas nerve fibers could be made visible for both secretoneurin and PE-11. Furthermore, there was a full colocalization of secretoneurin and PE-11 with calcitonin gene-related peptide in immunohistochemical experiments. There were no differences in the concentration of secretoneurin between the healthy and inflamed human dental pulp and moreover, the characterization of the secretoneurin immunoreactivities revealed that only authentic secretoneurin was detected with the secretoneurin antibody. There is unequivocal evidence that secretoneurin and PE-11 are constituents of the sensory innervation of the human dental pulp and although not exclusively but are yet present in unmyelinated C-fibers which transmit predominantly nociceptive impulses. Secretoneurin might be involved in local effector functions as well, particularly in neurogenic inflammation, given that this is the case despite of unaltered levels in inflamed tissue. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Effects of electroacupuncture on orphanin FQ immunoreactivity and preproorphanin FQ mRNA in nucleus of raphe magnus in the neuropathic pain rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Fei; Xie, Hong; Dong, Zhi-Qiang; Wang, Yan-Qing; Wu, Gen-Cheng

    2004-07-15

    Orphanin FQ (OFQ) is an endogenous ligand for opioid receptor-like-1 (ORL1) receptor. Previous studies have shown that both OFQ immunoreactivity and preproorphanin FQ (ppOFQ) mRNA expression could be observed in the brain regions involved in pain modulation, e.g., nucleus of raphe magnus (NRM), dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), and ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG). It was reported that electroacupuncture (EA) has analgesic effect on neuropathic pain, and the analgesic effect was mediated by the endogenous opioid peptides. In the present study, we investigated the effects of EA on the changes of OFQ in the neuropathic pain rats. In the sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) model, we investigated the changes of ppOFQ mRNA and OFQ immunoreactivity in NRM after EA by in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry methods, respectively. Then, the ppOFQ mRNA-positive and OFQ immunoreactive cells were counted under a computerized image analysis system. The results showed that expression of ppOFQ mRNA decreased and OFQ immunoreactivity increased after EA treatment in the neuropathic pain rats. These results indicated that EA modulated OFQ synthesis and OFQ peptide level in NRM of the neuropathic pain rats. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Inc.

  2. Immunoreactive trypsin and neonatalscreening for cystic fibrosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Travert, G.; Laroche, D.; Blandin, C.; Pasquet, C.

    1988-01-01

    Immunoreactive trypsin (IRT) was measured in dried blood spots from 160.822 five-day-old babies as a part of a regionwide neonatal screening program for cystic fibrosis. A second test was performed for 492 babies in whom blood IRT levels were found greater than 900 μg/l; retesting revealed persistent elevation in 55. Sweat testing confirmed cystic fibrosis in 43 babies, but results were normal in 12. During the course of this study, a total of 51 cystic fibrosis babies were identified: 43 by newborn screening, 6 because they had meconium ileus; so, early diagnosis was achieved in 49 cases out of 51. Two newborn babies did not have elevated IRT and they were missed by the screening test. Our results confirm that elevated blood IRT is characteristic of newborn babies with cystic fibrosis and show that this test has an excellent specificity (99.7%) and a good sensitivity (95%) when used as a neonatal screening test [fr

  3. Amaranth addition to enzymatically modified wheat flour improves dough functionality, bread immunoreactivity and quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heredia-Sandoval, N G; Calderón de la Barca, A M; Carvajal-Millán, E; Islas-Rubio, A R

    2018-01-24

    Consumers with gluten-related disorders require gluten-free (GF) foods to avoid an immune response. Alternative to the use of non-gluten containing grains to prepare GF bread, the gluten reactivity has been greatly reduced using a proline specific cleavage enzyme, however, the gluten functionality was lost. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding an amaranth flour blend (AFB) to enzymatically modified wheat-flour proteins on dough functionality and to evaluate the immunoreactivity and acceptability of the prepared bread. First, wheat flour (20% w/v, substrate) was hydrolyzed using 8.4 U mg -1 protein Aspergillus niger prolyl-endopeptidase (AnPEP) for 8 h at 40 °C under constant agitation. Four types of breads were prepared with the same formulation except for the type of flour (14% w.b.): wheat flour (WF), WF-AFB unmodified not incubated, WF-AFB unmodified incubated and WF-AFB modified. The protein composition and free thiols were analyzed before and after amaranth addition, and the flour and bread proteins were run using SDS-PAGE and immune-detected in blots with IgA from celiac disease patients. The immunoreactive gluten content, specific volume and bread acceptability were evaluated. The polymeric proteins and free thiol groups of WF decreased after AnPEP treatment. The electrophoretic patterns of the modified flour and bread proteins were different and the IgA-immunodetection in blots was highly reduced, particularly for the higher molecular weight subunits. The addition of AFB to the modified wheat flour prepared using AnPEP improved the dough functionality by increasing the thiol groups and allowed the preparation of a sensorially acceptable bread with only 60 mg kg -1 immunoreactive gluten.

  4. Assessment of affinities of beta-CIT, beta-CIT-FE, and beta-CIT-FP for monoamine transporters permanently expressed in cell lines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okada, Tomoya; Fujita, Masahiro; Shimada, Shoichi; Sato, Kohji; Schloss, Patrick; Watanabe, Yoshiyuki; Itoh, Yasushi; Tohyama, Masaya; Nishimura, Tsunehiko

    1998-01-01

    We investigated the effects of three cocaine analogs, beta-CIT (2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl)-tropane), beta-CIT-FE (2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl)-N-(2-fluoroethyl)-nortropane), and beta-CIT-FP (2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl)-N-(3-fluoropropyl)-nortropane), on the uptake of [ 3 H]dopamine(DA), serotonin(5-HT), and 1-norepinephrine (NE) using cell lines permanently expressing DA, 5-HT, and NE transporters, respectively, to determine their affinities for these three transporters. We generated cell lines stably expressing DA, 5-HT, and NE transporters, respectively, by the Chen-Okayama method, and then tested the abilities of (-)cocaine, beta-CIT, beta-CIT-FE, beta-CIT-FP, and clomipramine to inhibit the uptake of [ 3 H]DA, 5-HT, and 1-NE. Ki values of beta-CIT, beta-CIT-FE, and beta-CIT-FP for [ 3 H]DA, 5-HT, 1-NE uptake were 6, 29, and 33 nM, 91, 133, and 130 nM, and 28, 113 and 70 nM, respectively, whereas those of cocaine and clomipramine were 316, 581, and 176 nM and > 10,000, 437, and 851 nM, respectively. Beta-CIT, beta-CIT-FE, and beta-CIT-FP were shown to be potent DA, 5-HT, and NE uptake inhibitors. Beta-CIT and beta-CIT-FP were highly potent and selective dopamine uptake inhibitors, and therefore might be useful for imaging of DA transporter with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET)

  5. Melatonin immunoreactivity in the photosynthetic prokaryote Rhodospirillum rubrum: implications for an ancient antioxidant system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manchester, L C; Poeggeler, B; Alvares, F L; Ogden, G B; Reiter, R J

    1995-01-01

    Rhodospirillum rubrum is a spiral anoxygenic photosynthetic bacterium that can exist under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The organism thrives in the presence of light or complete darkness and represents one of the oldest species of living organisms, possibly 2-3.5 billion years old. The success of this prokaryotic species may be attributed to the evolution of certain indole compounds that offer protection against life-threatening oxygen radicals produced by an evolutionary harsh environment. Melatonin, N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is an indolic highly conserved molecule that exists in protists, plants, and animals. This study was undertaken to determine the presence of an immunoreactive melatonin in the kingdom Monera and particularly in the photosynthetic bacterium, R. rubrum, under conditions of prolonged darkness or prolonged light. Immunoreactive melatonin was measured during both the extended day and extended night. Significantly more melatonin was observed during the scotophase than the photophase. This study marks the first demonstration of melatonin in a bacterium. The high level of melatonin observed in bacteria may provide on-site protection of bacterial DNA against free radical attack.

  6. Cannabinoid receptor-2 immunoreactivity is associated with survival in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein Nulent, Thomas J W; Van Diest, Paul J; van der Groep, Petra; Leusink, Frank K J; Kruitwagen, Cas L J J; Koole, Ronald; Van Cann, Ellen M

    2013-10-01

    The prediction of progression of individual tumours, prognosis, and survival in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck is difficult. Cannabinoid-1 (CB1) and cannabinoid-2 (CB2) receptor expression is related to survival in several types of cancer, and the aim of this study was to find out whether the expression of CB1 and CB2 receptors is associated with survival in primary SCC of the head and neck. We made immunohistochemical analyses of the cannabinoid receptors on tissue arrays from 240 patients with the disease. Receptor immunoreactivity was classified as none, weak, moderate, or strong staining. Overall survival and disease-specific survival were plotted using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was created with all the relevant clinical and pathological features. Strong immunoreactivity of the CB2 receptor was significantly associated with reduced disease-specific survival (p=0.007). Cox-proportional hazard ratio (HR) showed that CB2 receptor immunoreactivity contributed to the prediction of survival (HR 3.6, 95% CI 1.5-8.7, p=0.004). Depth of invasion (HR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.2, p=0.01) and vascular invasion (HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.4-4.5, p=0.001) were also associated with survival. Copyright © 2013 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Distribution of calcium channel Ca(V)1.3 immunoreactivity in the rat spinal cord and brain stem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sukiasyan, N; Hultborn, H; Zhang, M

    2009-03-03

    The function of local networks in the CNS depends upon both the connectivity between neurons and their intrinsic properties. An intrinsic property of spinal motoneurons is the presence of persistent inward currents (PICs), which are mediated by non-inactivating calcium (mainly Ca(V)1.3) and/or sodium channels and serve to amplify neuronal input signals. It is of fundamental importance for the prediction of network function to determine the distribution of neurons possessing the ion channels that produce PICs. Although the distribution pattern of Ca(V)1.3 immunoreactivity (Ca(V)1.3-IR) has been studied in some specific central nervous regions in some species, so far no systematic investigations have been performed in both the rat spinal cord and brain stem. In the present study this issue was investigated by immunohistochemistry. The results indicated that the Ca(V)1.3-IR neurons were widely distributed across different parts of the spinal cord and the brain stem although with variable labeling intensities. In the spinal gray matter large neurons in the ventral horn (presumably motoneurons) tended to display higher levels of immunoreactivity than smaller neurons in the dorsal horn. In the white matter, a subset of glial cells labeled by an oligodendrocyte marker was also Ca(V)1.3-positive. In the brain stem, neurons in the motor nuclei appeared to have higher levels of immunoreactivity than those in the sensory nuclei. Moreover, a number of nuclei containing monoaminergic cells, for example the locus coeruleus, were also strongly immunoreactive. Ca(V)1.3-IR was consistently detected in the neuronal perikarya regardless of the neuronal type. However, in the large neurons in the spinal ventral horn and the cranial motor nuclei the Ca(V)1.3-IR was clearly detectable in first and second order dendrites. These results indicate that in the rat spinal cord and brain stem Ca(V)1.3 is probably a common calcium channel used by many kinds of neurons to facilitate the neuronal

  8. Development and characterization of a TAPIR-like mouse monoclonal antibody to amyloid-beta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Hara, Hideo; Makifuchi, Takao; Tabira, Takeshi

    2008-06-01

    Tissue amyloid plaque immuno-reactive (TAPIR) antibody was better related to the effect of immunotherapy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) than ELISA antibody. Here we used a hybridoma technique to develop a TAPIR-like anti-human amyloid-beta (Abeta) mouse monoclonal antibody. The obtained monoclonal antibody, 3.4A10, was an IgG2b isotype and recognized N-terminal portion of Abeta1-42 without binding denatured or native amyloid-beta protein precursor. It had higher affinity to Abeta1-42 than to Abeta1-40 by Biacore affinity analysis and stained preferably the peripheral part of senile plaques and recognized the plaque core less than 4G8. It inhibited the Abeta1-42 fibril formation as well as degraded pre-aggregated Abeta1-42 peptide in a thioflavin T fluorescence spectrophotometry assay. The in vivo studies showed that 3.4A10 treatment decreased amyloid burden compared to the control group and significantly reduced Abeta42 levels rather than Abeta40 levels in brain lysates as well as the Abeta*56 oligomer (12mer) in TBS fraction of the brain lysates. 3.4A10 entered brain and decorated some plaques, which is surrounded by more Iba1-positive microglia. 3.4A10 therapy did not induce lymphocytic infiltration and obvious increase in microhemorrhage. We conclude that 3.4A10 is a TAPIR-like anti-human amyloid monoclonal antibody, and has a potential of therapeutic application for AD.

  9. A sensitive radioimmunoassay measuring endothelin-like immunoreactivity in human plasma: comparison of levels in patients with essential hypertension and normotensive control subjects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davenport, A.P.; Ashby, M.J.; Easton, Patricia

    1990-01-01

    A radioimmunoassay was developed to measure endothelin-like immunoreactivity in human plasma using antibody raised against endothelin-1 which also cross-reacts with big endothelin-1 and endothelin-2 but not endothelin-3. The sensitivity was 1 fmol/tube with inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation of 13% and 9%, respectively. Cross-reactivity with endothelin-3 and non-endothelin peptides was less than 1%. Endothelin-like immunoreactivity was present in plasma of hypertensive patients (n = 25) at 5.7±0.5 pmol/1 (mean±SEM), not significantly different from that of age-matched control subjects (5.1±0.5 pmol/1). At these levels, endothelin-1 is unlikely to function as a circulating hormone. In the normotensive group, the concentration of endothelin-like immunoreactivity in plasma was positively correlated with mean arterial blood pressure, but in hypertensive patients it showed significant negative correlation. (author)

  10. Radioimmunoassay of Pro-. gamma. -melanotropin, the amino-terminal fragment of proopiolipomelanocortin. [Swine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ekman, R.; Hakanson, R.; Larsson, I.; Sundler, F.; Thorell, J.I.

    1982-08-01

    A RIA has been developed for natural porcine pro-..gamma..-MSH, the 103-amino acid peptide that represents the amino-terminal part of proopiolipomelanocortin. Rabbits were immunized with the purified peptide polymerized with glutaraldehyde. The antiserum is directed against the amino-terminial end of the antigen and does not cross-react with corticotropin, ..beta..-lipotropin, ..beta..-endorphin, ..gamma../sub 3/MSH, or ..gamma../sub 2/MSH. The minimum detectable concentration is 0.15 ng/ml standard pro-..gamma..MSH (15 pg/tube). Pro-..gamma..MSH-like immunoreactivity was detected in plasma and extracts of the hypothalamus and pituitary of pigs. Gel chromatography of these extracts revealed at least three immunoreactive peaks in the anterior and neurointermediate lobes of the pituitary, wheras two immunoreactive peaks were found in extracts of the hypothalalmus. (Endocrinology 111:578,1982)

  11. Immunoreactivity examination of patients with testicular tumours treated with radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stefanits, Klara; Kuhn, Endre; Csere, Tibor

    1985-01-01

    Results of the immunoreactivity study of 72 patients receiving radiotherapy are presented. Tuberculin and DNCB (2,4 dinitrochlorobenzol) reactivity tests were performed before, during and 3 years after the radiation therapy and at the time when metastases appeared. The number of positive reactions decreased slightly in both tuberculin and DNCB groups, though not significantly. Metastatic patients showed a significant decrease of reactivity against DNCB as compared with the results obtained before the treatment. In 5,6% of patients herpes zoster was registered. No other infections occured. It was found that immunosuppression caused by the radiation treatment does not influence the later fate of patients with testicular tumours. (author)

  12. Alzheimer's disease risk gene CD33 inhibits microglial uptake of amyloid beta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griciuc, Ana; Serrano-Pozo, Alberto; Parrado, Antonio R; Lesinski, Andrea N; Asselin, Caroline N; Mullin, Kristina; Hooli, Basavaraj; Choi, Se Hoon; Hyman, Bradley T; Tanzi, Rudolph E

    2013-05-22

    The transmembrane protein CD33 is a sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin that regulates innate immunity but has no known functions in the brain. We have previously shown that the CD33 gene is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we observed increased expression of CD33 in microglial cells in AD brain. The minor allele of the CD33 SNP rs3865444, which confers protection against AD, was associated with reductions in both CD33 expression and insoluble amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) levels in AD brain. Furthermore, the numbers of CD33-immunoreactive microglia were positively correlated with insoluble Aβ42 levels and plaque burden in AD brain. CD33 inhibited uptake and clearance of Aβ42 in microglial cell cultures. Finally, brain levels of insoluble Aβ42 as well as amyloid plaque burden were markedly reduced in APP(Swe)/PS1(ΔE9)/CD33(-/-) mice. Therefore, CD33 inactivation mitigates Aβ pathology and CD33 inhibition could represent a novel therapy for AD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Balance and coordination training, but not endurance training, enhances synaptophysin and neurotrophin-3 immunoreactivity in the lumbar spinal cord after sciatic nerve crush.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonetti, Leandro Viçosa; Ilha, Jocemar; Schneider, Ana Paula Krauthein; Barbosa, Silvia; Faccioni-Heuser, Maria Cristina

    2016-04-01

    Numerous rehabilitation treatments have been shown to be useful for peripheral and central restoration after (PNI). After sciatic nerve crush, we investigated 4 weeks of endurance training (ET) and balance and coordination training (BCT) with sciatic function index, hind-paw stride length, and spinal cord dorsal horn synaptophysin and neurotrophin-3 immunoreactivity. Our results demonstrated no significant differences between the non-trained (NT), ET, and BCT groups in sciatic functional index, and in stride-length analysis, but the ET showed higher values compared with the NT group. Synaptophysin immunoreactivity was higher in the BCT group compared with the NT group, and neurotrophin-3 immunoreactivity in the BCT group was greater compared with the other groups. BCT can positively affect spinal cord plasticity after a (PNI), and these modifications are important in the rehabilitation process. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Met-enkephalyl-Arg6-Phe7 immunoreactivity in a human neuroblastoma cell line: effect of dibutyryl 3':5'-cyclic AMP and reserpine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boarder, M R; Marriott, D; Adams, M

    1986-12-30

    The carboxy terminal part of the proenkephalin A sequence is the 31 amino acid peptide B, which has as its final seven amino acids the sequence of the opioid peptide Met-enkephalyl-Arg6-Phe7. Using a radioimmunoassay which recognises both these peptides we have investigated the relative amounts of peptide B and Met-enkephalyl-Arg6-Phe7 in a human neuroblastoma cell line. We show that these cells contain peptide B-like immunoreactivity but not its heptapeptide fragment. This may be due to lack of proteolytic activity cleaving Met-enkephalyl-Arg6-Phe7 from its precursor, peptide B. On treatment with dibutyryl cyclic AMP the level of immunoreactivity approximately doubles, due to increased amounts of peptide B-like immunoreactivity. Treatment with reserpine, which increases conversion of peptide B to the heptapeptide in bovine chromaffin cells in culture does not stimulate the accumulation of Met-enkephalyl-Arg6-Phe7 in the human neuroblastoma cells. The results are discussed with respect to peptide processing.

  15. Depletion of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity in the rat central nervous system by cysteamine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sagar, S.M.; Landry, D.; Millard, W.J.; Badger, T.M.; Arnold, M.A.; Martin, J.B.

    1982-01-01

    Selective neurotoxins have been of value in providing a means for specifically interfering with the actions of endogenous neurotransmitter candidates. Others have shown cysteamine (CSH) to deplete the gastrointestinal tract and hypothalamus of rats of immunoreactive somatostatin, suggesting a toxic action of that compound directed against somatostatin-containing cells. The present study further defines the actions of cysteamine on somatostatin in the central nervous system. (CNS). Cysteamine hydrochloride administered subcutaneously results in a depletion of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) in the retina, brain, and cervical spinal cord of rats. The effect is demonstrable at doses of 30 mg/kg of body weight and above, occurs within 2 to 4 hr of a single injection of the drug, and is largely reversible within 1 week. The mean depletion of SLI observed within the CNS varies from 38% in cerebral cortex to 65% in cervical spinal cord 24 hr following administration of CSH, 300 mg/kg of body weight, s.c. By gel permeation chromatography, all molecular weight forms of SLI are affected, with the largest reductions in those forms that co-chromatograph with synthetic somatostatin-14 and somatostatin-28. These results indicate that CSH has a generalized, rapid, and largely reversible effect in depleting SLI from the rat CNS

  16. Extrabulbar olfactory system and nervus terminalis FMRFamide immunoreactive components in Xenopus laevis ontogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinelli, Claudia; D'Aniello, Biagio; Polese, Gianluca; Rastogi, Rakesh K

    2004-09-01

    The extrabulbar olfactory system (EBOS) is a collection of nerve fibers which originate from primary olfactory receptor-like neurons and penetrate into the brain bypassing the olfactory bulbs. Our description is based upon the application of two neuronal tracers (biocytin, carbocyanine DiI) in the olfactory sac, at the cut end of the olfactory nerve and in the telencephalon of the developing clawed frog. The extrabulbar olfactory system was observed already at stage 45, which is the first developmental stage compatible with our techniques; at this stage, the extrabulbar olfactory system fibers terminated diffusely in the preoptic area. A little later in development, i.e. at stage 50, the extrabulbar olfactory system was maximally developed, extending as far caudally as the rhombencephalon. In the metamorphosing specimens, the extrabulbar olfactory system appeared reduced in extension; caudally, the fiber terminals did not extend beyond the diencephalon. While a substantial overlapping of biocytin/FMRFamide immunoreactivity was observed along the olfactory pathways as well as in the telencephalon, FMRFamide immunoreactivity was never observed to be colocalized in the same cellular or fiber components visualized by tracer molecules. The question whether the extrabulbar olfactory system and the nervus terminalis (NT) are separate anatomical entities or represent an integrated system is discussed.

  17. Purification of beta-acetylglucosaminase and beta-galactosidase from ram testis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caygill, J C; Roston, C P; Jevons, F R

    1966-02-01

    1. The presence of beta-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) in an acetic acid extract of ram testis is reported. Some properties of the crude enzyme preparation were studied. 2. The purification of beta-acetylglucosaminase (EC 3.2.1.30) and of beta-galactosidase from the ram-testis extract by ammonium sulphate precipitation and chromatography on a CM-cellulose column is described. 3. The final purifications of the separated enzymes achieved were for the beta-acetylglucosaminase 35 times and for the beta-galactosidase 99 times. 4. The possibility of using DEAE-cellulose and Sephadex G-200 to purify the enzymes was investigated.

  18. Immunoreactive proteins of Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum CCM 7952 and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum CCDM 372 identified by gnotobiotic mono-colonized mice sera, immune rabbit sera and nonimmune human sera.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabina Górska

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The Bifidobacteria show great diversity in the cell surface architecture which may influence the physicochemical properties of the bacterial cell and strain specific properties. The immunomodulatory role of bifidobacteria has been extensively studied, however studies on the immunoreactivity of their protein molecules are very limited. Here, we compared six different methods of protein isolation and purification and we report identification of immunogenic and immunoreactive protein of two human Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum strains. We evaluated potential immunoreactive properties of proteins employing polyclonal sera obtained from germ free mouse, rabbit and human. The protein yield was isolation method-dependent and the reactivity of proteins detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting was heterogeneous and varied between different serum samples. The proteins with the highest immunoreactivity were isolated, purified and have them sequenced. Among the immunoreactive proteins we identified enolase, aspartokinase, pyruvate kinase, DnaK (B. longum ssp. longum CCM 7952 and sugar ABC transporter ATP-binding protein, phosphoglycerate kinase, peptidoglycan synthethase penicillin-binding protein 3, transaldolase, ribosomal proteins and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (B. longum ssp. longum CCDM 372.

  19. Lack of relationship between TIMP-1 tumour cell immunoreactivity, treatment efficacy and prognosis in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steffensen, Karina Dahl; Waldstrøm, Marianne; Christensen, Rikke Kølby; Bartels, Annette; Brünner, Nils; Jakobsen, Anders

    2010-01-01

    Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) is a natural inhibitor of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which are proteolytic enzymes involved in degradation of extracellular matrix thereby favoring tumour cell invasion and metastasis. TIMP-1 activity in tumour tissue may therefore play an essential role in the progression of a malignant tumour. The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate TIMP-1 protein immunoreactivity in tissue from primary ovarian cancer patients and associate these findings with the course of the disease including response to treatment in the individual patient. TIMP-1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry (in tissue micro arrays) in a total of 163 ovarian cancer specimens obtained from primary debulking surgery during 1991-1994 as part of a randomized clinical protocol. Positive TIMP-1 immunoreactivity was found in 12.3% of the tumours. The median survival time for the 143 patients with TIMP-1 negative tumours was 23.7 months [19.0-29.4] 95% CI, while the median survival time for the 20 patients with TIMP-1 positive tumours was 15.9 months [12.3-27.4] 95% CI. Although a difference of 7.8 months in median overall survival in favor of the TIMP-1 tumour negative patients was found, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.28, Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test). Moreover, TIMP-1 immunoreactivity was not associated with CA125 response (p = 0.53) or response at second look surgery (p = 0.72). TIMP-1 immunoreactivity in tumour tissue from patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer did not correlate with patient survival or response to combination platinum/cyclophosphamide therapy

  20. Betting Against Beta

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frazzini, Andrea; Heje Pedersen, Lasse

    We present a model with leverage and margin constraints that vary across investors and time. We find evidence consistent with each of the model’s five central predictions: (1) Since constrained investors bid up high-beta assets, high beta is associated with low alpha, as we find empirically for U...... of the BAB factor is low; (4) Increased funding liquidity risk compresses betas toward one; (5) More constrained investors hold riskier assets........S. equities, 20 international equity markets, Treasury bonds, corporate bonds, and futures; (2) A betting-against-beta (BAB) factor, which is long leveraged low beta assets and short high-beta assets, produces significant positive risk-adjusted returns; (3) When funding constraints tighten, the return...

  1. Changes in RFamide-Related Peptide-1 (RFRP-1)-Immunoreactivity During Postnatal Development and the Estrous Cycle

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Sara R; Andersen, Mille D; Overgaard, Agnete

    2014-01-01

    and inhibit GnRH neurons. The RFRP precursor is processed into 2 mature peptides, RFRP-1 and RFRP-3. These are characterized by a conserved C-terminal motif RF-NH2 but display highly different N termini. Even though the 2 peptides are equally potent in vitro, little is known about their relative distribution...... and their distinct roles in vivo. In this study, we raised an antiserum selective for RFRP-1 and defined the distribution of RFRP-1-immunoreactive (ir) neurons in the rat brain. Next, we analyzed the level of RFRP-1-ir during postnatal development in males and females and investigated changes in RFRP-1-ir during....... The number of RFRP-1-ir neurons and the density of cellular immunoreactivity were unchanged from juvenile to adulthood in male rats during the postnatal development. However, both parameters were significantly increased in female rats from peripuberty to adulthood, demonstrating prominent gender difference...

  2. Conversion of beta-methylbutyric acid to beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyric acid by Galactomyces reessii.

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, I Y; Nissen, S L; Rosazza, J P

    1997-01-01

    beta-Hydroxy-beta-methylbutyric acid (HMB) has been shown to increase strength and lean mass gains in humans undergoing resistance-exercise training. HMB is currently marketed as a calcium salt of HMB, and thus, environmentally sound and inexpensive methods of manufacture are being sought. This study investigates the microbial conversion of beta-methylbutyric acid (MBA) to HMB by cultures of Galactomyces reessii. Optimal concentrations of MBA were in the range of 5 to 20 g/liter for HMB produ...

  3. Immunohistochemical expression of Insulin-like growth factor-1, Transforming growth factor-beta1, and Vascular endothelial growth factor in parathyroid adenoma and hyperplasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamide Sayar

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Insulin-like growth factor (IGF, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF are commonly studied growth factors, but little data are available on the immunohistochemical expression of these factors in parathyroid lesions. Materials and Methods: Tissue specimens from 36 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (P-HPT (26 adenomas and 10 primary hyperplasias were examined. Normal parathyroid tissue adjacent to the adenoma or area of hyperplasia was used as control tissue. Preoperative laboratory testing [serum Ca and P, creatinine and parathormone levels (PTH] which led to the diagnosis of P-HPT had been performed, the size and weight of the parathyroid glands measured, and postoperative serum PTH levels determined. Paraffin-embedded parathyroid tissue specimens were stained with antibodies to IGF-1, VEGF, and TGF-β1 using standard immunohistochemical procedures. Results: IGF-1 immunoreactivity was seen in 50% of hyperplasia and in 46% of adenoma samples, but in 87% of normal parathyroid tissue in the vicinity of the adenomas (P = 0.005. TGF-β1 immunoreactivity was observed in 90% of hyperplasia, in 92% of adenoma samples, and in 95% of normal tissues around adenomas. VEGF immunoreactivity was observed in 70% of hyperplastic and 65% of adenomatous tissues, as well as in 54% of normal tissues in the vicinity of the adenoma. No significant differences in the expression of IGF-1, TGF-β1, and VEGF were observed between primary adenomas compared to hyperplasia samples (P > 0.05. Conclusions: Parathyroid tissue is clearly a site for production of IGF-1, TGF-β1, and VEGF. IGF-1 receptor activity was higher in normal parathyroid tissue compared to hyperplastic and adenomatous tissue.

  4. Forward-Looking Betas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Peter; Jacobs, Kris; Vainberg, Gregory

    Few issues are more important for finance practice than the computation of market betas. Existing approaches compute market betas using historical data. While these approaches differ in terms of statistical sophistication and the modeling of the time-variation in the betas, they are all backward......-looking. This paper introduces a radically different approach to estimating market betas. Using the tools in Bakshi and Madan (2000) and Bakshi, Kapadia and Madan (2003) we employ the information embedded in the prices of individual stock options and index options to compute our forward-looking market beta...

  5. Occurrence of substance P-like immunoreactive nerve fibers in Krause corpuscles of the dog's tongue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ichikawa, H; Nishikawa, S; Wakisaka, S; Matsuo, S; Takano, Y; Akai, M

    1988-01-01

    Substance P-like immunoreactive (SPLI) nerve fibers were demonstrated in the Krause corpuscles of the dog's tongue using the indirect immunofluorescence method and cholinesterase histochemistry. SPLI nerve fibers were often in contact with Krause end bulbs and occasionally entered them. From this result it was suggested that substance P might be involved in sensory mechanism of the Krause apparatus.

  6. Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Gene CD33 Inhibits Microglial Uptake of Amyloid Beta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griciuc, Ana; Serrano-Pozo, Alberto; Parrado, Antonio R.; Lesinski, Andrea N.; Asselin, Caroline N.; Mullin, Kristina; Hooli, Basavaraj; Choi, Se Hoon; Hyman, Bradley T.; Tanzi, Rudolph E.

    2013-01-01

    SUMMARY The transmembrane protein CD33 is a sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin that regulates innate immunity but has no known functions in the brain. We have previously shown that the CD33 gene is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we observed increased expression of CD33 in microglial cells in AD brain. The minor allele of the CD33 SNP rs3865444, which confers protection against AD, was associated with reductions in both CD33 expression and insoluble amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) levels in AD brain. Furthermore, the numbers of CD33-immunoreactive microglia were positively correlated with insoluble Aβ42 levels and plaque burden in AD brain. CD33 inhibited uptake and clearance of Aβ42 in microglial cell cultures. Finally, brain levels of insoluble Aβ42 as well as amyloid plaque burden were markedly reduced in APPSwe/PS1ΔE9/CD33−/− mice. Therefore, CD33 inactivation mitigates Aβ pathology and CD33 inhibition could represent a novel therapy for AD. PMID:23623698

  7. Enantioselective synthesis of alpha,beta-disubstituted-beta-amino acids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibi, Mukund P; Prabagaran, Narayanasamy; Ghorpade, Sandeep G; Jasperse, Craig P

    2003-10-01

    Highly diastereoselective and enantioselective addition of N-benzylhydroxylamine to imides 17 and 20-30 produces alpha,beta-trans-disubstituted N-benzylisoxazolidinones 19 and 31-41. These reactions proceed in 60-96% ee with 93-99% de's using 5 mol % of Mg(NTf2)2 and ligand 18. The product isoxazolidinones can be hydrogenolyzed directly to provide alpha,beta-disubstituted-beta-amino acids.

  8. Immunoreactive Proteins of Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum CCM 7952 and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum CCDM 372 Identified by Gnotobiotic Mono-Colonized Mice Sera, Immune Rabbit Sera and Non-immune Human Sera.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Górska, Sabina; Dylus, Ewa; Rudawska, Angelika; Brzozowska, Ewa; Srutkova, Dagmar; Schwarzer, Martin; Razim, Agnieszka; Kozakova, Hana; Gamian, Andrzej

    2016-01-01

    The Bifidobacteria show great diversity in the cell surface architecture which may influence the physicochemical properties of the bacterial cell and strain specific properties. The immunomodulatory role of bifidobacteria has been extensively studied, however studies on the immunoreactivity of their protein molecules are very limited. Here, we compared six different methods of protein isolation and purification and we report identification of immunogenic and immunoreactive protein of two human Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum strains. We evaluated potential immunoreactive properties of proteins employing polyclonal sera obtained from germ free mouse, rabbit and human. The protein yield was isolation method-dependent and the reactivity of proteins detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting was heterogeneous and varied between different serum samples. The proteins with the highest immunoreactivity were isolated, purified and have them sequenced. Among the immunoreactive proteins we identified enolase, aspartokinase, pyruvate kinase, DnaK ( B. longum ssp. longum CCM 7952) and sugar ABC transporter ATP-binding protein, phosphoglycerate kinase, peptidoglycan synthethase penicillin-binding protein 3, transaldolase, ribosomal proteins and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase ( B. longum ssp. longum CCDM 372).

  9. Dissimilar association of conventional immuno-reactive versus specific insulin with cardiovascular risk factors : a consequence of proinsulinaemia?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grootenhuis, P A; Mooy, J M; Kostense, P J; Popp-Snijders, C; Bouter, L M; Heine, R J

    In this study involving 365 non-diabetic elderly Caucasians, we examined the relationship of immuno-specific insulin (ISI), total immuno-reactive insulin (IRI), proinsulin (PI) and proinsulin-insulin ratio (PI:ISI) to serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), systolic

  10. Positive fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 immunoreactivity is associated with low-grade non-invasive urothelial bladder cancer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C. Poyet (Cédric); T. Hermanns (Thomas); Q. Zhong (Qing); E. Drescher (Eva); D. Eberli (Daniel); M. Burger (Maximilian); F. Hofstaedter (Ferdinand); A. Hartmann (Arndt); R. Stöhr (Robert); E.C. Zwarthoff (Ellen); T. Sulser (Tullio); P.J. Wild (Peter J.)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractIn addition to conventional clinicopathological parameters, molecular markers are also required in order to predict the course of disease in patients with urothelial bladder cancer (BC). Little is known about fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) immunoreactivity and the clinical

  11. In-trap decay spectroscopy for {beta}{beta} decays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brunner, Thomas

    2011-01-18

    The presented work describes the implementation of a new technique to measure electron-capture (EC) branching ratios (BRs) of intermediate nuclei in {beta}{beta} decays. This technique has been developed at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada. It facilitates one of TRIUMF's Ion Traps for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN), the Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) that is used as a spectroscopy Penning trap. Radioactive ions, produced at the radioactive isotope facility ISAC, are injected and stored in the spectroscopy Penning trap while their decays are observed. A key feature of this technique is the use of a strong magnetic field, required for trapping. It radially confines electrons from {beta} decays along the trap axis while X-rays, following an EC, are emitted isotropically. This provides spatial separation of X-ray and {beta} detection with almost no {beta}-induced background at the X-ray detector, allowing weak EC branches to be measured. Furthermore, the combination of several traps allows one to isobarically clean the sample prior to the in-trap decay spectroscopy measurement. This technique has been developed to measure ECBRs of transition nuclei in {beta}{beta} decays. Detailed knowledge of these electron capture branches is crucial for a better understanding of the underlying nuclear physics in {beta}{beta} decays. These branches are typically of the order of 10{sup -5} and therefore difficult to measure. Conventional measurements suffer from isobaric contamination and a dominating {beta} background at theX-ray detector. Additionally, X-rays are attenuated by the material where the radioactive sample is implanted. To overcome these limitations, the technique of in-trap decay spectroscopy has been developed. In this work, the EBIT was connected to the TITAN beam line and has been commissioned. Using the developed beam diagnostics, ions were injected into the Penning trap and systematic studies on injection and storage optimization were performed. Furthermore, Ge

  12. Signaling pathways of interleukin-1 actions in the brain: anatomical distribution of phospho-ERK1/2 in the brain of rat treated systemically with interleukin-1beta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nadjar, A; Combe, C; Busquet, P; Dantzer, R; Parnet, P

    2005-01-01

    Interleukin-1beta is released at the periphery during infection and acts on the nervous system to induce fever, neuroendocrine activation, and behavioral changes. These effects are mediated by brain type I IL-1 receptors. In vitro studies have shown the ability of interleukin-1beta to activate mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways including p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2). In contrast to other mitogen-activated protein kinases, little is known about ERK1/2 activation in the rat brain in response to interleukin-1beta. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate spatial and temporal activation of ERK1/2 in the rat brain after peripheral administration of interleukin-1beta using immunohistochemistry to detect the phosphorylated form of the kinase. In non-stimulated conditions, phosphorylated ERK1/2 immunoreactivity was observed in neurons throughout the brain. Administration of interleukin-1beta (60 microg/kg, i.p.) induced the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in areas at the interface between brain and blood or cerebrospinal fluid: meninges, circumventricular organs, endothelial like cells of the blood vessels, and in brain nuclei involved in behavioral depression, fever and neuroendocrine activation: paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, supraoptic nucleus, central amygdala and arcuate nucleus. Double labeling of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and cell markers revealed the expression of phosphorylated ERK1/2 in neurons, astrocytes and microglia. Since phosphorylated ERK1/2 was found in structures in which type I IL-1 receptor has already been identified as well as in structures lacking this receptor, activation of ERK1/2 is likely to occur in response to both direct and indirect action of interleukin-1beta on its target cells.

  13. BetaTPred: prediction of beta-TURNS in a protein using statistical algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Harpreet; Raghava, G P S

    2002-03-01

    beta-turns play an important role from a structural and functional point of view. beta-turns are the most common type of non-repetitive structures in proteins and comprise on average, 25% of the residues. In the past numerous methods have been developed to predict beta-turns in a protein. Most of these prediction methods are based on statistical approaches. In order to utilize the full potential of these methods, there is a need to develop a web server. This paper describes a web server called BetaTPred, developed for predicting beta-TURNS in a protein from its amino acid sequence. BetaTPred allows the user to predict turns in a protein using existing statistical algorithms. It also allows to predict different types of beta-TURNS e.g. type I, I', II, II', VI, VIII and non-specific. This server assists the users in predicting the consensus beta-TURNS in a protein. The server is accessible from http://imtech.res.in/raghava/betatpred/

  14. Immunocytochemical localization of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and substance P in neural areas mediating motion-induced emesis: Effects of vagal stimulation on GAD immunoreactivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damelio, F.; Gibbs, M. A.; Mehler, W. R.; Daunton, Nancy G.; Fox, Robert A.

    1991-01-01

    Immunocytochemical methods were employed to localize the neurotransmitter amino acid gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) by means of its biosynthetic enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and the neuropeptide substance P in the area postrema (AP), area subpostrema (ASP), nucleus of the tractus solitarius (NTS), and gelatinous nucleus (GEL). In addition, electrical stimulation was applied to the night vagus nerve at the cervical level to assess the effects on GAD-immunoreactivity (GAR-IR). GAD-IR terminals and fibers were observed in the AP, ASP, NTS, and GEL. They showed pronounced density at the level of the ASP and gradual decrease towards the solitary complex. Nerve cells were not labelled in our preparations. Ultrastructural studies showed symmetric or asymmetric synaptic contracts between labelled terminals and non-immunoreactive dendrites, axons, or neurons. Some of the labelled terminals contained both clear- and dense-core vesicles. Our preliminary findings, after electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, revealed a bilateral decrease of GAD-IR that was particularly evident at the level of the ASP. SP-immunoreactive (SP-IR) terminals and fibers showed varying densities in the AP, ASP, NTS, and GEL. In our preparations, the lateral sub-division of the NTS showed the greatest accumulation. The ASP showed medium density of immunoreactive varicosities and terminals and the AP and GEL displayed scattered varicose axon terminals. The electron microscopy revealed that all immunoreactive terminals contained clear-core vesicles which make symmetric or asymmetric synaptic contact with unlabelled dendrites. It is suggested that the GABAergic terminals might correspond to vagal afferent projections and that GAD/GABA and substance P might be co-localized in the same terminal allowing the possibility of a regulated release of the transmitters in relation to demands.

  15. Roughing up Beta

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bollerslev, Tim; Li, Sophia Zhengzi; Todorov, Viktor

    -section. An investment strategy that goes long stocks with high jump betas and short stocks with low jump betas produces significant average excess returns. These higher risk premiums for the discontinuous and overnight market betas remain significant after controlling for a long list of other firm characteristics......Motivated by the implications from a stylized equilibrium pricing framework, we investigate empirically how individual equity prices respond to continuous, or \\smooth," and jumpy, or \\rough," market price moves, and how these different market price risks, or betas, are priced in the cross......-section of expected returns. Based on a novel highfrequency dataset of almost one-thousand individual stocks over two decades, we find that the two rough betas associated with intraday discontinuous and overnight returns entail significant risk premiums, while the intraday continuous beta is not priced in the cross...

  16. Correlative Analysis of Immunoreactivity in Confocal Laser-Scanning Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Focused Ion Beam Milling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takahiro eSonomura

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Three-dimensional reconstruction of ultrastructure of rat brain with minimal effort has recently been realized by scanning electron microscopy combined with focused ion beam milling (FIB-SEM. Because application of immunohistochemical staining to electron microscopy has a great advantage in that molecules of interest are specifically localized in ultrastructures, we here tried to apply immunocytochemistry to FIB-SEM and correlate immunoreactivity in confocal laser-scanning microcopy (CF-LSM with that in FIB-SEM. The dendrites of medium-sized spiny neurons in rat neostriatum were visualized with a recombinant viral vector, which labeled the infected neurons with membrane-targeted GFP in a Golgi stain-like fashion, and thalamostriatal afferent terminals were immunolabeled with Cy5 fluorescence for vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGluT2. After detecting the sites of terminals apposed to the dendrites in CF-LSM, GFP and VGluT2 immunoreactivities were further developed for electron microscopy by the immunogold/silver enhancement and immunoperoxidase/diaminobenzidine (DAB methods, respectively. In the contrast-inverted FIB-SEM images, silver precipitation and DAB deposits were observed as fine dark grains and diffuse dense profiles, respectively, indicating that these immunoreactivities were easily recognizable as in the images of transmission electron microscopy. In the sites of interest, some appositions were revealed to display synaptic specialization of asymmetric type. The present method is thus useful in the three-dimensional analysis of immunocytochemically differentiated synaptic connection in the central neural circuit.

  17. Plasma beta-endorphin, beta-lipotropin and corticotropin in polycystic ovarian disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laatikainen, T; Salminen, K; Virtanen, T; Apter, D

    1987-04-01

    In 9 women with polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) and in 11 control subjects at the follicular phase of the normal cycle, blood samples were collected at 15-min intervals during a 2 h period of bed rest for the assay of beta-endorphin, beta-lipotropin, corticotropin, cortisol and prolactin. During the study period, the plasma levels of these hormones decreased more significantly in the PCOD than in the control group, suggesting that the PCOD patients had a more significant stress response to the puncture of the vein than the control subjects. The second hour of the study period was considered to represent resting levels of hormones. The mean resting levels (+/- S.E.) of the hormones between the PCOD and control groups, respectively, were as follows: beta-E, 2.0 +/- 0.4 vs. 1.1 +/- 0.1 pmol/l, p less than 0.05; beta-LPH, 3.4 +/- 0.6 vs. 2.1 +/- 0.5 pmol/l, N.S.; corticotropin, 2.0 +/- 0.3 vs. 1.1 +/- 0.5 pmol/l, p less than 0.05; cortisol, 176 +/- 24 vs. 128 +/- 16, N.S.; and prolactin; 3.9 +/- 0.6 vs. 5.6 +/- 1.2 ng/ml, N.S. These results confirm the previous findings on increased circulating levels of beta-E in PCOD. A concomitant increase of the plasma level of corticotropin suggests that the basal secretion of both beta-E and corticotropin from the anterior pituitary gland is increased in women with PCOD.

  18. Estrogen receptor-alpha-immunoreactive neurons in the mesencephalon, pons and medulla oblongata of the female golden hamster

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boers, J; Gerrits, PO; Holstege, G

    1999-01-01

    Recent studies have revealed brainstem-spinal pathways involved in the generation of receptive behavior in hamster and cat, and the enormous influence of estrogen on these pathways. The present study gives an overview of the location of estrogen receptor-alpha-immunoreactive neurons (ER-alpha-IR) in

  19. Long-term effects of cholinergic basal forebrain lesions on neuropeptide Y and somatostatin immunoreactivity in rat neocortex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaykema, R.P.A.; Compaan, J.C.; Nyakas, C.; Horvath, E.; Luiten, P.G.M.

    1989-01-01

    The effect of cholinergic basal forebrain lesions on immunoreactivity to somatostatin (SOM-i) and neuropeptide-Y (NPY-i) was investigated in the rat parietal cortex, 16-18 months after multiple bilateral ibotenic acid injections in the nucleus basalis complex. As a result of the lesion, the

  20. Neurokinin-1 Receptor Immunoreactive Neuronal Elements in the Superficial Dorsal Horn of the Chicken Spinal Cord: With Special Reference to Their Relationship with the Tachykinin-containing Central Axon Terminals in Synaptic Glomeruli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakamoto, Hiroshi; Kawate, Toyoko; Li, Yongnan; Atsumi, Saoko

    2009-01-01

    Synaptic glomeruli that involve tachykinin-containing primary afferent central terminals are numerous in lamina II of the chicken spinal cord. Therefore, a certain amount of noxious information is likely to be modulated in these structures in chickens. In this study, we used immunohistochemistry with confocal and electron microscopy to investigate whether neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R)-expressing neuronal elements are in contact with the central primary afferent terminals in synaptic glomeruli of the chicken spinal cord. We also investigated which neuronal elements (axon terminals, dendrites, cell bodies) and which neurons in the spinal cord possess NK-1R, and are possibly influenced by tachykinin in the glomeruli. By confocal microscopy, NK-1R immunoreactivities were seen in a variety of neuronal cell bodies, their dendrites and smaller fibers of unknown origin. Some of the NK-1R immunoreactive profiles also expressed GABA immunoreactivities. A close association was observed between the NK-1R-immunoreactive neurons and tachykinin-immunoreactive axonal varicosities. By electron microscopy, NK-1R immunoreactivity was seen in cell bodies, conventional dendrites and vesicle-containing dendrites in laminae I and II. Among these elements, dendrites and vesicle-containing dendrites made contact with tachykinin-containing central terminals in the synaptic glomeruli. These results indicate that tachykinin-containing central terminals in the chicken spinal cord can modulate second-order neuronal elements in the synaptic glomeruli

  1. Ultrastructure of GABA- and tachykinin-immunoreactive neurons in the lower division of the central body of the desert locust

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uwe Homberg

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The central complex, a group of neuropils spanning the midline of the insect brain, plays a key role in spatial orientation and navigation. In the desert locust and other species, many neurons of the central complex are sensitive to the oscillation plane of polarized light above the animal and are likely involved in the coding of compass directions derived from the polarization pattern of the sky. Polarized light signals enter the locust central complex primarily through two types of -aminobutyric acid (GABA-immunoreactive tangential neurons, termed TL2 and TL3 that innervate specific layers of the lower division of the central body (CBL. Candidate postsynaptic partners are columnar neurons (CL1 connecting the CBL to the protocerebral bridge. Subsets of CL1 neurons are immunoreactive to antisera against locustatachykinin (LomTK. To better understand the synaptic connectivities of tangential and columnar neurons in the CBL, we studied its ultrastructural organization in the desert locust, both with conventional electron microscopy and in preparations immunolabeled for GABA or LomTK. Neuronal profiles in the CBL were rich in mitochondria and vesicles. Three types of vesicles were distinguished: small clear vesicles with diameters of 20-40 nm, dark dense-core vesicles (diameter 70-120 nm, and granular dense-core vesicles (diameter 70-80 nm. Neurons were connected via divergent dyads and, less frequently, through convergent dyads. GABA-immunoreactive neurons contained small clear vesicles and small numbers of dark dense core vesicles. They had both pre- and postsynaptic contacts but output synapses were observed more frequently than input synapses. LomTK immunostaining was concentrated on large granular vesicles; neurons had pre- and postsynaptic connections often with neurons assumed to be GABAergic. The data suggest that GABA-immunoreactive tangential neurons provide signals to postsynaptic neurons in the CBL, including LomTK-immunolabeled CL1

  2. Changes in small intestinal chromogranin A-immunoreactive cell densities in patients with irritable bowel syndrome after receiving dietary guidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzawi, Tarek; El-Salhy, Magdy

    2016-05-01

    Chromogranin A (CgA) is a common marker for enteroendocrine cells in the gut, and CgA-immunoreactive cell densities are abnormal in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The majority of patients with IBS report that their symptoms develop after consuming certain foodstuffs. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dietary guidance on the total enteroendocrine cell densities in the small intestine, as detected by CgA. A total of 14 patients with IBS underwent a gastroscopy with duodenal biopsies and 11 of them also underwent a colonoscopy, with biopsy samples obtained from the ileum. Fourteen control subjects were also included. Each patient received 3 sessions of dietary guidance. Gastroscopies and colonoscopies were performed on both the controls and patients with IBS (at baseline and at 3-9 months after receiving guidance). Biopsy samples obtained from the duodenum and ileum were immunostained for CgA using the avidin-biotin complex (ABC) method and were quantified using computerized image analysis. The density of CgA-immunoreactive cells in the duodenum (mean ± SEM values) in the control subjects was 235.9 ± 31.9 cells/mm2; in the patients with IBS, the density was 36.9 ± 9.8 and 103.7 ± 16.9 cells/mm2 before and after they received dietary guidance, respectively (P=0.007). The density of CgA-immunoreactive cells in the ileum in the control subjects was 47.4 ± 8.3 cells/mm2; in the patients with IBS, the density was 48.4 ± 8.1 and 17.9 ± 4.4 cells/mm2, before and after they received dietary guidance, respectively (P=0.0006). These data indicate that changes in CgA-immunoreactive cell densities in patients with IBS after receiving dietary guidance may reflect a change in the densities of the small intestinal enteroendocrine cells, which may contribute to an improvement in the IBS symptoms.

  3. On Fuzzy {beta}-I-open sets and Fuzzy {beta}-I-continuous functions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keskin, Aynur [Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Arts, Selcuk University, Campus, 42075 Konya (Turkey)], E-mail: akeskin@selcuk.edu.tr

    2009-11-15

    In this paper, first of all we obtain some properties and characterizations of fuzzy {beta}-I-open sets. After that, we also define the notion of {beta}-I-closed sets and obtain some properties. Lastly, we introduce the notions of fuzzy {beta}-I-continuity with the help of fuzzy {beta}-I-open sets to obtain decomposition of fuzzy continuity.

  4. Clusters of conserved beta cell marker genes for assessment of beta cell phenotype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Geert A; Jiang, Lei; Hellemans, Karine H

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to establish a gene expression blueprint of pancreatic beta cells conserved from rodents to humans and to evaluate its applicability to assess shifts in the beta cell differentiated state. Genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of isolated beta cells were compared to those...... of a large panel of other tissue and cell types, and transcripts with beta cell-abundant and -selective expression were identified. Iteration of this analysis in mouse, rat and human tissues generated a panel of conserved beta cell biomarkers. This panel was then used to compare isolated versus laser capture...... microdissected beta cells, monitor adaptations of the beta cell phenotype to fasting, and retrieve possible conserved transcriptional regulators....

  5. N-Benzylhydroxylamine addition to beta-aryl enoates. Enantioselective synthesis of beta-aryl-beta-amino acid precursors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibi; Liu

    2000-10-19

    Chiral Lewis acid catalyzed N-benzylhydroxylamine addition to pyrrolidinone-derived enoates afforded beta-aryl-beta-amino acid derivatives in high enantiomeric purity with moderate to very good chemical efficiency.

  6. The nervus terminalis in the chick: a FMRFamide-immunoreactive and AChE-positive nerve.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wirsig-Wiechmann, C R

    1990-07-16

    The chick terminal nerve (TN) was examined by immunocytochemical and histochemical methods. Molluscan cardioexcitatory peptide-immunoreactive (FMRFamide-ir) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-positive TN perikarya and fibers were distributed along olfactory and trigeminal nerves. FMRFamide-ir TN fibers terminated in the olfactory lamina propria and epithelium and in ganglia along the rostroventral nasal septum. This initial description of several populations of avian TN neurons should provide the foundation for future developmental studies of this system.

  7. Beta Emission and Bremsstrahlung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karpius, Peter Joseph [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-11-13

    Bremsstrahlung is continuous radiation produced by beta particles decelerating in matter; different beta emitters have different endpoint energies; high-energy betas interacting with high-Z materials will more likely produce bremsstrahlung; depending on the data, sometimes all you can say is that a beta emitter is present.

  8. Nuclear Matrix Elements for the $\\beta\\beta$ Decay of the $^{76}$Ge

    CERN Document Server

    Brown, B A; Horoi, M

    2015-01-01

    The nuclear matrix elements for two-neutrino double-beta (2 n$\\beta\\beta$ ) and zero-neutrino double-beta (0 n$\\beta\\beta$) decay of 76 Ge are evaluated in terms of the configuration interaction (CI), quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) and interacting boson model (IBM) methods. We show that the decomposition of the matrix elements in terms of interemediate states in 74 Ge is dominated by ground state of this nucleus. We consider corrections to the CI results that arise from configurations admixtures involving orbitals out-side of the CI configuration space by using results from QRPA, many-body-perturbation theory, and the connections to related observables. The CI two-neutrino matrix element is reduced due to the inclusion of spin-orbit partners, and to many-body correlations connected with Gamow-Teller beta decay. The CI zero-neutrino matrix element for the heavy neutrino is enhanced due to particle-particle correlations that are connected with the odd-even oscillations in the nuclear masse...

  9. The recovery of 5-HT transporter and 5-HT immunoreactivity in injured rat spinal cord.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saruhashi, Yasuo; Matsusue, Yoshitaka; Fujimiya, Mineko

    2009-09-01

    Experimental spinal cord injury. To determine the role of serotonin (5-HT) and 5-HT transporter in recovery from spinal cord injury. We examined 5-HT and 5-HT transporter of spinal cord immunohistologically and assessed locomotor recovery after extradural compression at the thoracic (T8) spinal cord in 21 rats. Eighteen rats had laminectomy and spinal cord injury, while the remaining three rats received laminectomy only. All rats were evaluated every other day for 4 weeks, using a 0-14 point scale open field test. Extradural compression markedly reduced mean hindlimbs scores from 14 to 1.5 +/- 2.0 (mean +/- standard error of mean). The rats recovered apparently normal walking by 4 weeks. The animals were perfused with fixative 1-3 days, 1, 2 and 4 weeks (three rats in each) after a spinal cord injury. The 5-HT transporter immunohistological study revealed a marked reduction of 5-HT transporter-containing terminals by 1 day after injury. By 4 weeks after injury, 5-HT transporter immunoreactive terminals returned to the control level. The 5-HT immunohistological study revealed a reduction of 5-HT-containing terminals by 1 week after injury. By 4 weeks after injury, 5-HT immunoreactive fibers and terminals returned to the control level. We estimated the recovery of 5-HT transporter and 5-HT neural elements in lumbosacral ventral horn by ranking 5-HT transporter and 5-HT staining intensity and counting 5-HT and 5-HT transporter terminals. The return of 5-HT transporter and 5-HT immunoreactivity of the lumbosacral ventral horn correlated with locomotor recovery, while 5-HT transporter showed closer relationship with locomotor recovery than 5-HT. The presence of 5-HT transporter indicates that the 5-HT fibers certainly function. This study shows that return of the function of 5-HT fibers predict the time course and extent of locomotory recovery after thoracic spinal cord injury.

  10. Decreased nucleotide excision repair in steatotic livers associates with myeloperoxidase-immunoreactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schults, Marten A.; Nagle, Peter W.; Rensen, Sander S.; Godschalk, Roger W.; Munnia, Armelle; Peluso, Marco; Claessen, Sandra M.; Greve, Jan W.; Driessen, Ann; Verdam, Froukje J.; Buurman, Wim A.; Schooten, Frederik J. van; Chiu, Roland K.

    2012-01-01

    Chronic inflammation is characterized by the influx of neutrophils and is associated with an increased production of reactive oxygen species that can damage DNA. Oxidative DNA damage is generally thought to be involved in the increased risk of cancer in inflamed tissues. We previously demonstrated that activated neutrophil mediated oxidative stress results in a reduction in nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity, which could further enhance mutagenesis. Inflammation and oxidative stress are critical factors in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that is linked with enhanced liver cancer risk. In this report, we therefore evaluated the role of neutrophils and the associated oxidative stress in damage recognition and DNA repair in steatotic livers of 35 severely obese subjects with either nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (n = 17) or steatosis alone (n = 18). The neutrophilic influx in liver was assessed by myeloperoxidase (MPO) staining and the amount of oxidative DNA damage by measuring M 1 dG adducts. No differences in M 1 dG adduct levels were observed between patients with or without NASH and also not between individuals with high or low MPO immunoreactivity. However, we found that high expression of MPO in the liver, irrespective of disease status, reduced the damage recognition capacity as determined by staining for histone 2AX phosphorylation (γH2AX). This reduction in γH2AX formation in individuals with high MPO immunoreactivity was paralleled by a significant decrease in NER capacity as assessed by a functional repair assay, and was not related to cell proliferation. Thus, the observed reduction in NER capacity upon hepatic inflammation is associated with and may be a consequence of reduced damage recognition. These findings suggest a novel mechanism of liver cancer development in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

  11. Decreased nucleotide excision repair in steatotic livers associates with myeloperoxidase-immunoreactivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schults, Marten A.; Nagle, Peter W. [Department of Toxicology, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Rensen, Sander S. [Department of Surgery, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Godschalk, Roger W. [Department of Toxicology, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Munnia, Armelle; Peluso, Marco [Cancer Risk Factor Branch, ISPO Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, Via Cosimo il Vecchio 2, 50139 Florence (Italy); Claessen, Sandra M. [Department of Toxicogenomics, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Greve, Jan W. [Department of Surgery, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Driessen, Ann [Department of Pathology, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Verdam, Froukje J.; Buurman, Wim A. [Department of Surgery, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Schooten, Frederik J. van [Department of Toxicology, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands); Chiu, Roland K., E-mail: r.k.chiu@med.umcg.nl [Department of Toxicology, NUTRIM-School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht (Netherlands)

    2012-08-01

    Chronic inflammation is characterized by the influx of neutrophils and is associated with an increased production of reactive oxygen species that can damage DNA. Oxidative DNA damage is generally thought to be involved in the increased risk of cancer in inflamed tissues. We previously demonstrated that activated neutrophil mediated oxidative stress results in a reduction in nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity, which could further enhance mutagenesis. Inflammation and oxidative stress are critical factors in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease that is linked with enhanced liver cancer risk. In this report, we therefore evaluated the role of neutrophils and the associated oxidative stress in damage recognition and DNA repair in steatotic livers of 35 severely obese subjects with either nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (n = 17) or steatosis alone (n = 18). The neutrophilic influx in liver was assessed by myeloperoxidase (MPO) staining and the amount of oxidative DNA damage by measuring M{sub 1}dG adducts. No differences in M{sub 1}dG adduct levels were observed between patients with or without NASH and also not between individuals with high or low MPO immunoreactivity. However, we found that high expression of MPO in the liver, irrespective of disease status, reduced the damage recognition capacity as determined by staining for histone 2AX phosphorylation ({gamma}H2AX). This reduction in {gamma}H2AX formation in individuals with high MPO immunoreactivity was paralleled by a significant decrease in NER capacity as assessed by a functional repair assay, and was not related to cell proliferation. Thus, the observed reduction in NER capacity upon hepatic inflammation is associated with and may be a consequence of reduced damage recognition. These findings suggest a novel mechanism of liver cancer development in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

  12. Production of beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase by the extremely halophilic archaeon Halorhabdus utahensis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wainø, M.; Ingvorsen, K.

    2003-01-01

    -xylosidase stabilities, approximately 55% and 83% of the initial beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase activities, respectively, remained after 24 h incubation at 20% NaCl. The enzymes were also shown to be slightly thermophilic: P-xylanase activity exhibiting two optima at 55degrees and 70degreesC, while beta......The extremely halophilic archaeon, Halorhabdus utahensis, isolated from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, produced beta-xylanase and beta-xylosidase activities. Both enzymes were active over a broad NaCl range from near zero to 30% NaCl when tested with culture broth. A broad NaCl optimum was observed...... for beta-xylanase activity between 5% and 15% NaCl, while beta-xylosidase activity was highest at 5% NaCl. Almost half of the maximum activities remained at 27%-30% NaCl for both enzyme activities. When dialyzed culture supernatant and culture broth were employed for determination of beta-xylanase and beta...

  13. Role of beta-adrenoceptors in memory consolidation: beta3-adrenoceptors act on glucose uptake and beta2-adrenoceptors on glycogenolysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Marie E; Hutchinson, Dana S; Summers, Roger J

    2008-09-01

    Noradrenaline, acting via beta(2)- and beta(3)-adrenoceptors (AR), enhances memory formation in single trial-discriminated avoidance learning in day-old chicks by mechanisms involving changes in metabolism of glucose and/or glycogen. Earlier studies of memory consolidation in chicks implicated beta(3)- rather than beta(2)-ARs in enhancement of memory consolidation by glucose, but did not elucidate whether stimulation of glucose uptake or of glycolysis was responsible. This study examines the role of glucose transport in memory formation using central injection of the nonselective facilitative glucose transporter (GLUT) inhibitor cytochalasin B, the endothelial/astrocytic GLUT-1 inhibitor phloretin and the Na(+)/energy-dependent endothelial glucose transporter (SGLT) inhibitor phlorizin. Cytochalasin B inhibited memory when injected into the mesopallium (avian cortex) either close to or between 25 and 45 min after training, whereas phloretin and phlorizin only inhibited memory at 30 min. This suggested that astrocytic/endothelial (GLUT-1) transport is critical at the time of consolidation, whereas a different transporter, probably the neuronal glucose transporter (GLUT-3), is important at the time of training. Inhibition of glucose transport by cytochalasin B, phloretin, or phlorizin also interfered with beta(3)-AR-mediated memory enhancement 20 min posttraining, whereas inhibition of glycogenolysis interfered with beta(2)-AR agonist enhancement of memory. We conclude that in astrocytes (1) activities of both GLUT-1 and SGLT are essential for memory consolidation 30 min posttraining; (2) neuronal GLUT-3 is essential at the time of training; and (3) beta(2)- and beta(3)-ARs consolidate memory by different mechanisms; beta(3)-ARs stimulate central glucose transport, whereas beta(2)-ARs stimulate central glycogenolysis.

  14. Low-beta investment strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Korn, Olaf; Kuntz, Laura-Chloé

    2015-01-01

    This paper investigates investment strategies that exploit the low-beta anomaly. Although the notion of buying low-beta stocks and selling high-beta stocks is natural, a choice is necessary with respect to the relative weighting of high-beta stocks and low-beta stocks in the investment portfolio. Our empirical results for US large-cap stocks show that this choice is very important for the risk-return characteristics of the resulting portfolios and their sensitivities to common risk factors. W...

  15. Expression pattern of thymosin beta 4 in the adult human liver

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Nemolato

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4 is a member of beta-thymosins, a family of small peptides involved in polymerization of G-actin, and in many critical biological processes including apoptosis, cell migration, angiogenesis, and fibrosis. Previous studies in the newborn liver did not reveal any significant reactivity for Tβ4 during the intrauterine life. The aim of the present study was to investigate by immunohistochemistry Tβ4 expression in the adult normal liver. Thirty-five human liver samples, including 11 needle liver biopsies and 24 liver specimens obtained at autopsy, in which no pathological change was detected at the histological examination, were immunostained utilizing an anti-Tβ4 commercial antibody. Tβ4 was detected in the hepatocytes of all adult normal livers examined. A zonation of Tβ4 expression was evident in the vast majority of cases. Immunostaining was preferentially detected in zone 3, while a minor degree of reactivity was detected in periportal hepatocytes (zone 1. At higher power, Tβ4-reactive granules appeared mainly localized at the biliary pole of hepatocytes. In cases with a strong immunostaining, even perinuclear areas and the sinusoidal pole of hepatocytes appeared interested by immunoreactivity for Tβ4. The current work first evidences a strong diffuse expression of Tβ4 in the adult human liver, and adds hepatocytes to the list of human cells able to synthesize large amounts of Tβ4 in adulthood. Moreover, Tβ4 should be added to the liver proteins characterized by a zonate expression pattern, in a descending gradient from the terminal vein to the periportal areas of the liver acinus. Identifying the intimate role played by this peptide intracellularly and extracellularly, in physiology and in different liver diseases, is a major challenge for future research focusing on Tβ4.

  16. Ellagic acid promotes A{beta}42 fibrillization and inhibits A{beta}42-induced neurotoxicity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feng, Ying [Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Basic Medical Science, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001 (China); Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Haidian District, Beijing 100084 (China); Yang, Shi-gao; Du, Xue-ting; Zhang, Xi; Sun, Xiao-xia; Zhao, Min [Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Haidian District, Beijing 100084 (China); Sun, Gui-yuan, E-mail: sungy2004@sohu.com [Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Basic Medical Science, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001 (China); Liu, Rui-tian, E-mail: rtliu@tsinghua.edu.cn [Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Haidian District, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2009-12-25

    Smaller, soluble oligomers of {beta}-amyloid (A{beta}) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Selective inhibition of A{beta} oligomer formation provides an optimum target for AD therapy. Some polyphenols have potent anti-amyloidogenic activities and protect against A{beta} neurotoxicity. Here, we tested the effects of ellagic acid (EA), a polyphenolic compound, on A{beta}42 aggregation and neurotoxicity in vitro. EA promoted A{beta} fibril formation and significant oligomer loss, contrary to previous results that polyphenols inhibited A{beta} aggregation. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Western blot displayed more fibrils in A{beta}42 samples co-incubated with EA in earlier phases of aggregation. Consistent with the hypothesis that plaque formation may represent a protective mechanism in which the body sequesters toxic A{beta} aggregates to render them harmless, our MTT results showed that EA could significantly reduce A{beta}42-induced neurotoxicity toward SH-SY5Y cells. Taken together, our results suggest that EA, an active ingredient in many fruits and nuts, may have therapeutic potential in AD.

  17. Synthesis and conjugation of oligosaccharide fragments related to the immunologically reactive part of the circulating anodic antigen of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vliegenthart, J.F.G.; Vermeer, H.J.; Halkes, K.M.; Kuik, J.A. van; Kamerling, J.P.

    2000-01-01

    The immunoreactive part of the circulating anodic antigen (CAA) from the parasite Schistosoma mansoni is a threonine-linked polysaccharide consisting of ->6)-[beta-D-GlcpA-(1->3)]-beta-D-GalpNAc-(1-> repeating disaccharides. In the framework of an immunochemical project, as a follow-up of earlier

  18. Effects of paternal deprivation on cocaine-induced behavioral response and hypothalamic oxytocin immunoreactivity and serum oxytocin level in female mandarin voles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jianli; Fang, Qianqian; Yang, Chenxi

    2017-09-15

    Early paternal behavior plays a critical role in behavioral development in monogamous species. The vast majority of laboratory studies investigating the influence of parental behavior on cocaine vulnerability focus on the effects of early maternal separation. However, comparable studies on whether early paternal deprivation influences cocaine-induced behavioral response are substantially lacking. Mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus) is a monogamous rodent with high levels of paternal care. After mandarin vole pups were subjected to early paternal deprivation, acute cocaine- induced locomotion, anxiety- like behavior and social behavior were examined in 45day old female pups, while hypothalamic oxytocin immunoreactivity and serum oxytocin level were also assessed. We found that cocaine increased locomotion and decreased social investigation, contact behavior and serum oxytocin level regardless of paternal care. Cocaine increased anxiety levels and decreased oxytocin immunoreactive neurons of the paraventricular nuclei and supraoptic nuclei in the bi-parental care group, whilst there were no specific effects in the paternal deprivation group. These results indicate that paternal deprivation results in different behavioral response to acute cocaine exposure in adolescents, which may be in part associated with the alterations in oxytocin immunoreactivity and peripheral OT level. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Rapid synthesis of beta zeolites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Wei; Chang, Chun -Chih; Dornath, Paul; Wang, Zhuopeng

    2015-08-18

    The invention provides methods for rapidly synthesizing heteroatom containing zeolites including Sn-Beta, Si-Beta, Ti-Beta, Zr-Beta and Fe-Beta. The methods for synthesizing heteroatom zeolites include using well-crystalline zeolite crystals as seeds and using a fluoride-free, caustic medium in a seeded dry-gel conversion method. The Beta zeolite catalysts made by the methods of the invention catalyze both isomerization and dehydration reactions.

  20. Processing of high-molecular-weight form adrenocorticotropin in human adrenocorticotropin-secreting tumor cell line (DMS-79) after transfection of prohormone convertase 1/3 gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tateno, T; Kato, M; Tani, Y; Yoshimoto, T; Oki, Y; Hirata, Y

    2010-02-01

    Ectopic ACTH-producing tumors preferentially secrete biologically inactive ACTH precursors and ACTH-related fragments. DMS-79 is known to secrete unprocessed high-molecular-weight (HMW) form ACTH. To determine whether prohormone convertase (PC) 1/3 is involved in the abnormal processing of proopiomelanocortin (POMC), we studied whether PC1/3 and 2 genes are expressed in DMS-79, and whether overexpression of PC1/3 gene affects POMC processing pattern. Steady-state mRNA levels of PC1/3 and 2 were determined by real-time RT-PCR. Molecular weights of ACTH-related peptides were determined by chromatographical analyses coupled with ACTH and beta-endorphin (beta-END) radioimmunoassays. PC1/3 gene was transfected into DMS-79 by retrovirus transduction using pMX-IP vector encoding PC1/3 cDNA. The steady-state mRNA levels of PC1/3 and 2 in DMS-79 were lower than those in ACTH-secreting and nonfunctioning pituitary tumors. DMS-79 predominantly secreted HMW form with both ACTH and beta-END immunoreactivities by size-exclusion chromatography. After purification by immunoaffinity chromatography with anti-ACTH antibody, the apparent molecular weight of HMW form ACTH was estimated to be 16 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with silver staining. After retroviral transfection of PC1/3 cDNA into DMS-79 and puromycin selection, PC1/3 stably-expressing cell line (DMS-79T) secreted two immunoreactive ACTH components, a major one coeluting with ACTH(1-39) and a minor one as a HMW form as well as two beta- END immunoreactive components coeluting with beta-lipotropic hormone and beta-END, respectively. Thus, we have established PC1/3 stably-expressing cell line (DMS-79T) capable of proteolytically processing ACTH precursor molecule(s) into mature ACTH and beta-END.

  1. Active-site-directed inactivation of Aspergillus oryzae beta-galactosidase with beta-D-galactopyranosylmethyl-p-nitrophenyltriazene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mega, T; Nishijima, T; Ikenaka, T

    1990-04-01

    beta-D-Galactopyranosylmethyl-p-nitrophenyltriazene (beta-GalMNT), a specific inhibitor of beta-galactosidase, was isolated as crystals by HPLC and its chemical and physicochemical characteristics were examined. Aspergillus oryzae beta-galactosidase was inactivated by the compound. We studied the inhibition mechanism in detail. The inhibitor was hydrolyzed by the enzyme to p-nitroaniline and an active intermediate (beta-galactopyranosylmethyl carbonium or beta-galactopyranosylmethyldiazonium), which inactivated the enzyme. The efficiency of inactivation of the enzyme (the ratio of moles of inactivated enzyme to moles of beta-GalMNT hydrolyzed by the enzyme) was 3%; the efficiency of Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase was 49%. In spite of the low efficiency, the rate of inactivation of A. oryzae enzyme was not very different from that of the E. coli enzyme, because the former hydrolyzed beta-GalMNT faster than the latter did. A. oryzae beta-galactosidase was also inactivated by p-chlorophenyl, p-tolyl, and m-nitrophenyl derivatives of beta-galactopyranosylmethyltriazene. However, E. coli beta-galactosidase was not inactivated by these triazene derivatives. The results showed that the inactivation of A. oryzae and E. coli beta-galactosidases by beta-GalMNT was an enzyme-activated and active-site-directed irreversible inactivation. The possibility of inactivation by intermediates produced nonenzymatically was ruled out for E. coli, but not for the A. oryzae enzyme.

  2. Microtubule disruption induced in vivo by alkylation of beta-tubulin by 1-aryl-3-(2-chloroethyl)ureas, a novel class of soft alkylating agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legault, J; Gaulin, J F; Mounetou, E; Bolduc, S; Lacroix, J; Poyet, P; Gaudreault, R C

    2000-02-15

    We have previously reported that 4-tert-butyl-[3-(2-chloroethyl)ureido] benzene (4-tBCEU), a potent cytotoxic agent, modulates the synthesis of tubulins, suggesting that its cytotoxicity may be mediated through an antimicrotubule mechanism. Indeed, 4-tBCEU and its 4-iso-propyl (4-isopropyl [3-(2-chloroethyl)ureido] benzene) and 4-sec-butyl (4-sec-butyl [3-(2-chloroethyl)ureido] benzene) homologues induced disruption of the cytoskeleton and arrest of the cell cycle in G2 transition and mitosis. To better understand the mechanisms responsible for microtubule disruption by 1-aryl-3-(2-chloroethyl)ureas (CEU), we first examined their cytotoxicity on Chinese hamster ovary cells resistant to vinblastine and colchicine due to the expression of mutated tubulins (CHO-VV 3-2). These cells showed resistance to CEU, e.g., 4-tBCEU having an IC50 of 21.3+/-1.1 microM as compared with an IC50 of 11.6+/-0.7 microM for wild-type cells, suggesting a direct effect of the drugs on tubulins. Western blot analysis confirmed the disruption of microtubules and evidenced the formation of an additional immunoreactive beta-tubulin with an apparent lower molecular weight on SDS polyacrylamide gel. Incubation of MDA-MB-231 cells with [urea-14C]-4-tBCEU revealed the presence of a radioactive protein that coincided with the additional beta-tubulin band, indicating that CEU could covalently bind to the beta-tubulin. The 4-tBCEU-binding site on beta-tubulin was identified by competition of the CEU with colchicine, vinblastine, and iodoacetamide, a specific alkylating agent of sulfhydryl groups of cysteine residues. Colchicine, but not vinblastine, prevented the formation of the additional beta-tubulin band, suggesting that 4-tBCEU alkylates either Cys239 or Cys354 residues near the colchicine-binding site. To determine the cysteine residue alkylated by 4-tBCEU, we incubated the radiolabeled drug with human neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH) that overexpress the betaIII-tubulin, an isoform where Cys239

  3. Maternal plasma concentrations of beta-lipotrophin, beta-endorphin and gamma-lipotrophin throughout pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browning, A J; Butt, W R; Lynch, S S; Shakespear, R A

    1983-12-01

    Plasma beta-LPH, beta-EP and gamma-LPH concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in 10 pregnant women from 12 weeks gestation until term and in nine women in the early follicular phase of the cycle. There was a progressive and significant rise in the concentration of all three peptides throughout pregnancy and by 32 weeks the concentrations of beta-LPH and beta-EP were greater than the corresponding concentrations in the follicular phase: gamma-LPH was greater than in the follicular phase by the end of pregnancy in those women who were delivered after 40 weeks. The ratio of beta-LPH to gamma-LPH did not change significantly throughout pregnancy, but there was a progressive fall in the beta-LPH/beta-EP ratio. The possible presence of a 'big LPH' to explain this finding is discussed.

  4. Optimized formation of detergent micelles of beta-carotene and retinal production using recombinant human beta,beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Nam-Hee; Kim, Yeong-Su; Kim, Hye-Jung; Oh, Deok-Kun

    2008-01-01

    The formation of beta-carotene detergent micelles and their conversion into retinal by recombinant human beta,beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase was optimized under aqueous conditions. Toluene was the most hydrophobic among the organic solvents tested; thus, it was used to dissolve beta-carotene, which is a hydrophobic compound. Tween 80 was selected as the detergent because it supported the highest level of retinal production among all of the detergents tested. The maximum production of retinal was achieved in detergent micelles containing 200 mg/L of beta-carotene and 2.4% (w/v) Tween 80. Under these conditions, the recombinant enzyme produced 97 mg/L of retinal after 16 h with a conversion yield of 48.5% (w/w). The amount of retinal produced, which is the highest ever reported, is a result of the ability of our system to dissolve large amounts of beta-carotene.

  5. Beta cell adaptation in pregnancy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jens Høiriis

    2016-01-01

    Pregnancy is associated with a compensatory increase in beta cell mass. It is well established that somatolactogenic hormones contribute to the expansion both indirectly by their insulin antagonistic effects and directly by their mitogenic effects on the beta cells via receptors for prolactin...... and growth hormone expressed in rodent beta cells. However, the beta cell expansion in human pregnancy seems to occur by neogenesis of beta cells from putative progenitor cells rather than by proliferation of existing beta cells. Claes Hellerström has pioneered the research on beta cell growth for decades...... in the expansion of the beta cell mass in human pregnancy, and the relative roles of endocrine factors and nutrients....

  6. Increases in Doublecortin Immunoreactivity in the Dentate Gyrus following Extinction of Heroin-Seeking Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Megan P. Hicks

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Adult-generated neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG of the hippocampus play a role in various forms of learning and memory. However, adult born neurons in the DG, while still at an immature stage, exhibit unique electrophysiological properties and are also functionally implicated in learning and memory processes. We investigated the effects of extinction of drug-seeking behavior on the formation of immature neurons in the DG as assessed by quantification of doublecortin (DCX immunoreactivity. Rats were allowed to self-administer heroin (0.03 mg/kg/infusion for 12 days and then subjected either to 10 days of extinction training or forced abstinence. We also examined extinction responding patterns following heroin self-administration in glial fibrillary acidic protein thymidine kinase (GFAP-tk transgenic mice, which have been previously demonstrated to show reduced formation of immature and mature neurons in the DG following treatment with ganciclovir (GCV. We found that extinction training increased DCX immunoreactivity in the dorsal DG as compared with animals undergoing forced abstinence, and that GCV-treated GFAP-tk mice displayed impaired extinction learning as compared to saline-treated mice. Our results suggest that extinction of drug-seeking behavior increases the formation of immature neurons in the DG and that these neurons may play a functional role in extinction learning.

  7. Nuclear FABP7 immunoreactivity is preferentially expressed in infiltrative glioma and is associated with poor prognosis in EGFR-overexpressing glioblastoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liang, Yu; Bollen, Andrew W; Aldape, Ken D; Gupta, Nalin

    2006-01-01

    We previously identified brain type fatty acid-binding protein (FABP7) as a prognostic marker for patients with glioblastoma (GBM). Increased expression of FABP7 is associated with reduced survival. To investigate possible molecular mechanisms underlying this association, we compared the expression and subcellular localization of FABP7 in non-tumor brain tissues with different types of glioma, and examined the expression of FABP7 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in GBM tumors. Expression of FABP7 in non-tumor brain and glioma specimens was examined using immunohistochemistry, and its correlation to the clinical behavior of the tumors was analyzed. We also analyzed the association between FABP7 and EGFR expression in different sets of GBM specimens using published DNA microarray datasets and semi-quantitative immunohistochemistry. In vitro migration was examined using SF763 glioma cell line. FABP7 was present in a unique population of glia in normal human brain, and its expression was increased in a subset of reactive astrocytes. FABP7 immunoreactivity in grade I pilocytic astrocytoma was predominantly cytoplasmic, whereas nuclear FABP7 was detected in other types of infiltrative glioma. Nuclear, not cytoplasmic, FABP7 immunoreactivity was associated with EGFR overexpression in GBM (N = 61, p = 0.008). Expression of the FABP7 gene in GBM also correlated with the abundance of EGFR mRNA in our previous microarray analyses (N = 34, p = 0.016) and an independent public microarray dataset (N = 28, p = 0.03). Compared to those negative for both markers, nuclear FABP7-positive/EGFR-positive and nuclear FABP7-positive/EGFR-negative GBM tumors demonstrated shortest survival, whereas those only positive for EGFR had intermediate survival. EGFR activation increased nuclear FABP7 immunoreactivity in a glioma cell line in vitro, and inhibition of FABP7 expression suppressed EGF-induced glioma-cell migration. Our data suggested that in EGFR-positive GBM the presence of

  8. Microbial transglutaminase treatment in pasta-production does not affect the immunoreactivity of gliadin with celiac disease patients' sera.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruh, Tobias; Ohsam, Jürgen; Pasternack, Ralf; Yokoyama, Keiichi; Kumazawa, Yoshiyuki; Hils, Martin

    2014-07-30

    The effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTG)-treatment of pasta-dough on the immunoreactivity with celiac disease patient's sera has been investigated. Modification by MTG has been proven by determination of the MTG reaction product ε-(γ-glutamyl)lysine (3.63 μmol/g protein), which was not detectable in non-MTG-treated pasta. Antigenicity has been analyzed by immunoblotting and ELISA using gliadin-extracts from pasta and MTG-treated pasta. Immunoblotting showed that the antibody-population (antigliadin antibodies and antideamidated gliadin antibodies) of the sera is specific for every individual patient. Immunoblotting and ELISA showed that there is no difference in immunoreactivity of gliadin extracted from pasta and MTG-pasta. Recognition pattern and intensity in Western blot as well as antibody titer has also been identical even for sera with a high antideamidated gliadin antibody titer. These results indicate no difference between pasta-gliadin and MTG-pasta-gliadin and especially no increased deamidation in pasta-gliadin by MTG-treatment.

  9. Beta spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dryak, P.; Zderadicka, J.; Plch, J.; Kokta, L.; Novotna, P.

    1977-01-01

    For the purpose of beta spectrometry, a semiconductor spectrometer with one Si(Li) detector cooled with liquid nitrogen was designed. Geometrical detection efficiency is about 10% 4 sr. The achieved resolution for 624 keV conversion electrons of sup(137m)Ba is 2.6 keV (FWHM). A program was written in the FORTRAN language for the correction of the deformation of the measured spectra by backscattering in the analysis of continuous beta spectra. The method permits the determination of the maximum energy of the beta spectrum with an accuracy of +-5 keV. (author)

  10. DMPD: Immunoreceptor-like signaling by beta 2 and beta 3 integrins. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available 17913496 Immunoreceptor-like signaling by beta 2 and beta 3 integrins. Jakus Z, Fod...) Show Immunoreceptor-like signaling by beta 2 and beta 3 integrins. PubmedID 17913496 Title Immunoreceptor-...like signaling by beta 2 and beta 3 integrins. Authors Jakus Z, Fodor S, Abram CL

  11. Identification of active anti-inflammatory principles of beta- beta ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    chromatography. Components of the extracts were identified by thin layer chromatography (TLC) scanner and UV-visible spectroscopy, using scopoletin as standard. Results: ... basic coumarin skeleton ring structure reduce ... Figure 2: Thin-layer chromatogram: (1) Ethanol extract; (2) Dichloromethane fraction; (3) Beta-beta.

  12. Serum immunoreactive calcitonin concentration in hepatocellular carcinoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dugard, J.; Kew, M.C.; Da Fonseca, M.; Levin, J.

    1982-01-01

    Having found raised serum calcitonin concentrations is 94% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma when using a dextran-coated-charcoal radio-immunoassay, we have now repeated the study, using a double-antibody radio-immunoassay, in 102 further patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 35 matched controls. Serum immunoreactive calcitonin concentrations (iCT) in the controls ranged from 10 to 310 pg/ml (mean 154,6 pg/ml). Values in the tumour patients ranged from 10 to 1 650 pg/ml (mean 302,6 pg/ml). The mean figures were significantly higher in the tumour patients (P smaller than 0,001), 35,5% of them having values above 310 pg/ml. In 65 of the patients serum iCT concentrations were also determined by dextran-coated-charcoal radio-immunoassay. Values ranged from 10 to 10780 pg/ml (mean 2 179 pg/ml). If 1 000 pg/ml is taken as the upper limit of normal, 69% of the patients had raised iCT concentrations. There was a good correlation (r=0,67; P smaller than 0,001) between serum iCT values measured with both methods in 50 patients. If measured by the double-antibody radio-immunoassay method, the serum calcitonin value is not useful as a marker for hepatocellular carcinoma

  13. Serum immunoreactive calcitonin concentration in hepatocellular carcinoma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dugard, J; Kew, M C; Da Fonseca, M; Levin, J [University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa)

    1982-08-21

    Having found raised serum calcitonin concentrations in 94% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma when using a dextran-coated-charcoal radio-immunoassay, we have now repeated the study, using a double-antibody radio-immunoassay, in 102 further patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 35 matched controls. Serum immunoreactive calcitonin concentrations (iCT) in the controls ranged from 10 to 310 pg/ml (mean 154,6 pg/ml). Values in the tumour patients ranged from 10 to 1,650 pg/ml (mean 302,6 pg/ml). The mean figures were significantly higher in the tumour patients (P smaller than 0,001), 35.5% of them having values above 310 pg/ml. In 65 of the patients serum iCT concentrations were also determined by dextran-coated-charcoal radio-immunoassay. Values ranged from 10 to 10780 pg/ml (mean 2,179 pg/ml). If 1,000 pg/ml is taken as the upper limit of normal, 69% of the patients had raised iCT concentrations. There was a good correlation (r=0,67; P smaller than 0,001) between serum iCT values measured with both methods in 50 patients. If measured by the double-antibody radio-immunoassay method, the serum calcitonin value is not useful as a marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

  14. Different populations of parvalbumin- and calbindin-D28k-immunoreactive neurons contain GABA and accumulate 3H-D-aspartate in the dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antal, M; Polgár, E; Chalmers, J; Minson, J B; Llewellyn-Smith, I; Heizmann, C W; Somogyi, P

    1991-12-01

    The colocalization of parvalbumin (PV), calbindin-D28k (CaBP), GABA immunoreactivities, and the ability to accumulate 3H-D-aspartate selectively were investigated in neurons of laminae I-IV of the dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord. Following injection of 3H-D-aspartate into the basal dorsal horn (laminae IV-VI), perikarya selectively accumulating 3H-D-aspartate were detected in araldite embedded semithin sections by autoradiography, and consecutive semithin sections were treated to reveal PV, CaBP and GABA by postembedding immunocytochemistry. Perikarya accumulating 3H-D-aspartate were found exclusively in laminae I-III, and no labelled somata were found in deeper layers or in the intermediolateral column although the labelled amino acid clearly spread to these regions. More than half of the labelled cells were localized in lamina II. In this layer, 16.4% of 3H-D-aspartate-labelled perikarya were also stained for CaBP. In contrast to CaBP, PV or GABA was never detected in neurons accumulating 3H-D-aspartate. A high proportion of PV-immunoreactive perikarya were also stained for GABA in laminae II and III (70.0% and 61.2% respectively). However, the majority of CaBP-immunoreactive perikarya were GABA-negative. GABA-immunoreactivity was found in less than 2% of the total population of cells stained for CaBP in laminae I-IV. A significant proportion of the GABA-negative but PV-immunoreactive neurons also showed CaBP-immunoreactivity in laminae II and IV. These results show that out of the two calcium-binding proteins, CaBP is a characteristic protein of a small subpopulation of neurons using excitatory amino acids and PV is a characteristic protein of a subpopulation of neurons utilizing GABA as a transmitter. However, both proteins are present in additional subgroups of neurons, and neuronal populations using inhibitory or excitatory amino acid transmitters are heterogeneous with regard to their content of calcium-binding proteins in the dorsal horn of the rat

  15. Dimers of beta 2-glycoprotein I mimic the in vitro effects of beta 2-glycoprotein I-anti-beta 2-glycoprotein I antibody complexes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lutters, B. C.; Meijers, J. C.; Derksen, R. H.; Arnout, J.; de Groot, P. G.

    2001-01-01

    Anti-beta(2)-glycoprotein I antibodies are thought to cause lupus anticoagulant activity by forming bivalent complexes with beta(2)-glycoprotein I (beta(2)GPI). To test this hypothesis, chimeric fusion proteins were constructed of the dimerization domain (apple 4) of factor XI and beta(2)GPI. Both a

  16. Exercise- and cold-induced changes in plasma beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in men and women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanathan, M; Van Dijk, J P; Graham, T E; Bonen, A; George, J C

    1987-02-01

    The plasma beta-endorphin (beta-EP) and beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) response of men, eumenorrheic women, and amenorrheic women (n = 6) to 1 h of rest or to a bicycle ergometer test [20 min at 30% maximum O2 uptake (VO2max), 20 min at 60% VO2max, and at 90% VO2max to exhaustion] was studied in both normal (22 degrees C) and cold (5 degrees C) environments. beta-EP and beta-LPH was measured by radioimmunoassay in venous samples collected every 20 min during rest or after each exercise bout. Exhaustive exercise at ambient temperature (Ta) 22 degrees C induced significant increases in plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH in all subjects as did work at 60% VO2max in amenorrheic and eumenorrheic women. During work at Ta 5 degrees C, the relative increase in beta-EP and beta-LPH was suppressed in eumenorrheic women and completely prevented in amenorrheic women. Although significant lowering of beta-EP and beta-LPH was observed in men and eumenorrheic women during rest at 5 degrees C, amenorrheic women maintained precold exposure levels. These findings suggest that plasma beta-EP and beta-LPH may reflect a thermoregulatory response to heat load. There appears to be a sexual dimorphism in exercise- and cold-induced release of beta-EP and beta-LPH and amenorrhea may be accompanied by alterations in these responses.

  17. HNK-1 immunoreactivity during early morphogenesis of the head region in a nonmodel vertebrate, crocodile embryo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kundrát, Martin

    2008-11-01

    The present study examines HNK-1 immunoidentification of a population of the neural crest (NC) during early head morphogenesis in the nonmodel vertebrate, the crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus) embryos. Although HNK-1 is not an exclusive NC marker among vertebrates, temporospatial immunoreactive patterns found in the crocodile are almost consistent with NC patterns derived from gene expression studies known in birds (the closest living relatives of crocodiles) and mammals. In contrast to birds, the HNK-1 epitope is immunoreactive in NC cells at the neural fold level in crocodile embryos and therefore provides sufficient base to assess early migratory events of the cephalic NC. I found that crocodile NC forms three classic migratory pathways in the head: mandibular, hyoid, and branchial. Further, I demonstrate that, besides this classic phenotype, there is also a forebrain-derived migratory population, which consolidates into a premandibular stream in the crocodile. In contrast to the closely related chick model, crocodilian premandibular and mandibular NC cells arise from the open neural tube suggesting that species-specific heterochronic behavior of NC may be involved in the formation of different vertebrate facial phenotypes.

  18. Octopamine-like immunoreactive neurons in the brain and subesophageal ganglion of the parasitic wasps Nasonia vitripennis and N. giraulti

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haverkamp, A.; Smid, H.M.

    2014-01-01

    Octopamine is an important neuromodulator in the insect nervous system, influencing memory formation, sensory perception and motor control. In this study, we compare the distribution of octopamine-like immunoreactive neurons in two parasitic wasp species of the Nasonia genus, N. vitripennis and N.

  19. Expression of alpha and beta subunit isoforms of Na,K-ATPase in the mouse inner ear and changes with mutations at the Wv or Sld loci.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulte, B A; Steel, K P

    1994-07-01

    Mice homozygous for mutations at the viable dominant spotting (Wv) and Steel-dickie (Sld) loci exhibit a similar phenotype which includes deafness. The auditory dysfunction derives from failure of the stria vascularis to develop normally and to generate a high positive endocochlear potential (EP). Because strial function is driven by Na,K-ATPase its expression was investigated in inner ears of Wv/Wv and Sld/Sld mice and their wild-type littermates by immunostaining with antisera against four of the enzyme's subunit isoforms. Wild-type mice from two different genetic backgrounds showed an identical distribution of subunit isoforms among inner ear transport cells. Several epithelial cell types coexpressed the alpha 1 and beta 1 subunits. Vestibular dark cells showed no reactivity for beta 1 but expressed abundant beta 2, whereas, strial marginal cells stained strongly for both beta isoforms. The only qualitative difference between mutant and wild-type mice was the absence of beta 1 subunit in marginal cells of the mutant's stria. However, it is unlikely that this difference accounts for failure of mutants to generate a high EP because the beta 1 subunit is not present in the stria vascularis of either rats or gerbils with normal EP values. Strong immunostaining for Na,K-ATPase in lateral wall fibrocytes of normal mice along with diminished immunoreactivity in the mutants supports the concept that these strategically located transport fibrocytes actively resorb K+ leaked across Reissner's membrane into scala vestibuli or effluxed from hair cells and nerves into scala tympani. It is further speculated that the resorbed K+ normally is siphoned down its concentration gradient into the intrastrial space through gap junctions between fibrocytes and strial basal and intermediate cells where it is recycled back to endolymph via marginal cells. Thus, failure of mutants to generate a positive EP could be explained by the absence of intermediate cells which may form the final

  20. Distribution and densitometry mapping of L1-CAM Immunoreactivity in the adult mouse brain – light microscopic observation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yamasaki Hironobu

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The importance of L1 expression in the matured brain is suggested by physiological and behavioral studies showing that L1 is related to hippocampal plasticity and fear conditioning. The distribution of L1 in mouse brain might provide a basis for understanding its role in the brain. Results We examined the overall distribution of L1 in the adult mouse brain by immunohistochemistry using two polyclonal antibodies against different epitopes for L1. Immunoreactive L1 was widely but unevenly distributed from the olfactory bulb to the upper cervical cord. The accumulation of immunoreactive L1 was greatest in a non-neuronal element of the major fibre bundles, i.e. the lateral olfactory tract, olfactory and temporal limb of the anterior commissure, corpus callosum, stria terminalis, globus pallidus, fornix, mammillothalamic tract, solitary tract, and spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve. High to highest levels of non-neuronal and neuronal L1 were found in the grey matter; i.e. the piriform and entorhinal cortices, hypothalamus, reticular part of the substantia nigra, periaqueductal grey, trigeminal spinal nucleus etc. High to moderate density of neuronal L1 was found in the olfactory bulb, layer V of the cerebral cortex, amygdala, pontine grey, superior colliculi, cerebellar cortex, solitary tract nucleus etc. Only low to lowest levels of neuronal L1 were found in the hippocampus, grey matter in the caudate-putamen, thalamus, cerebellar nuclei etc. Conclusion L1 is widely and unevenly distributed in the matured mouse brain, where immunoreactivity was present not only in neuronal elements; axons, synapses and cell soma, but also in non-neuronal elements.

  1. beta-Thalassemia present in cis to a new beta-chain structural variant, Hb Vicksburg [beta 75 (E19)Leu leads to 0].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, J G; Steinberg, M H; Newman, M V; Morrison, W T; Benz, E J; Iyer, R

    1981-01-01

    Hemoglobin Vicksburg was discovered in a 6-year-old Black boy who had been anemic since infancy. Examination of his hemolysate revealed 87.5% Hb F, 2.4% Hb A2, and 7.6% Hb Vicksburg, which had the electrophoretic and chromatographic properties of Hb A. Structural analysis of Hb Vicksburg demonstrated a deletion of leucine at beta 75(E19), a new variant. Hb Vicksburg was neither unstable nor subject to posttranslational degradation. The alpha/non-alpha biosynthetic ratio was 2.6. Because the proband appeared to be a mixed heterozygote for Hb Vicksburg and beta 0-thalassemia, Hb Vicksburg should have comprised the major portion of the hemolysate. Thus, Hb Vicksburg was synthesized at a rate considerably lower than would be expected on the basis of gene dosage. There was no reason to suspect abnormal translation of beta Vicksburg mRNA; in individuals with Hb St. Antoine (beta 74 and beta 75 deleted), the abnormal hemoglobin comprised 25% of the hemolysate in the simple heterozygote yet was unstable. Deletion of beta 75, therefore, would not in itself appear to lead to diminished synthesis. There was a profound deficit of beta Vicksburg mRNA when measured by liquid hybridization analysis with beta cDNA. The most plausible explanation for the low output of Hb Vicksburg is that a mutation for beta +-thalassemia is present in cis to the structural mutation.

  2. Clusters of conserved beta cell marker genes for assessment of beta cell phenotype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Geert A; Jiang, Lei; Hellemans, Karine H

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to establish a gene expression blueprint of pancreatic beta cells conserved from rodents to humans and to evaluate its applicability to assess shifts in the beta cell differentiated state. Genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of isolated beta cells were compared to those...... of a large panel of other tissue and cell types, and transcripts with beta cell-abundant and -selective expression were identified. Iteration of this analysis in mouse, rat and human tissues generated a panel of conserved beta cell biomarkers. This panel was then used to compare isolated versus laser capture...

  3. beta-Carotene in breast milk and serum is increased after a single beta-carotene dose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canfield, L M; Giuliano, A R; Neilson, E M; Yap, H H; Graver, E J; Cui, H A; Blashill, B M

    1997-07-01

    Normal lactating mothers were administered a single dose of 60 or 210 mg beta-carotene and changes in serum and milk retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and carotenoids were monitored for 8 d. Average serum beta-carotene concentrations increased 4.1- and 4.0-fold after the 60- and 210-mg doses, respectively. Milk beta-carotene concentrations increased 4.1- and 3.0-fold after the 60- and 210-mg doses, respectively. Maximum serum concentrations were reached 24 h after both supplements, although concentrations of milk beta-carotene continued to rise for 2-3 d. After 8 d, both serum and milk beta-carotene continued to rise for 2-3 d. After 8 d, both serum and milk beta-carotene concentrations remained about twofold higher than baseline concentrations. Increases in serum or milk beta-carotene concentrations were not dose-dependent. Initial serum and milk concentrations of beta-carotene predicted increases after supplementation, and increases in serum beta-carotene concentrations predicted those in milk. Concentrations of milk carotenoids were less than one-tenth their respective concentrations in serum. Lutein, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-carotene, retinol, and alpha-tocopherol concentrations in serum or milk did not change significantly after beta-carotene supplementation. Retinol esters account for most of the retinol equivalents in the milk of well-nourished mothers. Initial and maximum concentrations of beta-carotene in serum and milk were strongly correlated for individual mothers. Collectively, the data showed that a single 60-mg supplement of beta-carotene sustained elevated beta-carotene concentrations in serum and milk for > 1 wk in normal mothers but did not affect concentrations of other major carotenoids, retinol, or alpha-tocopherol.

  4. Beta Thalassemia (For Parents)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Beta Thalassemia KidsHealth / For Parents / Beta Thalassemia What's in this ... Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment Print en español Beta talasemia Thalassemias Thalassemias are a group of blood disorders that ...

  5. The destruction complex of beta-catenin in colorectal carcinoma and colonic adenoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourroul, Guilherme Muniz; Fragoso, Hélio José; Gomes, José Walter Feitosa; Bourroul, Vivian Sati Oba; Oshima, Celina Tizuko Fujiyama; Gomes, Thiago Simão; Saba, Gabriela Tognini; Palma, Rogério Tadeu; Waisberg, Jaques

    2016-01-01

    To evaluate the destruction complex of beta-catenin by the expression of the proteins beta-catetenin, adenomatous polyposis coli, GSK3β, axin and ubiquitin in colorectal carcinoma and colonic adenoma. Tissue samples from 64 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 53 patients with colonic adenoma were analyzed. Tissue microarray blocks and slides were prepared and subjected to immunohistochemistry with polyclonal antibodies in carcinoma, adjacent non-neoplastic mucosa, and adenoma tissues. The immunoreactivity was evaluated by the percentage of positive stained cells and by the intensity assessed through of the stained grade of proteins in the cytoplasm and nucleus of cells. In the statistical analysis, the Spearman correlation coefficient, Student's t, χ2, Mann-Whitney, and McNemar tests, and univariate logistic regression analysis were used. In colorectal carcinoma, the expressions of beta-catenin and adenomatous polyposis coli proteins were significantly higher than in colonic adenomas (pcitoplasma e no núcleo das células. Na análise estatística, foram utilizados o coeficiente de correlação de Spearman, os testes t de Student, χ2, Mann-Whitney e de McNemar, e a análise de regressão logística univariada. No carcinoma colorretal, as expressões da betacatenina e da adenomatous polyposis coli foram significativamente maiores do que em adenomas do colo (p<0,001 e p<0,0001, respectivamente). A imunorreatividade das proteínas GSK3β, axina 1 e ubiquitina foi significativamente maior (p=0,03, p=0,039 e p=0,03, respectivamente) no carcinoma colorretal do que no adenoma e na mucosa não neoplásica adjacente. A coloração imuno-histoquímica dessas proteínas não apresentou diferenças significantes em relação às características clinicopatológicas do câncer colorretal e do adenoma. Em adenomas, as menores expressões de betacatenina, axina 1 e GSK3β indicaram que o complexo de destruição da betacatenina estava conservado, enquanto que, no carcinoma

  6. Distribution of FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity in the brain, retina and nervus terminalis of the sockeye salmon parr, Oncorhynchus nerka.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ostholm, T; Ekström, P; Ebbesson, S O

    1990-09-01

    Neurons displaying FMRFamide(Phe - Met - Arg - Phe - NH2)-like immunoreactivity have recently been implicated in neural plasticity in salmon. We now extend these findings by describing the extent of the FMRF-like immunoreactive (FMRF-IR) system in the brain, retina and olfactory system of sockeye salmon parr using the indirect peroxidase anti-peroxidase technique. FMRF-IR perikarya were found in the periventricular hypothalamus, mesencephalic laminar nucleus, nucleus nervi terminalis and retina (presumed amacrine cells), and along the olfactory nerves. FMRF-IR fibers were distributed throughout the brain with highest densities in the ventral area of the telencephalon, in the medial forebrain bundle, and at the borders between layers III/IV and IV/V in the optic tectum. High densities of immunoreactive fibers were also observed in the area around the torus semicircularis, in the medial hypothalamus, median raphe, ventromedial tegmentum, and central gray. In the retina, immunopositive fibers were localized to the inner plexiform layer, but several fiber elements were also found in the outer plexiform layer. The olfactory system displayed FMRF-IR fibers in the epithelium and along the olfactory nerves. These findings differ from those reported in other species as follows: (i) FMRF-IR cells in the retina have not previously been reported in teleosts; (ii) the presence of FMRF-IR fibers in the outer plexiform layer of the retina is a new finding for any species; (iii) the occurrence of immunopositive cells in the mesencephalic laminar nucleus has to our knowledge not been demonstrated previously.

  7. Merkel cells and Meissner's corpuscles in human digital skin display Piezo2 immunoreactivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Mesa, Y; García-Piqueras, J; García, B; Feito, J; Cabo, R; Cobo, J; Vega, J A; García-Suárez, O

    2017-12-01

    The transformation of mechanical energy into electrical signals is the first step in mechanotransduction in the peripheral sensory nervous system and relies on the presence of mechanically gated ion channels within specialized sensory organs called mechanoreceptors. Piezo2 is a vertebrate stretch-gated ion channel necessary for mechanosensitive channels in mammalian cells. Functionally, it is related to light touch, which has been detected in murine cutaneous Merkel cell-neurite complexes, Meissner-like corpuscles and lanceolate nerve endings. To the best of our knowledge, the occurrence of Piezo2 in human cutaneous mechanoreceptors has never been investigated. Here, we used simple and double immunohistochemistry to investigate the occurrence of Piezo2 in human digital glabrous skin. Piezo2 immunoreactivity was detected in approximately 80% of morphologically and immunohistochemically characterized (cytokeratin 20 + , chromogranin A + and synaptophisin + ) Merkel cells. Most of them were in close contact with Piezo2 - nerve fibre profiles. Moreover, the axon, but not the lamellar cells, of Meissner's corpuscles was also Piezo2 + , but other mechanoreceptors, i.e. Pacinian or Ruffini's corpuscles, were devoid of immunoreactivity. Piezo2 was also observed in non-nervous tissue, especially the basal keratinocytes, endothelial cells and sweat glands. The present results demonstrate the occurrence of Piezo2 in cutaneous sensory nerve formations that functionally work as slowly adapting (Merkel cells) and rapidly adapting (Meissner's corpuscles) low-threshold mechanoreceptors and are related to fine and discriminative touch but not to vibration or hard touch. These data offer additional insight into the molecular basis of mechanosensing in humans. © 2017 Anatomical Society.

  8. Comparison of iodine-123 labelled 2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)tropane and 2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)-N-(3-fluoropropyl)nortropane for imaging of the dopamine transporter in the living human brain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuikka, J.T. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Bergstroem, K.A. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Ahonen, A. [Dept. of Clinical Chemistry, Oulu Univ. Central Hospital (Finland); Hiltunen, J. [MAP Medical Technologies Oy, Tikkakoski (Finland); Haukka, J. [MAP Medical Technologies Oy, Tikkakoski (Finland); Laensimies, E. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Wang Shaoyin [Research Biochemicals International (RBI), Natick, MA (United States); Neumeyer, J.L. [Research Biochemicals International (RBI), Natick, MA (United States)

    1995-04-01

    Several cocaine congeners are of potential for imaging the dopamine transporter (DAT). Previous studies have shown that iodine-123 labelled 2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)tropane ([{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT) is a promising radiotracer for imaging the serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) transporters in the living human brain with single-photon emission tomography (SPET). [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT was found to be not very practical for 1-day DAT imaging protocols since peak DAT uptake occurs later than 8 h. Here we report a pilot comparison of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT and 2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)-N-(3-fluoropropyl)nortropane ([{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FP), using SPET imaging in four healthy male subjects. Peak uptake of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FP into the basal ganglia occurred earlier (3-4 h after injection of tracer) than that of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT (>8 h). However, the specific DAT binding of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FP in the basal ganglia was somewhat less (0.813{+-}0.047) than that of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT (0.922{+-}0.004). Imaging quality is excellent with both tracers and they are potentially of value for brain imaging in various neuropsychiatric disorders. (orig.)

  9. Systematic Risk on Istanbul Stock Exchange: Traditional Beta Coefficient Versus Downside Beta Coefficient

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gülfen TUNA

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to test the validity of Downside Capital Asset Pricing Model (D-CAPM on the ISE. At the same time, the explanatory power of CAPM's traditional beta and D-CAPM's downside beta on the changes in the average return values are examined comparatively. In this context, the monthly data for seventy three stocks that are continuously traded on the ISE for the period 1991-2009 is used. Regression analysis is applied in this study. The research results have shown that D-CAPM is valid on the ISE. In addition, it is obtained that the power of downside beta coefficient is higher than traditional beta coefficient on explaining the return changes. Therefore, it can be said that the downside beta is superior to traditional beta in the ISE for chosen period.

  10. Integrins beta 5, beta 3 and alpha v are apically distributed in endometrial epithelium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aplin, J D; Spanswick, C; Behzad, F; Kimber, S J; Vićovac, L

    1996-07-01

    Several adhesion molecules have been shown to occur at the surface of endometrial cells. One of these is the integrin alpha v subunit which associates with various beta chains including beta 5. We demonstrate the presence of integrin beta 5 polypeptide in human endometrial epithelial cells throughout the menstrual cycle using immunocytochemistry with monospecific antibodies, and at the mRNA level by thermal amplification from endometrial cDNA. Integrin beta 5 is also found in a population of bone marrow-derived cells. A notable feature of the distribution of the beta 5 subunit in the glandular and luminal epithelium is its apical localization, which may suggest an involvement in implantation. However, no evidence was found for regulated expression of epithelial beta 5. In mouse, the beta 5 subunit is found at both the apical and basal surface of epithelial cells and expression is essentially oestrous cycle-independent. Comparisons are made in both species with the distribution of the alpha v and beta 3 subunits which also localize to the apical epithelium.

  11. Regulation of glycogen synthase kinase-3{beta} (GSK-3{beta}) after ionizing radiation; Regulation der Glykogen Synthase Kinase-3{beta} (GSK-3{beta}) nach ionisierender Strahlung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boehme, K.A.

    2006-12-15

    Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3{beta} (GSK-3{beta}) phosphorylates the Mdm2 protein in the central domain. This phosphorylation is absolutely required for p53 degradation. Ionizing radiation inactivates GSK-3{beta} by phosphorylation at serine 9 and in consequence prevents Mdm2 mediated p53 degradation. During the work for my PhD I identified Akt/PKB as the kinase that phosphorylates GSK-3{beta} at serine 9 after ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation leads to phosphorylation of Akt/PKB at threonine 308 and serine 473. The PI3 Kinase inhibitor LY294002 completely abolished Akt/PKB serine 473 phosphorylation and prevented the induction of GSK-3{beta} serine 9 phosphorylation after ionizing radiation. Interestingly, the most significant activation of Akt/PKB after ionizing radiation occurred in the nucleus while cytoplasmic Akt/PKB was only weakly activated after radiation. By using siRNA, I showed that Akt1/PKBa, but not Akt2/PKB{beta}, is required for phosphorylation of GSK- 3{beta} at serine 9 after ionizing radiation. Phosphorylation and activation of Akt/PKB after ionizing radiation depends on the DNA dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), a member of the PI3 Kinase family, that is activated by free DNA ends. Both, in cells from SCID mice and after knockdown of the catalytic subunit of DNA-PK by siRNA in osteosarcoma cells, phosphorylation of Akt/PKB at serine 473 and of GSK-3{beta} at serine 9 was completely abolished. Consistent with the principle that phosphorylation of GSK-3 at serine 9 contributes to p53 stabilization after radiation, the accumulation of p53 in response to ionizing radiation was largely prevented by downregulation of DNA-PK. From these results I conclude, that ionizing radiation induces a signaling cascade that leads to Akt1/PKBa activation mediated by DNA-PK dependent phosphorylation of serine 473. After activation Akt1/PKBa phosphorylates and inhibits GSK-3{beta} in the nucleus. The resulting hypophosphorylated form of Mdm2 protein is no longer

  12. High beta experiments in CHS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okamura, S.; Matsuoka, K.; Nishimura, K.

    1994-09-01

    High beta experiments were performed in the low-aspect-ratio helical device CHS with the volume-averaged equilibrium beta up to 2.1 %. These values (highest for helical systems) are obtained for high density plasmas in low magnetic field heated with two tangential neutral beams. Confinement improvement given by means of turning off gas puffing helped significantly to make high betas. Magnetic fluctuations increased with increasing beta, but finally stopped to increase in the beta range > 1 %. The coherent modes appearing in the magnetic hill region showed strong dependence on the beta values. The dynamic poloidal field control was applied to suppress the outward plasma movement with the plasma pressure. Such an operation gave fixed boundary operations of high beta plasmas in helical systems. (author)

  13. Conformation, molecular packing and field effect mobility of regioregular beta,beta'-dihexylsexithiophiophene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kiriy, N.; Kiriy, A.; Bocharova, V.

    2004-01-01

    by the pulse-radiolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity (PR-TRMC) technique was found to be Sigmamu(min) = 3.9 x 10(-3) cm(2) V-1 s(-1), which is comparable with the PR-TRMC mobility found for alpha,omega-DH6T. The field-effect mobility (FEM) of beta,beta'-DH6T was found to be on the order of 10(-5) cm(2......) V-1 s(-1), which is considerably less than the FEM of alpha,omega-DH6T. To understand the reason for such poor macroscopic electrical properties, the conformation and the molecular packing of beta,beta'-DH6T were systematically studied by means of UV-vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy...... less dense crystalline packing than alpha,omega-DH6T. In contrast to the almost upright orientation of alpha,omega-DH6T molecules against the substrate (tilt angle about 68), the long axis of beta,beta'-DH6T molecules and the surface plane form an angle of similar to20degrees. Thus, the crystalline...

  14. Ontogenesis of neurons producing luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) in the nervus terminalis of the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwanzel-Fukuda, M; Morrell, J I; Pfaff, D W

    1985-08-15

    Immunoreactive luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) was first detected at 15 days of gestation in ganglion cells associated with the peripheral, intracranial, and central parts of the nervus terminalis of the rat. LHRH was not detected in any other structure of the central nervous system at this age. In the 17-day-old fetal rat, 62% of the total LHRH-reactive neuronal population was found in ganglion cells of the nervus terminalis. At this same age, immunoreactive beta-luteinizing hormone (beta-LH) was first seen in gonadotropes of the anterior pituitary gland. At 19 days of gestation, 31% of the total number of LHRH-reactive neurons observed in the rat brain was found in the nervus terminalis, and immunoreactive processes were first seen in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and in the median eminence. Our data indicate that from 15 to 19 days of gestation the nervus terminalis is a principal source of LHRH in the fetal rat. Presence of the decapeptide in the nervus terminalis prior to appearance of beta-LH in the anterior pituitary suggests a possible role for LHRH in this system on maturation of the gonadotropes and differentiation of the brain-pituitary-gonadal axis.

  15. Levered and unlevered Beta

    OpenAIRE

    Fernandez, Pablo

    2003-01-01

    We prove that in a world without leverage cost the relationship between the levered beta ( L) and the unlevered beta ( u) is the No-costs-of-leverage formula: L = u + ( u - d) D (1 - T) / E. We also analyze 6 alternative valuation theories proposed in the literature to estimate the relationship between the levered beta and the unlevered beta (Harris and Pringle (1985), Modigliani and Miller (1963), Damodaran (1994), Myers (1974), Miles and Ezzell (1980), and practitioners) and prove that all ...

  16. ESTROGEN RECEPTOR-alpha IMMUNOREACTIVE NEURONS IN THE BRAINSTEM AND SPINAL CORD OF THE FEMALE RHESUS MONKEY : SPECIES-SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vanderhorst, V. G. J. M.; Terasawa, E.; Ralston, H. J.

    2009-01-01

    The distribution pattern of estrogen receptors in the rodent CNS has been reported extensively, but mapping of estrogen receptors in primates is incomplete. In this study we describe the distribution of estrogen receptor alpha immunoreactive (ER-alpha 1R) neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord of

  17. Boosted beta regression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Schmid

    Full Text Available Regression analysis with a bounded outcome is a common problem in applied statistics. Typical examples include regression models for percentage outcomes and the analysis of ratings that are measured on a bounded scale. In this paper, we consider beta regression, which is a generalization of logit models to situations where the response is continuous on the interval (0,1. Consequently, beta regression is a convenient tool for analyzing percentage responses. The classical approach to fit a beta regression model is to use maximum likelihood estimation with subsequent AIC-based variable selection. As an alternative to this established - yet unstable - approach, we propose a new estimation technique called boosted beta regression. With boosted beta regression estimation and variable selection can be carried out simultaneously in a highly efficient way. Additionally, both the mean and the variance of a percentage response can be modeled using flexible nonlinear covariate effects. As a consequence, the new method accounts for common problems such as overdispersion and non-binomial variance structures.

  18. Neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive neurons in the cerebral cortex of humans and other haplorrhine primates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raghanti, Mary Ann; Conley, Tiffini; Sudduth, Jessica; Erwin, Joseph M.; Stimpson, Cheryl D.; Hof, Patrick R.; Sherwood, Chet C.

    2012-01-01

    We examined the distribution of neurons immunoreactive for neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the posterior part of the superior temporal cortex (Brodmann's area 22 or area Tpt) of humans and nonhuman haplorrhine primates. NPY has been implicated in learning and memory and the density of NPY-expressing cortical neurons and axons is reduced in depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. Due to the role that NPY plays in both cognition and neurodegenerative diseases, we tested the hypothesis that the density of cortical and interstitial neurons expressing NPY was increased in humans relative to other primate species. The study sample included great apes (chimpanzee and gorilla), Old World monkeys (pigtailed macaque, moor macaque, and baboon) and New World monkeys (squirrel monkey and capuchin). Stereologic methods were used to estimate the density of NPY-immunoreactive (-ir) neurons in layers I-VI of area Tpt and the subjacent white matter. Adjacent Nissl-stained sections were used to calculate local densities of all neurons. The ratio of NPY-ir neurons to total neurons within area Tpt and the total density of NPY-ir neurons within the white matter were compared among species. Overall, NPY-ir neurons represented only an average of 0.006% of the total neuron population. While there were significant differences among species, phylogenetic trends in NPY-ir neuron distributions were not observed and humans did not differ from other primates. However, variation among species warrants further investigation into the distribution of this neuromodulator system. PMID:23042407

  19. Regulation of beta cell replication

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, Ying C; Nielsen, Jens Høiriis

    2008-01-01

    Beta cell mass, at any given time, is governed by cell differentiation, neogenesis, increased or decreased cell size (cell hypertrophy or atrophy), cell death (apoptosis), and beta cell proliferation. Nutrients, hormones and growth factors coupled with their signalling intermediates have been...... suggested to play a role in beta cell mass regulation. In addition, genetic mouse model studies have indicated that cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases that determine cell cycle progression are involved in beta cell replication, and more recently, menin in association with cyclin-dependent kinase...... inhibitors has been demonstrated to be important in beta cell growth. In this review, we consider and highlight some aspects of cell cycle regulation in relation to beta cell replication. The role of cell cycle regulation in beta cell replication is mostly from studies in rodent models, but whether...

  20. Complement activation by the amyloid proteins A beta peptide and beta 2-microglobulin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nybo, Mads; Nielsen, E H; Svehag, S E

    1999-01-01

    component nor heparan sulfate did significantly alter the A beta-induced CA. The results indicate that not only fibrillar A beta but also oligomers of, in particular, beta 2M from patients with dialysis-associated amyloidosis are capable of inducing CA at supra-physiological concentrations....

  1. Improved limits on beta(-) and beta(-) decays of Ca-48

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bakalyarov, A.; Balysh, A.; Barabash, AS.; Beneš, P.; Briancon, C.; Brudanin, V. B.; Čermák, P.; Egorov, V.; Hubert, F.; Hubert, P.; Korolev, NA.; Kosjakov, VN.; Kovalík, Alojz; Lebedev, NA.; Novgorodov, A. F.; Rukhadze, NI.; Štekl, NI.; Timkin, VV.; Veleshko, IE.; Vylov, T.; Umatov, VI.

    2002-01-01

    Roč. 76, č. 9 (2002), s. 545-547 ISSN 0021-3640 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1048901 Keywords : beta decay * double beta decay * Ca-48 Subject RIV: BG - Nuclear, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Colliders Impact factor: 1.483, year: 2002

  2. Silencing of beta-carotene hydroxylase increases total carotenoid and beta-carotene levels in potato tubers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pizzichini Daniele

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Beta-carotene is the main dietary precursor of vitamin A. Potato tubers contain low levels of carotenoids, composed mainly of the xanthophylls lutein (in the beta-epsilon branch and violaxanthin (in the beta-beta branch. None of these carotenoids have provitamin A activity. We have previously shown that tuber-specific silencing of the first step in the epsilon-beta branch, LCY-e, redirects metabolic flux towards beta-beta carotenoids, increases total carotenoids up to 2.5-fold and beta-carotene up to 14-fold. Results In this work, we silenced the non-heme beta-carotene hydroxylases CHY1 and CHY2 in the tuber. Real Time RT-PCR measurements confirmed the tuber-specific silencing of both genes . CHY silenced tubers showed more dramatic changes in carotenoid content than LCY-e silenced tubers, with beta-carotene increasing up to 38-fold and total carotenoids up to 4.5-fold. These changes were accompanied by a decrease in the immediate product of beta-carotene hydroxylation, zeaxanthin, but not of the downstream xanthophylls, viola- and neoxanthin. Changes in endogenous gene expression were extensive and partially overlapping with those of LCY-e silenced tubers: CrtISO, LCY-b and ZEP were induced in both cases, indicating that they may respond to the balance between individual carotenoid species. Conclusion Together with epsilon-cyclization of lycopene, beta-carotene hydroxylation is another regulatory step in potato tuber carotenogenesis. The data are consistent with a prevalent role of CHY2, which is highly expressed in tubers, in the control of this step. Combination of different engineering strategies holds good promise for the manipulation of tuber carotenoid content.

  3. Characterisation of recombinant immunoreactive antigens of the scab mite Sarcoptes scabiei.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, C; Lucius, R; Matthes, H F; Meusel, G; Reich, B; Kalinna, B H

    2008-05-31

    Sarcoptic mange (or scabies) is an important skin disease which can affect a variety of species including humans, cattle, goats, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits, and dogs. Approximately 300 million people are affected worldwide and in lifestock animals the infestation may lead to substantial economic losses caused by depression in growth and feed conversion rates. Diagnosis of Sarcoptes infestation is difficult and only a few serological tests have been developed using whole mite antigen for diagnosis of mange in animals. Here we describe the isolation and characterisation of cDNAs of several immunoreactive clones and their recombinant expression in Escherichia coli. Three of the proteins contain repetitive sequences which suggests that they might be involved in immune evasion. The application of these antigens in serodiagnosis and the suitability for diagnosis is discussed.

  4. Variation in macrophage migration inhibitory factor [MIF] immunoreactivity during bovine gestation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paulesu, L.; Pfarrer, C.; Romagnoli, R.

    2012-01-01

    and hemochorial human and mouse placentae. Here we studied the bovine placenta being multiplex, villous and synepitheliochorial with a low degree of invasion, to see if MIF could be involved. Placental tissues sampled from 12 cows at 9 stages of gestation (days 18-250), and endometrial tissues from two non......-pregnant animals were processed for immunohistochemistry. Bovine MIF was detected by Western blot using anti-human MIF monoclonal antibodies. An immunoreactive band of approximately 12kDa confirmed similarities between bovine and human MIFs. Compared to the non-pregnant stage with very faint staining...... both caruncular and trophoblast epithelium of the placentomes were positive with different intensity in relation to the gestational stage. In the uterine glands, some strongly stained cells were present. The mature binucleated trophoblast giant cells were negative throughout pregnancy. During...

  5. Localisation of NG2 immunoreactive neuroglia cells in the rat locus coeruleus and their plasticity in response to stress

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen eSeifi

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The locus coeruleus (LC nucleus modulates adaptive behavioural responses to stress and dysregulation of LC neuronal activity is implicated in stress-induced mental illnesses. The LC is composed primarily of noradrenergic neurons together with various glial populations. A neuroglia cell-type largely unexplored within the LC is the NG2 cell. NG2 cells serve primarily as oligodendrocyte precursor cells throughout the brain. However, some NG2 cells are in synaptic contact with neurons suggesting a role in information processing. The aim of this study was to neurochemically and anatomically characterise NG2 cells within the rat LC. Furthermore, since NG2 cells have been shown to proliferate in response to traumatic brain injury, we investigated whether such NG2 cells plasticity also occurs in response to emotive insults such as stress. Immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy revealed that NG2 cells were enriched within the pontine region occupied by the LC. Close inspection revealed that a sub-population of NG2 cells were located within unique indentations of LC noradrenergic somata and were immunoreactive for the neuronal marker NeuN whilst NG2 cell processes formed close appositions with clusters immunoreactive for the inhibitory synaptic marker proteins gephyrin and the GABA-A receptor alpha3-subunit, on noradrenergic dendrites. In addition, LC NG2 cell processes were decorated with vesicular glutamate transporter 2 immunoreactive puncta. Finally, ten days of repeated restraint stress significantly increased the density of NG2 cells within the LC. The study demonstrates that NG2 IR cells are integral components of the LC cellular network and they exhibit plasticity as a result of emotive challenges.

  6. Determinants of RNA polymerase alpha subunit for interaction with beta, beta', and sigma subunits: hydroxyl-radical protein footprinting.

    OpenAIRE

    Heyduk, T; Heyduk, E; Severinov, K; Tang, H; Ebright, R H

    1996-01-01

    Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) alpha subunit serves as the initiator for RNAP assembly, which proceeds according to the pathway 2 alpha-->alpha 2-->alpha 2 beta-->alpha 2 beta beta'-->alpha 2 beta beta' sigma. In this work, we have used hydroxyl-radical protein footprinting to define determinants of alpha for interaction with beta, beta', and sigma. Our results indicate that amino acids 30-75 of alpha are protected from hydroxyl-radical-mediated proteolysis upon interaction with beta ...

  7. {beta} - amyloid imaging probes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Jae Min [Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-04-15

    Imaging distribution of {beta} - amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease is very important for early and accurate diagnosis. Early trial of the {beta} -amyloid plaques includes using radiolabeled peptides which can be only applied for peripheral {beta} - amyloid plaques due to limited penetration through the blood brain barrier (BBB). Congo red or Chrysamine G derivatives were labeled with Tc-99m for imaging {beta} - amyloid plaques of Alzheimer patient's brain without success due to problem with BBB penetration. Thioflavin T derivatives gave breakthrough for {beta} - amyloid imaging in vivo, and a benzothiazole derivative [C-11]6-OH-BTA-1 brought a great success. Many other benzothiazole, benzoxazole, benzofuran, imidazopyridine, and styrylbenzene derivatives have been labeled with F-18 and I-123 to improve the imaging quality. However, [C-11]6-OH-BTA-1 still remains as the best. However, short half-life of C-11 is a limitation of wide distribution of this agent. So, it is still required to develop an Tc-99m, F-18 or I-123 labeled agent for {beta} - amyloid imaging agent.

  8. Isotope Effects in the Bonds of beta-CrOOH and beta-CrOOD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørlund Christensen, A.; Hansen, P.; Lehmann, M. S.

    1976-01-01

    Samples of orthorhombic chromium oxide hydroxide, beta -CrOOH, and the deuterated compound, beta -CrOOD, were prepared hydrothermally. The crystal structures were determined by powder profile refinement technique using neutron diffraction data. Unit cells are: beta -CrOOH: a equals 4. 862(2) A, b...... equals 4. 298(a) A, c equals 2. 995(1) A; beta -CrOOD: a equals 4. 873(5) A, b equals 4. 332(7) A, c equals 2. 963(2) A, with Z equals 2. The space group is P2//1nm or Pnnm....

  9. Antibodies against chromosomal beta-lactamase

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Giwercman, B; Rasmussen, J W; Ciofu, Oana

    1994-01-01

    A murine monoclonal anti-chromosomal beta-lactamase antibody was developed and an immunoblotting technique was used to study the presence of serum and sputum antibodies against Pseudomonas aeruginosa chromosomal group 1 beta-lactamase in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The serum antibody...... 1 cephalosporinase. We found a wide range of chromosomal beta-lactamase activity in the sputum samples, with no correlation with basal or induced activity of beta-lactamase expression. The presence of anti-beta-lactamase antibodies in endobronchial sputum could be an important factor in the defense...

  10. Metalo-beta-lactamases Metallo-beta-lactamases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Elisandro Mendes

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Nos últimos anos tem sido observada maior incidência de bacilos Gram-negativos resistentes a cefalosporinas de espectro ampliado no ambiente hospitalar, ocasionando, assim, maior uso de betalactâmicos mais potentes, como os carbapenens. A utilização de carbapenens exerce maior pressão seletiva sobre a microbiota hospitalar, o que pode ocasionar aumento da resistência a esses agentes. Entre os mecanismos de resistência a carbapenens mais comumente identificados estão a produção de betalactamases, como, por exemplo, as pertencentes à classe D de Ambler e as que pertencem à classe B de Ambler, ou metalo-beta-lactamases (MbetaL. Essas últimas hidrolisam todos betalactâmicos comercialmente disponíveis, sendo a única exceção o monobactam aztreonam. Desde o início da década de 1990, novos genes que codificam MbetaLs têm sido descritos em microrganismos clinicamente importantes, como Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp. e membros da família Enterobacteriaceae. O encontro desses microrganismos não-sensíveis a carbapenens pode ser submetido a metodologias fenotípicas para detecção da produção de MbetaL com o intuito de auxiliar a Comissão de Controle de Infecção Hospitalar (CCIH e prevenir a disseminação desses determinantes de resistência, uma vez que genes que codificam MbetaLs estão contidos em estruturas genéticas que propiciam sua mobilidade de forma muito efetiva, sendo então facilmente disseminados.Increase isolation of Gram-negative bacilli resistant to broad-spectrum cephalosporin has been observed during the last few years, thus determining the use of more potent beta-lactams, such as carbapenems. The use of these antimicrobial agents may lead to the emergence of carbapenem resistant Gram-negative bacilli in the nosocomial environment. Carbapenem resistance may be due to the production of Ambler class D beta-lactamase or Ambler class B beta-lactamase, also called metallo-beta-lactamase (MbetaL. Apart from

  11. Projections from estrogen receptor-alpha immunoreactive neurons in the periaqueductal gray to the lateral medulla oblongata in the rhesus monkey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vanderhorst, VGJM; Terasawa, E; Ralston, HJ

    2004-01-01

    The periaqueductal gray (PAG) contains numerous estrogen receptor-alpha immunoreactive (ER-alpha IR) neurons that are distributed in a species-specific way. These neurons might modulate different types of behavior that are mediated by the PAG such as active and passive coping responses, analgesia,

  12. Beta limits for ETF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Helton, F.J.; Miller, R.L.

    1982-01-01

    ETF (Engineering Test Facility) one-dimensional transport simulations indicate that a volume-average beta of 4% is required for ignition. It is therefore important that theoretical beta limits, determined by requiring equilibria to be stable to all ideal modes, exceed 4%. This paper documents an ideal MHD analysis wherein it is shown that, with appropriate plasma cross-sectional shape and current profile optimization, operation near 5% is possible. The critical beta value, however, depends on the functional form used for ff', which suggests that higher critical betas could be achieved by directly optimizing the safety factor profile. (author)

  13. Derivatives of the Incomplete Beta Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert J. Boik

    1998-03-01

    Full Text Available The incomplete beta function is defined as where Beta(p, q is the beta function. Dutka (1981 gave a history of the development and numerical evaluation of this function. In this article, an algorithm for computing first and second derivatives of Ix,p,q with respect to p and q is described. The algorithm is useful, for example, when fitting parameters to a censored beta, truncated beta, or a truncated beta-binomial model.

  14. BetaShape: A new code for improved analytical calculations of beta spectra

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mougeot Xavier

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The new code BetaShape has been developed in order to improve the nuclear data related to beta decays. An analytical model was considered, except for the relativistic electron wave functions, for ensuring fast calculations. Output quantities are mean energies, log ft values and beta and neutrino spectra for single and multiple transitions. The uncertainties from the input parameters, read from an ENSDF file, are propagated. A database of experimental shape factors is included. A comparison over the entire ENSDF database with the standard code currently used in nuclear data evaluations shows consistent results for the vast majority of the transitions and highlights the improvements that can be expected with the use of BetaShape.

  15. Preventive Effects of Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methyl Butyrate

    OpenAIRE

    N. Ravanbakhsh; N. Torabi; M. Foadoddini

    2016-01-01

    Aims: One of the major factors in sudden cardiac arrest is the initiation and continuation of deadly arrhythmias during ischemia. It is known that beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) has useful effects such as anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis effects in the skeletal muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive effects of HMB on the ventricular arrhythmias due to the ischemia. Materials & Methods: In the experimental study, 30 Wistar male rats were randomly div...

  16. Beta-thalassemia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Origa Raffaella

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Beta-thalassemias are a group of hereditary blood disorders characterized by anomalies in the synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin resulting in variable phenotypes ranging from severe anemia to clinically asymptomatic individuals. The total annual incidence of symptomatic individuals is estimated at 1 in 100,000 throughout the world and 1 in 10,000 people in the European Union. Three main forms have been described: thalassemia major, thalassemia intermedia and thalassemia minor. Individuals with thalassemia major usually present within the first two years of life with severe anemia, requiring regular red blood cell (RBC transfusions. Findings in untreated or poorly transfused individuals with thalassemia major, as seen in some developing countries, are growth retardation, pallor, jaundice, poor musculature, hepatosplenomegaly, leg ulcers, development of masses from extramedullary hematopoiesis, and skeletal changes that result from expansion of the bone marrow. Regular transfusion therapy leads to iron overload-related complications including endocrine complication (growth retardation, failure of sexual maturation, diabetes mellitus, and insufficiency of the parathyroid, thyroid, pituitary, and less commonly, adrenal glands, dilated myocardiopathy, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Patients with thalassemia intermedia present later in life with moderate anemia and do not require regular transfusions. Main clinical features in these patients are hypertrophy of erythroid marrow with medullary and extramedullary hematopoiesis and its complications (osteoporosis, masses of erythropoietic tissue that primarily affect the spleen, liver, lymph nodes, chest and spine, and bone deformities and typical facial changes, gallstones, painful leg ulcers and increased predisposition to thrombosis. Thalassemia minor is clinically asymptomatic but some subjects may have moderate anemia. Beta-thalassemias are caused by point mutations or, more rarely

  17. 17Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17beta-HSD) in scleractinian corals and zooxanthellae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blomquist, Charles H; Lima, P H; Tarrant, A M; Atkinson, M J; Atkinson, S

    2006-04-01

    Steroid metabolism studies have yielded evidence of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17beta-HSD) activity in corals. This project was undertaken to clarify whether there are multiple isoforms of 17beta-HSD, whether activity levels vary seasonally, and if zooxanthellae contribute to activity. 17Beta-HSD activity was characterized in zooxanthellate and azooxanthellate coral fragments collected in summer and winter and in zooxanthellae cultured from Montipora capitata. More specifically, 17beta-HSD activity was characterized with regard to steroid substrate and inhibitor specificity, coenzyme specificity, and Michaelis constants for estradiol (E2) and NADP+. Six samples each of M. capitata and Tubastrea coccinea (three summers, three winters) were assayed with E2 and NADP+. Specific activity levels (pmol/mg protein) varied 10-fold among M. capitata samples and 6-fold among T. coccinea samples. There was overlap of activity levels between summer and winter samples. NADP+/NAD+ activity ratios varied from 1.6 to 22.2 for M. capatita, 2.3 to 3.8 for T. coccinea and 0.7 to 1.1 for zooxanthellae. Coumestrol was the most inhibitory of the steroids and phytoestrogens tested. Our data confirm that corals and zooxanthellae contain 17beta-HSD and are consistent with the presence of more than one isoform of the enzyme.

  18. Effects of testosterone and its metabolites on aromatase-immunoreactive cells in the quail brain: relationship with the activation of male reproductive behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balthazart, J; Foidart, A; Absil, P; Harada, N

    1996-01-01

    The enzyme aromatase converts testosterone (T) into 17 beta-estradiol and plays a pivotal role in the control of reproduction. In particular, the aromatase activity (AA) located in the preoptic area (POA) of male Japanese quail is a limiting step in the activation by T of copulatory behavior. Aromatase-immunoreactive (ARO-ir) cells of the POA are specifically localized within the cytoarchitectonic boundaries of the medial preoptic nucleus(POM), a sexually dimorphic and steroid-sensitive structure that is a necessary and sufficient site of steroid action in the activation of behavior. Stereotaxic implantation of aromatase inhibitors in but not around the POM strongly decreases the behavioral effects of a systemic treatment with T of castrated males. AA is decreased by castration and increased by aromatizable androgens and by estrogens. These changes have been independently documented at three levels of analysis: the enzymatic activity measured by radioenzymatic assays in vitro, the enzyme concentration evaluated semi-quantitatively by immunocytochemistry and the concentration of its messenger RNA quantified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). These studies demonstrate that T acting mostly through its estrogenic metabolites regulates brain aromatase by acting essentially at the transcriptional level. Estrogens produced by central aromatization of T therefore have two independent roles: they activate male copulatory behavior and they regulate the synthesis of aromatase. Double label immunocytochemical studies demonstrate that estrogen receptors(ER) are found in all brain areas containing ARO-ir cells but the extent to which these markers are colocalized varies from one brain region to the other. More than 70% of ARO-ir cells contain detectable ER in the tuberal hypothalamus but less than 20% of the cells display this colocalization in the POA. This absence of ER in ARO-ir cells is also observed in the POA of the rat brain. This suggests that

  19. Rapid method of identification of {beta}-ray emitters and of {beta}-radioactive impurity dosage (1961); Methode rapide d'identification des emetteurs-{beta} et de dosage d'impuretes radioactives-{beta} (1961)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Le Gallic, Y; Legrand, J; Grinberg, B [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1961-07-01

    We describe a simple method of radioactive analysis, which allows an accurate determination of maximal energies of {beta}-emitters, and detection and titration of radioactive impurities in radionuclides as well. The method described, which uses a plastic scintillator, is based on the fact that the curve obtained by plotting the number of pulses measured against the threshold is a straight line, in the case of pure {beta}-emitters. We then derive a simple relation between the data of this straight line and the maximal energy of the {beta}-spectrum of the radionuclide under consideration. (authors) [French] Description d'une methode simple d'analyse radioactive, permettant de determiner avec precision l'energie maximum des emetteurs-{beta}, ainsi que de deceler et de doser les impuretes radioactives dans un radionuclide. La technique decrite utilise un scintillateur plastique. On exploite le fait que la courbe du nombre d'impulsions mesurees, en fonction du seuil de discrimination, est une droite, pour un emetteur-{beta} pur. Une relation simple entre les caracteristiques de cette droite et l'energie maximum du spectre-{beta} du radionuclide, correspondant, a ete etablie. (auteurs)

  20. Human APC sequesters beta-catenin even in the absence of GSK-3beta in a Drosophila model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, P R; Makhijani, K; Shashidhara, L S

    2008-04-10

    There have been conflicting reports on the requirement of GSK-3beta-mediated phosphorylation of the tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) vis-à-vis its ability to bind and degrade beta-catenin. Using a unique combination of loss of function for Shaggy/GSK-3beta and a gain of function for human APC in Drosophila, we show that misexpressed human APC (hAPC) can still sequester Armadillo/beta-catenin. In addition, human APC could suppress gain of Wnt/Wingless phenotypes associated with loss of Shaggy/GSK-3beta activity, suggesting that sequestered Armadillo/beta-catenin is non-functional. Based on these studies, we propose that binding per se of beta-catenin by APC does not require phosphorylation by GSK-3beta.

  1. Genetics Home Reference: beta thalassemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Facebook Twitter Home Health Conditions Beta thalassemia Beta thalassemia Printable PDF Open All Close All Enable Javascript to view the expand/collapse boxes. Description Beta thalassemia is a blood disorder that reduces the production ...

  2. The effects of beta-carotene and vitamin E on erythrocytes lipid peroxidation in beta-thalassemia patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soleiman Mahjoub

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Thalassemia is the most common hereditary disease in the world. Thalassemic erythrocytes are exposed to higher oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of beta-carotene and vitamin E on erythrocytes lipid peroxidation in beta-thalassemia patients.
    METHODS: A prospective double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the effect of beta-carotene and vitamin E on lipid peroxidation in erythrocytes membranes was performed on 120 beta-thalassemia major patients in four groups. The patients were supplemented for 4 weeks as follows: group 1 with beta-carotene (13 mg/day, group 2 with vitamin E (550 mg/day, group 3 with beta-carotene plus vitamin E and group 4 with placebo. We prepared all capsules for 4 roups in the same shape and color. Measurements of serum beta-carotene and vitamin E were performed by high performance
    liquid chromatography. After preparation of ghost cells from blood specimens, malondialdehyde (MDA was determined as index of lipid peroxidation in erythrocytes membranes before and after treatment. RESULTS: The levels of serum beta-carotene and vitamin E were significantly lower and MDA concentrations in erythrocytes membranes were significantly higher in beta-thalassemia patients compared to controls (P<0.001. In groups that treated with vitamin supplements for 4-weeks, lipid peroxidation rates were significantly reduced after treatment (P<0.001, but in placebo group there was not significant difference (P>0.05.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence that an oral treatment with beta-carotene and vitamin E can significantly reduce lipid peroxidation of erythrocytes membranes and could be useful in management of beta-thalassemia major patients. KEYWORDS: Beta-thalassemia major, beta-carotene, vitamin E, malondialdehyde, lipid peroxidation.

  3. RM2 antigen (beta1,4-GalNAc-disialyl-Lc4) as a new marker for prostate cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Seiichi; Egawa, Shin; Endoh, Mareyuki; Ueno, Seiji; Ito, Akihiro; Numahata, Kenji; Satoh, Makoto; Kuwao, Sadahito; Baba, Shiro; Hakomori, Senitiroh; Arai, Yoichi

    2005-05-20

    Although prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been widely used for early detection of prostate cancer, PSA has problems with specificity and prediction of pathological stage. Therefore, a new marker for prostate cancer is urgently required. We examined expression of a novel carbohydrate antigen, beta1,4-GalNAc-disialyl-Lc(4), defined by the monoclonal antibody RM2, in prostate cancer using 75 cases of radical prostatectomy specimens. RM2 immunoreactivity was negative to weak in all benign glands, and weak to moderate in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. In prostatic adenocarcinoma, RM2 immunoreactivity was negative to weak (lower expression) in 20 cases, and moderate to strong (higher expression) in 55 cases. A clear difference of RM2 expression level was observed between Gleason patterns 3 and >/=4. Higher expression of RM2 antigen was significantly associated with primary Gleason pattern >/=4, high Gleason score (>/=8), larger tumor volume and advanced tumor stage. Furthermore, 5-year PSA failure-free survival was significantly lower in the higher expression group. However, no significant relationship was observed between RM2 expression level and preoperative serum PSA. Western blot analysis in prostate cancer cell lines PC3 and LNCap revealed that major 49-kDa and minor 39-kDa glycoproteins were common to both cells, but there was an increase of 59- and 125-kDa glycoproteins unique to LNCap and an increase of 88- and 98-kDa glycoproteins unique to PC3. RM2 antigen is a new histological marker for prostate cancer that may reflect the Gleason grading system. Identification of the glycoproteins carrying the RM2 antigen will provide new insights into the properties of prostate cancer. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  4. Rapid lymphocyte immunoreactivity test utilizing [3H]uridine in vitro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pienkowski, M.M.; Lyerly, M.M.; Miller, H.C.

    1978-01-01

    A microculture assay utilizing [ 3 H]uridine incorporation was developed to test murine spleen lymphocyte immunoreactivity in vitro. Parameters of the culture technique which included cell density, doses of LPS, Con A, PHA, [ 3 H]uridine levels, and length of culture time were investigated. Responses were detectable at 4 h for all 3 mitogens, with labelling ranging up to 180% of the control value. By 8 h there was a 200-350% increase in mitogen-induced incorporation of radioactivity. Similar increases were observed in a serum-free system. The responses were the result of increased incorporation of label by stimulated cultures rather than decreased labeling of non-mitogen treated cultures over time. The [ 3 H]uridine incorporation was demonstrated to be the selective response of T or B cell populations when stimulated with appropriate lectins. This assay detects early RNA synthesis, as supported by experimental observations in which accumulation of radioactivity in stimulated lymphocytes was TCA precipitable, resistant to SDS treatment, and inhibited by actinomycin D. (Auth.)

  5. Immunohistochemical detection of ganglia in the rat stomach serosa, containing neurons immunoreactive for gastrin-releasing peptide and vasoactive intestinal peptide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Steen Seier; Holst, J J

    1987-01-01

    Ganglia, not previously described, were identified in the rat stomach serosa along the minor curvature. The ganglia consisted of varying number of cell bodies lying in clusters along or within nerve bundles. The ganglia were shown to contain GRP and VIP immunoreactive nerve fibers and cell bodies...

  6. Comparative mapping of GABA-immunoreactive neurons in the central nervous systems of nudibranch molluscs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunaratne, Charuni A; Sakurai, Akira; Katz, Paul S

    2014-03-01

    The relative simplicity of certain invertebrate nervous systems, such as those of gastropod molluscs, allows behaviors to be dissected at the level of small neural circuits composed of individually identifiable neurons. Elucidating the neurotransmitter phenotype of neurons in neural circuits is important for understanding how those neural circuits function. In this study, we examined the distribution of γ-aminobutyric-acid;-immunoreactive (GABA-ir) neurons in four species of sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Nudibranchia): Tritonia diomedea, Melibe leonina, Dendronotus iris, and Hermissenda crassicornis. We found consistent patterns of GABA immunoreactivity in the pedal and cerebral-pleural ganglia across species. In particular, there were bilateral clusters in the lateral and medial regions of the dorsal surface of the cerebral ganglia as well as a cluster on the ventral surface of the pedal ganglia. There were also individual GABA-ir neurons that were recognizable across species. The invariant presence of these individual neurons and clusters suggests that they are homologous, although there were interspecies differences in the numbers of neurons in the clusters. The GABAergic system was largely restricted to the central nervous system, with the majority of axons confined to ganglionic connectives and commissures, suggesting a central, integrative role for GABA. GABA was a candidate inhibitory neurotransmitter for neurons in central pattern generator (CPG) circuits underlying swimming behaviors in these species, however none of the known swim CPG neurons were GABA-ir. Although the functions of these GABA-ir neurons are not known, it is clear that their presence has been strongly conserved across nudibranchs. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. A Novel Dimeric Inhibitor Targeting Beta2GPI in Beta2GPI/Antibody Complexes Implicated in Antiphospholipid Syndrome

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    A Kolyada; C Lee; A De Biasio; N Beglova

    2011-12-31

    {beta}2GPI is a major antigen for autoantibodies associated with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), an autoimmune disease characterized by thrombosis and recurrent pregnancy loss. Only the dimeric form of {beta}2GPI generated by anti-{beta}2GPI antibodies is pathologically important, in contrast to monomeric {beta}2GPI which is abundant in plasma. We created a dimeric inhibitor, A1-A1, to selectively target {beta}2GPI in {beta}2GPI/antibody complexes. To make this inhibitor, we isolated the first ligand-binding module from ApoER2 (A1) and connected two A1 modules with a flexible linker. A1-A1 interferes with two pathologically important interactions in APS, the binding of {beta}2GPI/antibody complexes with anionic phospholipids and ApoER2. We compared the efficiency of A1-A1 to monomeric A1 for inhibition of the binding of {beta}2GPI/antibody complexes to anionic phospholipids. We tested the inhibition of {beta}2GPI present in human serum, {beta}2GPI purified from human plasma and the individual domain V of {beta}2GPI. We demonstrated that when {beta}2GPI/antibody complexes are formed, A1-A1 is much more effective than A1 in inhibition of the binding of {beta}2GPI to cardiolipin, regardless of the source of {beta}2GPI. Similarly, A1-A1 strongly inhibits the binding of dimerized domain V of {beta}2GPI to cardiolipin compared to the monomeric A1 inhibitor. In the absence of anti-{beta}2GPI antibodies, both A1-A1 and A1 only weakly inhibit the binding of pathologically inactive monomeric {beta}2GPI to cardiolipin. Our results suggest that the approach of using a dimeric inhibitor to block {beta}2GPI in the pathological multivalent {beta}2GPI/antibody complexes holds significant promise. The novel inhibitor A1-A1 may be a starting point in the development of an effective therapeutic for antiphospholipid syndrome.

  8. Lack of relationship between TIMP-1 tumour cell immunoreactivity, treatment efficacy and prognosis in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steffensen, Karina Dahl; Waldstrøm, Marianne; Christensen, Rikke Kølby

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) is a natural inhibitor of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which are proteolytic enzymes involved in degradation of extracellular matrix thereby favoring tumour cell invasion and metastasis. TIMP-1 activity in tumour tissue may ther...... immunoreactivity in tumour tissue from patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer did not correlate with patient survival or response to combination platinum/cyclophosphamide therapy.......BACKGROUND: Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) is a natural inhibitor of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which are proteolytic enzymes involved in degradation of extracellular matrix thereby favoring tumour cell invasion and metastasis. TIMP-1 activity in tumour tissue may...... therefore play an essential role in the progression of a malignant tumour.The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate TIMP-1 protein immunoreactivity in tissue from primary ovarian cancer patients and associate these findings with the course of the disease including response to treatment...

  9. Somatostatin-immunoreactive senile plaque-like structures in the frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens of aged tree shrews and Japanese macaques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamashita, Akiko; Fuchs, Eberhard; Taira, Masato; Yamamoto, Takamitsu; Hayashi, Motoharu

    2012-06-01

    Previously, we demonstrated decreased expression of somatostatin mRNA in aged macaque brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. To investigate whether or not this age-dependent decrease in mRNA is related to morphological changes, we analyzed somatostatin cells in the cerebra of aged Japanese macaques and compared them with those in rats and tree shrews, the latter of which are closely related to primates. Brains of aged macaques, tree shrews, and rats were investigated by immunohistochemistry with special emphasis on somatostatin. We observed degenerating somatostatin-immunoreactive cells in the cortices of aged macaques and tree shrews. Somatostatin-immunoreactive senile plaque-like structures were found in areas 6 and 8 and in the nucleus accumbens of macaques, as well as in the nucleus accumbens and the cortex of aged tree shrews, where amyloid accumulations were observed. Somatostatin degenerations may be related to amyloid accumulations and may play roles in impairments of cognitive functions during aging. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  10. Central nervous system immunoreactive somatostatin, substance P and met-enkephalin concentrations in experimental hepatic encephalopathy in the rat

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miller, J.L.; Millar, R.P.; Kirsch, R. (Cape Town Univ. (South Africa))

    1982-06-12

    Immunoreactive somatostatin, substance P and met-enkephalin concentrations were measured in various regions of the rat brain 65 hours after portacaval shunt and compared with concentrations in sham-operated animals. No significant difference was detected in any of the three peptides in the regions studied, suggesting that these peptides do not play a role in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy.

  11. Evaluation of partial beta-adrenoceptor agonist activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipworth, B J; Grove, A

    1997-01-01

    A partial beta-adrenoceptor (beta-AR) agonist will exhibit opposite agonist and antagonist activity depending on the prevailing degree of adrenergic tone or the presence of a beta-AR agonist with higher intrinsic activity. In vivo partial beta-AR agonist activity will be evident at rest with low endogenous adrenergic tone, as for example with chronotropicity (beta 1/beta 2), inotropicity (beta 1) or peripheral vasodilatation and finger tremor (beta 2). beta-AR blocking drugs which have partial agonist activity may exhibit a better therapeutic profile when used for hypertension because of maintained cardiac output without increased systemic vascular resistance, along with an improved lipid profile. In the presence of raised endogenous adrenergic tone such as exercise or an exogenous full agonist, beta-AR subtype antagonist activity will become evident in terms of effects on exercise induced heart rate (beta 1) and potassium (beta 2) responses. Reduction of exercise heart rate will occur to a lesser degree in the case of a beta-adrenoceptor blocker with partial beta 1-AR agonist activity compared with a beta-adrenoceptor blocker devoid of partial agonist activity. This may result in reduced therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of angina on effort when using beta-AR blocking drugs with partial beta 1-AR agonist activity. Effects on exercise hyperkalaemia are determined by the balance between beta 2-AR partial agonist activity and endogenous adrenergic activity. For predominantly beta 2-AR agonist such as salmeterol and salbutamol, potentiation of exercise hyperkalaemia occurs. For predominantly beta 2-AR antagonists such as carteolol, either potentiation or attenuation of exercise hyperkalaemia occurs at low and high doses respectively. beta 2-AR partial agonist activity may also be expressed as antagonism in the presence of an exogenous full agonist, as for example attenuation of fenoterol induced responses by salmeterol. Studies are required to investigate whether

  12. Beta2- and beta3-adrenoceptors activate glucose uptake in chick astrocytes by distinct mechanisms: a mechanism for memory enhancement?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchinson, Dana S; Summers, Roger J; Gibbs, Marie E

    2007-11-01

    Isoprenaline, acting at beta-adrenoceptors (ARs), enhances memory formation in single trial discriminated avoidance learning in day-old chicks by mechanisms involving alterations in glucose and glycogen metabolism. Earlier studies of memory consolidation in chicks indicated that beta3-ARs enhanced memory by increasing glucose uptake, whereas beta2-ARs enhance memory by increasing glycogenolysis. This study examines the ability of beta-ARs to increase glucose uptake in chick forebrain astrocytes. The beta-AR agonist isoprenaline increased glucose uptake in a concentration-dependent manner, as did insulin. Glucose uptake was increased by the beta2-AR agonist zinterol and the beta3-AR agonist CL316243, but not by the beta1-AR agonist RO363. In chick astrocytes, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction studies showed that beta1-, beta2-, and beta3-AR mRNA were present, whereas radioligand-binding studies showed the presence of only beta2- and beta3-ARs. beta-AR or insulin-mediated glucose uptake was inhibited by phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase and protein kinase C inhibitors, suggesting a possible interaction between the beta-AR and insulin pathways. However beta2- and beta3-ARs increase glucose uptake by two different mechanisms: beta2-ARs via a Gs-cAMP-protein kinase A-dependent pathway, while beta3-ARs via interactions with Gi. These results indicate that activation of beta2- and beta3-ARs causes glucose uptake in chick astrocytes by distinct mechanisms, which may be relevant for memory enhancement.

  13. BETA (Bitter Electromagnet Testing Apparatus)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, Evan M.; Birmingham, William J.; Rivera, William F.; Romero-Talamas, Carlos A.

    2017-10-01

    The Bitter Electromagnet Testing Apparatus (BETA) is a 1-Tesla (T) prototype of the 10-T Adjustable Long Pulse High-Field Apparatus (ALPHA). These water-cooled resistive magnets use high DC currents to produce strong uniform magnetic fields. Presented here is the successful completion of the BETA project and experimental results validating analytical magnet designing methods developed at the Dusty Plasma Laboratory (DPL). BETA's final design specifications will be highlighted which include electromagnetic, thermal and stress analyses. The magnet core design will be explained which include: Bitter Arcs, helix starters, and clamping annuli. The final version of the magnet's vessel and cooling system are also presented, as well as the electrical system of BETA, which is composed of a unique solid-state breaker circuit. Experimental results presented will show the operation of BETA at 1 T. The results are compared to both analytical design methods and finite element analysis calculations. We also explore the steady state maximums and theoretical limits of BETA's design. The completion of BETA validates the design and manufacturing techniques that will be used in the succeeding magnet, ALPHA.

  14. Prevalence of Co-Inheritance of Alpha-Thalassemia with Beta-Thalassemia and Beta-Hemoglobinopathy in Ahvaz City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Najmaddin Saki

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Co-inheritance of hemoglobin gene defects is a rare important status that can lead to double heterozygote or homozygote with significant clinical manifestations. Such conditions can be observed in co-inheritance of alpha-thalassemia with beta-thalassemia or hemoglobinopathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of alpha-thalassemia with beta-thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy co-inheritance in a considerable number of Iranian.   Methods: This descriptive study was performed on patients with abnormal hematological findings in favor of alpha-thalassemia, beta-thalassemia or beta-hemoglobinopathies. Patients with low MCV and MCH levels and high HbA2 (>3.5 and those with low MCV and MCH and normal or low HbA2 were candidate for molecular analysis for beta and alpha thalassemia respectively. Abnormal Hb electrophoresis was diagnostic criteria for molecular analysis of beta-hemoglobinopathies.   Results: Study revealed that more than half of the patients with alpha-thalassemia affected simultaneously by beta-thalassemia and about thirty percent inherited beta-hemoglobinopathies. Among patients with beta-thalassemia, HbSCd6 (A-T was the most common mutation and in alpha-thalassemic patients α 3.7 was the commonest mutation.   Conclusion: Relatively high prevalence of co-inheritance of alfa-thalassemia with beta-thalassemia and hemoglobinopathies reflect the necessity of genetic consulting and molecular analysis in diagnosis of such conditions.

  15. Betting against Beta

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frazzini, Andrea; Heje Pedersen, Lasse

    2014-01-01

    We present a model with leverage and margin constraints that vary across investors and time. We find evidence consistent with each of the model's five central predictions: (1) Because constrained investors bid up high-beta assets, high beta is associated with low alpha, as we find empirically...

  16. Activity of beta-lactam beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations against extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing enterobacteriaceae in urinary isolates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iqbal, F.I.; Farooqi, B.J.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To determine the susceptibility pattern of beta-lactam beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae in urinary isolates. Study Design: Observational study. Place and Duration of Study: Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi, from February to October 2008. Methodology: A total of 190 consecutive non-duplicate isolates of ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae from urine samples of in-patients were included in the study. Urinary samples from out-patients, repeat samples and non-ESBL producing isolates were excluded. Detection of ESBL was carried out by double disk diffusion technique. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using modified Kirby Bauer's disk diffusion method according to CLSI guidelines. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS version 10. Results: Of the 190 ESBL isolates tested, 88 cases (46.31%) were sensitive and 6 cases (3.15%) were resistant to all three combinations, the rest 96 cases (50.52%) were resistant to at least one of the combinations. Susceptibility pattern of cefoperazone/sulbactam, piperacillin/tazobactam, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid was 95.26, 92.10, and 44.31 percent respectively. Conclusion: Cefoperazone/sulbactam exhibited the best activity against ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae followed by piperacillin/tazobactam. Hospital antibiotic policies should be reviewed periodically to reduce the usage of extended spectrum cephalosporins and replace them with beta-lactam beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations agent for treating urinary tract infections. (author)

  17. Tables of double beta decay data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tretyak, V.I. [AN Ukrainskoj SSR, Kiev (Ukraine)]|[Strasbourg-1 Univ., 67 (France). Centre de Recherches Nucleaires; Zdesenko, Y.G. [AN Ukrainskoj SSR, Kiev (Ukraine)

    1995-12-31

    A compilation of experimental data on double beta decay is presented. The tables contain the most stringent known experimental limits or positive results of 2{beta} transitions of 69 natural nuclides to ground and excited states of daughter nuclei for different channels (2{beta}{sup -}; 2{beta}{sup +}; {epsilon}{beta}{sup +}; 2{epsilon}) and modes (0{nu}; 2{nu}; 0{nu}M) of decay. (authors). 189 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs.

  18. Beta-Excited Sources of Electromagnetic Radiation; Sources de rayonnements electromagnetiques excites par des particules beta; Vozbuzhdennye beta-chastitsami istochniki ehlektromagnitnogo izlucheniya; Fuentes de radiacion electromagnetica excitadas por particulas beta

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cameron, J F; Rhodes, J R [Physics Group, Isotope Research Division, (AERE), Wantage Research Laboratory, Wantage, Berks (United Kingdom)

    1962-01-15

    Beta-excited sources of electromagnetic radiation covering the energy region 1-200 keV and suitable for industrial use are described. H{sup 3}, Pm{sup 147}, Kr{sup 85}, Tl{sup 204} and (Sr+Y){sup 90} were chosen as sources of beta particles by the criteria of long half-life, low price, ready availability and high specific activity. The {beta}-excited sources have been designed on the basis of a compromise between practical source construction and the best theoretical efficiency in a given energy region. In their paper, the authors calculate the number of photons produced per beta particle and consider how the results must be corrected for self-absorption of the X-rays. In the calculations account is taken of both bremsstrahlung and characteristic {alpha}-radiation; optimum characteristic X-ray yield is achieved for targets with an atomic number between 40 and 60. ''Sandwich'' targets of 1-2 beta half-value thicknesses are found to give maximum photon-yields in the desired energy region. Al, Ag and Au are suitable from the manufacturing point of view as source coverings. They were also found to give satisfactory bremsstrahlung and X-ray yields and distribution for various energy regions in the range 1-200 keV when correctly combined with the above-mentioned D-emitters. Some energy spectra are given and absorption curves in Al and Fe are shown for the best source-target combinations. The difference between sources constructed of {beta}-emitters sandwiched between target foils and intimate source-target mixtures was found to be small. Tables are given as a guide to the best source to be used for a particular absorber thickness range. (author) [French] Les auteurs decrivent des sources de rayonnements electromagnetiques excites par des particules beta, couvrant une gamme d'energies allant de 1 a 200 keV et convenant aux usages industriels. Comme sources de particules beta on a choisi le tritium, le {sup 147}Pm, le {sup 85}Kr, le {sup 204}Tl et le {sup 90}(Sr+Y), en

  19. Neutrophil beta-2 microglobulin: an inflammatory mediator

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjerrum, O W; Nissen, Mogens Holst; Borregaard, N

    1990-01-01

    Beta-2 microglobulin (beta 2m) constitutes the light invariant chain of HLA class I antigen, and is a constituent of mobilizable compartments of neutrophils. Two forms of beta 2m exist: native beta 2m and proteolytically modified beta 2m (Des-Lys58-beta 2m), which shows alpha mobility in crossed ...

  20. Beta-decay rate and beta-delayed neutron emission probability of improved gross theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koura, Hiroyuki

    2014-09-01

    A theoretical study has been carried out on beta-decay rate and beta-delayed neutron emission probability. The gross theory of the beta decay is based on an idea of the sum rule of the beta-decay strength function, and has succeeded in describing beta-decay half-lives of nuclei overall nuclear mass region. The gross theory includes not only the allowed transition as the Fermi and the Gamow-Teller, but also the first-forbidden transition. In this work, some improvements are introduced as the nuclear shell correction on nuclear level densities and the nuclear deformation for nuclear strength functions, those effects were not included in the original gross theory. The shell energy and the nuclear deformation for unmeasured nuclei are adopted from the KTUY nuclear mass formula, which is based on the spherical-basis method. Considering the properties of the integrated Fermi function, we can roughly categorized energy region of excited-state of a daughter nucleus into three regions: a highly-excited energy region, which fully affect a delayed neutron probability, a middle energy region, which is estimated to contribute the decay heat, and a region neighboring the ground-state, which determines the beta-decay rate. Some results will be given in the presentation. A theoretical study has been carried out on beta-decay rate and beta-delayed neutron emission probability. The gross theory of the beta decay is based on an idea of the sum rule of the beta-decay strength function, and has succeeded in describing beta-decay half-lives of nuclei overall nuclear mass region. The gross theory includes not only the allowed transition as the Fermi and the Gamow-Teller, but also the first-forbidden transition. In this work, some improvements are introduced as the nuclear shell correction on nuclear level densities and the nuclear deformation for nuclear strength functions, those effects were not included in the original gross theory. The shell energy and the nuclear deformation for

  1. Beta measurement evaluation and upgrade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swinth, K.L.; Rathbun, L.A.; Roberson, P.L.; Endres, G.W.R.

    1986-01-01

    This program focuses on the resolution of problems associated with the field measurement of the beta dose component at Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. The change in DOE programs, including increased efforts in improved waste management and decontamination and decommissioning (D and D) of facilities, coupled with beta measurement problems identified at Three Mile Island has increased the need to improve beta measurements. In FY 1982, work was initiated to provide a continuing effort to identify problems associated with beta dose assessment at DOE facilities. The problems identified resulted in the development of this program. The investigation includes (1) an assessment of measurement systems now in use, (2) development of improved calibration systems and procedures, (3) application of innovative beta dosimetry concepts, (4) investigation of new instruments or concepts for monitoring and spectroscopy, and (5) development of recommendations to assure an adequate beta measurement program within DOE facilities

  2. FMRFamide-like immunoreactive neurons of the nervus terminalis of teleosts innervate both retina and pineal organ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekström, P; Honkanen, T; Ebbesson, S O

    1988-09-13

    The tetrapeptide FMRFamide (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2) was first isolated from molluscan ganglia. Subsequently, it has become clear that vertebrate brains also contain endogenous FMRFamide-like substances. In teleosts, the neurons of the nervus terminalis contain an FMRFamide-like substance, and provide a direct innervation to the retina (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 81 [1984] 940-944). Here we report the presence of FMRFamide-immunoreactive axonal bundles in the pineal organ of Coho salmon and three-spined sticklebacks. The largest numbers of axons were observed proximal to the brain, in the pineal stalk, while the distal part of the pineal organ contained only few axons. No FMRFamide-like-immunoreactive (IR) cell bodies were observed in the pineal organ. In adult fish it was not possible to determine the origin of these axons, due to the large numbers of FMRFamide-like IR axons in the teleost brain. However, by following the development of FMRFamide-like IR neurons in the embryonic and larval stickleback brain, it was possible to conclude that, at least in newly hatched fish, FMRFamide-like IR axons that originate in the nucleus nervus terminalis reach the pineal organ. Thus, it seems there is a direct connection between a specialized part of the chemosensory system and both the retina and the pineal organ in teleost fish.

  3. Identification of human synenkephalin-like immunoreactivity in phaechromacytoma tissue using a novel carboxy-terminal radioimmunoassay

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corder, R; Gaillard, R C; Rossier, J

    1987-12-04

    An antiserum raised against the synthetic tyrosinylated carboxy-terminal sequence of synenephalin (Tyr-Glu-Glu-Ser-His-Leu-Leu-Ala) has been used to chromatographically characterize the human synenkephalin-like immunoreactivity extracted from 3 adrenal medullary phaechromocytomas. Gel filtration chromatography identified in each tumor a single peak of 8kDa which on subsequent ion-exchange chromatography had the elution characteristics of an acidic polypeptide. These results are compatible with the human-synenkephalin sequence predicted from cDNA studies, and indicate that this is the authentic peptide. 17 refs.

  4. Interactions between an alpha-helix and a beta-sheet. Energetics of alpha/beta packing in proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, K C; Némethy, G; Rumsey, S; Tuttle, R W; Scheraga, H A

    1985-12-05

    Conformational energy computations have been carried out to determine the favorable ways of packing a right-handed alpha-helix on a right-twisted antiparallel or parallel beta-sheet. Co-ordinate transformations have been developed to relate the position and orientation of the alpha-helix to the beta-sheet. The packing was investigated for a CH3CO-(L-Ala)16-NHCH3 alpha-helix interacting with five-stranded beta-sheets composed of CH3CO-(L-Val)6-NHCH3 chains. All internal and external variables for both the alpha-helix and the beta-sheet were allowed to change during energy minimization. Four distinct classes of low-energy packing arrangements were found for the alpha-helix interacting with both the parallel and the anti-parallel beta-sheet. The classes differ in the orientation of the axis of the alpha-helix relative to the direction of the strands of the right-twisted beta-sheet. In the class with the most favorable arrangement, the alpha-helix is oriented along the strands of the beta-sheet, as a result of attractive non-bonded side-chain-side-chain interactions along the entire length of the alpha-helix. A class with nearly perpendicular orientation of the helix axis to the strands is also of low energy, because it allows similarly extensive attractive interactions. In the other two classes, the helix is oriented diagonally relative to the strands of the beta-sheet. In one of them, it interacts with the convex surface near the middle of the saddle-shaped twisted beta-sheet. In the other, it is oriented along the concave diagonal of the beta-sheet and, therefore, it interacts only with the corner regions of the sheet, so that this packing is energetically less favorable. The packing arrangements involving an antiparallel and a parallel beta-sheet are generally similar, although the antiparallel beta-sheet has been found to be more flexible. The major features of 163 observed alpha/beta packing arrangements in 37 proteins are accounted for in terms of the computed

  5. Kinematic shifts of beta -delayed particles as a probe of beta - nu angular correlations

    CERN Document Server

    Clifford, E T H; Evans, H C; Fästermann, T; Hagberg, E; Hardy, J C; Jackson, K P; Koslowsky, V T; Schmeing, H; Schrewe, U J

    1981-01-01

    Beta-delayed particles undergo a kinematic shift in energy due to recoil motion of the daughter nucleus following beta decay. A careful measurement of this energy shift can be used to establish the ratio of vector to axial vector components in beta transitions. Alpha-beta coincidence data for the beta-delayed alpha decay of /sup 20/Na have been obtained. Component ratios for 6 transitions including the superallowed branch are found. Limits on charge dependent mixing with the analogue state are deduced for 5 states in /sup 20/Ne*. For the superallowed branch the axial vector component is found; the polar vector component is deduced and establishes a value for the vector weak coupling constant of G/sub V/=(1.355+or-0.036)*10/sup -49/ erg cm /sup 3/. (13 refs).

  6. RESEARCH OF BETA AS ADEQUATE RISK MEASURE-IS BETA STILL ALIVE?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ante Perković

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The capital asset pricing model (CAPM is one of the most important models in financial economics and it has a long history of theoretical and empirical investigations. The main underlying concept of the CAPM model is that assets with a high risk (high beta should earn a higher return than assets with a low risk (low beta and vice versa. The implication which can be drawn out of this is that all assets with a beta above zero bear some risk and therefore their expected return is above the return of the risk-free rate. In this research observation on monthly stock prices on Croatian stock market from January 1st 2005 until December 31st 2009 is used to form our sample. CROBEX index is used as proxy of the market portfolio. The results demonstrate that beta can not be trusted in making investment decisions and rejects the validity of the whole CAPM model on Croatian stock market.

  7. Reproduction phase-related expression of GnRH-like immunoreactivity in the olfactory receptor neurons, their projections to the olfactory bulb and in the nervus terminalis in the female Indian major carp Cirrhinus mrigala (Ham.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biju, K C; Singru, Praful S; Schreibman, Martin P; Subhedar, Nishikant

    2003-10-01

    The reproductive biology of the Indian major carp Cirrhinus mrigala is tightly synchronized with the seasonal changes in the environment. While the ovaries show growth from February through June, the fish spawn in July-August to coincide with the monsoon; thereafter the fish pass into the postspawning and resting phases. We investigated the pattern of GnRH immunoreactivity in the olfactory system at regular intervals extending over a period of 35 months. Although no signal was detected in the olfactory organ of fish collected from April through February following year, distinct GnRH-like immunoreactivity appeared in the fish collected in March. Intense immunoreactivity was noticed in several olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and their axonal fibers as they extend over the olfactory nerve, spread in the periphery of the olfactory bulb (OB), and terminate in the glomerular layer. Strong immunoreactivity was seen in some fascicles of the medial olfactory tracts extending from the OB to the telencephalon. Some neurons of the ganglion cells of nervus terminalis showed GnRH immunostaining during March; no immunoreactivity was detected at other times of the year. Plexus of GnRH immunoreactive fibers extending throughout the bulb represented a different component of the olfactory system; the fiber density showed a seasonal pattern that could be related to the status of gonadal maturity. While it was highest in the prespawning phase, significant reduction in the fiber density was noticed in the fish of spawning and the following regressive phases. Taken together the data suggest that the GnRH in the olfactory system of C. mrigala may play a major role in translation of the environmental cues and influence the downstream signals leading to the stimulation of the brain-pituitary-ovary axis.

  8. Regulation of the friction coefficient of articular cartilage by TGF-beta1 and IL-1beta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DuRaine, Grayson; Neu, Corey P; Chan, Stephanie M T; Komvopoulos, Kyriakos; June, Ronald K; Reddi, A Hari

    2009-02-01

    Articular cartilage functions to provide a low-friction surface for joint movement for many decades of life. Superficial zone protein (SZP) is a glycoprotein secreted by chondrocytes in the superficial layer of articular cartilage that contributes to effective boundary lubrication. In both cell and explant cultures, TGF-beta1 and IL-1beta have been demonstrated to, respectively, upregulate and downregulate SZP protein levels. It was hypothesized that the friction coefficient of articular cartilage could also be modulated by these cytokines through SZP regulation. The friction coefficient between cartilage explants (both untreated and treated with TGF-beta1 or IL-1beta) and a smooth glass surface due to sliding in the boundary lubrication regime was measured with a pin-on-disk tribometer. SZP was quantified using an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay and localized by immunohistochemistry. Both TGF-beta1 and IL-1beta treatments resulted in the decrease of the friction coefficient of articular cartilage in a location- and time-dependent manner. Changes in the friction coefficient due to the TGF-beta1 treatment corresponded to increased depth of SZP staining within the superficial zone, while friction coefficient changes due to the IL-1beta treatment were independent of SZP depth of staining. However, the changes induced by the IL-1beta treatment corresponded to changes in surface roughness, determined from the analysis of surface images obtained with an atomic force microscope. These findings demonstrate that the low friction of articular cartilage can be modified by TGF-beta1 and IL-1beta treatment and that the friction coefficient depends on multiple factors, including SZP localization and surface roughness.

  9. A semiconductor beta ray spectrometer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bom, V.R.

    1987-01-01

    Measurement of energy spectra of beta particles emitted from nuclei in beta-decay processes provides information concerning the mass difference of these nuclei between initial and final state. Moreover, experimental beta spectra yield information on the feeding of the levels in the daughter nucleus. Such data are valuable in the construction and checking of the level schemes. This thesis describes the design, construction, testing and usage of a detector for the accurate measurement of the mentioned spectra. In ch. 2 the design and construction of the beta spectrometer, which uses a hyper-pure germanium crystal for energy determination, is described. A simple wire chamber is used to discriminate beta particles from gamma radiation. Disadvantages arise from the large amounts of scattered beta particles deforming the continua. A method is described to minimize the scattering. In ch. 3 some theoretical aspects of data analysis are described and the results of Monte-Carlo simulations of the summation of annihilation radiation are compared with experiments. Ch. 4 comprises the results of the measurements of the beta decay energies of 103-108 In. 87 refs.; 34 figs.; 7 tabs

  10. Development of a gas-ionization {beta}-spectrometer; Etude et realisation d'un spectrometre {beta} a ionisation gazeuse

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Le Du, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France). Centre d' Etudes

    1968-05-15

    We intend to develop in our laboratory a {beta}-spectrometer. This apparatus will have two main objectives: 1 - the determination of the nature and the degree of purity of certain {beta}-emitting radioactive substances; 2 - the study of an activity calibration process for {beta}-emitting radioactive sources. (author) [French] Nous nous proposons d'etudier et de realiser dans notre laboratoire un spectrometre {beta}. Cet appareil aura deux buts principaux: 1 - determiner la nature et le degre de purete de certains corps radioactifs emetteurs {beta}; 2 - permettre l'etude d'un procede d'etalonnage en activite de sources radioactives emetteurs {beta}. (auteur)

  11. Synthesis of the {beta}-phenethyl-mercaptan ({sup 35}S); Synthese du {beta}-phenethylmercaptan ({sup 35}S)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wolff, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1957-07-01

    {beta}-phenethyl-mercaptan ({sup 35}S) has been synthesized by action of elementary radioactive sulphur ({sup 35}S) on {beta}-phenethyl-magnesium-bromide, with a 90 per cent yield. (author) [French] Le {beta}-phenethylmercaptan ({sup 35}S) a ete synthetise par action du soufre radioactif elementaire ({sup 35}S) sur le bromure de {beta}-phenethylmagnesium, avec un rendement de 90 pour cent. (auteur)

  12. Beta Instability and Stochastic Market Weights

    OpenAIRE

    David H. Goldenberg

    1985-01-01

    An argument is given for individual firm beta instability based upon the stochastic character of the market weights defining the market portfolio and the constancy of its beta. This argument is generalized to market weighted portfolios and the form of the stochastic process generating betas is linked to that of the market return process. The implications of this analysis for adequacy of models of beta nonstationarity and estimation of betas are considered in light of the available empirical e...

  13. The effects of lower than conventional doses of oral nadolol on relative beta 1/beta 2-adrenoceptor blockade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeldon, N M; McDevitt, D G; Lipworth, B J

    1994-08-01

    1. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relative beta 1/beta 2 antagonist selectivity of the beta-adrenoceptor blocker nadolol, in lower than conventional clinical doses. 2. Eight normal volunteers received single oral doses of either placebo (PL), nadolol 5 mg (N5), 20 mg (N20) or 80 mg (N80) in a single-blind, randomised crossover design. beta 1-adrenoceptor antagonism was assessed by attenuation of exercise tachycardia, and beta 2-adrenoceptor blockade by effects on salbutamol-induced chronotropic, hypokalaemic and finger tremor responses. The relative percentage attenuation of beta 2 and beta 1-mediated responses was calculated and expressed as beta 2:beta 1 selectivity ratios. 3. Nadolol produced dose-related reductions in exercise tachycardia in keeping with increasing beta 1-adrenoceptor blockade; mean % reduction (95% CI) compared with placebo: N5 10.7 (6.6 to 14.8), N20 21.4 (17.3 to 25.4), N80 38.9 (34.8 to 42.9). However, even the lowest dose of nadolol (5 mg) produced almost complete blunting of beta 2-mediated effects and significantly increase exercise hyperkalaemia; peak exercise hyperkalaemia (mmol l-1) (means and 95% CI): PL 4.88 (4.68 to 5.07), N5 5.36 (5.17 to 5.55), N20 5.48 (5.28 to 5.67), N80 5.42 (5.22 to 5.61). beta 2:beta 1 selectivity ratios significantly increased as the dose of nadolol was reduced. 4. These data suggest that whereas in the clinical dose range nadolol behaves as a non-selective beta-adrenoceptor antagonist, as the dose is reduced this drug demonstrates an increasing degree of selectivity for the beta 2-adrenoceptor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  14. Atualizações sobre beta-hidroxi-beta-metilbutirato: suplementação e efeitos sobre o catabolismo de proteínas New findings on beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyirate: supplementation and effects on the protein catabolism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Everson Araújo Nunes

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available O beta-hidroxi-beta-metilbutirato, metabólito do aminoácido leucina, vem sendo utilizado como suplemento alimentar, em situações específicas, com o intuito de aumentar ou manter a massa isenta de gordura. Os relatos dos efeitos do beta-hidroxi-beta-metilbutirato em estudos recentes fizeram crescer as expectativas sobre sua utilização em casos patológicos. Também foram demonstrados melhores resultados, quando da sua ingestão, no treinamento de força em indivíduos iniciantes e em idosos. Em humanos o beta-hidroxi-beta-metilbutirato tem sido usado como agente anti-catabólico, e em modelos animais foi demonstrado ser eficaz em inibir a atividade de vias proteolíticas em células musculares de indivíduos caquéticos in vitro e in vivo. Os mecanismos participantes desses processos envolvem: a inibição da atividade do sistema ubiquitina proteossoma ATP-dependente, a inibição de vias de sinalização com participação da proteína quinase C-alfa e a diminuição da concentração citoplasmática do fator nuclear - kappa B livre, eventos relacionados ao decréscimo da proteólise em células musculares.The leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate has been used as a nutritional supplement in specific situations to prevent losing or to increase lean mass. Recent studies showed interesting results of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate supplementation in certain disease states. Better results have also been demonstrated when it is taken by starters or old individuals doing strength training. In humans, beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate has been used as an anticatabolic agent and in animal models it has been demonstrated to be effective in inhibiting the activity of the proteolytic pathways in muscle cells of extremely weak individuals in vivo and in vitro. The mechanisms that participate in this process involve: inhibition of the ATP-ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, inhibition of the signalization pathways involving protein kinase C

  15. High beta tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dory, R.A.; Berger, D.P.; Charlton, L.A.; Hogan, J.T.; Munro, J.K.; Nelson, D.B.; Peng, Y.K.M.; Sigmar, D.J.; Strickler, D.J.

    1978-01-01

    MHD equilibrium, stability, and transport calculations are made to study the accessibility and behavior of ''high beta'' tokamak plasmas in the range β approximately 5 to 15 percent. For next generation devices, beta values of at least 8 percent appear to be accessible and stable if there is a conducting surface nearby

  16. Characterization of a beta-glycosidase highly active on disaccharides and of a beta-galactosidase from Tenebrio molitor midgut lumen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Alexandre H P; Terra, Walter R; Ferreira, Clélia

    2003-02-01

    The midgut of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae has four beta-glycosidases. The properties of two of these enzymes (betaGly1 and betaGly2) have been described elsewhere. In this paper, the characterization of the other two glycosidases (betaGly3 and betaGly4) is described. BetaGly3 has one active site, hydrolyzes disaccharides, cellodextrins, synthetic substrates and beta-glucosides produced by plants. The enzyme is inhibited by amygdalin, cellotriose, cellotetraose and cellopentaose in high concentrations, probably due to transglycosylation. betaGly3 hydrolyzes beta 1,4-glycosidic linkages with a catalytic rate independent of the substrate polymerization degree (k(int)) of 11.9 s(-1). Its active site is formed by four subsites, where subsites +1 and -1 bind glucose residues with higher affinity than subsite +2. The main role of betaGly3 seems to be disaccharide hydrolysis. BetaGly4 is a beta-galactosidase, since it has highest activity against beta-galactosides. It can also hydrolyze fucosides, but not glucosides, and has Triton X-100 as a non-essential activator (K(a)=15 microM, pH 4.5). betaGly4 has two active sites that can hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl beta-galactoside (NPbetaGal). The one hydrolyzing NPbetaGal with more efficiency is also active against methylumbellipheryl beta-D-galactoside and lactose. The other active site hydrolyzes NPbetaFucoside and binds NPbetaGal weakly. BetaGly4 hydrolyzes hydrophobic substrates with high catalytical efficiency and is able to bind octyl-beta-thiogalactoside in its active site with high affinity. The betaGly4 physiological role is supposed to be the hydrolysis of galactolipids that are found in membranes from vegetal tissues. As the enzyme has a hydrophobic site where Triton X-100 can bind, it might be activated by membrane lipids, thus becoming fully active only at the surface of cell membranes.

  17. Dynamic returns of beta arbitrage

    OpenAIRE

    Nascimento, Mafalda

    2017-01-01

    This thesis studies the patterns of the abnormal returns of the beta strategy. The topic can be helpful for professional investors, who intend to achieve a better performance in their portfolios. Following the methodology of Lou, Polk, & Huang (2016), the COBAR measure is computed in order to determine the levels of beta arbitrage in the market in each point in time. It is argued that beta arbitrage activity can have impact on the returns of the beta strategy. In fact, it is demonstrated that...

  18. DCLK1 immunoreactivity in colorectal neoplasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bellows CF

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Giuseppe Gagliardi1, Monica Goswami1, Roberto Passera2, Charles F Bellows11Department of Surgery and Pathology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA; 2Division of Nuclear Medicine Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria San Giovanni Battista, Turin, ItalyIntroduction: Microtubule-associated doublecortin and CaM kinase-like-1 (DCLK1 is a novel candidate marker for intestinal stem cells. The aim of our study was to assess DCLK1 immunoreactivity in colorectal carcinogenesis and its correlation with prognosis.Methods: DCLK1 immunostaining was performed in colorectal tissue from 71 patients, including 18 adenomatous polyps, 40 primary adenocarcinomas, and 14 metastatic lesions. Each case was evaluated by a combined scoring method based on the intensity of staining (score 0–3 and the percentage of tissue staining positive (score 0–3. Immunoexpression for DCLK1 was considered as positive when the combined score was 2–6 and negative with a score of 0–1.Results: Overall, 14/18 (78% of polyps, 30/40 (75% of primary adenocarcinomas, and 7/14 (50% of distant metastases were positive for DCLK1. In adenomatous polyps and primary cancer there was no association between DCLK1 staining score and tumor pathology. However, after curative colorectal cancer resection, patients whose tumor had a high (≥5 combined staining score had increased cancer-specific mortality compared to patients with low (0–4 staining score (hazard ratio 5.89; 95% confidence interval: 1.22–28.47; P = 0.027.Conclusion: We found that DCLK1 is frequently expressed in colorectal neoplasia and may be associated with poor prognosis. Further studies are necessary to validate the use of DCLK1 as a prognostic marker.Keywords: DCLK1, DCAMKL-1, gastrointestinal stem cell, cancer stem cell, adenomatous polyps, liver metastasis, immunohistochemistry

  19. Equine endometrial fibrosis correlates with 11beta-HSD2, TGF-beta1 and ACE activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganjam, V K; Evans, T J

    2006-03-27

    Endometrial periglandular fibrosis (EPF) contributes to embryonic and fetal loss in mares. Equine EPF correlates inversely with conception and successful gestation. In the modified Kenney endometrial biopsy classification system, EPF categories I, IIA, IIB, and III correspond to minimal, mild, moderate, and severe fibrosis (+/-inflammation), respectively. Paraffin sections of biopsy specimens were stained with H&E, and picrosirius red (specific for fibrillar collagens types I and III), to determine %EPCVF. Endometrial ACE-binding activity, TGF-beta1 and 11beta-HSD2 activities were also measured. Ultrastructural changes in EPF categories IIB and III endometria strongly suggested myofibroblastic transformation. ACE-binding activity was highest in EPF category IIB; however, endometrial TGF-beta1 and 11beta-HSD2 activities were significantly correlated to the severity of EPF (P<0.05). We conclude that, locally generated angiotensin II initiates the expression of TGF-beta1 resulting in myofibroblastic transformation. 11Beta-HSD2 in concert appears to modulate the severity of endometrial fibrosis.

  20. [{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT-FE and [{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT-FP are superior to [{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT for dopamine transporter visualization: Autoradiographic evaluation in the human brain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guenther, Ilonka; Hall, Haakan; Halldin, Christer; Swahn, Carl-Gunnar; Farde, Lars; Sedvall, Goeran

    1997-10-01

    The binding of the three dopamine transporter radioligands ([{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT, [{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT-FE, and [{sup 125}I]{beta}-CIT-FP) was studied using whole-hemisphere autoradiography on postmortem human brains. The autoradiograms revealed an intense and homogeneous labeling of the nucleus caudatus and putamen but also to varying extent to serotonergic and noradrenergic transporters of neocortex and thalamus. The order of specificity estimated (striatum over neocortex ratios) was {beta}-CIT-FP > {beta}-CIT-FE >> {beta}-CIT, suggesting that {beta}-CIT-FE and {beta}-CIT-FP should be preferred for in vivo studies of the dopamine transporter in the human brain.

  1. The spatiotemporal relationships between chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans and terminations of calcitonin gene related peptide and parvalbumin immunoreactive afferents in the spinal cord of mouse embryos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Liqing; Yu, Chao; Wang, Jun; Zhao, Hui; Chan, Sun-On

    2017-08-10

    Chondroitin sulfate (CS) proteoglycans (PGs) are a family of complex molecules in the extracellular matrix and cell surface that regulate axon growth and guidance during development of the central nervous system. In this study, the expression of CSPGs was investigated in the mouse spinal cord at late embryonic and neonatal stages using CS-56 antibody. CS immunoreactivity was observed abundantly in ventral regions of spinal cord of embryonic day (E) 15 embryos. At E16 to E18, CS expression spread dorsally, but never reached the superficial layers of the dorsal horn. This pattern was maintained until postnatal day 4, the latest stage examined. Antibodies against calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) and parvalbumin (PV) were employed to label primary afferents from nociceptors and proprioceptors, respectively. CGRP-immunoreactive fibers terminated in the superficial regions of the dorsal horn where CSPGs were weakly expressed, whereas PV-immunoreactive fibers were found in CSPG-rich regions in the ventral horn. Therefore, we conclude that CS expression is spatiotemporally regulated in the spinal cord, which correlates to the termination of sensory afferents. This pattern suggests a role of CSPGs on patterning afferents in the spinal cord, probably through a differential response of axons to these growth inhibitory molecules. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. A comparison of heart function and arrhythmia in clinically asymptomatic patients with beta thalassemia intermedia and beta thalassemia major.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amoozgar, Hamid; Zeighami, Samaneh; Haghpanah, Sezaneh; Karimi, Mehran

    2017-01-01

    The goal of this study was to compare heart function and arrhythmia in clinically asymptomatic patients with beta thalassemia intermedia and beta thalassemia major. In this cross-sectional study, 60 patients with beta thalassemia major and 60 patients with beta thalassemia intermedia who had clinically no symptoms of arrhythmia and clinically normal heart function were evaluated using 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring and echocardiography. For data analysis SPSS ver.20 software was used. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean age of the beta thalassemia intermedia patients was 24.18 ± 7.9 years and the mean age in beta thalassemia major was 24.38 ± 7.7 years (P>0.05). Premature atrial contractions (PACs) were observed in 14 (23.3%) patients with beta thalassemia intermedia and in 22 (36.6%) beta thalassemia major patients. Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) were detected in 8 (13.3%) patients in the beta thalassemia intermediate group and 16 (26.6) patients in the beta thalassemia major group, respectively. The left ventricular diastolic dimension, end-diastolic volume, and stroke volume were significantly higher in beta thalassemia intermedia group (Pintermedia group. Both atrial and ventricular arrhythmias were more common in the beta thalassemia major group. Higher end-diastolic volume and stroke volume were detected in the beta thalassemia intermedia group. Pulmonary acceleration time was lower in the beta thalassemia intermedia group, which can be an indicator of higher pulmonary pressure.

  3. Integration of BETA with Eclipse

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Peter; Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Enevoldsen, Mads Brøgger

    2004-01-01

    This paper presents language interoperability issues appearing in order to implement support for the BETA language in the Java-based Eclipse integrated development environment. One of the challenges is to implement plug-ins in BETA and be able to load them in Eclipse. In order to do this, some fo...... it is possible to implement plug-ins in BETA and even inherit from Java classes. In the paper the two approaches are described together with part of the mapping from BETA to Java class files. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15710661...

  4. Development of beta reference radiations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan Zhaoyong; Cai Shanyu; Li Yanbo; Yin Wei; Feng Jiamin; Sun Yuhua; Li Yongqiang

    1997-09-01

    A system of beta reference radiation has been developed, that is composed of 740 MBq 147 Pm beta source, 74 MBq and 740 MBq 90 Sr + 90 Y β sources, compensation filters, a source handling tool, a source jig, spacing bars, a shutter, a control unit and a beta dose meter calibration stand. For 740 MBq 147 Pm and 74 MBq 90 Sr + 90 Y beta reference radiations with compensation filters and 740 MBq 90 Sr + 90 Y beta reference radiation without compensation filter, at 20 cm, 30 cm and 30 cm distance separately; the residual energy of maximum is 0.14 MeV, 1.98 MeV and 2.18 MeV separately; the absorbed dose to tissue D (0.07) is 1.547 mGy/h (1996-05-20), 5.037 mGy/h (1996-05-10) and 93.57 mGy/h (1996-05-15) separately; the total uncertainty is 3.0%, 1.7% and 1.7% separately. For the first and the second beta reference radiation, the dose rate variability in the area of 18 cm diameter in the plane perpendicular to the beta-ray beam axis is within +-6% and +-3% separately. (3 refs., 2 tabs., 8 figs.)

  5. Immunoreactive transforming growth factor alpha and epidermal growth factor in oral squamous cell carcinomas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Therkildsen, M H; Poulsen, Steen Seier; Bretlau, P

    1993-01-01

    Forty oral squamous cell carcinomas have been investigated immunohistochemically for the presence of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). The same cases were recently characterized for the expression of EGF-receptors. TGF-alpha was detected...... previous results confirms the existence of TGF-alpha, EGF, and EGF-receptors in the majority of oral squamous cell carcinomas and their metastases......., the cells above the basal cell layer were positive for both TGF-alpha and EGF. The same staining pattern was observed in oral mucosa obtained from healthy persons. In moderately to well differentiated carcinomas, the immunoreactivity was mainly confined to the cytologically more differentiated cells, thus...

  6. In vitro effects of beta-lactams combined with beta-lactamase inhibitors against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, S; Arai, S; Hayashi, S; Sakaguchi, T

    1989-01-01

    The effects of combinations of beta-lactams with two beta-lactamase inhibitors, sulbactam and clavulanic acid, were determined in vitro against 22 clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Combinations of cefpirome, cefotaxime, and cefazolin with sulbactam (10 micrograms/ml) showed synergistic effects against more than 70% of the strains. Combinations of methicillin and penicillin G with sulbactam also showed synergistic effects against 50 and 68% of the strains, respectively, while cefotiam, moxalactam, flomoxef, and cefmetazole in combination with sulbactam showed such effects against only 40% or fewer. Clavulanic acid was synergistic only when combined with penicillin G, the effect probably being due to the beta-lactamase inhibition by the inhibitor. Sulbactam did not improve the antimicrobial activities of the beta-lactams against methicillin-susceptible S. aureus strains. At 42 degrees C the MICs of cefotaxime, methicillin, and flomoxef alone were markedly decreased from the values at 35 degrees C, and no synergy between these beta-lactams and sulbactam appeared. The resistance to penicillin G was not inhibited by incubation at 42 degrees C, and combinations of penicillin G with sulbactam and clavulanic acid showed synergy. The amounts of beta-lactamase produced were not related to the decreases in the MICs of the beta-lactams, except for penicillin G combined with sulbactam. Clavulanic acid showed slightly stronger beta-lactamase-inhibiting activity than sulbactam did. These results suggest that the synergy between sulbactam and the beta-lactams, except for penicillin G, may not be due to beta-lactamase inhibition but to suppression of the methicillin-resistant S. aureus-specific resistance based on other factors. PMID:2786369

  7. Alpha and beta detection and spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saro, S.

    1984-01-01

    The theory of alpha and beta radioactive decay, the interaction of alpha and beta particles with matter, and their detection and spectrometry are dealt with in seven chapters: 1. Alpha transformation of atomic nuclei; 2. Basic properties of detectors and statistics of detection; 3. Alpha detectors and spectrometers; 4. Applications of alpha detection and spectrometry; 5. Beta transformation of atomic nuclei; 6. Beta particle detectors and spectrometers; 7. Detection of low energy beta particles. Chapter 8 is devoted to sampling and preparation of samples for radiometry. (E.F.)

  8. The interaction of beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) with mouse class I major histocompatibility antigens and its ability to support peptide binding. A comparison of human and mouse beta 2m

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, L O; Stryhn, A; Holter, T L

    1995-01-01

    of class I molecules are involved in peptide binding, whereas most of class I molecules are involved in beta 2m binding. We propose that mouse beta 2m interacts with the minor peptide binding (i.e. the "empty") fraction with a lower affinity than human beta 2m does, whereas mouse and human beta 2m interact......The function of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules is to sample peptides derived from intracellular proteins and to present these peptides to CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In this paper, biochemical assays addressing MHC class I binding of both peptide and beta 2-microglobulin...... (beta 2m) have been used to examine the assembly of the trimolecular MHC class I/beta 2m/peptide complex. Recombinant human beta 2m and mouse beta 2ma have been generated to compare the binding of the two beta 2m to mouse class I. It is frequently assumed that human beta 2m binds to mouse class I heavy...

  9. Misleading Betas: An Educational Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, James; Halcoussis, Dennis; Phillips, G. Michael

    2012-01-01

    The dual-beta model is a generalization of the CAPM model. In the dual-beta model, separate beta estimates are provided for up-market and down-market days. This paper uses the historical "Anscombe quartet" results which illustrated how very different datasets can produce the same regression coefficients to motivate a discussion of the…

  10. Beta-glucosidase variants and polynucleotides encoding same

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wogulis, Mark; Harris, Paul; Osborn, David

    2017-06-27

    The present invention relates to beta-glucosidase variants, e.g. beta-glucosidase variants of a parent Family GH3A beta-glucosidase from Aspergillus fumigatus. The present invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding the beta-glucosidase variants; nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides; and methods of using the beta-glucosidase variants.

  11. Characterization of the inclusion complex ropivacaine: {beta}-cyclodextrin; Caracterizacao do complexo de inclusso ropivacaina: {beta}-ciclodextrina

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fraceto, Leonardo Fernandes [Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho, Sorocaba, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Ambiental]. E-mail: leonardo@sorocaba.unesp.br; Goncalves, Marcos Moises [Universidade de Sorocaba, SP (Brazil); Moraes, Carolina Morales; Araujo, Daniele Ribeiro de; Zanella, Luciana; Paula, Eneida de [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP (Brazil). Inst. de Biologia. Dept. de Bioquimica; Pertinhez, Thelma de Aguiar [Universidade de Parma (Italy). Dept. de Medicina Experimental

    2007-09-15

    Ropivacaine (RVC) is a widely used local anesthetic. The complexation of RVC with {beta}-cyclodextrin ({beta}-CD) is of great interest for the development of more efficient local anesthetic formulations. The present work focuses on the characterization of the RVC:{beta}-CD complex by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The stoichiometry of the complex is 1:2 RVC:{beta}-CD. DOSY-NMR shows that the association constant is 55.5 M{sup -1}. Longitudinal relaxation time results show that RVC changes its mobility in the presence of {beta}-CD. This study is focused on the physicochemical characterization of inclusion complexes that are potentials options for pain treatment. (author)

  12. Activities of beta-lactam antibiotics against Escherichia coli strains producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacoby, G A; Carreras, I

    1990-01-01

    Seven extended-spectrum beta-lactamases related to TEM and four enzymes derived from SHV-1 were transferred to a common Escherichia coli host so that the activity of a variety of beta-lactams could be tested in a uniform genetic environment. For most derivatives, penicillinase activity was 10% or less than that of strains making TEM-1, TEM-2, or SHV-1 beta-lactamase, suggesting that reduced catalytic efficiency accompanied the broader substrate spectrum. Despite this deficit, resistance to aztreonam, carumonam, cefdinir, cefepime, cefixime, cefmenoxime, cefotaxime, cefotiam, cefpirome, cefpodoxime, ceftazidime, ceftibuten, ceftizoxime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, and E1040 was enhanced. For strains producing TEM-type enzymes, however, MICs of carumonam, cefepime, cefmenoxime, cefotiam, cefpirome, and ceftibuten were 8 micrograms/ml or less. Susceptibilities of cefmetazole, cefotetan, cefoxitin, flomoxef, imipenem, meropenem, moxalactam, temocillin, FCE 22101, and Sch 34343 were unaffected. FCE 22101, imipenem, meropenem, and Sch 34343 were inhibitory for all strains at 1 microgram/ml or less. In E. coli an OmpF- porin mutation in combination with an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase enhanced resistance to many of these agents, but generally by only fourfold. Hyperproduction of chromosomal AmpC beta-lactamase increased resistance to 7-alpha-methoxy beta-lactams but not that to temocillin. When tested at 8 micrograms/ml, clavulanate was more potent than sulbactam or tazobactam in overcoming resistance to ampicillin, while cefoperazone-sulbactam was more active than ticarcillin-clavulanate or piperacillin-tazobactam, especially against TEM-type extended-spectrum beta-lactamases. PMID:2193623

  13. Neurochemical characterization of sea lamprey taste buds and afferent gustatory fibers: presence of serotonin, calretinin, and CGRP immunoreactivity in taste bud bi-ciliated cells of the earliest vertebrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barreiro-Iglesias, Antón; Villar-Cerviño, Verona; Villar-Cheda, Begoña; Anadón, Ramón; Rodicio, María Celina

    2008-12-01

    Neuroactive substances such as serotonin and other monoamines have been suggested to be involved in the transmission of gustatory signals from taste bud cells to afferent fibers. Lampreys are the earliest vertebrates that possess taste buds, although these differ in structure from taste buds in jawed vertebrates, and their neurochemistry remains unknown. We used immunofluorescence methods with antibodies raised against serotonin, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), calretinin, and acetylated alpha-tubulin to characterize the neurochemistry and innervation of taste buds in the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus L. For localization of proliferative cells in taste buds we used bromodeoxyuridine labeling and proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunohistochemistry. Results with both markers indicate that proliferating cells are restricted to a few basal cells and that almost all cells in taste buds are nonproliferating. A large number of serotonin-, calretinin-, and CGRP-immunoreactive bi-ciliated cells were revealed in lamprey taste buds. This suggests that serotonin participates in the transmission of gustatory signals and indicates that this substance appeared early on in vertebrate evolution. The basal surface of the bi-ciliated taste bud cells was contacted by tubulin-immunoreactive fibers. Some of the fibers surrounding the taste bud were calretinin immunoreactive. Lamprey taste bud cells or afferent fibers did not exhibit TH, GABA, glutamate, or NPY immunoreactivity, which suggests that expression of these substances evolved in taste buds of some gnathostomes lines after the separation of gnathostomes and lampreys. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  14. Serial alterations in digital hemodynamics and endothelin-1 immunoreactivity, platelet-neutrophil aggregation, and concentrations of nitric oxide, insulin, and glucose in blood obtained from horses following carbohydrate overload.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eades, Susan C; Stokes, Ashley M; Johnson, Philip J; LeBlanc, Casey J; Ganjam, Venkataseshu K; Buff, Preston R; Moore, Rustin M

    2007-01-01

    To quantify changes in endothelium-derived factors and relate those changes to various aspects of digital hemodynamics during the prodromal stages of carbohydrate overload (CHO)-induced laminitis in horses. 20 adult horses without abnormalities of the digit. Digital and jugular venous blood samples were collected at 1-hour intervals (for assessment of endothelin-1 [ET-1] immunoreactivity and measurement of glucose, insulin, and nitric oxide [NO] concentrations) or 4-hour intervals (CBC and platelet-neutrophil aggregate assessment) for 8 hours or 16 hours after induction of CHO-associated laminitis in horses treated with an ET-1 antagonist. Effects of treatment, collection site, and time and the random effects of horse on each variable were analyzed by use of a repeated-measures model. Where treatment and collection site had no significant effect, data were combined. Compared with baseline values, CHO resulted in changes in several variables, including a significant increase from baseline in digital blood ET-like immunoreactivity at 11 hours; digital blood ET-like immunoreactivity was significantly greater than that in jugular venous blood at 8, 9, 11, and 12 hours. Digital and jugular venous blood concentrations of glucose increased from baseline significantly at 3, 4, and 5 hours; insulin concentration increased significantly at 5 hours; and the number of platelet-neutrophil aggregates increased significantly at 12 hours. In horses, concurrent increases in venous blood ET-1 immunoreactivity, insulin and glucose concentrations, and platelet-neutrophil aggregates support a role of endothelial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of CHO-induced laminitis.

  15. TGF-{beta}-stimulated aberrant expression of class III {beta}-tubulin via the ERK signaling pathway in cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, Eun Jee [Department of Ophthalmology, National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital, Gyeonggi-do (Korea, Republic of); Chun, Ji Na; Jung, Sun-Ah [Konyang University Myunggok Medical Research Institute, Kim' s Eye Hospital, Konyang University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Jin Won [Department of Biology, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Joon H., E-mail: joonhlee@konyang.ac.kr [Konyang University Myunggok Medical Research Institute, Kim' s Eye Hospital, Konyang University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-11-18

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer TGF-{beta} induces aberrant expression of {beta}III in RPE cells via the ERK pathway. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer TGF-{beta} increases O-GlcNAc modification of {beta}III in RPE cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Mature RPE cells have the capacity to express a neuron-associated gene by TGF-{beta}. -- Abstract: The class III {beta}-tubulin isotype ({beta}{sub III}) is expressed exclusively by neurons within the normal human retina and is not present in normal retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in situ or in the early phase of primary cultures. However, aberrant expression of class III {beta}-tubulin has been observed in passaged RPE cells and RPE cells with dedifferentiated morphology in pathologic epiretinal membranes from idiopathic macular pucker, proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Transforming growth factor-{beta} (TGF-{beta}) has been implicated in dedifferentiation of RPE cells and has a critical role in the development of proliferative vitreoretinal diseases. Here, we investigated the potential effects of TGF-{beta} on the aberrant expression of class III {beta}-tubulin and the intracellular signaling pathway mediating these changes. TGF-{beta}-induced aberrant expression and O-linked-{beta}-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNac) modification of class III {beta}-tubulin in cultured RPE cells as determined using Western blotting, RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry. TGF-{beta} also stimulated phosphorylation of ERK. TGF-{beta}-induced aberrant expression of class III {beta}-tubulin was significantly reduced by pretreatment with U0126, an inhibitor of ERK phosphorylation. Our findings indicate that TGF-{beta} stimulated aberrant expression of class III {beta}-tubulin via activation of the ERK signaling pathway. These data demonstrate that mature RPE cells have the capacity to express a neuron-associated gene in response to TGF-{beta} stimulation and provide useful information

  16. Milk Intolerance, Beta-Casein and Lactose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pal, Sebely; Woodford, Keith; Kukuljan, Sonja; Ho, Suleen

    2015-08-31

    True lactose intolerance (symptoms stemming from lactose malabsorption) is less common than is widely perceived, and should be viewed as just one potential cause of cows' milk intolerance. There is increasing evidence that A1 beta-casein, a protein produced by a major proportion of European-origin cattle but not purebred Asian or African cattle, is also associated with cows' milk intolerance. In humans, digestion of bovine A1 beta-casein, but not the alternative A2 beta-casein, releases beta-casomorphin-7, which activates μ-opioid receptors expressed throughout the gastrointestinal tract and body. Studies in rodents show that milk containing A1 beta-casein significantly increases gastrointestinal transit time, production of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and the inflammatory marker myeloperoxidase compared with milk containing A2 beta-casein. Co-administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone blocks the myeloperoxidase and gastrointestinal motility effects, indicating opioid signaling pathway involvement. In humans, a double-blind, randomized cross-over study showed that participants consuming A1 beta-casein type cows' milk experienced statistically significantly higher Bristol stool values compared with those receiving A2 beta-casein milk. Additionally, a statistically significant positive association between abdominal pain and stool consistency was observed when participants consumed the A1 but not the A2 diet. Further studies of the role of A1 beta-casein in milk intolerance are needed.

  17. Milk Intolerance, Beta-Casein and Lactose

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebely Pal

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available True lactose intolerance (symptoms stemming from lactose malabsorption is less common than is widely perceived, and should be viewed as just one potential cause of cows’ milk intolerance. There is increasing evidence that A1 beta-casein, a protein produced by a major proportion of European-origin cattle but not purebred Asian or African cattle, is also associated with cows’ milk intolerance. In humans, digestion of bovine A1 beta-casein, but not the alternative A2 beta-casein, releases beta-casomorphin-7, which activates μ-opioid receptors expressed throughout the gastrointestinal tract and body. Studies in rodents show that milk containing A1 beta-casein significantly increases gastrointestinal transit time, production of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and the inflammatory marker myeloperoxidase compared with milk containing A2 beta-casein. Co-administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone blocks the myeloperoxidase and gastrointestinal motility effects, indicating opioid signaling pathway involvement. In humans, a double-blind, randomized cross-over study showed that participants consuming A1 beta-casein type cows’ milk experienced statistically significantly higher Bristol stool values compared with those receiving A2 beta-casein milk. Additionally, a statistically significant positive association between abdominal pain and stool consistency was observed when participants consumed the A1 but not the A2 diet. Further studies of the role of A1 beta-casein in milk intolerance are needed.

  18. Co-localization of glycine and gaba immunoreactivity in interneurons in Macaca monkey cerebellar cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crook, J; Hendrickson, A; Robinson, F R

    2006-09-15

    Previous work demonstrates that the cerebellum uses glycine as a fast inhibitory neurotransmitter [Ottersen OP, Davanger S, Storm-Mathisen J (1987) Glycine-like immunoreactivity in the cerebellum of rat and Senegalese baboon, Papio papio: a comparison with the distribution of GABA-like immunoreactivity and with [3H]glycine and [3H]GABA uptake. Exp Brain Res 66(1):211-221; Ottersen OP, Storm-Mathisen J, Somogyi P (1988) Colocalization of glycine-like and GABA-like immunoreactivities in Golgi cell terminals in the rat cerebellum: a postembedding light and electron microscopic study. Brain Res 450(1-2):342-353; Dieudonne S (1995) Glycinergic synaptic currents in Golgi cells of the rat cerebellum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:1441-1445; Dumoulin A, Triller A, Dieudonne S (2001) IPSC kinetics at identified GABAergic and mixed GABAergic and glycinergic synapses onto cerebellar Golgi cells. J Neurosci 21(16):6045-6057; Dugue GP, Dumoulin A, Triller A, Dieudonne S (2005) Target-dependent use of coreleased inhibitory transmitters at central synapses. J Neurosci 25(28):6490-6498; Zeilhofer HU, Studler B, Arabadzisz D, Schweizer C, Ahmadi S, Layh B, Bosl MR, Fritschy JM (2005) Glycinergic neurons expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein in bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic mice. J Comp Neurol 482(2):123-141]. In the rat cerebellum glycine is not released by itself but is released together with GABA by Lugaro cells onto Golgi cells [Dumoulin A, Triller A, Dieudonne S (2001) IPSC kinetics at identified GABAergic and mixed GABAergic and glycinergic synapses onto cerebellar Golgi cells. J Neurosci 21(16):6045-6057] and by Golgi cells onto unipolar brush and granule cells [Dugue GP, Dumoulin A, Triller A, Dieudonne S (2005) Target-dependent use of coreleased inhibitory transmitters at central synapses. J Neurosci 25(28):6490-6498]. Here we report, from immunolabeling evidence in Macaca cerebellum, that interneurons in the granular cell layer are glycine+ at a density

  19. Immunoreactive cortisone in droppings reflect stress levels, diet and growth rate of gull-billed tern chicks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albano, Noelia; Santiago-Quesada, Francisco; Masero, José A; Sánchez-Guzmán, Juan M; Möstl, Erich

    2015-03-01

    Blood levels of corticosterone have been traditionally analyzed to assess stress levels in birds; however, measuring steroid hormone metabolites in feces and droppings has gained much interest as a noninvasive technique successfully used for such purposed in vertebrates. Diet may affect these fecal metabolite levels (e.g., due to nutritional stress), however, this variable has not been taken into account in studies with chicks despite the great dietary flexibility of many avian species. In this study, we addressed for the first time this key issue and validated the technique in wild gull-billed tern chicks (Gelochelidon nilotica). Several enzyme immunoassays were used to determine the most appropriate test to measure the stress response. Subsequently, we performed an experiment in captivity to assess adrenocortical activity in gull-billed tern chicks fed with two diets: piscivorous vs. insectivorous. Finally, the relation between the chicks' growth rate and excreted immunoreactive glucocorticoid metabolites (EGMs) was also evaluated. We found the immunoreactive cortisone metabolites to be a good index of stress (as being an index of adrenocortical reactivity) in chicks of this species. Fish-fed chicks had higher levels of cortisone metabolites when comparing both concentration and total daily excreted metabolites. Within each treatment diet, cortisone metabolite levels and growth rates were negatively correlated. These findings suggest that the diet should be considered when using this technique for comparative purposes and highlight the trade-off between stress levels and chicks growth rates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Cross-class resistance to non-beta-lactam antimicrobials in extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procop, Gary W; Tuohy, Marion J; Wilson, Deborah A; Williams, Delisa; Hadziyannis, Emilia; Hall, Gerri S

    2003-08-01

    Extended spectrum beta-lactamases are modified beta-lactamase enzymes that impart resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and make all beta-lactam antibiotics and cephalosporins useless for therapy. We compared the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing and non-ESBL-producing isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. The ESBL producers had significantly diminished susceptibility compared with the non-ESBL producers for gentamicin (P < .001), tobramycin (P < .001), amikacin (P < .005), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (P < .01), ciprofloxacin (P < .001), and nitrofurantoin (P < .001). All isolates were susceptible to imipenem. ESBL-producing K pneumoniae may also be resistant to non-beta-lactam antibiotics. Therefore, susceptibility testing of these isolates is critical for guiding therapy.

  1. Dosimetry of {beta} extensive sources; Dosimetria de fuentes {beta} extensas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rojas C, E.L.; Lallena R, A.M. [Departamento de Fisica Moderna, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada (Spain)

    2002-07-01

    In this work, we have been studied, making use of the Penelope Monte Carlo simulation code, the dosimetry of {beta} extensive sources in situations of spherical geometry including interfaces. These configurations are of interest in the treatment of the called cranealfaringyomes of some synovia leisure of knee and other problems of interest in medical physics. Therefore, its application can be extended toward problems of another areas with similar geometric situation and beta sources. (Author)

  2. Beta-1-Selective Beta-Blockers and Cognitive Functions in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkauskas, Julius; Noreikaite, Aurelija; Bunevicius, Adomas; Brozaitiene, Julija; Neverauskas, Julius; Mickuviene, Narseta; Bunevicius, Robertas

    2016-01-01

    The association between current beta-1-selective beta-blocker use and cognitive function was evaluated in 722 patients with coronary artery disease without dementia. Beta-1-selective beta-blocker use was associated with worse incidental learning independently of sociodemographic characteristics, clinical coronary artery disease severity, and depression/anxiety.

  3. Immunoreactivity of S100β protein in the hippocampus of chinchilla

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krawczyk Aleksandra

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate S100β protein in astrocytes of CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus proper and the dentate gyrus with the hilus yet undefined in mature males of chinchilla. The presence of S100β was determined using indirect immunohistochemical peroxidase-antiperoxidase method with specific monoclonal antibody against this protein. Most of the S100β-positive cells were detected in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus and in the middle part of the hilus. In CA3 area, it was found that the most numerous cells with S100β are in stratum radiatum. In CA1 area, there were single astrocytes expressing this protein. This data demonstrates species differences and a large quantity of S100β immunoreactive cells in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus of chinchilla, which may be associated with structural reorganisation of the hippocampus and with neurogenesis, learning, and memorising process dependent on the hippocampus.

  4. Superconducting tests of beta = 0.1 and beta = 0.2 resonators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Storm, D.W.; Amsbaugh, J.F.; Corcoran, D.T.; Howe, M.A.

    1985-01-01

    Several low beta (0.10) and two high beta (0.21) lead plated copper quarter wave resonators were cooled down, multipactor conditioned, tested, helium conditioned, and retested. The choice of the quarter wave resonator and of the lead plated copper technology is discussed. The fabrication is described and techniques for conditioning the resonators are presented. Performances are presented. 5 refs., 4 figs

  5. The effect of repeated stress on KCC2 and NKCC1 immunoreactivity in the hippocampus of female mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takao Tsukahara

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available K+–Cl− co-transporter (KCC2 and Na+–K+–2Cl− co-transporter (NKCC1 are the main regulators of neuronal intracellular chloride concentration; altered expression patterns of KCC2 and NKCC1 have been reported in several neurodegenerative diseases. In this paper, we show the effect of repeated stress on KCC2, NKCC1, and serine 940 phosphorylated KCC2 (pKCC2ser940 immunoreactivity.The data were obtained from the hippocampus of female mice using single-plane confocal microscopy images. The mean fluorescence intensity of the perisomatic area of neurons, defined as raw fluorescence intensity (RFI was calculated. Repeated stress (RS resulted in a decrease in perisomatic area of immunoreactive (IR-KCC2 and an increase of the IR-NKCC1. In addition, RS decreased perisomatic IR-pKCC2ser940, corresponding to that of KCC2. The data in this article support the results of a previous study [1] and provide the details of immunohistological methods. Interpretation of the data in this article can be found in “Repeated stress-induced expression pattern alterations of the hippocampal chloride transporters KCC2 and NKCC1 associated with behavioral abnormalities in female mice” by Tsukahara et al. [1]. Keywords: KCC2, NKCC1, repeated stress, IHC

  6. Long-term air pollution exposure is associated with neuroinflammation, an altered innate immune response, disruption of the blood-brain barrier, ultrafine particulate deposition, and accumulation of amyloid beta-42 and alpha-synuclein in children and young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; Solt, Anna C; Henríquez-Roldán, Carlos; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Nuse, Bryan; Herritt, Lou; Villarreal-Calderón, Rafael; Osnaya, Norma; Stone, Ida; García, Raquel; Brooks, Diane M; González-Maciel, Angelica; Reynoso-Robles, Rafael; Delgado-Chávez, Ricardo; Reed, William

    2008-02-01

    Air pollution is a serious environmental problem. We investigated whether residency in cities with high air pollution is associated with neuroinflammation/neurodegeneration in healthy children and young adults who died suddenly. We measured mRNA cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-1beta, and CD14 in target brain regions from low (n = 12) or highly exposed residents (n = 35) aged 25.1 +/- 1.5 years. Upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-1beta, and CD14 in olfactory bulb, frontal cortex, substantia nigrae and vagus nerves; disruption of the blood-brain barrier; endothelial activation, oxidative stress, and inflammatory cell trafficking were seen in highly exposed subjects. Amyloid beta42 (Abeta42) immunoreactivity was observed in 58.8% of apolipoprotein E (APOE) 3/3 < 25 y, and 100% of the APOE 4 subjects, whereas alpha-synuclein was seen in 23.5% of < 25 y subjects. Particulate material (PM) was seen in olfactory bulb neurons, and PM < 100 nm were observed in intraluminal erythrocytes from lung, frontal, and trigeminal ganglia capillaries. Exposure to air pollution causes neuroinflammation, an altered brain innate immune response, and accumulation of Abeta42 and alpha-synuclein starting in childhood. Exposure to air pollution should be considered a risk factor for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and carriers of the APOE 4 allele could have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease if they reside in a polluted environment.

  7. Realisation of a {beta} spectrometer solenoidal and a double {beta} spectrometer at coincidence; Realisation d'un spectrometre {beta} solenoidal et d'un double spectrometre {beta} a coincidence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moreau, J [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1955-06-15

    The two spectrometers have been achieved to tackle numerous problems of nuclear spectrometry. They possess different fields of application that complete themselves. The solenoidal spectrometer permits the determination of the energy limits of {beta} spectra and of their shape; it also permits the determination of the coefficients of internal conversion and reports {alpha}{sub K} / {alpha}{sub L} and it is especially efficient for the accurate energy levels of the {gamma} rays by photoelectric effect. The double coincidence spectrometer has been conceived to get a good efficiency in coincidence: indeed, the sum of the solid angles used for the {beta} and {gamma} emission is rather little lower to 4{pi} steradians. To get this efficiency, one should have sacrificed a little the resolution that is lower to the one obtained with the solenoidal spectrometer for a same brightness. Each of the elements of the double spectrometer can also be adapted to the study of angular correlations {beta}{gamma} and e{sup -}{gamma}. In this use, it is superior to the thin magnetic lens used up to here. The double spectrometer also permits the survey of the coincidences e{sup -}e{sup -}, e{sup -}{beta} of a equivalent way to a double lens; it can also be consider some adaptation for the survey of the angular correlations e{sup -}e{sup -}, e{sup -}{beta}. Finally, we applied the methods by simple spectrometry and by coincidence spectrometry, to the study of the radiances of the following radioelements: {sup 76}As (26 h), {sup 122}Sb (2,8 j), {sup 124}Sb (60 j), {sup 125}Sb (2,7 years). (M.B.) [French] Les deux spectrometres qui ont ete realises permettent d'aborder un grand nombre de problemes de spectrometrie nucleaire. Ils possedent des champs d'application tres differents qui se completent. Le spectrometre solenoidal permet la determination des energies limites des spectres {beta} et de leur forme; il permet aussi la determination des coefficients de conversion interne et des rapports

  8. BETA SPECTRA. I. Negatrons spectra; ESPECTROS BETA. I. Espectros simples de negatrones

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grau Malonda, A; Garcia-Torano, E

    1978-07-01

    Using the Fermi theory of beta decay, the beta spectra for 62 negatrons emitters have been computed introducing a correction factor for unique forbidden transitions. These spectra are plotted vs. energy, once normal i sed, and tabulated with the related Fermi functions. The average and median energies are calculated. (Author)

  9. Simultaneous beta and gamma spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farsoni, Abdollah T.; Hamby, David M.

    2010-03-23

    A phoswich radiation detector for simultaneous spectroscopy of beta rays and gamma rays includes three scintillators with different decay time characteristics. Two of the three scintillators are used for beta detection and the third scintillator is used for gamma detection. A pulse induced by an interaction of radiation with the detector is digitally analyzed to classify the type of event as beta, gamma, or unknown. A pulse is classified as a beta event if the pulse originated from just the first scintillator alone or from just the first and the second scintillator. A pulse from just the third scintillator is recorded as gamma event. Other pulses are rejected as unknown events.

  10. In vitro proliferation of adult human beta-cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabine Rutti

    Full Text Available A decrease in functional beta-cell mass is a key feature of type 2 diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1 analogues induce proliferation of rodent beta-cells. However, the proliferative capacity of human beta-cells and its modulation by GLP-1 analogues remain to be fully investigated. We therefore sought to quantify adult human beta-cell proliferation in vitro and whether this is affected by the GLP-1 analogue liraglutide.Human islets from 7 adult cadaveric organ donors were dispersed into single cells. Beta-cells were purified by FACS. Non-sorted cells and the beta-cell enriched ("beta-cells" population were plated on extracellular matrix from rat (804G and human bladder carcinoma cells (HTB9 or bovine corneal endothelial ECM (BCEC. Cells were maintained in culture+/-liraglutide for 4 days in the presence of BrdU.Rare human beta-cell proliferation could be observed either in the purified beta-cell population (0.051±0.020%; 22 beta-cells proliferating out of 84'283 beta-cells counted or in the non-sorted cell population (0.055±0.011%; 104 proliferating beta-cells out of 232'826 beta-cells counted, independently of the matrix or the culture conditions. Liraglutide increased human beta-cell proliferation on BCEC in the non-sorted cell population (0.082±0.034% proliferating beta-cells vs. 0.017±0.008% in control, p<0.05.These results indicate that adult human beta-cell proliferation can occur in vitro but remains an extremely rare event with these donors and particular culture conditions. Liraglutide increases beta-cell proliferation only in the non-sorted cell population and only on BCEC. However, it cannot be excluded that human beta-cells may proliferate to a greater extent in situ in response to natural stimuli.

  11. Beta-Catenin Stability in Breast Cancer

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Baswaran, Vijay

    1999-01-01

    .... beta-catenin also binds the adenomatous polyposis coli protein (APC). The tumor suppressor function of APC is suggested to depend in part on its ability to bind beta-catenin and to facilitate beta-catenin degradation by an unknown mechanism...

  12. Transgenic overexpression of active calcineurin in beta-cells results in decreased beta-cell mass and hyperglycemia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Glucose modulates beta-cell mass and function through an initial depolarization and Ca(2+ influx, which then triggers a number of growth regulating signaling pathways. One of the most important downstream effectors in Ca(2+ signaling is the calcium/Calmodulin activated serine threonine phosphatase, calcineurin. Recent evidence suggests that calcineurin/NFAT is essential for beta-cell proliferation, and that in its absence loss of beta-cells results in diabetes. We hypothesized that in contrast, activation of calcineurin might result in expansion of beta-cell mass and resistance to diabetes.To determine the role of activation of calcineurin signaling in the regulation of pancreatic beta-cell mass and proliferation, we created mice that expressed a constitutively active form of calcineurin under the insulin gene promoter (caCn(RIP. To our surprise, these mice exhibited glucose intolerance. In vitro studies demonstrated that while the second phase of Insulin secretion is enhanced, the overall insulin secretory response was conserved. Islet morphometric studies demonstrated decreased beta-cell mass suggesting that this was a major component responsible for altered Insulin secretion and glucose intolerance in caCn(RIP mice. The reduced beta-cell mass was accompanied by decreased proliferation and enhanced apoptosis.Our studies identify calcineurin as an important factor in controlling glucose homeostasis and indicate that chronic depolarization leading to increased calcineurin activity may contribute, along with other genetic and environmental factors, to beta-cell dysfunction and diabetes.

  13. Pengaruh Downside Beta, Upside Beta, Dan Beta Terhadap Expected Return (Studi Pada Saham Yang Termasuk Dalam 50 Leading Market Capitalization Di Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2012-2015)

    OpenAIRE

    Sinaga, Maria Goretty; Sulasmiyati, Sri

    2017-01-01

    Return or return on an investment is required by the investor. Most investors currently prefer shares in emerging markets. Return in the emerging market is not always symmetrical, it shows return in the emerging market is not normally distributed. The purposive of this research want to learn, compare, and explain about some model of stock risk. On this research downside risk expressed with beta downside. The models used in this research among others, dowside beta, upside beta, and beta. The k...

  14. Selectivity of beta-adrenergic stimulating and blocking agents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löfdahl, C G; Svedmyr, N

    1984-01-01

    Studies have been performed to answer two questions: whether there are subgroups of beta 2-receptors separating effects in bronchial and skeletal muscle and whether beta 1-receptors in asthmatic airways mediate bronchoconstriction. Asthmatic patients have been studied in randomised cross-over trials. Effects on FEV1, heart rate and skeletal muscle tremor have been monitored. In some experimental studies, two new compounds, D2343 and QH-25, have shown a selectivity for beta 2-receptors in bronchial muscle compared to skeletal muscle. Studies in asthmatics did not confirm this. Thus, the beta 2-receptors in the two organs appear to be identical. The clinical effect of beta 1-receptors in the the airways was studied by giving selective beta 1-receptor blocking agents. It was shown that pafenolol , a beta-blocker more beta 1-selective than metoprolol, had less effect on FEV1 than metoprolol given in equipotent beta 1-blocking doses. Beta 1-receptor stimulation with a new selective beta 1-stimulating agent, prenalterol, did not give bronchodilation in doses which gave a significant increase of heart rate. Thus, beta 1-receptors do not contribute to bronchodilation in asthmatic patients.

  15. Sorting out Downside Beta

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G.T. Post (Thierry); P. van Vliet (Pim); S.D. Lansdorp (Simon)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractDownside risk, when properly defined and estimated, helps to explain the cross-section of US stock returns. Sorting stocks by a proper estimate of downside market beta leads to a substantially larger cross-sectional spread in average returns than sorting on regular market beta. This

  16. The best-beta CAPM

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zou, L.

    2006-01-01

    The issue of 'best-beta' arises as soon as potential errors in the Sharpe-Lintner-Black capital asset pricing model (CAPM) are acknowledged. By incorporating a target variable into the investor preferences, this study derives a best-beta CAPM (BCAPM) that maintains the CAPM's theoretical appeal and

  17. Combination therapy of Nigella sativa and human parathyroid hormone on bone mass, biomechanical behavior and structure in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altan, Mehmet Fatih; Kanter, Mehmet; Donmez, Senayi; Kartal, Murat Emre; Buyukbas, Sadik

    2007-01-01

    Extracts of the seeds of Nigella sativa (NS), an annual herbaceous plant of the Ranunculaceae family, have been used for many years for therapeutic purposes, including their potential anti-diabetic properties. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that combined treatment with NS and human parathyroid hormone (hPTH) is more effective than treatment with NS or hPTH alone in improving bone mass, connectivity, biomechanical behaviour and strength in insulin-dependent diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at a single dose of 50mg/kg. The diabetic rats received NS (2ml/kg/day, i.p.), hPTH (6microg/kg/day, i.p.) or NS and hPTH combined for 4 weeks, starting 8 weeks after STZ injection. The beta-cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans were examined by immunohistochemical methods. In addition, bone sections of femora were processed for histomorphometry and biomechanical analysis. In diabetic rats, the beta-cells were essentially negative for insulin-immunoreactivity. NS treatment (alone or in combination with hPTH) significantly increased the area of insulin immunoreactive beta-cells in diabetic rats; however, hPTH treatment alone only led to a slightly increase in the insulin-immunoreactivity. These results suggest that NS might be used in a similar manner to insulin as a safe and effective therapy for diabetes and might be useful in the treatment of diabetic osteopenia.

  18. Beta genus papillomaviruses and skin cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howley, Peter M; Pfister, Herbert J

    2015-05-01

    A role for the beta genus HPVs in keratinocyte carcinoma (KC) remains to be established. In this article we examine the potential role of the beta HPVs in cancer revealed by the epidemiology associating these viruses with KC and supported by oncogenic properties of the beta HPV proteins. Unlike the cancer associated alpha genus HPVs, in which transcriptionally active viral genomes are invariably found associated with the cancers, that is not the case for the beta genus HPVs and keratinocyte carcinomas. Thus a role for the beta HPVs in KC would necessarily be in the carcinogenesis initiation and not in the maintenance of the tumor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Exposure to chronic psychosocial stress and corticosterone in the rat : Effects on spatial discrimination learning and hippocampal protein kinase C gamma immunoreactivity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krugers, HJ; Douma, BRK; Bohus, B; Korf, J; Luiten, PGM; Krugers, Harm J.

    1997-01-01

    Previous reports have demonstrated a striking increase of the immunoreactivity of the gamma-isoform of protein kinase C (PKC gamma-ir) in Ammon's horn and dentate gyrus (DC) of rodent hippocampus after training in a spatial orientation task. In the present study, we investigated how 8 days of

  20. Beta thalassemia - a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R Jha

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Thalassemia is a globin gene disorder that results in a diminished rate of synthesis of one or more of the globin chains. About 1.5% of the global population (80 to 90 million people are carriers of beta Thalassemia. More than 200 mutations are described in beta thalassemia. However not all mutations are common in different ethnic groups. The only effective way to reduce burden of thalassemia is to prevent birth of homozygotes. Diagnosis of beta thalassemia can be done by fetal DNA analysis for molecular defects of beta thalassemia or by fetal blood analysis. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only available curative approach for Thalassemia. Many patients with thalassemia in underdeveloped nations die in childhood or adolescence. Programs that provide acceptable care, including transfusion of safe blood and supportive therapy including chelation must be established.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v4i8.11609 Journal of Pathology of Nepal; Vol.4,No. 8 (2014 663-671

  1. The changes in beta-adrenoceptor-mediated cardiac function in experimental hypothyroidism: the possible contribution of cardiac beta3-adrenoceptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arioglu, E; Guner, S; Ozakca, I; Altan, V M; Ozcelikay, A T

    2010-02-01

    Thyroid hormone deficiency has been reported to decrease expression and function of both beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenoceptor in different tissues including heart. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible contribution of beta(3)-adrenoceptors to cardiac dysfunction in hypothyroidism. In addition, effect of this pathology on beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenoceptor was investigated. Hypothyroidism was induced by adding methimazole (300 mg/l) to drinking water of rats for 8 weeks. Cardiac hemodynamic parameters were measured in anesthetised rats in vivo. Responses to beta-adrenoceptor agonists were examined in rat papillary muscle in vitro. We also studied the effect of hypotyroidism on mRNA expression of beta-adrenoceptors, Gialpha, GRK, and eNOS in rat heart. All of the hemodynamic parameters (systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure, left ventricular pressure, heart rate, +dp/dt, and -dp/dt) were significantly reduced by the methimazole treatment. The negative inotropic effect elicited by BRL 37344 (a beta(3)-adrenoceptor preferential agonist) and positive inotropic effects produced by isoprenaline and noradrenaline, respectively, were significantly decreased in papillary muscle of hypothyroid rats as compared to those of controls. On the other hand, hypothyroidism resulted in increased cardiac beta(2)- and beta(3)-adrenoceptor, Gialpha(2), Gialpha(3), GRK3, and eNOS mRNA expressions. However, beta(1)-adrenoceptor and GRK2 mRNA expressions were not changed significantly in this pathology. These results show that mRNA expression of beta(3)-adrenoceptors as well as the signalling pathway components mediated through beta(3)-adrenoceptors are significantly increased in hypothyroid rat heart. Since we could not correlate these alternates with the decreased negative inotropic response mediated by this receptor subtype, it is not clear whether these changes are important for hypothyroid induced reduction in cardiac function.

  2. Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactivity and its relations with gonadotropin-releasing hormone and neuropeptide Y in the preoptic area of the guinea pig.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogus-Nowakowska, Krystyna; Równiak, Maciej; Hermanowicz-Sobieraj, Beata; Wasilewska, Barbara; Najdzion, Janusz; Robak, Anna

    2016-12-01

    The present study examines the distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity and its morphological relationships with neuropeptide Y (NPY)- and gonadoliberin (GnRH)-immunoreactive (IR) structures in the preoptic area (POA) of the male guinea pig. Tyrosine hydroxylase was expressed in relatively small population of perikarya and they were mostly observed in the periventricular preoptic nucleus and medial preoptic area. The tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-IR) fibers were dispersed troughout the whole POA. The highest density of these fibers was observed in the median preoptic nucleus, however, in the periventricular preoptic nucleus and medial preoptic area they were only slightly less numerous. In the lateral preoptic area, the density of TH-IR fibers was moderate. Two morphological types of TH-IR fibers were distinguished: smooth and varicose. Double immunofluorescence staining showed that TH and GnRH overlapped in the guinea pig POA but they never coexisted in the same structures. TH-IR fibers often intersected with GnRH-IR structures and many of them touched the GnRH-IR perikarya or dendrites. NPY wchich was abundantly present in the POA only in fibers showed topographical proximity with TH-IR structures. Althoug TH-IR perikarya and fibers were often touched by NPY-IR fibers, colocalization of TH and NPY in the same structures was very rare. There was only a small population of fibers which contained both NPY and TH. In conclusion, the morphological evidence of contacts between TH- and GnRH-IR nerve structures may be the basis of catecholaminergic control of GnRH release in the preoptic area of the male guinea pig. Moreover, TH-IR neurons were conatcted by NPY-IR fibers and TH and NPY colocalized in some fibers, thus NPY may regulate catecholaminergic neurons in the POA. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. The spectrum and severity of FUS-immunoreactive inclusions in the frontal and temporal lobes of ten cases of neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, Richard A; Gearing, Marla; Bigio, Eileen H; Cruz-Sanchez, Felix F; Duyckaerts, Charles; Mackenzie, Ian R A; Perry, Robert H; Skullerud, Kari; Yokoo, Hedeaki; Cairns, Nigel J

    2011-02-01

    Neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID), a rare form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), is characterized neuropathologically by focal atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, neuronal loss, gliosis, and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) containing epitopes of ubiquitin and neuronal intermediate filament proteins. Recently, the 'fused in sarcoma' (FUS) protein (encoded by the FUS gene) has been shown to be a component of the inclusions of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with FUS mutation, NIFID, basophilic inclusion body disease, and atypical FTLD with ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions (aFTLD-U). To further characterize FUS proteinopathy in NIFID, and to determine whether the pathology revealed by FUS immunohistochemistry (IHC) is more extensive than α-internexin, we have undertaken a quantitative assessment of ten clinically and neuropathologically well-characterized cases using FUS IHC. The densities of NCI were greatest in the dentate gyrus (DG) and in sectors CA1/2 of the hippocampus. Anti-FUS antibodies also labeled glial inclusions (GI), neuronal intranuclear inclusions (NII), and dystrophic neurites (DN). Vacuolation was extensive across upper and lower cortical layers. Significantly greater densities of abnormally enlarged neurons and glial cell nuclei were present in the lower compared with the upper cortical laminae. FUS IHC revealed significantly greater numbers of NCI in all brain regions especially the DG. Our data suggest: (1) significant densities of FUS-immunoreactive NCI in NIFID especially in the DG and CA1/2; (2) infrequent FUS-immunoreactive GI, NII, and DN; (3) widely distributed vacuolation across the cortex, and (4) significantly more NCI revealed by FUS than α-internexin IHC.

  4. Standardization of low energy beta and beta-gamma complex emitters by the tracer and the efficiency extrapolation methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahagia, M.

    1978-01-01

    The absolute standardization of radioactive solutions of low energy beta emitters and beta-gamma emitters with a high probability of disintegration to the ground state is described; the tracer and the efficiency extrapolation methods were used. Both types of radionuclides were mathematically and physically treated in an unified manner. The theoretical relations between different beta spectra were calculated according to Williams' model and experimentally verified for: 35 S + 60 Co, 35 S + 95 Nb, 147 Pm + 60 Co, 14 C + 95 Nb and two beta branches of 99 Mo. The optimum range of beta efficiency variation was indicated. The basic supposition that all beta efficieny tend to unity in the same time was experimentally verified, using two 192 Ir beta branches. Four computer programs, written in the FORTRAN IV language, were elaborated, for the adequate processing of the experimental data. Good precision coefficients according to international standards were obtained in the absolute standardization of 35 S, 147 Pm, 99 Mo solutions. (author)

  5. Beta-lactamases in Enterobacteriaceae in broilers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dierikx, C.M.

    2013-01-01

    Resistance to cephalosprins due to the production of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) or plasmid mediated AmpC beta-lactamases is increasingly found in infections in humans outside the hospital. The genes encoding for these beta-lactamases are located on mobile DNA (plasmids), which can be

  6. Simultaneous determination of F-beta-alanine and beta-alanine in plasma and urine with dual-column reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kuilenburg, A. B.; Stroomer, A. E.; Peters, G. J.; van Gennip, A. H.

    2001-01-01

    F-beta-Alanine and beta-alanine were detected in plasma and urine samples with fluorescence detection of orthophthaldialdehyde derivatives of F-beta-alanine and beta-alanine after separation with dual-column reversed-phase HPLC. The detection limits of F-beta-alanine and beta-alanine in the HPLC

  7. Rat beta-LPH, gamma-LPH and beta-endorphin biosynthesized by isolated cells of pars intermedia and pars distalis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gianoulakis, C.; Seidah, N.G.; Routhier, R.; Chretien, M.

    1980-01-01

    Rats pars intermedia cells were incubated for 3 h with the following amino-acids: a) 35 S-methionine and 3 H-phenylalamine; b) 3 H-valine; and c) 3 H-valine and 3 H-lysine. Radioactive gamma-lipotropin, beta-lipotropin and beta-endorphin were purified on carboxy- methyl-cellulose and characterized by polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis af pH 4.5, molecular weight estimation and microsequencing. Rat gamma-lipotropin was shown to differ slightly from ovine gamma-lipotropin in its NH 2 -terminal amino acid sequence, in containing no methionine and having phenylalanine at position 6, valine at positions 13 and 27, and lysine at position 20. The same variations were observed in the sequence of rat beta-lipotropin, while rat beta-endorphin was shown to be identical to the ovine beta-endorphin. Following a 3-h pulse of rat pars distalis, the cells were extracted with care to avoid beta-lipotropin degradation by proteolytic enzymes. A peptide was purified and identified to be rat beta-endorphin, thus demonstrating that beta-endorphin is biosynthesized in pars distalis and is not an extraction artifact. (author)

  8. El factor de crecimiento transformante beta como blanco terapéutico Transforming growth factor-beta as a therapeutic target

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Javier Gálvez-Gastélum

    2004-08-01

    Full Text Available El factor de crecimiento transformante beta (TGF-beta es una familia de proteínas que incluye al TGF-beta, activinas y a la proteína morfogénica de hueso (BMP, por sus siglas en inglés, citocinas que son secretadas y se relacionan estructuralmente en diferentes especies de metazoarios. Los miembros de la familia del TGF-beta regulan diferentes funciones celulares como proliferación, apoptosis, diferenciación, migración, y tienen un papel clave en el desarrollo del organismo. El TGF-beta está implicado en varias patologías humanas, incluyendo desórdenes autoinmunes y vasculares, así como enfermedades fibróticas y cáncer. La activación del receptor del TGF-beta propicia su fosforilación en residuos de serina/treonina y dispara la fosforilación de proteínas efectoras intracelulares (smad, que una vez activas se translocan al núcleo para inducir la transcripción de genes blanco, y así regular procesos y funciones celulares. Se están desarrollando novedosas estrategias terapéuticas encaminadas a corregir las alteraciones presentes en patologías que involucran al TGF-beta como actor principal.Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta family members include TGF-beta, activins, and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP. These proteins are structurally related cytokines secreted in diverse Metazoans. TGF-beta family members regulate cellular functions such as proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and migration, and play an important role in organism development. Deregulated TGF-beta family signaling participates in various human pathologies including auto-immune diseases, vascular disorders, fibrotic disease, and cancer. Ligand-induced activation of TGF-beta family receptors with intrinsic serine/threonine kinase activity, triggers phosphorylation of the intracellular effectors of TGF-beta signaling, the Smads proteins. Once these proteins are activated they translocate into the nucleus, where they induce transcription of target

  9. PASSIVE-AVOIDANCE TRAINING INDUCES ENHANCED LEVELS OF IMMUNOREACTIVITY FOR MUSCARINIC ACETYLCHOLINE-RECEPTOR AND COEXPRESSED PKC-GAMMA AND MAP-2 IN RAT CORTICAL-NEURONS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VANDERZEE, EA; DOUMA, BRK; BOHUS, B; LUITEN, PGM

    1994-01-01

    Changes in neocortical immunoreactivity (ir) for muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs), protein kinase C gamma (PKC gamma), microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2), and the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PARV) induced by the performance of a one-trial passive shock avoidance (PSA) task

  10. Decreased calcineurin immunoreactivity in the postmortem brain of a patient with schizophrenia who had been prescribed the calcineurin inhibitor, tacrolimus, for leukemia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wada A

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Akira Wada,1,2 Yasuto Kunii,1 Jyunya Matsumoto,1 Mizuki Hino,1 Atsuko Nagaoka,1 Shin-ichi Niwa,3 Hirooki Yabe1 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima City, Fukushima, 2Department of Neuropsychiatry, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 3Department of Psychiatry, Aizu Medical Center, Fukushima Medical University, Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima, Japan Background: The calcineurin (CaN inhibitor, tacrolimus, is widely used in patients undergoing allogeneic organ transplantation and in those with certain allergic diseases. Recently, several reports have suggested that CaN is also associated with schizophrenia. However, little data are currently available on the direct effect of tacrolimus on the human brain.Case: A 23-year-old Japanese female experienced severe delusion of persecution, delusional mood, suspiciousness, aggression, and excitement. She visited our hospital and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. When she was 27 years old, she had severe general fatigue, persistent fever, systemic joint pain, gingival bleeding, and breathlessness and was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Later she underwent bone marrow transplantation (BMT, she was administered methotrexate and cyclosporin A to prevent graft versus host disease (GVHD. Three weeks after BMT, she showed initial symptoms of GVHD and was prescribed tacrolimus instead of cyclosporin A. Seven months after BMT at the age of 31 years, she died of progression of GVHD. Pathological anatomy was examined after her death, including immunohistochemical analysis of her brain using anti-CaN antibodies. For comparison, we used our previous data from both a schizophrenia group and a healthy control group. No significant differences were observed in the percentage of CaN-immunoreactive neurons among the schizophrenia group, healthy control group, and the tacrolimus case (all P>0.5, analysis of covariance. Compared with the

  11. Beta particle measurement fundamentals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarez, J.L.

    1986-01-01

    The necessary concepts for understanding beta particle behavior are stopping power, range, and scattering. Dose as a consequence of beta particle interaction with tissue can be derived and explained by these concepts. Any calculations of dose, however, assume or require detailed knowledge of the beta spectrum at the tissue depth of calculation. A rudimentary knowledge of the incident spectrum can be of use in estimating dose, interpretating dose measuring devices and designing protection. The stopping power and range based on the csda will give a conservative estimate in cases of protection design, as scattering will reduce the range. Estimates of dose may be low because scattering effects were neglected

  12. Direct ethanol production from barley beta-glucan by sake yeast displaying Aspergillus oryzae beta-glucosidase and endoglucanase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotaka, Atsushi; Bando, Hiroki; Kaya, Masahiko; Kato-Murai, Michiko; Kuroda, Kouichi; Sahara, Hiroshi; Hata, Yoji; Kondo, Akihiko; Ueda, Mitsuyoshi

    2008-06-01

    Three beta-glucosidase- and two endoglucanase-encoding genes were cloned from Aspergillus oryzae, and their gene products were displayed on the cell surface of the sake yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae GRI-117-UK. GRI-117-UK/pUDB7 displaying beta-glucosidase AO090009000356 showed the highest activity against various substrates and efficiently produced ethanol from cellobiose. On the other hand, GRI-117-UK/pUDCB displaying endoglucanase AO090010000314 efficiently degraded barley beta-glucan to glucose and smaller cellooligosaccharides. GRI-117-UK/pUDB7CB codisplaying both beta-glucosidase AO090009000356 and endoglucanase AO090010000314 was constructed. When direct ethanol fermentation from 20 g/l barley beta-glucan as a model substrate was performed with the codisplaying strain, the ethanol concentration reached 7.94 g/l after 24 h of fermentation. The conversion ratio of ethanol from beta-glucan was 69.6% of the theoretical ethanol concentration produced from 20 g/l barley beta-glucan. These results showed that sake yeast displaying A. oryzae cellulolytic enzymes can be used to produce ethanol from cellulosic materials. Our constructs have higher ethanol production potential than the laboratory constructs previously reported.

  13. Verification of the Cross Immunoreactivity of A60, a Mouse Monoclonal Antibody against Neuronal Nuclear Protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Shanping; Xiong, Guoxiang; Zhang, Lei; Dong, Huimin; Liu, Baohui; Cohen, Noam A; Cohen, Akiva S

    2016-01-01

    A60, the mouse monoclonal antibody against the neuronal nuclear protein (NeuN), is the most widely used neuronal marker in neuroscience research and neuropathological assays. Previous studies identified fragments of A60-immunoprecipitated protein as Synapsin I (Syn I), suggesting the antibody will demonstrate cross immunoreactivity. However, the likelihood of cross reactivity has never been verified by immunohistochemical techniques. Using our established tissue processing and immunofluorescent staining protocols, we found that A60 consistently labeled mossy fiber terminals in hippocampal area CA3. These A60-positive mossy fiber terminals could also be labeled by Syn I antibody. After treating brain slices with saponin in order to better preserve various membrane and/or vesicular proteins for immunostaining, we observed that A60 could also label additional synapses in various brain areas. Therefore, we used A60 together with a rabbit monoclonal NeuN antibody to confirm the existence of this cross reactivity. We showed that the putative band positive for A60 and Syn I could not be detected by the rabbit anti-NeuN in Western blotting. As efficient as Millipore A60 to recognize neuronal nuclei, the rabbit NeuN antibody demonstrated no labeling of synaptic structures in immunofluorescent staining. The present study successfully verified the cross reactivity present in immunohistochemistry, cautioning that A60 may not be the ideal biomarker to verify neuronal identity due to its cross immunoreactivity. In contrast, the rabbit monoclonal NeuN antibody used in this study may be a better candidate to substitute for A60.

  14. MetroBeta: Beta Spectrometry with Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters in the Framework of the European Program of Ionizing Radiation Metrology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loidl, M.; Beyer, J.; Bockhorn, L.; Enss, C.; Györi, D.; Kempf, S.; Kossert, K.; Mariam, R.; Nähle, O.; Paulsen, M.; Rodrigues, M.; Schmidt, M.

    2018-05-01

    MetroBeta is a European project aiming at the improvement of the knowledge of the shapes of beta spectra, both in terms of theoretical calculations and measurements. It is part of a common European program of ionizing radiation metrology. Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) with the beta emitter embedded in the absorber have in the past proven to be among the best beta spectrometers, in particular for low-energy beta transitions. Within this project, new designs of MMCs optimized for five different beta energy ranges were developed. A new detector module with thermal decoupling of MMC and SQUID chips was designed. An important aspect of the research and development concerns the source/absorber preparation techniques. Four beta spectra with maximum energies ranging from 76 to 709 keV will be measured. Improved theoretical calculation methods and complementary measurement techniques complete the project.

  15. Analysis of interleukin (IL)-1 beta and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-induced signal transduction pathways in IL-2 and TGF-beta secretion and proliferation in the thymoma cell line EL4.NOB-1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siese, A; Jaros, P P; Willig, A

    1999-02-01

    In the present study we investigated the interleukin (IL)-1beta and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1)-mediated proliferation, and production of IL-2 and TGF-beta, in the murine T-cell line, EL4.NOB-1. This cell line is resistant to TGF-beta concerning growth arrest but not autoinduction or suppression of IL-1-induced IL-2 production. When cocultured with IL-1beta, TGF-beta showed growth-promoting activity that could be antagonized by adding the phosphatidyl choline-dependent phospholipase C (PC-PLC) inhibitor, D609. Using specific enzyme inhibitors of protein kinases (PK) C and A, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phospholipase A2 (PLA2), phosphatidylinositol-dependent (PI)-PLC and PC-PLC, we showed that IL-1beta-induced IL-2 synthesis was dependent on all investigated kinases and phospholipases, except PC-PLC. TGF-beta1 was able to inhibit IL-2 synthesis by the activation of PKA and MAPK. The same kinases are involved in TGF-beta autoinduction that is accompanied by a secretion of the active but not the latent growth factor and is antagonized by IL-1beta. Addition of the PI-PLC inhibitor, ET 18OCH3, or the PLA2 inhibitor (quinacrine) alone, resulted in secretion of latent TGF-beta and, in the case of ET 18OCH3, active TGF-beta. These data implicate a role for PI-PLC and PLA2 in the control of latency and secretion. Analysis of specific tyrosine activity and c-Fos expression showed synergistic but no antagonistic effects. These events are therefore not involved in IL- and TGF-beta-regulated IL-2 and TGF-beta production, but might participate in IL-1/TGF-beta-induced growth promotion.

  16. Monitor for alpha beta contamination of hands; Moniteur de contamination alpha beta des mains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guitton, J

    1958-07-01

    The following specifications of hands alpha beta contamination monitor are presented: the position of the hands, the detection and separation of alpha and beta, the information processing, the programming, the results presentation and general characteristics. (A.L.B.)

  17. Beta-structures in fibrous proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kajava, Andrey V; Squire, John M; Parry, David A D

    2006-01-01

    The beta-form of protein folding, one of the earliest protein structures to be defined, was originally observed in studies of silks. It was then seen in early studies of synthetic polypeptides and, of course, is now known to be present in a variety of guises as an essential component of globular protein structures. However, in the last decade or so it has become clear that the beta-conformation of chains is present not only in many of the amyloid structures associated with, for example, Alzheimer's Disease, but also in the prion structures associated with the spongiform encephalopathies. Furthermore, X-ray crystallography studies have revealed the high incidence of the beta-fibrous proteins among virulence factors of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Here we describe the basic forms of the beta-fold, summarize the many different new forms of beta-structural fibrous arrangements that have been discovered, and review advances in structural studies of amyloid and prion fibrils. These and other issues are described in detail in later chapters.

  18. Clinical applications of measurement of serum immunoreactive levels of erythropoietin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, M.E.; Chandra, M.; Garcia, J.F.

    1985-01-01

    The purification of erythropoietin (Ep) in 1977 enabled investigators to more clearly define the role of this hormone in erythropoiesis in man. Radioimmunoassays were rapidly developed. Undoubtedly differences between levels of immunoreactive and biologically active Ep will be found but the resolution of these discrepancies will expand our understanding of the erythron. Recently others described a monoclonal antibody against Ep. Because of this breakthrough, large quantities of pure hormone should soon be available to a larger number of investigators than currently have access to it. The major clinical use of this hormone will probably be in the treatment of the anemia of chronic renal disease. In the relatively few years since the radioimmunoassay (RIA) was developed, measurements of the levels of this hormone have been made in several disease states as well as in normal man. Most of the findings to date confirm the predictions that have been made over the years based on studies done using the rather crude bioassay for Ep. In the present study the authors shall review and expand on what is known about subjects with chronic lung and renal disease

  19. Islet-1 Immunoreactivity in the Developing Retina of Xenopus laevis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guadalupe Álvarez-Hernán

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The LIM-homeodomain transcription factor Islet1 (Isl1 has been widely used as a marker of neuronal differentiation in the developing visual system of different classes of vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. In the present study, we analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution of Isl1-immunoreactive cells during Xenopus laevis retinal development and its relation to the formation of the retinal layers, and in combination with different markers of cell differentiation. The earliest Isl1 expression appeared at St29-30 in the cell nuclei of sparse differentiating neuroblasts located in the vitreal surface of the undifferentiated retina. At St35-36, abundant Isl1-positive cells accumulated at the vitreal surface of the neuroepithelium. As development proceeded and through the postmetamorphic juveniles, Isl1 expression was identified in subpopulations of ganglion cells and in subsets of amacrine, bipolar, and horizontal cells. These data together suggest a possible role for Isl1 in the early differentiation and maintenance of different retinal cell types, and Isl1 can serve as a specific molecular marker for the study of retinal cell specification in X. laevis.

  20. Partitioning diversity into independent alpha and beta components.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jost, Lou

    2007-10-01

    Existing general definitions of beta diversity often produce a beta with a hidden dependence on alpha. Such a beta cannot be used to compare regions that differ in alpha diversity. To avoid misinterpretation, existing definitions of alpha and beta must be replaced by a definition that partitions diversity into independent alpha and beta components. Such a unique definition is derived here. When these new alpha and beta components are transformed into their numbers equivalents (effective numbers of elements), Whittaker's multiplicative law (alpha x beta = gamma) is necessarily true for all indices. The new beta gives the effective number of distinct communities. The most popular similarity and overlap measures of ecology (Jaccard, Sorensen, Horn, and Morisita-Horn indices) are monotonic transformations of the new beta diversity. Shannon measures follow deductively from this formalism and do not need to be borrowed from information theory; they are shown to be the only standard diversity measures which can be decomposed into meaningful independent alpha and beta components when community weights are unequal.

  1. Expression of Helicobacter pylori hspA Gene in Lactococcus lactis NICE System and Experimental Study on Its Immunoreactivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-Juan Zhang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. The aim of this study was to develop an oral Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis vaccine against Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori. Methods. After L. lactis NZ3900/pNZ8110-hspA was constructed, growth curves were plotted to study whether the growth of recombinant L. lactis was affected after hspA was cloned into L. lactis and whether the growth of empty bacteria, empty plasmid bacteria, and recombinant L. lactis was affected by different concentrations of Nisin; SDS-PAGE and Western blot were adopted, respectively, to detect the HspA expressed by recombinant L. lactis and its immunoreactivity. Results. There was no effect observed from the growth curve after exogenous gene hspA was cloned into L. lactis NZ3900; different concentrations of Nisin did not affect the growth of NZ3900 and NZ3900/pNZ8110, while different concentrations of Nisin inhibited the growth of NZ3900/pNZ8110-hspA except 10 ng/mL Nisin. No HspA strip was observed from SDS-PAGE. Western blot analysis showed that HspA expressed by recombinant bacteria had favorable immunoreactivity. Conclusion. The growth of recombinant L. lactis was suppressed even though a small amount of HspA had been induced to express. Therefore recombinant L. lactis only express HspA which was not suitable to be oral vaccine against Helicobacter pylori.

  2. Conditional Betas and Investor Uncertainty

    OpenAIRE

    Fernando D. Chague

    2013-01-01

    We derive theoretical expressions for market betas from a rational expectation equilibrium model where the representative investor does not observe if the economy is in a recession or an expansion. Market betas in this economy are time-varying and related to investor uncertainty about the state of the economy. The dynamics of betas will also vary across assets according to the assets' cash-flow structure. In a calibration exercise, we show that value and growth firms have cash-flow structures...

  3. [{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP is superior to [{sup 11}C]{beta}-CIT-FP for quantitation of the dopamine transporter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lundkvist, Camilla; Halldin, Christer; Ginovart, Nathalie; Swahn, Carl-Gunnar; Farde, Lars

    1997-10-01

    {beta}-CIT-FP [N-(3-fluoropropyl)-2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane] is a cocaine analogue with high affinity for the dopamine transporter. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies with [O-methyl-{sup 11}C]{beta}-CIT-FP ([{sup 11}C]{beta}-CIT-FP) has shown that equilibrium conditions were approached but, however, not reached at the end of measurement. Moreover, metabolite studies of [{sup 11}C]{beta}-CIT-FP in monkey plasma demonstrated a lipophilic-labelled metabolite that may enter the brain. We therefore labelled {beta}-CIT-FP with fluorine-18 in a position that may avoid the formation of labelled lipophilic metabolites. The more long-lived radionuclide ({sup 18}F) was used to allow for measurements over longer time. [N-fluoropropyl-{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP ([{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP) was prepared by N-alkylation of nor-{beta}-CIT with [{sup 18}F]fluoropropyl bromide. PET studies were performed in cynomolgus monkeys. [{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP entered the brain rapidly. There was a high concentration of radioactivity in the striatum and much lower in the thalamus, neocortex, and cerebellum. The striatum-to-cerebellum ratio was about 5 at time of transient equilibrium, which occurred after 60 to 100 min. After pretreatment with GBR 12909, radioactivity in the striatum was markedly reduced, thus indicating specific [{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP binding to the dopamine transporter. The fraction of unchanged [{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP determined by HPLC was 10-15% after 140 min. No lipophilic labelled metabolites were detected. The absence of measurable lipophilic labelled metabolites and the occurrence of transient equilibrium within the time of the PET measurement indicate that [{sup 18}F]{beta}-CIT-FP is superior to [{sup 11}C]{beta}-CIT-FP as a PET radioligand for quantification of the dopamine transporter in the human brain.

  4. Reduced beta-adrenergic receptor activation decreases G-protein expression and beta-adrenergic receptor kinase activity in porcine heart.

    OpenAIRE

    Ping, P; Gelzer-Bell, R; Roth, D A; Kiel, D; Insel, P A; Hammond, H K

    1995-01-01

    To determine whether beta-adrenergic receptor agonist activation influences guanosine 5'-triphosphate-binding protein (G-protein) expression and beta-adrenergic receptor kinase activity in the heart, we examined the effects of chronic beta 1-adrenergic receptor antagonist treatment (bisoprolol, 0.2 mg/kg per d i.v., 35 d) on components of the myocardial beta-adrenergic receptor-G-protein-adenylyl cyclase pathway in porcine myocardium. Three novel alterations in cardiac adrenergic signaling as...

  5. The {beta}-decay Paul trap: A radiofrequency-quadrupole ion trap for precision {beta}-decay studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scielzo, N.D., E-mail: scielzo1@llnl.gov [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States); Li, G. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T8 (Canada); Sternberg, M.G.; Savard, G. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Bertone, P.F. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Buchinger, F. [Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T8 (Canada); Caldwell, S. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Clark, J.A. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Crawford, J. [Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T8 (Canada); Deibel, C.M. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 (United States); Fallis, J. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2 (Canada); Greene, J.P. [Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); and others

    2012-07-21

    The {beta}-decay Paul trap is a linear radiofrequency-quadrupole ion trap that has been developed for precision {beta}-decay studies. The design of the trap electrodes allows a variety of radiation detectors to surround the cloud of trapped ions. The momentum of the low-energy recoiling daughter nuclei following {beta} decay is negligibly perturbed by scattering and is available for study. This advantageous property of traps allows the kinematics of particles that are difficult or even impossible to directly detect to be precisely reconstructed using conservation of energy and momentum. An ion-trap system offers several advantages over atom traps, such as higher trapping efficiencies and element-independent capabilities. The first precision experiment using this system is a measurement of {beta}-decay angular correlations in the decay of {sup 8}Li performed by inferring the momentum of the neutrino from the kinematic shifts imparted to the breakup {alpha} particles. Many other {beta}-decay studies that would benefit from a determination of the nuclear recoil can be performed with this system.

  6. Adverse CNS-effects of beta-adrenoceptor blockers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gleiter, C H; Deckert, J

    1996-11-01

    In 1962 propranolol, the first beta adrenoceptor antagonist (beta blocker), was brought on to the market. There is now a host of different beta blockers available, and these compounds are among the most commonly prescribed groups of drugs. The efficacy of beta blockers has been proven predominantly for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Beta blockers are also used for certain types of CNS disorders, such as anxiety disorders, essential tremor and migraine. While low toxicity means that they have a favorable risk-benefit ratio, given the high intensity of use, it is essential to have a comprehensive knowledge of adverse events. Adverse events of beta blockers that can be related to the CNS are quite often neglected, even in textbooks of clinical pharmacology or review articles, and thus often misdiagnosed. The following article, therefore, after summarizing the use of beta blockers for CNS indications, critically reviews the literature on centrally mediated adverse events. General pharmacological features of beta blockers and their molecular basis of action will briefly be addressed to the extent that they are or may become relevant for central nervous pharmacotherapy and side-effects.

  7. High diversity in neuropeptide immunoreactivity patterns among three closely related species of Dinophilidae (Annelida)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kerbl, Alexandra; Conzelmann, Markus; Jékely, Gáspár

    2017-01-01

    Neuropeptides are conserved metazoan signaling molecules, and represent useful markers for comparative investigations on the morphology and function of the nervous system. However, little is known about the variation of neuropeptide expression patterns across closely related species in invertebrate...... groups other than insects. In this study, we compare the immunoreactivity patterns of 14 neuropeptides in three closely related microscopic dinophilid annelids (Dinophilus gyrociliatus, D. taeniatus and Trilobodrilus axi). The brains of all three species were found to consist of around 700 somata...... species. FMRFamide, MLD/pedal peptide, allatotropin, RNamide, excitatory peptide, and FVRIamide showed a broad localization within the brain, while calcitonin, SIFamide, vasotocin, RGWamide, DLamide, FLamide, FVamide, MIP, and serotonin were present in fewer cells in demarcated regions. The different...

  8. Interactions between beta subunits of the KCNMB family and Slo3: beta4 selectively modulates Slo3 expression and function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng-Tao Yang

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The pH and voltage-regulated Slo3 K(+ channel, a homologue of the Ca(2+- and voltage-regulated Slo1 K(+ channel, is thought to be primarily expressed in sperm, but the properties of Slo3 studied in heterologous systems differ somewhat from the native sperm KSper pH-regulated current. There is the possibility that critical partners that regulate Slo3 function remain unidentified. The extensive amino acid identity between Slo3 and Slo1 suggests that auxiliary beta subunits regulating Slo1 channels might coassemble with and modulate Slo3 channels. Four distinct beta subunits composing the KCNMB family are known to regulate the function and expression of Slo1 Channels.To examine the ability of the KCNMB family of auxiliary beta subunits to regulate Slo3 function, we co-expressed Slo3 and each beta subunit in heterologous expression systems and investigated the functional consequences by electrophysiological and biochemical analyses. The beta4 subunit produced an 8-10 fold enhancement of Slo3 current expression in Xenopus oocytes and a similar enhancement of Slo3 surface expression as monitored by YFP-tagged Slo3 or biotin labeled Slo3. Neither beta1, beta2, nor beta3 mimicked the ability of beta4 to increase surface expression, although biochemical tests suggested that all four beta subunits are competent to coassemble with Slo3. Fluorescence microscopy from beta4 KO mice, in which an eGFP tag replaced the deleted exon, revealed that beta4 gene promoter is active in spermatocytes. Furthermore, quantitative RT-PCR demonstrated that beta4 and Slo3 exhibit comparable mRNA abundance in both testes and sperm.These results argue that, for native mouse Slo3 channels, the beta4 subunit must be considered as a potential interaction partner and, furthermore, that KCNMB subunits may have functions unrelated to regulation of the Slo1 alpha subunit.

  9. In vitro digestibility of beta-casein and beta-lactoglobulin under simulated human gastric and duodenal conditions: A multi-laboratory evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mandalari, G.; Adel-Patient, K.; Barkholt, Vibeke

    2009-01-01

    Initially the resistance to digestion of two cow's milk allergens, beta-casein, and beta-lactoglobulin (beta-Lg), was compared using a "high-protease assay" and a "low-protease assay" in a single laboratory. The low-protease assay represents an alternative standardised protocol mimicking conditions...... found in the gastrointestinal tract. For the high-protease assay, both proteins were incubated with either pepsin or pancreatin and digestion monitored by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography. The low-protease assay involved...... gastroduodenal digestion in the presence or absence of phosphatidylcholine (PC). Both beta-casein and beta-Lg were susceptible to hydrolysis by pepsin and pancreatin in the high-protease assay. In contrast, the kinetics of beta-casein digestion in the low-protease assay were slower, beta-Lg being pepsin...

  10. Analysis of the brain ACTH-immunoreactive peptide spectrum in inbred mice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fedoseev, Yu.L.; Blednov, Yu.A.; Seredenin, S.B.

    1987-01-01

    Mice of the BALB/c (C) and C57BL/6 (B6) strains, characterized by high and low emotionality respectively in open field tests, have been shown to differ considerably in both the initial level and the time course of changes in the plasma ACTH concentration after exposure to stress in an open field and after administration of a benzodiazepine tranquilizer. The ACTH concentration in the pituitary gland of animals of these lines also differs. The ACTH molecule is known to contain regions with neurotropic activity. It can therefore be postulated that differences in the level of this hormone and the products of its bioconversion in the brain are an essential factor in the mechanisms of formation of the hereditary features of emotional behavior. In this first stage of this investigation, represented in this paper and undertaken to test this hypothesis, spectra of ACTH-immunoreactive peptides were studied in chromatographic fractions of an acid brain extract as well as in the blood plasma of mice belonging to B6 and C lines and their hybrids. The peptides were determined by radioimmunoassay

  11. Murrayafoline A attenuates the Wnt/{beta}-catenin pathway by promoting the degradation of intracellular {beta}-catenin proteins

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Hyuk; Gwak, Jungsug; Cho, Munju; Ryu, Min-Jung [PharmacoGenomics Research Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jee-Hyun; Kim, Sang Kyum; Kim, Young Ho [College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Gye Won [Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Konyang University, Nonsan 320-711 (Korea, Republic of); Yun, Mi-Young [Department of Beauty Health Care, Daejeon University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of); Cuong, Nguyen Manh [Institute of Natural Products Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi (Viet Nam); Shin, Jae-Gook [PharmacoGenomics Research Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735 (Korea, Republic of); Song, Gyu-Yong, E-mail: gysong@cnu.ac.kr [College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of); Oh, Sangtaek, E-mail: ohsa@inje.ac.kr [PharmacoGenomics Research Center, Inje University, Busan 614-735 (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-01-01

    Molecular lesions in Wnt/{beta}-catenin signaling and subsequent up-regulation of {beta}-catenin response transcription (CRT) occur frequently during the development of colon cancer. To identify small molecules that suppress CRT, we screened natural compounds in a cell-based assay for detection of TOPFalsh reporter activity. Murrayafoline A, a carbazole alkaloid isolated from Glycosmis stenocarpa, antagonized CRT that was stimulated by Wnt3a-conditioned medium (Wnt3a-CM) or LiCl, an inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase-3{beta} (GSK-3{beta}), and promoted the degradation of intracellular {beta}-catenin without altering its N-terminal phosphorylation at the Ser33/37 residues, marking it for proteasomal degradation, or the expression of Siah-1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Murrayafoline A repressed the expression of cyclin D1 and c-myc, which is known {beta}-catenin/T cell factor (TCF)-dependent genes and thus inhibited the proliferation of various colon cancer cells. These findings indicate that murrayafoline A may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for use in the treatment of colon cancer.

  12. Coexistence of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors in the rabbit heart: quantitative analysis of the regional distribution by (-)-/sup 3/H-dihydroalprenolol binding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brodde, O.E.; Leifert, F.J.; Krehl, H.J.

    1982-01-01

    We determined the amount of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors in right and left atria and ventricles of rabbits. For this purpose inhibition of specific (-)-/sup 3/H-dihydroalprenolol ((-)-/sup 3/H-DHA) binding (5 nM) by beta 1-selective (practolol, metoprolol) and beta 2-selective (zinterol, IPS 339) adrenergic drugs was determined and analyzed by pseudo-Scatchard (Hofstee) plots. For both atria, inhibition of binding by the four selective beta-adrenergic drugs resulted in non-linear Hofstee plots, suggesting the coexistence of both beta-adrenoceptor subtypes. From these plots we calculated a beta 1:beta 2-adrenoceptor ratio of 72:28 for the right atrium and of 82:18 for the left. In contrast, only a very small amount of beta 2-adrenoceptors (approximately 5-7% of the total beta-adrenoceptor population) could be detected in the ventricles. For comparison we analyzed the inhibition of specific (-)-/sup 3/H-DHA binding in tissues with homogeneous population of beta-adrenoceptors (beta 1:guinea pig left ventricle; beta 2: cerebellum of mature rats). For both tissues the four selective beta-adrenergic drugs showed linear Hofstee plots, demonstrating that in tissues with homogeneous beta-receptor population interaction of each drug with the receptor followed simple mass-action kinetics. We conclude that beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors coexist in rabbit atria while the ventricles are predominantly endowed the beta 1-adrenoceptors.

  13. Development and applications of beta and near beta titanium alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takemura, A.; Ohyama, H.; Nishimura, T.; Abumiya, T.

    1993-01-01

    In this report the authors introduced application of beta and near beta titanium alloys also development and processing of these alloys at Kobe Steel LTD. Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al is an alloy developed by Kobe Steel which has been applied for variety of sporting goods, also used as an erosion shield of steam turbine blades. Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al high strength wire for valve springs is under development. New beta alloys(Ti-V-Nb-Sn-Al) are under development which have lower flow stress at room temperature than Ti 15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al, expected to improve productivity of cold forging. NNS forging and thermo mechanical treatment of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al were studied. Ti-10V-2Fe3Al steam turbine blades and structural parts for aircraft were developed. Fine grain cold strips of Ti 15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al are produced by annealing and pickling process. These cold strips are used for parts of a fishing rod

  14. BETASCAN: probable beta-amyloids identified by pairwise probabilistic analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allen W Bryan

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Amyloids and prion proteins are clinically and biologically important beta-structures, whose supersecondary structures are difficult to determine by standard experimental or computational means. In addition, significant conformational heterogeneity is known or suspected to exist in many amyloid fibrils. Recent work has indicated the utility of pairwise probabilistic statistics in beta-structure prediction. We develop here a new strategy for beta-structure prediction, emphasizing the determination of beta-strands and pairs of beta-strands as fundamental units of beta-structure. Our program, BETASCAN, calculates likelihood scores for potential beta-strands and strand-pairs based on correlations observed in parallel beta-sheets. The program then determines the strands and pairs with the greatest local likelihood for all of the sequence's potential beta-structures. BETASCAN suggests multiple alternate folding patterns and assigns relative a priori probabilities based solely on amino acid sequence, probability tables, and pre-chosen parameters. The algorithm compares favorably with the results of previous algorithms (BETAPRO, PASTA, SALSA, TANGO, and Zyggregator in beta-structure prediction and amyloid propensity prediction. Accurate prediction is demonstrated for experimentally determined amyloid beta-structures, for a set of known beta-aggregates, and for the parallel beta-strands of beta-helices, amyloid-like globular proteins. BETASCAN is able both to detect beta-strands with higher sensitivity and to detect the edges of beta-strands in a richly beta-like sequence. For two proteins (Abeta and Het-s, there exist multiple sets of experimental data implying contradictory structures; BETASCAN is able to detect each competing structure as a potential structure variant. The ability to correlate multiple alternate beta-structures to experiment opens the possibility of computational investigation of prion strains and structural heterogeneity of amyloid

  15. The potential role of SOCS-3 in the interleukin-1beta-induced desensitization of insulin signaling in pancreatic beta-cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Emanuelli, Brice; Glondu, Murielle; Filloux, Chantal

    2004-01-01

    insulin signaling is required for the optimal beta-cell function, we assessed the effect of IL-1beta on the insulin pathway in a rat pancreatic beta-cell line. We show that IL-1beta decreases insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor (IR) and insulin receptor substrate (IRS...

  16. Molecular analysis of the beta-thalassemia phenotype associated with inheritance of hemoglobin E (alpha 2 beta2(26)Glu leads to Lys).

    OpenAIRE

    Benz, E J; Berman, B W; Tonkonow, B L; Coupal, E; Coates, T; Boxer, L A; Altman, A; Adams, J G

    1981-01-01

    Inheritance of the gene for betaE-globin is associated with hypochromia and microcytosis, reminiscent of typical heterozygous beta-thalassemia. Patients with hemoglobin (Hb)E-beta-thalassemia exhibit clinical phenotypes of severe beta-thalassemia, a circumstance not encountered in other compound heterozygous states for structural beta-chain mutations and beta-thalassemia. We have analyzed the kinetics of globin synthesis and the levels of globin messenger (m) RNA accumulation in patients with...

  17. Sodium channel Nav1.7 immunoreactivity in painful human dental pulp and burning mouth syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yiangou Yiangos

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Voltage gated sodium channels Nav1.7 are involved in nociceptor nerve action potentials and are known to affect pain sensitivity in clinical genetic disorders. Aims and Objectives To study Nav1.7 levels in dental pulpitis pain, an inflammatory condition, and burning mouth syndrome (BMS, considered a neuropathic orofacial pain disorder. Methods Two groups of patients were recruited for this study. One group consisted of patients with dental pulpitis pain (n = 5 and controls (n = 12, and the other patients with BMS (n = 7 and controls (n = 10. BMS patients were diagnosed according to the International Association for the Study of Pain criteria; a pain history was collected, including the visual analogue scale (VAS. Immunohistochemistry with visual intensity and computer image analysis were used to evaluate levels of Nav1.7 in dental pulp tissue samples from the dental pulpitis group, and tongue biopsies from the BMS group. Results There was a significantly increased visual intensity score for Nav1.7 in nerve fibres in the painful dental pulp specimens, compared to controls. Image analysis showed a trend for an increase of the Nav1.7 immunoreactive % area in the painful pulp group, but this was not statistically significant. When expressed as a ratio of the neurofilament % area, there was a strong trend for an increase of Nav1.7 in the painful pulp group. Nav1.7 immunoreactive fibres were seen in abundance in the sub-mucosal layer of tongue biopsies, with no significant difference between BMS and controls. Conclusion Nav1.7 sodium channel may play a significant role in inflammatory dental pain. Clinical trials with selective Nav1.7 channel blockers should prioritise dental pulp pain rather than BMS.

  18. Sodium channel Nav1.7 immunoreactivity in painful human dental pulp and burning mouth syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background Voltage gated sodium channels Nav1.7 are involved in nociceptor nerve action potentials and are known to affect pain sensitivity in clinical genetic disorders. Aims and Objectives To study Nav1.7 levels in dental pulpitis pain, an inflammatory condition, and burning mouth syndrome (BMS), considered a neuropathic orofacial pain disorder. Methods Two groups of patients were recruited for this study. One group consisted of patients with dental pulpitis pain (n = 5) and controls (n = 12), and the other patients with BMS (n = 7) and controls (n = 10). BMS patients were diagnosed according to the International Association for the Study of Pain criteria; a pain history was collected, including the visual analogue scale (VAS). Immunohistochemistry with visual intensity and computer image analysis were used to evaluate levels of Nav1.7 in dental pulp tissue samples from the dental pulpitis group, and tongue biopsies from the BMS group. Results There was a significantly increased visual intensity score for Nav1.7 in nerve fibres in the painful dental pulp specimens, compared to controls. Image analysis showed a trend for an increase of the Nav1.7 immunoreactive % area in the painful pulp group, but this was not statistically significant. When expressed as a ratio of the neurofilament % area, there was a strong trend for an increase of Nav1.7 in the painful pulp group. Nav1.7 immunoreactive fibres were seen in abundance in the sub-mucosal layer of tongue biopsies, with no significant difference between BMS and controls. Conclusion Nav1.7 sodium channel may play a significant role in inflammatory dental pain. Clinical trials with selective Nav1.7 channel blockers should prioritise dental pulp pain rather than BMS. PMID:20529324

  19. Androgen receptor immunoreactivity in rat occipital cortex after callosotomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G Lepore

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Gonadal steroidogenesis can be influenced by direct neural links between the central nervous system and the gonads. It is known that androgen receptor (AR is expressed in many areas of the rat brain involved in neuroendocrine control of reproduction, such as the cerebral cortex. It has been recently shown that the occipital cortex exerts an inhibitory effect on testicular stereoidogenesis by a pituitary-independent neural mechanism. Moreover, the complete transection of the corpus callosum leads to an increase in testosterone (T secretion of hemigonadectomized rats. The present study was undertaken to analyze the possible corticocortical influences regulating male reproductive activities. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: 1 intact animals as control; 2 rats undergoing sham callosotomy; 3 posterior callosotomy; 4 gonadectomy and posterior callosotomy. Western blot analysis showed no remarkable variations in cortical AR expression in any of the groups except in group I where a significant decrease in AR levels was found. Similarly, both immunocytochemical study and cell count estimation showed a lower AR immunoreactivity in occipital cortex of callosotomized rats than in other groups. In addition, there was no difference in serum T and LH concentration between sham-callosotomized and callosotomized rats. In conclusion, our results show that posterior callosotomy led to a reduction in AR in the right occipital cortex suggesting a putative inhibiting effect of the contralateral cortical area.

  20. Automation of electrostatic and magnetic beta-spectrometers; Avtomatizatsiya ehlektrostaticheskogo i magnitnogo {beta}-spektrometra

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sidorov, V T; Petev, P A

    1996-12-31

    Paper describes control units of voltage and current NM respectively, for electrostatic and magnetic beta-spectrometers. These units may be designed on the basis of either SPELMAN company voltage devider ensuring 0.5 accuracy or using a computer modification of feedback. Software for automated electrostatic beta-spectrometer made according to CAMAC standards is considered. 5 figs.

  1. Experiments on double beta decay

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Busto, J [Neuchatel Univ. (Switzerland). Inst. de Physique

    1996-11-01

    The Double Beta Decay, and especially ({beta}{beta}){sub 0{nu}} mode, is an excellent test of Standard Model as well as of neutrino physics. From experimental point of view, a very large number of different techniques are or have been used increasing the sensitivity of this experiments quite a lot (the factor of 10{sup 4} in the last 20 years). In future, in spite of several difficulties, the sensitivity would be increased further, keeping the interest of this very important process. (author) 4 figs., 5 tabs., 21 refs.

  2. Maternal and cord plasma concentrations of beta-lipotrophin, beta-endorphin and gamma-lipotrophin at delivery; effect of analgesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browning, A J; Butt, W R; Lynch, S S; Shakespear, R A; Crawford, J S

    1983-12-01

    Maternal venous plasma concentrations of beta-LPH, beta-EP and gamma-LPH were compared in (i) patients undergoing vaginal delivery, 11 with an epidural block and 13 with pethidine and nitrous oxide or no analgesics; (ii) patients delivered by caesarean section, 7 under epidural block and 8 under general anaesthesia. Patients delivered by either method under epidural block had significantly lower levels of all three peptides than those receiving no epidural. There were significant negative correlations between umbilical vein beta-LPH, beta-EP and gamma-LPH concentrations and umbilical artery pH and positive correlations between beta-LPH and beta-EP but not gamma-LPH and cord PCO2 in 29 patients. There was no relation between cord levels of any of the three peptides and the method of analgesia or the route of delivery. Although concentrations of all three peptides were closely correlated to one another in either maternal or cord plasma, there was no relationship between maternal and fetal levels.

  3. Abstraction Mechanisms in the BETA Programming Language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Bent Bruun; Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Møller-Pedersen, Birger

    1983-01-01

    . It is then necessary that the abstraction mechanisms are powerful in order to define more specialized constructs. BETA is an object oriented language like SIMULA 67 ([SIMULA]) and SMALLTALK ([SMALLTALK]). By this is meant that a construct like the SIMULA class/subclass mechanism is fundamental in BETA. In contrast......]) --- covering both data, procedural and control abstractions, substituting constructs like class, procedure, function and type. Correspondingly objects, procedure activation records and variables are all regarded as special cases of the basic building block of program executions: the entity. A pattern thus......The BETA programming language is developed as part of the BETA project. The purpose of this project is to develop concepts, constructs and tools in the field of programming and programming languages. BETA has been developed from 1975 on and the various stages of the language are documented in [BETA...

  4. Prediction of beta-turns with learning machines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Yu-Dong; Liu, Xiao-Jun; Li, Yi-Xue; Xu, Xue-biao; Chou, Kuo-Chen

    2003-05-01

    The support vector machine approach was introduced to predict the beta-turns in proteins. The overall self-consistency rate by the re-substitution test for the training or learning dataset reached 100%. Both the training dataset and independent testing dataset were taken from Chou [J. Pept. Res. 49 (1997) 120]. The success prediction rates by the jackknife test for the beta-turn subset of 455 tetrapeptides and non-beta-turn subset of 3807 tetrapeptides in the training dataset were 58.1 and 98.4%, respectively. The success rates with the independent dataset test for the beta-turn subset of 110 tetrapeptides and non-beta-turn subset of 30,231 tetrapeptides were 69.1 and 97.3%, respectively. The results obtained from this study support the conclusion that the residue-coupled effect along a tetrapeptide is important for the formation of a beta-turn.

  5. Ranking beta sheet topologies of proteins

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fonseca, Rasmus; Helles, Glennie; Winter, Pawel

    2010-01-01

    One of the challenges of protein structure prediction is to identify long-range interactions between amino acids. To reliably predict such interactions, we enumerate, score and rank all beta-topologies (partitions of beta-strands into sheets, orderings of strands within sheets and orientations...... of paired strands) of a given protein. We show that the beta-topology corresponding to the native structure is, with high probability, among the top-ranked. Since full enumeration is very time-consuming, we also suggest a method to deal with proteins with many beta-strands. The results reported...... in this paper are highly relevant for ab initio protein structure prediction methods based on decoy generation. The top-ranked beta-topologies can be used to find initial conformations from which conformational searches can be started. They can also be used to filter decoys by removing those with poorly...

  6. Strain-dependent differences in sensitivity of rat beta-cells to interleukin 1 beta in vitro and in vivo

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reimers, J I; Andersen, H U; Mauricio, D

    1996-01-01

    /kg) or vehicle for 5 days. All the strains investigated were susceptible to IL-1 beta-induced changes in body weight, food intake, temperature, and plasma glucagon and corticosterone. However, IL-1 beta induced hyperglycemia and impairment of beta-cell glucose responsiveness in WK/Mol and LS/Mol rats...

  7. Desipramine and citalopram attenuate pretest swim-induced increases in prodynorphin immunoreactivity in the dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the lateral division of the central nucleus of the amygdala in the forced swimming test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Sung; Kim, Hee Jeong; Kim, Hyun Ju; Choi, Sun Hye; Cho, Jin Hee; Cho, Yun Ha; Kim, Dong-Hoon; Shin, Kyung Ho

    2014-10-01

    Dynorphin in the nucleus accumbens shell plays an important role in antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test (FST), but it is unclear whether desipramine and citalopram treatments alter prodynorphin levels in other brain areas. To explore this possibility, we injected mice with desipramine and citalopram 0.5, 19, and 23 h after a 15-min pretest swim and observed changes in prodynorphin expression before the test swim, which was conducted 24 h after the pretest swim. The pretest swim increased prodynorphin immunoreactivity in the dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (dBNST) and lateral division of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeL). This increase in prodynorphin immunoreactivity in the dBNST and CeL was blocked by desipramine and citalopram treatments. Similar changes in prodynorphin mRNA levels were observed in the dBNST and CeL, but these changes did not reach significance. To understand the underlying mechanism, we assessed changes in phosphorylated CREB at Ser(133) (pCREB) immunoreactivity in the dBNST and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). Treatment with citalopram but not desipramine after the pretest swim significantly increased pCREB immunoreactivity only in the dBNST. These results suggest that regulation of prodynorphin in the dBNST and CeL before the test swim may be involved in the antidepressant-like effect of desipramine and citalopram in the FST and suggest that changes in pCREB immunoreactivity in these areas may not play an important role in the regulation of prodynorphin in the dBNST and CeA. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Development of A-type allatostatin immunoreactivity in antennal lobe neurons of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utz, Sandra; Schachtner, Joachim

    2005-04-01

    The antennal lobe (AL) of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta is a well-established model system for studying mechanisms of neuronal development. To understand whether neuropeptides are suited to playing a role during AL development, we have studied the cellular localization and temporal expression pattern of neuropeptides of the A-type allatostatin family. Based on morphology and developmental appearance, we distinguished four types of AST-A-immunoreactive cell types. The majority of the cells were local interneurons of the AL (type Ia) which acquired AST-A immunostaining in a complex pattern consisting of three rising (RI-RIII) and two declining phases (DI, DII). Type Ib neurons consisted of two local neurons with large cell bodies not appearing before 7/8 days after pupal ecdysis (P7/P8). Types II and III neurons accounted for single centrifugal neurons, with type II neurons present in the larva and disappearing in the early pupa. The type III neuron did not appear before P7/P8. RI and RII coincided with the rises of the ecdysteroid hemolymph titer. Artificially shifting the pupal 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) peak to an earlier developmental time point resulted in the precocious appearance of AST-A immunostaining in types Ia, Ib, and III neurons. This result supports the hypothesis that the pupal rise in 20E plays a role in AST-A expression during AL development. Because of their early appearance in newly forming glomeruli, AST-A-immunoreactive fibers could be involved in glomerulus formation. Diffuse AST-A labeling during early AL development is discussed as a possible signal providing information for ingrowing olfactory receptor neurons.

  9. Selective inhibition of sheep kidney 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase isoform 2 activity by 5 alpha-reduced (but not 5 beta) derivatives of adrenocorticosteroids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latif, S A; Sheff, M F; Ribeiro, C E; Morris, D J

    1997-02-01

    We have previously reported that 5 alpha and 5 beta pathways of steroid metabolism are controlled in vivo by dietary Na+ and glycyrrhetinic acid, see Gorsline et al. 1988; Latif et al. 1990. The present investigations provide evidence supporting the suggestion that endogenous substances may regulate the glucocorticoid inactivating isoenzymes, 11 beta-HSD (hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) 1 (liver) and 11 beta-HSD2 (kidney). The activity of 11 beta-HSD is impaired in essential hypertension, following licorice ingestion, and in patients with apparent mineralocorticoid excess where 11 beta-HSD2 is particularly affected. In all three conditions, excretion of the less common 5 alpha metabolites is elevated in urine. We now report on the differential abilities of a series of Ring A reduced (5 alpha and 5 beta) adrenocorticosteroid and progesterone metabolites to inhibit these isoenzymes. Using liver microsomes with NADP+ as co-factor (11 beta-HSD1), and sheep kidney microsomes with NAD+ as co-factor (11 beta-HSD2), we have systematically investigated the abilities of a number of adrenocorticosteroids and their derivatives to inhibit the individual isoforms of 11 beta-HSD. A striking feature is the differential sensitivity of the two isoenzymes to inhibition by 5 alpha and 5 beta derivatives. 11 beta-HSD1 is inhibited by both 5 alpha and certain 5 beta derivatives. 11 beta-HSD-2 was selectively inhibited only by 5 alpha derivatives: 5 beta derivatives were without inhibitory activity toward this isoform of 11 beta-HSD. These results indicate the importance of the structural conformation of the A and B Rings in conferring specific inhibitory properties on these compounds. In addition, we discuss the effects of additions or substitutions of other functional groups on the inhibitory potency of these steroid molecules against 11 beta-HSD1 and 11 beta-HSD2.

  10. The continuous monitoring of the artificial beta aerosol activity by measuring the alpha and beta activity in aerosol simultaneously

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayakawa, Hironobu; Oonishi, Masaki; Matsuura, Hiroyuki

    1990-01-01

    We have constructed the system to monitor the artificial beta aerosol activity around the nuclear power plants continuously in real time. The smaller releases of artificial radionuclides from the nuclear power plants can be lost in the fluctuations of the natural background of the beta aerosol activity, when only the beta activity of the aerosol is measured. This method to discriminate the artificial and the natural beta activity of the aerosol is based on the fact that the ratio of the natural alpha and beta activities of the aerosol is almost constant. The detection limit of this system is below 3 Bq/m 3 . (author)

  11. Beta-lactamases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium kansasii.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segura, C; Salvadó, M

    1997-09-01

    Re-emergence of infectious diseases caused by mycobacteria as well as the emergence of multiresistant strains of Mycobacterium has promoted the research on the use of beta-lactames in the treatment of such diseases. Mycobacteria produce beta-lactamases: M. tuberculosis produces a wide-spectrum beta-lactamase whose behaviour mimicks those of Gram-negative bacteria. M. kansasii produces also beta-lactamase which can be inhibited by clavulanic acid. An overview on beta-lactamases from both species is reported.

  12. Alpha and beta-adrenoceptors in hypertension. I. Cardiac and renal alpha 1-, beta 1-, and beta 2-adrenoceptors in rat models of acquired hypertension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Michel, M. C.; Kanczik, R.; Khamssi, M.; Knorr, A.; Siegl, H.; Beckeringh, J. J.; Brodde, O. E.

    1989-01-01

    To determine whether adrenoceptor changes in genetic hypertension occur primary or secondary to blood pressure elevation, we measured cardiac and renal alpha 1- (by [125I]Be 2254 binding) and beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors (by (-)-[125I]iodocyanopindolol binding) densities in various rat models of

  13. Imaging of alpha(v)beta(3) expression by a bifunctional chimeric RGD peptide not cross-reacting with alpha(v)beta(5).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zannetti, Antonella; Del Vecchio, Silvana; Iommelli, Francesca; Del Gatto, Annarita; De Luca, Stefania; Zaccaro, Laura; Papaccioli, Angela; Sommella, Jvana; Panico, Mariarosaria; Speranza, Antonio; Grieco, Paolo; Novellino, Ettore; Saviano, Michele; Pedone, Carlo; Salvatore, Marco

    2009-08-15

    To test whether a novel bifunctional chimeric peptide comprising a cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp pentapeptide covalently bound to an echistatin domain can discriminate alpha(v)beta(3) from alpha(v)beta(5) integrin, thus allowing the in vivo selective visualization of alpha(v)beta(3) expression by single-photon and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The chimeric peptide was preliminarily tested for inhibition of alpha(v)beta(3)-dependent cell adhesion and competition of 125I-echistatin binding to membrane of stably transfected K562 cells expressing alpha(v)beta(3) (Kalpha(v)beta(3)) or alpha(v)beta(5) (Kalpha(v)beta(5)) integrin. The chimeric peptide was then conjugated with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid and labeled with 111In for single-photon imaging, whereas a one-step procedure was used for labeling the full-length peptide and a truncated derivative, lacking the last five C-terminal amino acids, with 18F for PET imaging. Nude mice bearing tumors from Kalpha(v)beta(3), Kalpha(v)beta(5), U87MG human glioblastoma, and A431 human epidermoid cells were subjected to single-photon and PET imaging. Adhesion and competitive binding assays showed that the novel chimeric peptide selectively binds to alpha(v)beta(3) integrin and does not cross-react with alpha(v)beta(5). In agreement with in vitro findings, single-photon and PET imaging studies showed that the radiolabeled chimeric peptide selectively localizes in tumor xenografts expressing alphavbeta3 and fails to accumulate in those expressing alpha(v)beta(5) integrin. When 18F-labeled truncated derivative was used for PET imaging, alphavbeta3- and alpha(v)beta(5)-expressing tumors were visualized, indicating that the five C-terminal amino acids are required to differentially bind the two integrins. Our findings indicate that the novel chimeric Arg-Gly-Asp peptide, having no cross-reaction with alphavbeta5 integrin, allows highly selective alphavbeta3 expression imaging and monitoring.

  14. Association of postprandial serum triglyceride concentration and serum canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity in overweight and obese dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verkest, K R; Fleeman, L M; Morton, J M; Groen, S J; Suchodolski, J S; Steiner, J M; Rand, J S

    2012-01-01

    Hypertriglyceridemia has been proposed to contribute to the risk of developing pancreatitis in dogs. To determine associations between postprandial serum triglyceride concentrations and canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (cPLI) concentrations or pancreatic disease. Thirty-five client-owned overweight (n = 25) or obese (n = 10) dogs weighing >10 kg. Healthy dogs were prospectively recruited for a cross-sectional study. Serum triglyceride concentrations were measured before and hourly for 12 hours after a meal. Fasting cPLI and canine trypsin-like immunoreactivity (cTLI) concentrations were assayed. Cut-off values for hypertriglyceridemia were set a priori for fasting (≥ 88, ≥ 177, ≥ 354, ≥ 885 mg/dL) and peak postprandial (≥ 133, ≥ 442, ≥ 885 mg/dL) triglyceride concentrations. The association between hypertriglyceridemia and high cPLI concentrations was assessed by exact logistic regression. Follow-up was performed 4 years later to determine the incidence of pancreatic disease. Eight dogs had peak postprandial triglycerides >442 mg/dL and 3 dogs had fasting serum cPLI concentrations ≥ 400 μg/L. Odds of high cPLI concentrations were 16.7 times higher in dogs with peak postprandial triglyceride concentrations ≥ 442 mg/dL relative to other dogs (P obese dogs with peak serum postprandial triglyceride concentrations ≥ 442 mg/dL after a standard meal are more likely to have serum cPLI concentrations ≥ 400 μg/L, but did not develop clinically important pancreatic disease. Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  15. Silent ischemia and beta-blockade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egstrup, K

    1991-01-01

    and should also be directed at the other coronary artery risk factors of the patients. The effects of beta-blockers, which reduce the duration and frequency of silent ischemic episodes, is well described. The effect is most pronounced in the morning, when the frequency of ischemia is highest......, and the mechanism of action seems mainly mediated through a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand. beta-Blockers have shown effectiveness in both effort-induced angina and mixed angina, and increased anti-ischemic potency may be achieved by combination therapy with a calcium antagonist. Abrupt withdrawal of beta-blockers...

  16. Towards Alzheimer's beta-amyloid vaccination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frenkel, D; Solomon, B

    2001-01-01

    Beta-amyloid pathology, the main hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), has been linked to its conformational status and aggregation. We recently showed that site-directed monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) towards the N-terminal region of the human beta-amyloid peptide bind to preformed beta-amyloid fibrils (Abeta), leading to disaggregation and inhibition of their neurotoxic effect. Here we report the development of a novel immunization procedure to raise effective anti-aggregating amyloid beta-protein (AbetaP) antibodies, using as antigen filamentous phages displaying the only EFRH peptide found to be the epitope of these antibodies. Due to the high antigenicity of the phage no adjuvant is required to obtain high affinity anti-aggregating IgG antibodies in animals model, that exhibit identity to human AbetaP. Such antibodies are able to sequester peripheral AbetaP, thus avoiding passage through the blood brain barrier (BBB) and, as recently shown in a transgenic mouse model, to cross the BBB and dissolve already formed beta-amyloid plaques. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use as a vaccine a self-anti-aggregating epitope displayed on a phage, and this may pave the way to treat abnormal accumulation-peptide diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or other amyloidogenic diseases. Copyright 2001 The International Association for Biologicals.

  17. Hydrolyses of alpha-naphthyl acetate, beta-naphthyl acetate, and acetyl-DL-phenylalanine beta-naphthyl ester

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkeby, S; Moe, D

    1983-01-01

    Using simultaneous coupling azo dye techniques kidney enzymes active against alpha-naphthyl acetate, beta-naphthyl acetate, and acetyl-DL-phenylalanine beta-naphthyl ester are characterized. The enzymes show identical distribution in the section. The banding patterns in zymograms are the same after...

  18. Cloning and characterization of human liver cytosolic beta-glycosidase

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Graaf, M; Van Veen, IC; Van Der Meulen-Muileman, IH; Gerritsen, WR; Pinedo, HM; Haisma, HJ

    2001-01-01

    Cytosolic beta -glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21) from mammalian liver is a member of the family 1 glycoside hydrolases and is known for its ability to hydrolyse a range of beta -D-glycosides. including beta -D-glucoside acid beta -D-galactoside. We therefore refer to this enzyme as cytosolic beta

  19. Modulation of type I immediate and type IV delayed immunoreactivity using direct suggestion and guided imagery during hypnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zachariae, R; Bjerring, P; Arendt-Nielsen, L

    1989-11-01

    Cutaneous reactivity against histamine skin prick test (Type I) and purified tuberculin protein derivative (Mantoux reaction, Type IV) was studied in eight volunteers under hypnosis. Types I and IV immunoreactivity were modulated by direct suggestion (Type I) and guided imagery (Type IV). The volunteers were highly susceptible subjects, selected by means of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. When the volunteers underwent hypnotic suggestion to decrease the cutaneous reaction to histamine prick test, a significant (P less than 0.02) reduction of the flare reaction (area of erythema) was observed compared with control histamine skin prick tests. The wheal reaction did not respond to hypnotic suggestion. Neither wheal nor flare reaction could be increased in size by hypnotic suggestion compared with control histamine skin prick tests. A hypnotic suggestion of increasing the Type IV reaction on one arm and decreasing the reaction on the other revealed a significant difference in both erythema size (P less than 0.02) and palpable induration (P less than 0.01). In two cases the reactions were monitored by laser doppler blood flowmetry and skin thickness measurement by ultrasound. The difference between the suggested increased and decreased reaction was 19% for the laser doppler bloodflow (in favor of the augmented side), and 44% for the dermal infiltrate thickness. This study objectively supports the numerous uncontrolled case reports of modulation of immunoreactivity in allergic diseases involving both Type I and Type IV skin reactions following hypnotic suggestions.

  20. High beta-Lactamase Levels Change the Pharmacodynamics of beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Hengzhuang; Ciofu, Oana; Yang, Liang

    2013-01-01

    the role of beta-lactamase in the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of ceftazidime and imipenem on P. aeruginosa biofilms. P. aeruginosa PAO1 and its corresponding beta-lactamase-overproducing mutant, PA Delta DDh2Dh3, were used in this study. Biofilms of these two strains in flow chambers......, microtiter plates, and on alginate beads were treated with different concentrations of ceftazidime and imipenem. The kinetics of antibiotics on the biofilms was investigated in vitro by time-kill methods. Time-dependent killing of ceftazidime was observed in PAO1 biofilms, but concentration-dependent killing...... activity of ceftazidime was observed for beta-lactamase-overproducing biofilms of P. aeruginosa in all three models. Ceftazidime showed time-dependent killing on planktonic PAO1 and PA Delta DDh2Dh3. This difference is probably due to the special distribution and accumulation in the biofilm matrix of beta...

  1. Characterization of a Full-Length Endogenous Beta-Retrovirus, EqERV-Beta1, in the Genome of the Horse (Equus caballus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antoinette C. van der Kuyl

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Information on endogenous retroviruses fixed in the horse (Equus caballus genome is scarce. The recent availability of a draft sequence of the horse genome enables the detection of such integrated viruses by similarity search. Using translated nucleotide fragments from gamma-, beta-, and delta-retroviral genera for initial searches, a full-length beta-retrovirus genome was retrieved from a horse chromosome 5 contig. The provirus, tentatively named EqERV-beta1 (for the first equine endogenous beta-retrovirus, was 10434 nucleotide (nt in length with the usual retroviral genome structure of 5’LTR-gag-pro-pol-env-3’LTR. The LTRs were 1361 nt long, and differed approximately 1% from each other, suggestive of a relatively recent integration. Coding sequences for gag, pro and pol were present in three different reading-frames, as common for beta-retroviruses, and the reading frames were completely open, except that the env gene was interrupted by a single stopcodon. No reading frame was apparent downstream of the env gene, suggesting that EqERV-beta1 does not encode a superantigen like mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV. A second proviral genome of EqERV-beta1, with no stopcodon in env, is additionally integrated on chromosome 5 downstream of the first virus. Single EqERV-beta1 LTRs were abundantly present on all chromosomes except chromosome 24. Phylogenetically, EqERV-beta1 most closely resembles an unclassified retroviral sequence from cattle (Bos taurus, and the murine beta-retrovirus MMTV.

  2. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB)

    OpenAIRE

    Wilson, Jacob M; Fitschen, Peter J; Campbell, Bill; Wilson, Gabriel J; Zanchi, Nelo; Taylor, Lem; Wilborn, Colin; Kalman, Douglas S; Stout, Jeffrey R; Hoffman, Jay R; Ziegenfuss, Tim N; Lopez, Hector L; Kreider, Richard B; Smith-Ryan, Abbie E; Antonio, Jose

    2013-01-01

    Abstract Position Statement: The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) bases the following position stand on a critical analysis of the literature on the use of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) as a nutritional supplement. The ISSN has concluded the following. 1. HMB can be used to enhance recovery by attenuating exercise induced skeletal muscle damage in trained and untrained populations. 2. If consuming HMB, an athlete will benefit from consuming the supplement in close pro...

  3. Influence of feeding on serum canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity concentrations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steiner JM

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Jörg M Steiner, Craig G Ruaux, David A Williams Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Abstract: Measurement of serum concentration of pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (PLI has been shown to be highly specific for exocrine pancreatic function and sensitive for the diagnosis of canine pancreatitis. Currently, it is recommended that food be withheld for at least 12 hours before collecting a blood sample for analysis from dogs. However, it is unknown whether feeding has any influence on serum canine PLI concentration. Thus, the goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding on serum canine PLI concentrations in healthy dogs. Food was withheld from eight healthy adult Beagle dogs for at least 17 hours and a baseline serum sample (0 minutes was collected. Dogs were fed and serum samples were collected at 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 150, 180, 210, 240, 300, 360, 420, and 480 minutes. There was no significant difference in serum canine PLI concentrations at any time after feeding (P=0.131. We conclude that feeding has no significant influence on serum canine PLI concentrations. Keywords: dog, pancreatic function, pancreatitis, biomarker, diagnostic test

  4. Structure of beta-diketiminates and beta-aminoketones made from anisidines or chloroanilines: tin and lithium complexes

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Olejník, R.; Padělková, Z.; Horáček, Michal; Růžička, A.

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 35, 1-2 (2012), s. 13-27 ISSN 0334-7575 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : beta-diketimines * beta-enaminones * lithium Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 0.207, year: 2011

  5. Topical beta-blockers and mortality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Müskens, Rogier P. H. M.; Wolfs, Roger C. W.; Witteman, Jacqueline C. M.; Hofman, Albert; de Jong, Paulus T. V. M.; Stricker, Bruno H. C.; Jansonius, Nomdo M.

    2008-01-01

    To study the associations between long-term and short-term use of topical beta-blockers and mortality. Prospective population-based cohort study. To examine long-term effects, 3842 participants aged 55 years and older were recruited. To examine short-term effects, 484 incident beta-blocker users and

  6. Predicting Bond Betas using Macro-Finance Variables

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aslanidis, Nektarios; Christiansen, Charlotte; Cipollini, Andrea

    We conduct in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting using the new approach of combining explanatory variables through complete subset regressions (CSR). We predict bond CAPM betas and bond returns conditioning on various macro-fi…nance variables. We explore differences across long-term government ...... bonds, investment grade corporate bonds, and high-yield corporate bonds. The CSR method performs well in predicting bond betas, especially in-sample, and, mainly high-yield bond betas when the focus is out-of-sample. Bond returns are less predictable than bond betas....

  7. Central beta-adrenergic modulation of cognitive flexibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beversdorf, David Q; White, Dawn M; Chever, Daquesha C; Hughes, John D; Bornstein, Robert A

    2002-12-20

    Situational stressors and anxiety impede performance on creativity tests requiring cognitive flexibility. Preliminary research revealed better performance on a task requiring cognitive flexibility, the anagram task, after propranolol (beta-adrenergic antagonist) than after ephedrine (beta-adrenergic agonist). However, propranolol and ephedrine have both peripheral and central beta-adrenergic effects. In order to determine whether noradrenergic modulation of cognitive flexibility is a centrally or peripherally mediated phenomenon, we compared the effects of propranolol (peripheral and central beta-blocker), nadolol (peripheral beta-blocker), and placebo on anagram task performance. Solution latency scores for each subject were compared across the drug conditions. Anagram solution latency scores after propranolol were significantly lower than after nadolol. This suggests a centrally mediated modulatory influence of the noradrenergic system on cognitive flexibility.

  8. Beta calibration and dosimetry at IPEN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caldas, L.V.E.

    1983-01-01

    A commercial extrapolation chamber (PTW, Germany) was tested in different beta radiation fields and its properties investigated. Its usefullness for beta radiation calibration and dosimetry was demonstrated. (Author) [pt

  9. Beta adrenoreceptors in the rabbit bladder detrusor muscle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anderson, G.F.; Marks, B.H.

    1984-02-01

    This study examines the beta adrenergic receptors of the rabbit detrusor smooth muscle, employing (/sup 125/I)iodocyanopindolol (ICYP) as a ligand for the binding of beta adrenergic receptors. Saturation binding experiments on the isolated membrane fraction yielded a KD for ICYP of 14.7 pM and a maximum binding of 147.6 fmol/mg of protein. Displacement of labeled ICYP by a series of beta adrenergic agents yielded the following KD values for the combined high and low affinity binding sites: I-propranolol, 0.76 nM; ICI 118,551, 1.7 nM; zinterol, 38.0 nM; metoprolol, 3.5 microM; and practolol, 61.4 microM. When these displacement experimental results were compared to KD values from other reported binding studies with ICYP for beta adrenoreceptors, both the order of potency and the KD values indicated primarily beta-2 adrenergic receptor subtypes. Computer program Scatfit analysis of the displacement curves indicated a single slope and affinity constant for all five beta adrenergic agents. Hofstee plots for zinterol, ICI 118,551 and metoprolol, however, were not linear and indicated that minor populations of beta-1 adrenoreceptors were also present as both high and low affinity binding sites could be defined. It is concluded that the primary receptor population is beta-2 and that this tissue is heterogenous with a small population of beta-1 adrenoreceptors representing approximately 13 to 23% of the total beta adrenoreceptor population.

  10. Beta adrenoreceptors in the rabbit bladder detrusor muscle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, G.F.; Marks, B.H.

    1984-01-01

    This study examines the beta adrenergic receptors of the rabbit detrusor smooth muscle, employing [ 125 I]iodocyanopindolol (ICYP) as a ligand for the binding of beta adrenergic receptors. Saturation binding experiments on the isolated membrane fraction yielded a KD for ICYP of 14.7 pM and a maximum binding of 147.6 fmol/mg of protein. Displacement of labeled ICYP by a series of beta adrenergic agents yielded the following KD values for the combined high and low affinity binding sites: I-propranolol, 0.76 nM; ICI 118,551, 1.7 nM; zinterol, 38.0 nM; metoprolol, 3.5 microM; and practolol, 61.4 microM. When these displacement experimental results were compared to KD values from other reported binding studies with ICYP for beta adrenoreceptors, both the order of potency and the KD values indicated primarily beta-2 adrenergic receptor subtypes. Computer program Scatfit analysis of the displacement curves indicated a single slope and affinity constant for all five beta adrenergic agents. Hofstee plots for zinterol, ICI 118,551 and metoprolol, however, were not linear and indicated that minor populations of beta-1 adrenoreceptors were also present as both high and low affinity binding sites could be defined. It is concluded that the primary receptor population is beta-2 and that this tissue is heterogenous with a small population of beta-1 adrenoreceptors representing approximately 13 to 23% of the total beta adrenoreceptor population

  11. Reduced Expression of the Liver/Beta-Cell Glucose Transporter Isoform in Glucose-Insensitive Pancreatic Beta Cells of Diabetic Rats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thorens, Bernard; Weir, Gordon C.; Leahy, John L.; Lodish, Harvey F.; Bonner-Weir, Susan

    1990-09-01

    Rats injected with a single dose of streptozocin at 2 days of age develop non-insulin-dependent diabetes 6 weeks later. The pancreatic beta islet cells of these diabetic rats display a loss of glucose-induced insulin secretion while maintaining sensitivity to other secretagogues such as arginine. We analyzed the level of expression of the liver/beta-cell glucose transporter isoform in diabetic islets by immunofluorescence staining of pancreas sections and by Western blotting of islet lysates. Islets from diabetic animals have a reduced expression of this beta-cell-specific glucose transporter isoform and the extent of reduction is correlated with the severity of hyperglycemia. In contrast, expression of this transporter isoform in liver is minimally modified by the diabetes. Thus a decreased expression of the liver/beta-cell glucose transporter isoform in beta cells is associated with the impaired glucose sensing characteristic of diabetic islets; our data suggest that this glucose transporter may be part of the beta-cell glucose sensor.

  12. Beta spectra. II-Positron spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grau, A.; Garcia-Torano, E.

    1981-01-01

    Using the Fermi theory of beta decay, the beta spectra for 30 positron emitters have been computed, introducing a correction factor for unique forbidden transitions. The spectra are ploted vs. energy, once normalised, and tabulated with the related Fermi functions. The average and median energies are calculated. (author)

  13. Beta Blockers

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... may not work as effectively for people of African heritage and older people, especially when taken without ... conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/beta-blockers/ART-20044522 . Mayo Clinic Footer Legal Conditions and Terms ...

  14. Beta-Carotene

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... disease (COPD). It is also used to improve memory and muscle strength. Some people use beta-carotene ... to reduce the chance of death and night blindness during pregnancy, as well as diarrhea and fever ...

  15. Hydroxyurea responses in clinically varied beta, HbE-beta thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia patients of Eastern India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatterjee, Tridip; Chakravarty, Amit; Chakravarty, Sudipa

    2018-05-01

    The haematological and clinical response to hydroxyurea was estimated in HbE-beta, beta thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia patients of Eastern India, with variable clinical severity and transfusion requirement to determine whether hydroxyurea can help these patients to maintain their steady haemoglobin level without blood transfusions. Three hundred patients (189 HbE-beta thalassaemia, 95 beta thalassaemia and 16 other haemoglobinopathies including sickle cell anaemia) were selected for hydroxyurea therapy and were followed up for 48-60 months. Results suggest significant response to hydroxyurea therapy in 19 beta and 99 HbE-beta patients in the transfusion-dependent group (GR-I). All of them became transfusion-independent while on hydroxyurea therapy. The majority of responding patients were IVS1-5(G-C) in one of their alleles in HbE-beta cases (83 out of 119). Though IVS1-5(G-C) was found to be the commonest mutation in our selected patients, the mutational background of the patients does not found to have any significant correlation with the response category towards hydroxyurea as per the results observed in our study. But, the drug works pretty well in most of the transfusion-dependent patients, as these patients were withdrawn from regular blood transfusion. At the same time, partial or no response to the drug hydroxyurea was also recorded in our study.

  16. Formulary considerations in selection of beta-blockers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yedinak, K C

    1993-08-01

    Selection of beta-adrenergic blockers for formulary addition can be a difficult task, especially with the increasing availability of new beta-blockers, as well as the numerous differences in pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of currently available agents. Nevertheless, appropriate evaluation of the important characteristics of beta-blockers should allow selection of the most cost-effective agents for formulary addition. Most importantly, differences in efficacy, product formulation and cost should be carefully considered when making formulary decisions. Notably, evidence from clinical trials indicates differences in efficacy among beta-blockers for post-myocardial infarction prophylaxis, situational anxiety, essential tremor, thyrotoxicosis, migraine prophylaxis and prevention of bleeding associated with oesophageal varices. For many clinical situations, it is also important to select an effective agent that is available in both an oral and intravenous formulation, especially for cardioprotection after acute myocardial infarction and for use in supraventricular arrhythmias. In addition, availability of sustained release products and generic formulations should be considered for their potential to increase compliance and decrease cost, respectively. Comparative drug costs, as well as costs associated with decreased compliance, should also be carefully evaluated. Differences in beta-receptor selectivity, duration of action and presence of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity (ISA) are also important considerations in the selection of beta-blockers for formulary consideration. Although degree of selectivity is relative, beta 1-selective agents may be less likely to induce bronchospasm in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and may be less likely to affect glucose homeostasis in patients with diabetes mellitus. Duration of action of a beta-blocker is an important consideration for evaluation of efficacy throughout the recommended

  17. Iodine-123 labelled N-(2-fluoroethyl)-2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane for dopamine transporter imaging in the living human brain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuikka, J.T. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); AAkerman, K. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Bergstroem, K.A. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Karhu, J. [Dept. of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Hiltunen, J. [MAP Medical Technologies Oy, Tikkakoski (Finland); Haukka, J. [MAP Medical Technologies Oy, Tikkakoski (Finland); Heikkinen, J. [Dept. of Clinical Physiology, Kuopio Univ. Hospital (Finland); Tiihonen, J. [Dept. of Forensic Psychiatry, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio (Finland); Wang, S. [Research Biochemical International (RBI), Natick, MA (United States); Neumeyer, J.L. [Research Biochemical International (RBI), Natick, MA (United States)

    1995-07-01

    Here we report a pilot comparison of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT and [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FP with a new tropane derivative, [{sup 123}I]N-(2-fluoroethyl)-2{beta}-carbomethoxy-3{beta}-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane ([{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FE), using SPET imaging in four healthy male subjects. Peak uptake of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FE into the basal ganglia occurred very rapidly (0.5 h after injection of tracer), after which the striatal washout obeyed a bi-exponential form. The specific DAT binding of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FE into the basal ganglia was somewhat less (0.785{+-}0.117) than that of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT (0.922{+-}0.004) or [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FP (0.813{+-}0.047). All these tracers have excellent imaging quality in healthy control subjects. However, the relatively fast washout of [{sup 123}I]{beta}-CIT-FE and low temporal resolution of older SPET cameras may limit the use of this tracer to the measurement of the DAT density. (orig./UG)

  18. Interleukin-1 beta Attenuates Myofibroblast Formation and Extracellular Matrix Production in Dermal and Lung Fibroblasts Exposed to Transforming Growth Factor-beta 1

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mia, Masum M.; Boersema, Miriam; Bank, Ruud A.

    2014-01-01

    One of the most potent pro-fibrotic cytokines is transforming growth factor (TGF beta). TGF beta is involved in the activation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, resulting in the hallmark of fibrosis: the pathological accumulation of collagen. Interleukin-1 beta (IL1 beta) can influence the

  19. Metallo-beta-lactamases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa--a novel mechanism resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorota Olszańska

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Since about twenty years, following the introduction into therapeutic of news beta-lactam antibiotics (broad-spectrum cephalosporins, monobactams and carbapenems, a very significant number of new beta-lactamases appeared. These enzymes confer to the bacteria which put them, the means of resisting new molecules. The genetic events involved in this evolution are of two types: evolution of old enzymes by mutation and especially appearance of new genes coming for some, from bacteria of the environment. Numerous mechanisms of enzymatic resistance to the carbapenems have been described in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The important mechanism of inactivation carbapenems is production variety of b-lactam hydrolysing enzymes associated to carbapenemases. The metallo-beta-enzymes (IMP, VIM, SPM, GIM types are the most clinically significant carbapenemases. P. aeruginosa posses MBLs and seem to have acquired them through transmissible genetic elements (plasmids or transposons associated with integron and can be transmission to other bacteria. They have reported worldwide but mostly from South East Asia and Europe. The enzymes, belonging to the molecular class B family, are the most worrisome of all beta-lactamases because they confer resistance to carbapenems and all the beta-lactams (with the exception of aztreonam and usually to aminoglycosides and quinolones. The dissemination of MBLs genes is thought to be driven by regional consumption of extended--spectrum antibiotics (e.g. cephalosporins and carbapenems, and therefore care must be taken that these drugs are not used unnecessarily.

  20. Covalent labeling of the beta-adrenergic ligand-binding site with para-(bromoacetamidyl)benzylcarazolol. A highly potent beta-adrenergic affinity label

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dickinson, K.E.; Heald, S.L.; Jeffs, P.W.; Lefkowitz, R.J.; Caron, M.G.

    1985-01-01

    Para-(Bromoacetamidyl)benzylcarazolol (pBABC) was synthesized and found to be an extremely potent affinity label for beta-adrenergic receptors. Its interaction with mammalian (rabbit and hamster lung) and nonmammalian (turkey and frog erythrocyte) beta-adrenergic receptors was similar, displaying EC 50 values of 400-900 pM for inhibiting 125 I-cyanopindolol binding to these receptors. pBABC reduced the number of beta-adrenergic receptors in frog erythrocyte membranes, without any change in the affinity of the remaining sites for [ 125 I]iodocyanopindolol. pBABC has been radioiodinated. As assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, this affinity probe specifically labeled the beta-adrenergic peptide of a purified preparation of hamster lung, with high efficiency (approximately 40%) and with a pharmacological specificity characteristic of an interaction at the beta 2-adrenergic receptor ligand-binding site. Comparison of the proteolyzed products derived from purified receptor labeled with [ 125 I]pBABC and with the photoaffinity agent [ 125 I]p-azidobenzylcarazolol suggested that covalent labeling of the beta-adrenergic receptor by these probes occurs at similar domains of the beta-adrenergic receptor

  1. BETA SPECTRA. I. Negatrons spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grau Malonda, A.; Garcia-Torano, E.

    1978-01-01

    Using the Fermi theory of beta decay, the beta spectra for 62 negatrons emitters have been computed introducing a correction factor for unique forbidden transitions. These spectra are plotted vs. energy, once normal i sed, and tabulated with the related Fermi functions. The average and median energies are calculated. (Author)

  2. Integrin {alpha}{beta}1, {alpha}{sub v}{beta}, {alpha}{sub 6}{beta} effectors p130Cas, Src and talin regulate carcinoma invasion and chemoresistance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sansing, Hope A. [Department of Oral and Craniofacial Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, School of Dentistry, New Orleans, LA (United States); Sarkeshik, Ali; Yates, John R. [Department of Chemical Physiology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA (United States); Patel, Vyomesh; Gutkind, J. Silvio [Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Yamada, Kenneth M. [Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Berrier, Allison L., E-mail: allison.berrier@gmail.com [Department of Oral and Craniofacial Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans, School of Dentistry, New Orleans, LA (United States)

    2011-03-11

    Research highlights: {yields} Proteomics of clustered integrin {alpha}{beta}1, {alpha}{sub v}{beta}, {alpha}{sub 6}{beta} receptors in oral carcinoma. {yields} p130Cas, Dek, Src and talin regulate oral carcinoma invasion. {yields} p130Cas, talin, Src and zyxin regulate oral carcinoma resistance to cisplatin. -- Abstract: Ligand engagement by integrins induces receptor clustering and formation of complexes at the integrin cytoplasmic face that controls cell signaling and cytoskeletal dynamics critical for adhesion-dependent processes. This study searches for a subset of integrin effectors that coordinates both tumor cell invasion and resistance to the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin in oral carcinomas. Candidate integrin effectors were identified in a proteomics screen of proteins recruited to clustered integrin {alpha}{beta}1, {alpha}{sub v}{beta} or {alpha}{sub 6}{beta} receptors in oral carcinomas. Proteins with diverse functions including microtubule and actin binding proteins, and factors involved in trafficking, transcription and translation were identified in oral carcinoma integrin complexes. Knockdown of effectors in the oral carcinoma HN12 cells revealed that p130Cas, Dek, Src and talin were required for invasion through Matrigel. Disruption of talin or p130Cas by RNA interference increased resistance to cisplatin, whereas targeting Dek, Src or zyxin reduced HN12 resistance to cisplatin. Analysis of the spreading of HN12 cells on collagen I and laminin I revealed that a decrease in p130Cas or talin expression inhibited spreading on both matrices. Interestingly, a reduction in zyxin expression enhanced spreading on laminin I and inhibited spreading on collagen I. Reduction of Dek, Src, talin or zyxin expression reduced HN12 proliferation by 30%. Proliferation was not affected by a reduction in p130Cas expression. We conclude that p130Cas, Src and talin function in both oral carcinoma invasion and resistance to cisplatin.

  3. How Should Beta-Diversity Inform Biodiversity Conservation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Socolar, Jacob B; Gilroy, James J; Kunin, William E; Edwards, David P

    2016-01-01

    To design robust protected area networks, accurately measure species losses, or understand the processes that maintain species diversity, conservation science must consider the organization of biodiversity in space. Central is beta-diversity--the component of regional diversity that accumulates from compositional differences between local species assemblages. We review how beta-diversity is impacted by human activities, including farming, selective logging, urbanization, species invasions, overhunting, and climate change. Beta-diversity increases, decreases, or remains unchanged by these impacts, depending on the balance of processes that cause species composition to become more different (biotic heterogenization) or more similar (biotic homogenization) between sites. While maintaining high beta-diversity is not always a desirable conservation outcome, understanding beta-diversity is essential for protecting regional diversity and can directly assist conservation planning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Augmented Beta rectangular regression models: A Bayesian perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jue; Luo, Sheng

    2016-01-01

    Mixed effects Beta regression models based on Beta distributions have been widely used to analyze longitudinal percentage or proportional data ranging between zero and one. However, Beta distributions are not flexible to extreme outliers or excessive events around tail areas, and they do not account for the presence of the boundary values zeros and ones because these values are not in the support of the Beta distributions. To address these issues, we propose a mixed effects model using Beta rectangular distribution and augment it with the probabilities of zero and one. We conduct extensive simulation studies to assess the performance of mixed effects models based on both the Beta and Beta rectangular distributions under various scenarios. The simulation studies suggest that the regression models based on Beta rectangular distributions improve the accuracy of parameter estimates in the presence of outliers and heavy tails. The proposed models are applied to the motivating Neuroprotection Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (PD) Long-term Study-1 (LS-1 study, n = 1741), developed by The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (NINDS NET-PD) network. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. Other characterizations of $\\beta$-$\\theta$-R0 topological spaces

    OpenAIRE

    Miguel Caldas Cueva

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we give other characterizations of $\\beta$-$\\theta$-$%R_0$ and also introduce a new separation axiom called$\\beta$-$\\theta$-$R_1$. It turns out that $\\beta$-$\\theta$-$R_1$ isstronger that $\\beta$-$\\theta$-$R_0$

  6. Beta-agonists and animal welfare

    Science.gov (United States)

    The use of beta-agonists in animal feed is a high profile topic within the U.S. as consumers and activist groups continue to question its safety. The only beta-agonist currently available for use in swine is ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC). This is available as Paylean™ (Elanco Animal Health – FDA a...

  7. Review of the beta situation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheffield, J.

    1982-01-01

    This note lists some of the possible causes of beta limitation in tokamak and discusses what is known and what is involved in investigating them. The motivation for preparing this note is the observed degradation of confinement with increasing beta poloidal β/sub p/ and beam power P/sub b/ in ISX-B

  8. Comparative analysis of Met-enkephalin, galanin and GABA immunoreactivity in the developing trout preoptic-hypophyseal system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Díaz, M A; Candal, E; Santos-Durán, G N; Adrio, F; Rodríguez-Moldes, I

    2011-08-01

    We studied the organization of Met-enkephalin-containing cells and fibers in the developing preoptic-hypophyseal system of the brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) by immunohistochemistry and determined the relationship of these cells and fibers to the galaninergic and GABAergic systems. Met-enkephalin immunoreactivity was observed in cells in the preoptic area, the hypothalamus and the pituitary of late larvae. In the hypophysis, a few Met-enkephalin-containing cells were present in all divisions of the adenohypophysis, and some immunoreactive fibers were present in the interdigitations of the neural lobe with the proximal pars distalis. Concurrently, GABAergic fibers innervated the anterior and posterior neural lobe. Galanin cells coexisted with Met-enkephalin cells in neuronal groups of the preoptic-hypophyseal system. Galaninergic and GABAergic fibers innervated the preoptic and hypothalamic areas, but GABAergic fibers containing galanin were not observed. These results indicate that Met-enkephalin, galanin and GABA may modulate neuroendocrine activities in the preoptic area, hypothalamus and pituitary during the transition from larval to juvenile period. To better know how the development of the trout preoptic-hypophyseal system takes place, we studied the patterns of cell proliferation and expression of Pax6, a conserved transcription factor involved in the hypophysis development. Pax6 expressing cells and proliferating cells were present in the Rathke's pouch, the hypothalamus and the hypophysis of early larvae. In late larvae, Pax6 expression was no longer observed in these areas, and the density of proliferating cells largely decreased throughout development, although they remained in the hypophysis of late larvae and juveniles, suggesting that Pax6 might play an important role in the early regionalization of the pituitary in the trout. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Differential Recognition of CD1d-[alpha]-Galactosyl Ceramide by the V[beta]8.2 and V[beta]7 Semi-invariant NKT T Cell Receptors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pellicci, Daniel G.; Patel, Onisha; Kjer-Nielsen, Lars; Pang, Siew Siew; Sullivan, Lucy C.; Kyparissoudis, Konstantinos; Brooks, Andrew G.; Reid, Hugh H.; Gras, Stephanie; Lucet, Isabelle S.; Koh, Ruide; Smyth, Mark J.; Mallevaey, Thierry; Matsuda, Jennifer L.; Gapin, Laurent; McCluskey, James; Godfrey, Dale I.; Rossjohn, Jamie; PMCI-A; Monash; UCHSC; Melbourne

    2009-09-02

    The semi-invariant natural killer T cell receptor (NKT TCR) recognizes CD1d-lipid antigens. Although the TCR{alpha} chain is typically invariant, the {beta} chain expression is more diverse, where three V{beta} chains are commonly expressed in mice. We report the structures of V{alpha}14-V{beta}8.2 and V{alpha}14-V{beta}7 NKT TCRs in complex with CD1d-{alpha}-galactosylceramide ({alpha}-GalCer) and the 2.5 {angstrom} structure of the human NKT TCR-CD1d-{alpha}-GalCer complex. Both V{beta}8.2 and V{beta}7 NKT TCRs and the human NKT TCR ligated CD1d-{alpha}-GalCer in a similar manner, highlighting the evolutionarily conserved interaction. However, differences within the V{beta} domains of the V{beta}8.2 and V{beta}7 NKT TCR-CD1d complexes resulted in altered TCR{beta}-CD1d-mediated contacts and modulated recognition mediated by the invariant {alpha} chain. Mutagenesis studies revealed the differing contributions of V{beta}8.2 and V{beta}7 residues within the CDR2{beta} loop in mediating contacts with CD1d. Collectively we provide a structural basis for the differential NKT TCR V{beta} usage in NKT cells.

  10. Structure of the T cell receptor in a Ti alpha V beta 2, alpha V beta 8-positive T cell line

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hou, X; Dietrich, J; Kuhlmann, J

    1994-01-01

    not known; however, it has been suggested that each TcR contains two Ti dimers. To gain insight into the structure of the TcR we constructed a Ti alpha V beta 2, alpha V beta 8-positive T cell line which expressed the endogenous human TiV beta 8 and the transfected mouse TiV beta 2 both in association......The T cell receptor (TcR) is composed of at least six different polypeptide chains consisting of the clonotypic Ti heterodimer (Ti alpha beta or Ti gamma delta) and the noncovalently associated CD3 chains (CD3 gamma delta epsilon zeta). The exact number of subunits constituting the TcR is still...... with the endogenous Ti alpha and CD3 chains at the cell surface. Preclearing experiments with radioiodinated cell lysate prepared with digitonin lysis buffer demonstrated that depleting the lysate of Ti alpha V beta 8 by immunoprecipitation with anti V beta 8 monoclonal antibody (mAb) did not reduce the amount of Ti...

  11. Desensitization in patients with beta-lactam drug allergy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yusin, J S; Klaustermeyer, W; Simmons, C W; Baum, M

    2013-01-01

    Patients with a history of beta-lactam antibiotic allergy are often admitted to the hospital with severe or life-threatening infections requiring beta-lactam antibiotics. Strict avoidance of beta lactams to such patients may prevent them from getting adequate coverage and can lead to an increase in the use of alternative antibiotics, which can predispose to antibiotic resistance. Past studies revealed a lower incidence of pen allergy then patients' histories suggest. Fortunately today, there are three options for patients presenting with a history of beta-lactam allergy. Penicillin skin testing, beta-lactam challenge or beta-lactam desensitization. Recently Pre Pen has been FDA re-approved and when combined with Pen G is a valid way to determine if patients are able to tolerate beta-lactam antibiotic. When these agents are not available one must decide about desensitization or challenge. When a patient has a positive penicillin skin test, desensitization or beta-lactam avoidance are the only options. This paper reviews the safety of beta-lactam desensitization. To perform a chart review on patients desensitised with beta lactam to determine if desensitizations can be performed safely without minimal complications. A retrospective chart review was performed on allergy and immunology inpatient consultations for beta-lactam desensitization between September 2003 and August 2006 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. Patient data and outcomes of desensitization were analysed. A total of 13 intravenous desensitizations were performed on 12 patients. The patients consisted of eight females and four males with an average age of 65 years. Age range was 36-92 years old. All 13 intravenous desensitizations were completed without complications. No patient required a slower rate of desensitization or discontinuance of the desensitization. Patients were able to tolerate the initial therapeutic dose of their beta-lactam antibiotic and were then able to complete full

  12. Theoretical aspects of double beta decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haxton, W.C.

    1984-01-01

    Considerable effort has been expended recently in theoretical studies of double beta decay. Much of this work has focussed on the constraints this process places on gauge theories of the weak interaction, in general, and on the neutrino mass matrix, in particular. In addition, interesting nuclear structure questions have arisen in studies of double beta decay matrix elements. After briefly reviewing the theory of double beta decay, some of the progress that has been made in these areas is summarized. 25 references

  13. Cytokines interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha regulate different transcriptional and alternative splicing networks in primary beta-cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ortis, Fernanda; Naamane, Najib; Flamez, Daisy

    2010-01-01

    by the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta + interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha + IFN-gamma in primary rat beta-cells. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Fluorescence-activated cell sorter-purified rat beta-cells were exposed to IL-1beta + IFN-gamma or TNF-alpha + IFN-gamma for 6 or 24 h......-cells, with temporal differences in the number of genes modulated by IL-1beta + IFNgamma or TNF-alpha + IFN-gamma. These cytokine combinations induced differential expression of inflammatory response genes, which is related to differential induction of IFN regulatory factor-7. Both treatments decreased the expression...... of genes involved in the maintenance of beta-cell phenotype and growth/regeneration. Cytokines induced hypoxia-inducible factor-alpha, which in this context has a proapoptotic role. Cytokines also modified the expression of >20 genes involved in RNA splicing, and exon array analysis showed cytokine...

  14. Leigh syndrome associated with a deficiency of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex: results of treatment with a ketogenic diet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijburg, F. A.; Barth, P. G.; Bindoff, L. A.; Birch-Machin, M. A.; van der Blij, J. F.; Ruitenbeek, W.; TURNBULL, D. M.; Schutgens, R. B.

    1992-01-01

    A one-year-old boy suffering from intermittent lactic acidosis, muscular hypotonia, horizontal gaze paralysis and spasticity in both legs had low activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex associated with low amounts of immunoreactive E 1 alpha and E 1 beta. Leigh syndrome was diagnosed on the

  15. Beta-binomial regression and bimodal utilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chuan-Fen; Burgess, James F; Manning, Willard G; Maciejewski, Matthew L

    2013-10-01

    To illustrate how the analysis of bimodal U-shaped distributed utilization can be modeled with beta-binomial regression, which is rarely used in health services research. Veterans Affairs (VA) administrative data and Medicare claims in 2001-2004 for 11,123 Medicare-eligible VA primary care users in 2000. We compared means and distributions of VA reliance (the proportion of all VA/Medicare primary care visits occurring in VA) predicted from beta-binomial, binomial, and ordinary least-squares (OLS) models. Beta-binomial model fits the bimodal distribution of VA reliance better than binomial and OLS models due to the nondependence on normality and the greater flexibility in shape parameters. Increased awareness of beta-binomial regression may help analysts apply appropriate methods to outcomes with bimodal or U-shaped distributions. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  16. Fabrication of beta particles detector for RMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, W. G.; Kim, Y. G.; Kim, J. B.; Jeong, J. E.; Hong, S. B.

    2003-01-01

    The beta particles detector for RMS (radiation monitoring system) was fabricated to detect charged beta particles. The plastic scintillator was cutted, shaped, polished to make plastic disk for beta particles. The diameter of completed plastic scintillator disk is 40 mm and thickness is 1.5 mm. The mylar film and aluminium foil were used the front of plastic scintillator to intercept light and moisture. The completed plastic detector for RMS consist of the discriminator and counter were made by ULS (Co.). The absolute efficiency of plastic detector was 45.51% for beta particles (Sr/Y - 90)

  17. Digoxin-like immunoreactivity, endogeneous cardiac glycoside-like factors (s) and natriuretic hormone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clerico, A.

    1987-01-01

    Endogenous factors crossreacting with antidigoxin antibodies (digoxin-like immunoreactive substances=DLIS) have been found in several tissues and body fluids of animals and humans, using commercially avaiable digoxin RIA or EIA methods. Detectable DLIS concentration were found in blood and urine extracts of adults (normal healthy controls, hypertensive patients and salt loaded healthy subjects), while higher levels were generally observed in plasma samples of pregnant women, newborns and patients with renal insufficiency. The chemical characteristics of this endogenous factor are, at present, unknown, although it has been suggested that DLIS could be a substance with low molecular weight. Experimental studies and theoretical consideration suggest that DLIS, in addition to reacting with antibodies, might also bind to the specific cellular receptor of the cardiac glycosides and thus inhibit the membrane Na + /K + ATPase (sodium pump). Therefore, it has been suggested that DLSI is an endogeneous modulator of the membrane sodium-potassium pump and it could play a role in the regulation of fluid and electrolytes muscular tone of myocardial and also in pathogenesis of hypertension

  18. Localization of thymosin beta-4 in tumors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsson, L. -I.; Holck, Susanne

    2007-01-01

    in colorectal carcinomas. The degree of staining of breast cancer cells for thymosin beta-4 correlated neither to histological grade nor to endothelial cell staining. However, there was a tendency toward correlation (P = 0.07) between staining of endothelial cells and histological grade. Treatment of cultured......Overexpression of thymosin beta-4 has been linked to malignant progression but the localization of this polypeptide within tumors is incompletely known. We therefore examined breast cancers for thymosin beta-4 using immunofluorescence. Reactive cells were identified with monoclonal cell marker...... breast cancer cells (SK-BR-3) with 1-4 microg thymosin beta-4/mL significantly increased cell numbers, as determined by MTT-assays. These data reveal an unexpected cellular heterogeneity of thymosin beta-4 expression in breast and colonic carcinomas and suggest that local release of this polypeptide...

  19. FUS-immunoreactive inclusions are a common feature in sporadic and non-SOD1 familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Han-Xiang; Zhai, Hong; Bigio, Eileen H; Yan, Jianhua; Fecto, Faisal; Ajroud, Kaouther; Mishra, Manjari; Ajroud-Driss, Senda; Heller, Scott; Sufit, Robert; Siddique, Nailah; Mugnaini, Enrico; Siddique, Teepu

    2010-06-01

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disorder of motor neuron degeneration. Most cases of ALS are sporadic (SALS), but about 5 to 10% of ALS cases are familial (FALS). Recent studies have shown that mutations in FUS are causal in approximately 4 to 5% of FALS and some apparent SALS cases. The pathogenic mechanism of the mutant FUS-mediated ALS and potential roles of FUS in non-FUS ALS remain to be investigated. Immunostaining was performed on postmortem spinal cords from 78 ALS cases, including SALS (n = 52), ALS with dementia (ALS/dementia, n = 10), and FALS (n = 16). In addition, postmortem brains or spinal cords from 22 cases with or without frontotemporal lobar degeneration were also studied. In total, 100 cases were studied. FUS-immunoreactive inclusions were observed in spinal anterior horn neurons in all SALS and FALS cases, except for those with SOD1 mutations. The FUS-containing inclusions were also immunoreactive with antibodies to TDP43, p62, and ubiquitin. A fraction of tested FUS antibodies recognized FUS inclusions, and specific antigen retrieval protocol appeared to be important for detection of the skein-like FUS inclusions. Although mutations in FUS account for only a small fraction of FALS and SALS, our data suggest that FUS protein may be a common component of the cellular inclusions in non-SOD1 ALS and some other neurodegenerative conditions, implying a shared pathogenic pathway underlying SALS, non-SOD1 FALS, ALS/dementia, and related disorders. Our data also indicate that SOD1-linked ALS may have a pathogenic pathway distinct from SALS and other types of FALS.

  20. Calretinin and parvalbumin immunoreactive interneurons in the retrosplenial cortex of the rat brain: Qualitative and quantitative analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salaj, Martin; Druga, Rastislav; Cerman, Jiří; Kubová, Hana; Barinka, Filip

    2015-11-19

    The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is a mesocortical region broadly involved with memory and navigation. It shares many characteristics with the perirhinal cortex (PRC), both of which appear to be significantly involved in the spreading of epileptic activity. We hypothesized that RSC possesses an interneuronal composition similar to that of PRC. To prove the hypothesis we studied the general pattern of calretinin (CR) and parvalbumin (PV) immunoreactivity in the RSC of the rat brain, its optical density as well as the morphological features and density of CR- and PV-immunoreactive (CR+ and PV+) interneurons. We also analyzed the overall neuronal density on Nissl-stained sections in RSC. Finally, we compared our results with our earlier analysis of PRC (Barinka et al., 2012). Compared to PRC, RSC was observed to have a higher intensity of PV staining and lower intensity of CR staining of neuropil. Vertically-oriented bipolar neurons were the most common morphological type among CR+ neurons. The staining pattern did not allow for a similarly detailed analysis of somatodendritic morphology of PV+ neurons. RSC possessed lower absolute (i.e., neurons/mm(3)) and relative (i.e., percentage of the overall neuronal population) densities of CR+ neurons and similar absolute and lower relative densities of PV+ neurons relative to PRC. CR: PV neuronal ratio in RSC (1:2 in area 29 and 1:2.2 in area 30) differed from PRC (1:1.2 in area 35 and 1:1.7 in area 36). In conclusion, RSC, although similar in many aspects to PRC, differs strikingly in the interneuronal composition relative to PRC. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Peginterferon beta-1a – nowa postać interferonu beta-1a

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdzisław Maciejek

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available W 2014 roku, po zakończeniu próby klinicznej III fazy ADVANCE, do leczenia postaci rzutowo-remisyjnej stwardnienia rozsianego wprowadzono nową pegylowaną postać interferonu beta-1a o wydłużonym czasie działania. Do badania zakwalifikowano 1512 chorych ze 183 ośrodków z 26 krajów (500 uczestników przyjmowało placebo, 512 – peginterferon beta-1a w dawce 125 µg podawany podskórnie co 2 tygodnie, 500 – peginterferon beta-1a w dawce 125 µg podawany podskórnie co 4 tygodnie. Grupy były zbliżone pod względem wieku, płci, czasu trwania choroby i niepełnosprawności ocenianej w Expanded Disability Status Scale. Cel badania stanowiła ocena skuteczności i bezpieczeństwa pegylowanego interferonu beta-1a po 2 latach terapii w porównaniu z grupą placebo, która w drugim roku również otrzymywała ten lek. Skuteczność peginterferonu beta-1a podawanego co 2 tygodnie w porównaniu z placebo przejawiała się redukcją rocznego wskaźnika rzutów (o 37%, liczby nowych lub powiększonych ognisk T2-zależnych (o 67%, ryzyka wystąpienia rzutu (o 39% i ryzyka utrwalonej 12-tygodniowej progresji niepełnosprawności (o 33%. Najczęstsze działania niepożądane towarzyszące kuracji (94% chorych to odczyn w miejscu wkłucia, objawy grypopodobne, gorączka i bóle głowy. U 16% osób przyjmujących lek co 2 tygodnie i 22% otrzymujących go co 4 tygodnie odnotowano poważne objawy niepożądane (rzuty, zapalenie płuc, infekcje dróg moczowych. Reasumując: leczenie peginterferonem beta-1a cechowały skuteczność, dobra tolerancja i bezpieczeństwo.

  2. Beta decay of Cu-56

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Borcea, R; Aysto, J; Caurier, E; Dendooven, P; Doring, J; Gierlik, M; Gorska, M; Grawe, H; Hellstrom, M; Janas, Z; Jokinen, A; Karny, M; Kirchner, R; La Commara, M; Langanke, K; Martinez-Pinedo, G; Mayet, P; Nieminen, A; Nowacki, F; Penttila, H; Plochocki, A; Rejmund, M; Roeckl, E; Schlegel, C; Schmidt, K; Schwengner, R; Sawicka, M

    2001-01-01

    The proton-rich isotope Cu-56 was produced at the GSI On-Line Mass Separator by means of the Si-28(S-32, p3n) fusion-evaporation reaction. Its beta -decay properties were studied by detecting beta -delayed gamma rays and protons. A half-Life of 93 +/- 3 ms was determined for Cu-56. Compared to the

  3. Coexistence of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases, AmpC Beta-Lactamases and Metallo-Beta-Lactamases in Acinetobacter baumannii from burns patients: a report from a tertiary care centre of India

    OpenAIRE

    Gupta, V.; Garg, R.; Garg, S.; Chander, J.; Attri, A.K.

    2013-01-01

    Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii is a major pathogen encountered in pyogenic infections, especially from burns patients in hospital settings. Often there is also coexistence of multiple beta-lactamase enzymes responsible for beta-lactam resistance in a single isolate, which further complicates treatment options. We conducted a study on burn wound pus samples obtained from the burns unit of our hospital. Phenotypic tests were used to determine the Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase, Am...

  4. Cholesterol enhances amyloid {beta} deposition in mouse retina by modulating the activities of A{beta}-regulating enzymes in retinal pigment epithelial cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Jiying [Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519 (Japan); Ohno-Matsui, Kyoko, E-mail: k.ohno.oph@tmd.ac.jp [Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519 (Japan); Morita, Ikuo [Section of Cellular Physiological Chemistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519 (Japan)

    2012-08-10

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Cholesterol-treated RPE produces more A{beta} than non-treated RPE. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Neprilysin expression and activity decreased in cholesterol-treated RPE. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer {alpha}-Secretase expression and activity decreased in cholesterol-treated RPE. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Cholesterol-enriched diet induced subRPE deposits in aged mice. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A{beta} were present in cholesterol-enriched-diet-induced subRPE deposits in aged mice. -- Abstract: Subretinally-deposited amyloid {beta} (A{beta}) is a main contributor of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, the mechanism causing A{beta} deposition in AMD eyes is unknown. Hypercholesterolemia is a significant risk for developing AMD. Thus, we investigated the effects of cholesterol on A{beta} production in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in vitro and in the mouse retina in vivo. RPE cells isolated from senescent (12-month-old) C57BL/6 mice were treated with 10 {mu}g/ml cholesterol for 48 h. A{beta} amounts in culture supernatants were measured by ELISA. Activity and expression of enzymes and proteins that regulate A{beta} production were examined by activity assay and real time PCR. The retina of mice fed cholesterol-enriched diet was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Cholesterol significantly increased A{beta} production in cultured RPE cells. Activities of A{beta} degradation enzyme; neprilysin (NEP) and anti-amyloidogenic secretase; {alpha}-secretase were significantly decreased in cell lysates of cholesterol-treated RPE cells compared to non-treated cells, but there was no change in the activities of {beta}- or {gamma}-secretase. mRNA levels of NEP and {alpha}-secretase (ADAM10 and ADAM17) were significantly lower in cholesterol-treated RPE cells than non-treated cells. Senescent (12-month-old) mice fed cholesterol-enriched chow developed subRPE deposits containing A{beta}, whereas

  5. Combined laryngeal inflammation and trauma mediate long-lasting immunoreactivity response in the brainstem sensory nuclei in the rat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristina eSimonyan

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Somatosensory feedback from the larynx plays a critical role in regulation of normal upper airway functions, such as breathing, deglutition and voice production, while altered laryngeal sensory feedback is known to elicit a variety of pathological reflex responses, including persistent coughing, dysphonia and laryngospasm. Despite its clinical impact, the central mechanisms underlying the development of pathological laryngeal responses remain poorly understood. We examined the effects of persistent vocal fold (VF inflammation and trauma, as frequent causes of long-lasting modulation of laryngeal sensory feedback, on brainstem immunoreactivity in the rat. Combined VF inflammation and trauma were induced by injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS solution and compared to VF trauma alone from injection of vehicle solution and to controls without any VF manipulations. Using a c-fos marker, we found significantly increased Fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI in the bilateral intermediate/parvicellular reticular formation (IRF/PCRF with a trend in the left solitary tract nucleus (NTS only in animals with LPS-induced VF inflammation and trauma. Further, FLI in the right NTS was significantly correlated with the severity of LPS-induced VF changes. However, increased brainstem FLI response was not associated with FLI changes in the first-order neurons of the laryngeal afferents located in the nodose and jugular ganglia in either group. Our data indicate that complex VF alterations (i.e., inflammation/trauma vs. trauma alone may cause prolonged excitability of the brainstem nuclei receiving a direct sensory input from the larynx, which, in turn, may lead to (malplastic changes within the laryngeal central sensory control.

  6. Determination of $\\gamma$ and $-2\\beta_s$ from charmless two-body decays of beauty mesons

    CERN Document Server

    Aaij, Roel; Adeva, Bernardo; Adinolfi, Marco; Affolder, Anthony; Ajaltouni, Ziad; Akar, Simon; Albrecht, Johannes; Alessio, Federico; Alexander, Michael; Ali, Suvayu; Alkhazov, Georgy; Alvarez Cartelle, Paula; Alves Jr, Antonio Augusto; Amato, Sandra; Amerio, Silvia; Amhis, Yasmine; An, Liupan; Anderlini, Lucio; Anderson, Jonathan; Andreassen, Rolf; Andreotti, Mirco; Andrews, Jason; Appleby, Robert; Aquines Gutierrez, Osvaldo; Archilli, Flavio; Artamonov, Alexander; Artuso, Marina; Aslanides, Elie; Auriemma, Giulio; Baalouch, Marouen; Bachmann, Sebastian; Back, John; Badalov, Alexey; Baesso, Clarissa; Baldini, Wander; Barlow, Roger; Barschel, Colin; Barsuk, Sergey; Barter, William; Batozskaya, Varvara; Battista, Vincenzo; Bay, Aurelio; Beaucourt, Leo; Beddow, John; Bedeschi, Franco; Bediaga, Ignacio; Belogurov, Sergey; Belous, Konstantin; Belyaev, Ivan; Ben-Haim, Eli; Bencivenni, Giovanni; Benson, Sean; Benton, Jack; Berezhnoy, Alexander; Bernet, Roland; Bettler, Marc-Olivier; van Beuzekom, Martinus; Bien, Alexander; Bifani, Simone; Bird, Thomas; Bizzeti, Andrea; Bjørnstad, Pål Marius; Blake, Thomas; Blanc, Frédéric; Blouw, Johan; Blusk, Steven; Bocci, Valerio; Bondar, Alexander; Bondar, Nikolay; Bonivento, Walter; Borghi, Silvia; Borgia, Alessandra; Borsato, Martino; Bowcock, Themistocles; Bowen, Espen Eie; Bozzi, Concezio; Brambach, Tobias; Bressieux, Joël; Brett, David; Britsch, Markward; Britton, Thomas; Brodzicka, Jolanta; Brook, Nicholas; Brown, Henry; Bursche, Albert; Busetto, Giovanni; Buytaert, Jan; Cadeddu, Sandro; Calabrese, Roberto; Calvi, Marta; Calvo Gomez, Miriam; Campana, Pierluigi; Campora Perez, Daniel; Carbone, Angelo; Carboni, Giovanni; Cardinale, Roberta; Cardini, Alessandro; Carson, Laurence; Carvalho Akiba, Kazuyoshi; Casse, Gianluigi; Cassina, Lorenzo; Castillo Garcia, Lucia; Cattaneo, Marco; Cauet, Christophe; Cenci, Riccardo; Charles, Matthew; Charpentier, Philippe; Chefdeville, Maximilien; Chen, Shanzhen; Cheung, Shu-Faye; Chiapolini, Nicola; Chrzaszcz, Marcin; Ciba, Krzystof; Cid Vidal, Xabier; Ciezarek, Gregory; Clarke, Peter; Clemencic, Marco; Cliff, Harry; Closier, Joel; Coco, Victor; Cogan, Julien; Cogneras, Eric; Cojocariu, Lucian; Collins, Paula; Comerma-Montells, Albert; Contu, Andrea; Cook, Andrew; Coombes, Matthew; Coquereau, Samuel; Corti, Gloria; Corvo, Marco; Counts, Ian; Couturier, Benjamin; Cowan, Greig; Craik, Daniel Charles; Cruz Torres, Melissa Maria; Cunliffe, Samuel; Currie, Robert; D'Ambrosio, Carmelo; Dalseno, Jeremy; David, Pascal; David, Pieter; Davis, Adam; De Bruyn, Kristof; De Capua, Stefano; De Cian, Michel; De Miranda, Jussara; De Paula, Leandro; De Silva, Weeraddana; De Simone, Patrizia; Decamp, Daniel; Deckenhoff, Mirko; Del Buono, Luigi; Déléage, Nicolas; Derkach, Denis; Deschamps, Olivier; Dettori, Francesco; Di Canto, Angelo; Dijkstra, Hans; Donleavy, Stephanie; Dordei, Francesca; Dorigo, Mirco; Dosil Suárez, Alvaro; Dossett, David; Dovbnya, Anatoliy; Dreimanis, Karlis; Dujany, Giulio; Dupertuis, Frederic; Durante, Paolo; Dzhelyadin, Rustem; Dziurda, Agnieszka; Dzyuba, Alexey; Easo, Sajan; Egorychev, Victor; Eidelman, Semen; Eisenhardt, Stephan; Eitschberger, Ulrich; Ekelhof, Robert; Eklund, Lars; El Rifai, Ibrahim; Elsasser, Christian; Ely, Scott; Esen, Sevda; Evans, Hannah Mary; Evans, Timothy; Falabella, Antonio; Färber, Christian; Farinelli, Chiara; Farley, Nathanael; Farry, Stephen; Fay, Robert; Ferguson, Dianne; Fernandez Albor, Victor; Ferreira Rodrigues, Fernando; Ferro-Luzzi, Massimiliano; Filippov, Sergey; Fiore, Marco; Fiorini, Massimiliano; Firlej, Miroslaw; Fitzpatrick, Conor; Fiutowski, Tomasz; Fol, Philip; Fontana, Marianna; Fontanelli, Flavio; Forty, Roger; Francisco, Oscar; Frank, Markus; Frei, Christoph; Frosini, Maddalena; Fu, Jinlin; Furfaro, Emiliano; Gallas Torreira, Abraham; Galli, Domenico; Gallorini, Stefano; Gambetta, Silvia; Gandelman, Miriam; Gandini, Paolo; Gao, Yuanning; García Pardiñas, Julián; Garofoli, Justin; Garra Tico, Jordi; Garrido, Lluis; Gaspar, Clara; Gauld, Rhorry; Gavardi, Laura; Gavrilov, Gennadii; Geraci, Angelo; Gersabeck, Evelina; Gersabeck, Marco; Gershon, Timothy; Ghez, Philippe; Gianelle, Alessio; Gianì, Sebastiana; Gibson, Valerie; Giubega, Lavinia-Helena; Gligorov, Vladimir; Göbel, Carla; Golubkov, Dmitry; Golutvin, Andrey; Gomes, Alvaro; Gotti, Claudio; Grabalosa Gándara, Marc; Graciani Diaz, Ricardo; Granado Cardoso, Luis Alberto; Graugés, Eugeni; Graziani, Giacomo; Grecu, Alexandru; Greening, Edward; Gregson, Sam; Griffith, Peter; Grillo, Lucia; Grünberg, Oliver; Gui, Bin; Gushchin, Evgeny; Guz, Yury; Gys, Thierry; Hadjivasiliou, Christos; Haefeli, Guido; Haen, Christophe; Haines, Susan; Hall, Samuel; Hamilton, Brian; Hampson, Thomas; Han, Xiaoxue; Hansmann-Menzemer, Stephanie; Harnew, Neville; Harnew, Samuel; Harrison, Jonathan; He, Jibo; Head, Timothy; Heijne, Veerle; Hennessy, Karol; Henrard, Pierre; Henry, Louis; Hernando Morata, Jose Angel; van Herwijnen, Eric; Heß, Miriam; Hicheur, Adlène; Hill, Donal; Hoballah, Mostafa; Hombach, Christoph; Hulsbergen, Wouter; Hunt, Philip; Hussain, Nazim; Hutchcroft, David; Hynds, Daniel; Idzik, Marek; Ilten, Philip; Jacobsson, Richard; Jaeger, Andreas; Jalocha, Pawel; Jans, Eddy; Jaton, Pierre; Jawahery, Abolhassan; Jing, Fanfan; John, Malcolm; Johnson, Daniel; Jones, Christopher; Joram, Christian; Jost, Beat; Jurik, Nathan; Kaballo, Michael; Kandybei, Sergii; Kanso, Walaa; Karacson, Matthias; Karbach, Moritz; Karodia, Sarah; Kelsey, Matthew; Kenyon, Ian; Ketel, Tjeerd; Khanji, Basem; Khurewathanakul, Chitsanu; Klaver, Suzanne; Klimaszewski, Konrad; Kochebina, Olga; Kolpin, Michael; Komarov, Ilya; Koopman, Rose; Koppenburg, Patrick; Korolev, Mikhail; Kozlinskiy, Alexandr; Kravchuk, Leonid; Kreplin, Katharina; Kreps, Michal; Krocker, Georg; Krokovny, Pavel; Kruse, Florian; Kucewicz, Wojciech; Kucharczyk, Marcin; Kudryavtsev, Vasily; Kurek, Krzysztof; Kvaratskheliya, Tengiz; La Thi, Viet Nga; Lacarrere, Daniel; Lafferty, George; Lai, Adriano; Lambert, Dean; Lambert, Robert W; Lanfranchi, Gaia; Langenbruch, Christoph; Langhans, Benedikt; Latham, Thomas; Lazzeroni, Cristina; Le Gac, Renaud; van Leerdam, Jeroen; Lees, Jean-Pierre; Lefèvre, Regis; Leflat, Alexander; Lefrançois, Jacques; Leo, Sabato; Leroy, Olivier; Lesiak, Tadeusz; Leverington, Blake; Li, Yiming; Likhomanenko, Tatiana; Liles, Myfanwy; Lindner, Rolf; Linn, Christian; Lionetto, Federica; Liu, Bo; Lohn, Stefan; Longstaff, Iain; Lopes, Jose; Lopez-March, Neus; Lowdon, Peter; Lu, Haiting; Lucchesi, Donatella; Luo, Haofei; Lupato, Anna; Luppi, Eleonora; Lupton, Oliver; Machefert, Frederic; Machikhiliyan, Irina V; Maciuc, Florin; Maev, Oleg; Malde, Sneha; Malinin, Alexander; Manca, Giulia; Mancinelli, Giampiero; Mapelli, Alessandro; Maratas, Jan; Marchand, Jean François; Marconi, Umberto; Marin Benito, Carla; Marino, Pietro; Märki, Raphael; Marks, Jörg; Martellotti, Giuseppe; Martens, Aurelien; Martín Sánchez, Alexandra; Martinelli, Maurizio; Martinez Santos, Diego; Martinez Vidal, Fernando; Martins Tostes, Danielle; Massafferri, André; Matev, Rosen; Mathe, Zoltan; Matteuzzi, Clara; Mazurov, Alexander; McCann, Michael; McCarthy, James; McNab, Andrew; McNulty, Ronan; McSkelly, Ben; Meadows, Brian; Meier, Frank; Meissner, Marco; Merk, Marcel; Milanes, Diego Alejandro; Minard, Marie-Noelle; Moggi, Niccolò; Molina Rodriguez, Josue; Monteil, Stephane; Morandin, Mauro; Morawski, Piotr; Mordà, Alessandro; Morello, Michael Joseph; Moron, Jakub; Morris, Adam Benjamin; Mountain, Raymond; Muheim, Franz; Müller, Katharina; Mussini, Manuel; Muster, Bastien; Naik, Paras; Nakada, Tatsuya; Nandakumar, Raja; Nasteva, Irina; Needham, Matthew; Neri, Nicola; Neubert, Sebastian; Neufeld, Niko; Neuner, Max; Nguyen, Anh Duc; Nguyen, Thi-Dung; Nguyen-Mau, Chung; Nicol, Michelle; Niess, Valentin; Niet, Ramon; Nikitin, Nikolay; Nikodem, Thomas; Novoselov, Alexey; O'Hanlon, Daniel Patrick; Oblakowska-Mucha, Agnieszka; Obraztsov, Vladimir; Oggero, Serena; Ogilvy, Stephen; Okhrimenko, Oleksandr; Oldeman, Rudolf; Onderwater, Gerco; Orlandea, Marius; Otalora Goicochea, Juan Martin; Owen, Patrick; Oyanguren, Maria Arantza; Pal, Bilas Kanti; Palano, Antimo; Palombo, Fernando; Palutan, Matteo; Panman, Jacob; Papanestis, Antonios; Pappagallo, Marco; Pappalardo, Luciano; Parkes, Christopher; Parkinson, Christopher John; Passaleva, Giovanni; Patel, Girish; Patel, Mitesh; Patrignani, Claudia; Pazos Alvarez, Antonio; Pearce, Alex; Pellegrino, Antonio; Pepe Altarelli, Monica; Perazzini, Stefano; Perez Trigo, Eliseo; Perret, Pascal; Perrin-Terrin, Mathieu; Pescatore, Luca; Pesen, Erhan; Petridis, Konstantin; Petrolini, Alessandro; Picatoste Olloqui, Eduardo; Pietrzyk, Boleslaw; Pilař, Tomas; Pinci, Davide; Pistone, Alessandro; Playfer, Stephen; Plo Casasus, Maximo; Polci, Francesco; Poluektov, Anton; Polycarpo, Erica; Popov, Alexander; Popov, Dmitry; Popovici, Bogdan; Potterat, Cédric; Price, Eugenia; Price, Joseph David; Prisciandaro, Jessica; Pritchard, Adrian; Prouve, Claire; Pugatch, Valery; Puig Navarro, Albert; Punzi, Giovanni; Qian, Wenbin; Rachwal, Bartolomiej; Rademacker, Jonas; Rakotomiaramanana, Barinjaka; Rama, Matteo; Rangel, Murilo; Raniuk, Iurii; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Raven, Gerhard; Redi, Federico; Reichert, Stefanie; Reid, Matthew; dos Reis, Alberto; Ricciardi, Stefania; Richards, Sophie; Rihl, Mariana; Rinnert, Kurt; Rives Molina, Vincente; Robbe, Patrick; Rodrigues, Ana Barbara; Rodrigues, Eduardo; Rodriguez Perez, Pablo; Roiser, Stefan; Romanovsky, Vladimir; Romero Vidal, Antonio; Rotondo, Marcello; Rouvinet, Julien; Ruf, Thomas; Ruiz, Hugo; Ruiz Valls, Pablo; Saborido Silva, Juan Jose; Sagidova, Naylya; Sail, Paul; Saitta, Biagio; Salustino Guimaraes, Valdir; Sanchez Mayordomo, Carlos; Sanmartin Sedes, Brais; Santacesaria, Roberta; Santamarina Rios, Cibran; Santovetti, Emanuele; Sarti, Alessio; Satriano, Celestina; Satta, Alessia; Saunders, Daniel Martin; Savrie, Mauro; Savrina, Darya; Schiller, Manuel; Schindler, Heinrich; Schlupp, Maximilian; Schmelling, Michael; Schmidt, Burkhard; Schneider, Olivier; Schopper, Andreas; Schune, Marie Helene; Schwemmer, Rainer; Sciascia, Barbara; Sciubba, Adalberto; Seco, Marcos; Semennikov, Alexander; Sepp, Indrek; Serra, Nicola; Serrano, Justine; Sestini, Lorenzo; Seyfert, Paul; Shapkin, Mikhail; Shapoval, Illya; Shcheglov, Yury; Shears, Tara; Shekhtman, Lev; Shevchenko, Vladimir; Shires, Alexander; Silva Coutinho, Rafael; Simi, Gabriele; Sirendi, Marek; Skidmore, Nicola; Skwarnicki, Tomasz; Smith, Anthony; Smith, Edmund; Smith, Eluned; Smith, Jackson; Smith, Mark; Snoek, Hella; Sokoloff, Michael; Soler, Paul; Soomro, Fatima; Souza, Daniel; Souza De Paula, Bruno; Spaan, Bernhard; Sparkes, Ailsa; Spradlin, Patrick; Sridharan, Srikanth; Stagni, Federico; Stahl, Marian; Stahl, Sascha; Steinkamp, Olaf; Stenyakin, Oleg; Stevenson, Scott; Stoica, Sabin; Stone, Sheldon; Storaci, Barbara; Stracka, Simone; Straticiuc, Mihai; Straumann, Ulrich; Stroili, Roberto; Subbiah, Vijay Kartik; Sun, Liang; Sutcliffe, William; Swientek, Krzysztof; Swientek, Stefan; Syropoulos, Vasileios; Szczekowski, Marek; Szczypka, Paul; Szilard, Daniela; Szumlak, Tomasz; T'Jampens, Stephane; Teklishyn, Maksym; Tellarini, Giulia; Teubert, Frederic; Thomas, Christopher; Thomas, Eric; van Tilburg, Jeroen; Tisserand, Vincent; Tobin, Mark; Tolk, Siim; Tomassetti, Luca; Topp-Joergensen, Stig; Torr, Nicholas; Tournefier, Edwige; Tourneur, Stephane; Tran, Minh Tâm; Tresch, Marco; Tsaregorodtsev, Andrei; Tsopelas, Panagiotis; Tuning, Niels; Ubeda Garcia, Mario; Ukleja, Artur; Ustyuzhanin, Andrey; Uwer, Ulrich; Vacca, Claudia; Vagnoni, Vincenzo; Valenti, Giovanni; Vallier, Alexis; Vazquez Gomez, Ricardo; Vazquez Regueiro, Pablo; Vázquez Sierra, Carlos; Vecchi, Stefania; Velthuis, Jaap; Veltri, Michele; Veneziano, Giovanni; Vesterinen, Mika; Viaud, Benoit; Vieira, Daniel; Vieites Diaz, Maria; Vilasis-Cardona, Xavier; Vollhardt, Achim; Volyanskyy, Dmytro; Voong, David; Vorobyev, Alexey; Vorobyev, Vitaly; Voß, Christian; Voss, Helge; de Vries, Jacco; Waldi, Roland; Wallace, Charlotte; Wallace, Ronan; Walsh, John; Wandernoth, Sebastian; Wang, Jianchun; Ward, David; Watson, Nigel; Websdale, David; Whitehead, Mark; Wicht, Jean; Wiedner, Dirk; Wilkinson, Guy; Williams, Matthew; Williams, Mike; Wilschut, Hans; Wilson, Fergus; Wimberley, Jack; Wishahi, Julian; Wislicki, Wojciech; Witek, Mariusz; Wormser, Guy; Wotton, Stephen; Wright, Simon; Wyllie, Kenneth; Xie, Yuehong; Xing, Zhou; Xu, Zhirui; Yang, Zhenwei; Yuan, Xuhao; Yushchenko, Oleg; Zangoli, Maria; Zavertyaev, Mikhail; Zhang, Liming; Zhang, Wen Chao; Zhang, Yanxi; Zhelezov, Alexey; Zhokhov, Anatoly; Zhong, Liang; Zvyagin, Alexander

    2015-01-01

    Using the latest LHCb measurements of time-dependent $C\\!P$ violation in the $B^0_s \\to K^+K^-$ decay, a U-spin relation between the decay amplitudes of $B^0_s \\to K^+K^-$ and $B^0\\to \\pi^+\\pi^-$ decay processes allows constraints to be placed on the angle $\\gamma$ of the unitarity triangle and on the $B^0_s$ mixing phase $-2\\beta_s$. Results from an extended approach, which uses additional inputs on $B^0\\to \\pi^0\\pi^0$ and $B^+\\to \\pi^+\\pi^0$ decays from other experiments and exploits isospin symmetry, are also presented. The dependence of the results on the maximum allowed amount of U-spin breaking is studied. At 68% probability, the value $\\gamma = \\left( 63.5^{\\,+\\, 7.2}_{\\,-\\,6.7} \\right)^\\circ~\\mathrm{modulo}~180^\\circ$ is determined. In an alternative analysis, the value $-2\\beta_s = -0.12 ^{\\,+\\,0.14}_{\\,-\\,0.16}\\,\\,\\mathrm{rad}$ is found. In both measurements, the uncertainties due to U-spin breaking effects up to 50% are included.

  7. Determination of $\\gamma$ and $-2\\beta_s$ from charmless two-body decays of beauty mesons

    CERN Document Server

    Aaij, Roel; Adeva, Bernardo; Adinolfi, Marco; Affolder, Anthony; Ajaltouni, Ziad; Akar, Simon; Albrecht, Johannes; Alessio, Federico; Alexander, Michael; Ali, Suvayu; Alkhazov, Georgy; Alvarez Cartelle, Paula; Alves Jr, Antonio Augusto; Amato, Sandra; Amerio, Silvia; Amhis, Yasmine; An, Liupan; Anderlini, Lucio; Anderson, Jonathan; Andreassen, Rolf; Andreotti, Mirco; Andrews, Jason; Appleby, Robert; Aquines Gutierrez, Osvaldo; Archilli, Flavio; Artamonov, Alexander; Artuso, Marina; Aslanides, Elie; Auriemma, Giulio; Baalouch, Marouen; Bachmann, Sebastian; Back, John; Badalov, Alexey; Baesso, Clarissa; Baldini, Wander; Barlow, Roger; Barschel, Colin; Barsuk, Sergey; Barter, William; Batozskaya, Varvara; Battista, Vincenzo; Bay, Aurelio; Beaucourt, Leo; Beddow, John; Bedeschi, Franco; Bediaga, Ignacio; Belogurov, Sergey; Belous, Konstantin; Belyaev, Ivan; Ben-Haim, Eli; Bencivenni, Giovanni; Benson, Sean; Benton, Jack; Berezhnoy, Alexander; Bernet, Roland; Bettler, Marc-Olivier; van Beuzekom, Martinus; Bien, Alexander; Bifani, Simone; Bird, Thomas; Bizzeti, Andrea; Bjørnstad, Pål Marius; Blake, Thomas; Blanc, Frédéric; Blouw, Johan; Blusk, Steven; Bocci, Valerio; Bondar, Alexander; Bondar, Nikolay; Bonivento, Walter; Borghi, Silvia; Borgia, Alessandra; Borsato, Martino; Bowcock, Themistocles; Bowen, Espen Eie; Bozzi, Concezio; Brambach, Tobias; Bressieux, Joël; Brett, David; Britsch, Markward; Britton, Thomas; Brodzicka, Jolanta; Brook, Nicholas; Brown, Henry; Bursche, Albert; Busetto, Giovanni; Buytaert, Jan; Cadeddu, Sandro; Calabrese, Roberto; Calvi, Marta; Calvo Gomez, Miriam; Campana, Pierluigi; Campora Perez, Daniel; Carbone, Angelo; Carboni, Giovanni; Cardinale, Roberta; Cardini, Alessandro; Carson, Laurence; Carvalho Akiba, Kazuyoshi; Casse, Gianluigi; Cassina, Lorenzo; Castillo Garcia, Lucia; Cattaneo, Marco; Cauet, Christophe; Cenci, Riccardo; Charles, Matthew; Charpentier, Philippe; Chefdeville, Maximilien; Chen, Shanzhen; Cheung, Shu-Faye; Chiapolini, Nicola; Chrzaszcz, Marcin; Ciba, Krzystof; Cid Vidal, Xabier; Ciezarek, Gregory; Clarke, Peter; Clemencic, Marco; Cliff, Harry; Closier, Joel; Coco, Victor; Cogan, Julien; Cogneras, Eric; Cojocariu, Lucian; Collins, Paula; Comerma-Montells, Albert; Contu, Andrea; Cook, Andrew; Coombes, Matthew; Coquereau, Samuel; Corti, Gloria; Corvo, Marco; Counts, Ian; Couturier, Benjamin; Cowan, Greig; Craik, Daniel Charles; Cruz Torres, Melissa Maria; Cunliffe, Samuel; Currie, Robert; D'Ambrosio, Carmelo; Dalseno, Jeremy; David, Pascal; David, Pieter; Davis, Adam; De Bruyn, Kristof; De Capua, Stefano; De Cian, Michel; De Miranda, Jussara; De Paula, Leandro; De Silva, Weeraddana; De Simone, Patrizia; Decamp, Daniel; Deckenhoff, Mirko; Del Buono, Luigi; Déléage, Nicolas; Derkach, Denis; Deschamps, Olivier; Dettori, Francesco; Di Canto, Angelo; Dijkstra, Hans; Donleavy, Stephanie; Dordei, Francesca; Dorigo, Mirco; Dosil Suárez, Alvaro; Dossett, David; Dovbnya, Anatoliy; Dreimanis, Karlis; Dujany, Giulio; Dupertuis, Frederic; Durante, Paolo; Dzhelyadin, Rustem; Dziurda, Agnieszka; Dzyuba, Alexey; Easo, Sajan; Egorychev, Victor; Eidelman, Semen; Eisenhardt, Stephan; Eitschberger, Ulrich; Ekelhof, Robert; Eklund, Lars; El Rifai, Ibrahim; Elsasser, Christian; Ely, Scott; Esen, Sevda; Evans, Hannah Mary; Evans, Timothy; Falabella, Antonio; Färber, Christian; Farinelli, Chiara; Farley, Nathanael; Farry, Stephen; Fay, Robert; Ferguson, Dianne; Fernandez Albor, Victor; Ferreira Rodrigues, Fernando; Ferro-Luzzi, Massimiliano; Filippov, Sergey; Fiore, Marco; Fiorini, Massimiliano; Firlej, Miroslaw; Fitzpatrick, Conor; Fiutowski, Tomasz; Fol, Philip; Fontana, Marianna; Fontanelli, Flavio; Forty, Roger; Francisco, Oscar; Frank, Markus; Frei, Christoph; Frosini, Maddalena; Fu, Jinlin; Furfaro, Emiliano; Gallas Torreira, Abraham; Galli, Domenico; Gallorini, Stefano; Gambetta, Silvia; Gandelman, Miriam; Gandini, Paolo; Gao, Yuanning; García Pardiñas, Julián; Garofoli, Justin; Garra Tico, Jordi; Garrido, Lluis; Gaspar, Clara; Gauld, Rhorry; Gavardi, Laura; Gavrilov, Gennadii; Geraci, Angelo; Gersabeck, Evelina; Gersabeck, Marco; Gershon, Timothy; Ghez, Philippe; Gianelle, Alessio; Gianì, Sebastiana; Gibson, Valerie; Giubega, Lavinia-Helena; Gligorov, V.V.; Göbel, Carla; Golubkov, Dmitry; Golutvin, Andrey; Gomes, Alvaro; Gotti, Claudio; Grabalosa Gándara, Marc; Graciani Diaz, Ricardo; Granado Cardoso, Luis Alberto; Graugés, Eugeni; Graziani, Giacomo; Grecu, Alexandru; Greening, Edward; Gregson, Sam; Griffith, Peter; Grillo, Lucia; Grünberg, Oliver; Gui, Bin; Gushchin, Evgeny; Guz, Yury; Gys, Thierry; Hadjivasiliou, Christos; Haefeli, Guido; Haen, Christophe; Haines, Susan; Hall, Samuel; Hamilton, Brian; Hampson, Thomas; Han, Xiaoxue; Hansmann-Menzemer, Stephanie; Harnew, Neville; Harnew, Samuel; Harrison, Jonathan; He, Jibo; Head, Timothy; Heijne, Veerle; Hennessy, Karol; Henrard, Pierre; Henry, Louis; Hernando Morata, Jose Angel; van Herwijnen, Eric; Heß, Miriam; Hicheur, Adlène; Hill, Donal; Hoballah, Mostafa; Hombach, Christoph; Hulsbergen, Wouter; Hunt, Philip; Hussain, Nazim; Hutchcroft, David; Hynds, Daniel; Idzik, Marek; Ilten, Philip; Jacobsson, Richard; Jaeger, Andreas; Jalocha, Pawel; Jans, Eddy; Jaton, Pierre; Jawahery, Abolhassan; Jing, Fanfan; John, Malcolm; Johnson, Daniel; Jones, Christopher; Joram, Christian; Jost, Beat; Jurik, Nathan; Kaballo, Michael; Kandybei, Sergii; Kanso, Walaa; Karacson, Matthias; Karbach, Moritz; Karodia, Sarah; Kelsey, Matthew; Kenyon, Ian; Ketel, Tjeerd; Khanji, Basem; Khurewathanakul, Chitsanu; Klaver, Suzanne; Klimaszewski, Konrad; Kochebina, Olga; Kolpin, Michael; Komarov, Ilya; Koopman, Rose; Koppenburg, Patrick; Korolev, Mikhail; Kozlinskiy, Alexandr; Kravchuk, Leonid; Kreplin, Katharina; Kreps, Michal; Krocker, Georg; Krokovny, Pavel; Kruse, Florian; Kucewicz, Wojciech; Kucharczyk, Marcin; Kudryavtsev, Vasily; Kurek, Krzysztof; Kvaratskheliya, Tengiz; La Thi, Viet Nga; Lacarrere, Daniel; Lafferty, George; Lai, Adriano; Lambert, Dean; Lambert, Robert W; Lanfranchi, Gaia; Langenbruch, Christoph; Langhans, Benedikt; Latham, Thomas; Lazzeroni, Cristina; Le Gac, Renaud; van Leerdam, Jeroen; Lees, Jean-Pierre; Lefèvre, Regis; Leflat, Alexander; Lefrançois, Jacques; Leo, Sabato; Leroy, Olivier; Lesiak, Tadeusz; Leverington, Blake; Li, Yiming; Likhomanenko, Tatiana; Liles, Myfanwy; Lindner, Rolf; Linn, Christian; Lionetto, Federica; Liu, Bo; Lohn, Stefan; Longstaff, Iain; Lopes, Jose; Lopez-March, Neus; Lowdon, Peter; Lu, Haiting; Lucchesi, Donatella; Luo, Haofei; Lupato, Anna; Luppi, Eleonora; Lupton, Oliver; Machefert, Frederic; Machikhiliyan, Irina V; Maciuc, Florin; Maev, Oleg; Malde, Sneha; Malinin, Alexander; Manca, Giulia; Mancinelli, Giampiero; Mapelli, Alessandro; Maratas, Jan; Marchand, Jean François; Marconi, Umberto; Marin Benito, Carla; Marino, Pietro; Märki, Raphael; Marks, Jörg; Martellotti, Giuseppe; Martens, Aurelien; Martín Sánchez, Alexandra; Martinelli, Maurizio; Martinez Santos, Diego; Martinez Vidal, Fernando; Martins Tostes, Danielle; Massafferri, André; Matev, Rosen; Mathe, Zoltan; Matteuzzi, Clara; Mazurov, Alexander; McCann, Michael; McCarthy, James; McNab, Andrew; McNulty, Ronan; McSkelly, Ben; Meadows, Brian; Meier, Frank; Meissner, Marco; Merk, Marcel; Milanes, Diego Alejandro; Minard, Marie-Noelle; Moggi, Niccolò; Molina Rodriguez, Josue; Monteil, Stephane; Morandin, Mauro; Morawski, Piotr; Mordà, Alessandro; Morello, Michael Joseph; Moron, Jakub; Morris, Adam Benjamin; Mountain, Raymond; Muheim, Franz; Müller, Katharina; Mussini, Manuel; Muster, Bastien; Naik, Paras; Nakada, Tatsuya; Nandakumar, Raja; Nasteva, Irina; Needham, Matthew; Neri, Nicola; Neubert, Sebastian; Neufeld, Niko; Neuner, Max; Nguyen, Anh Duc; Nguyen, Thi-Dung; Nguyen-Mau, Chung; Nicol, Michelle; Niess, Valentin; Niet, Ramon; Nikitin, Nikolay; Nikodem, Thomas; Novoselov, Alexey; O'Hanlon, Daniel Patrick; Oblakowska-Mucha, Agnieszka; Obraztsov, Vladimir; Oggero, Serena; Ogilvy, Stephen; Okhrimenko, Oleksandr; Oldeman, Rudolf; Onderwater, Gerco; Orlandea, Marius; Otalora Goicochea, Juan Martin; Owen, Patrick; Oyanguren, Maria Arantza; Pal, Bilas Kanti; Palano, Antimo; Palombo, Fernando; Palutan, Matteo; Panman, Jacob; Papanestis, Antonios; Pappagallo, Marco; Pappalardo, Luciano; Parkes, Christopher; Parkinson, Christopher John; Passaleva, Giovanni; Patel, Girish; Patel, Mitesh; Patrignani, Claudia; Pazos Alvarez, Antonio; Pearce, Alex; Pellegrino, Antonio; Pepe Altarelli, Monica; Perazzini, Stefano; Perez Trigo, Eliseo; Perret, Pascal; Perrin-Terrin, Mathieu; Pescatore, Luca; Pesen, Erhan; Petridis, Konstantin; Petrolini, Alessandro; Picatoste Olloqui, Eduardo; Pietrzyk, Boleslaw; Pilař, Tomas; Pinci, Davide; Pistone, Alessandro; Playfer, Stephen; Plo Casasus, Maximo; Polci, Francesco; Poluektov, Anton; Polycarpo, Erica; Popov, Alexander; Popov, Dmitry; Popovici, Bogdan; Potterat, Cédric; Price, Eugenia; Price, Joseph David; Prisciandaro, Jessica; Pritchard, Adrian; Prouve, Claire; Pugatch, Valery; Puig Navarro, Albert; Punzi, Giovanni; Qian, Wenbin; Rachwal, Bartolomiej; Rademacker, Jonas; Rakotomiaramanana, Barinjaka; Rama, Matteo; Rangel, Murilo; Raniuk, Iurii; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Raven, Gerhard; Redi, Federico; Reichert, Stefanie; Reid, Matthew; dos Reis, Alberto; Ricciardi, Stefania; Richards, Sophie; Rihl, Mariana; Rinnert, Kurt; Rives Molina, Vincente; Robbe, Patrick; Rodrigues, Ana Barbara; Rodrigues, Eduardo; Rodriguez Perez, Pablo; Roiser, Stefan; Romanovsky, Vladimir; Romero Vidal, Antonio; Rotondo, Marcello; Rouvinet, Julien; Ruf, Thomas; Ruiz, Hugo; Ruiz Valls, Pablo; Saborido Silva, Juan Jose; Sagidova, Naylya; Sail, Paul; Saitta, Biagio; Salustino Guimaraes, Valdir; Sanchez Mayordomo, Carlos; Sanmartin Sedes, Brais; Santacesaria, Roberta; Santamarina Rios, Cibran; Santovetti, Emanuele; Sarti, Alessio; Satriano, Celestina; Satta, Alessia; Saunders, Daniel Martin; Savrie, Mauro; Savrina, Darya; Schiller, Manuel; Schindler, Heinrich; Schlupp, Maximilian; Schmelling, Michael; Schmidt, Burkhard; Schneider, Olivier; Schopper, Andreas; Schune, Marie Helene; Schwemmer, Rainer; Sciascia, Barbara; Sciubba, Adalberto; Seco, Marcos; Semennikov, Alexander; Sepp, Indrek; Serra, Nicola; Serrano, Justine; Sestini, Lorenzo; Seyfert, Paul; Shapkin, Mikhail; Shapoval, Illya; Shcheglov, Yury; Shears, Tara; Shekhtman, Lev; Shevchenko, Vladimir; Shires, Alexander; Silva Coutinho, Rafael; Simi, Gabriele; Sirendi, Marek; Skidmore, Nicola; Skwarnicki, Tomasz; Smith, Anthony; Smith, Edmund; Smith, Eluned; Smith, Jackson; Smith, Mark; Snoek, Hella; Sokoloff, Michael; Soler, Paul; Soomro, Fatima; Souza, Daniel; Souza De Paula, Bruno; Spaan, Bernhard; Sparkes, Ailsa; Spradlin, Patrick; Sridharan, Srikanth; Stagni, Federico; Stahl, Marian; Stahl, Sascha; Steinkamp, Olaf; Stenyakin, Oleg; Stevenson, Scott; Stoica, Sabin; Stone, Sheldon; Storaci, Barbara; Stracka, Simone; Straticiuc, Mihai; Straumann, Ulrich; Stroili, Roberto; Subbiah, Vijay Kartik; Sun, Liang; Sutcliffe, William; Swientek, Krzysztof; Swientek, Stefan; Syropoulos, Vasileios; Szczekowski, Marek; Szczypka, Paul; Szilard, Daniela; Szumlak, Tomasz; T'Jampens, Stephane; Teklishyn, Maksym; Tellarini, Giulia; Teubert, Frederic; Thomas, Christopher; Thomas, Eric; van Tilburg, Jeroen; Tisserand, Vincent; Tobin, Mark; Tolk, Siim; Tomassetti, Luca; Topp-Joergensen, Stig; Torr, Nicholas; Tournefier, Edwige; Tourneur, Stephane; Tran, Minh Tâm; Tresch, Marco; Tsaregorodtsev, Andrei; Tsopelas, Panagiotis; Tuning, Niels; Ubeda Garcia, Mario; Ukleja, Artur; Ustyuzhanin, Andrey; Uwer, Ulrich; Vacca, Claudia; Vagnoni, Vincenzo; Valenti, Giovanni; Vallier, Alexis; Vazquez Gomez, Ricardo; Vazquez Regueiro, Pablo; Vázquez Sierra, Carlos; Vecchi, Stefania; Velthuis, Jaap; Veltri, Michele; Veneziano, Giovanni; Vesterinen, Mika; Viaud, Benoit; Vieira, Daniel; Vieites Diaz, Maria; Vilasis-Cardona, Xavier; Vollhardt, Achim; Volyanskyy, Dmytro; Voong, David; Vorobyev, Alexey; Vorobyev, Vitaly; Voß, Christian; Voss, Helge; de Vries, Jacco; Waldi, Roland; Wallace, Charlotte; Wallace, Ronan; Walsh, John; Wandernoth, Sebastian; Wang, Jianchun; Ward, David; Watson, Nigel; Websdale, David; Whitehead, Mark; Wicht, Jean; Wiedner, Dirk; Wilkinson, Guy; Williams, Matthew; Williams, Mike; Wilschut, Hans; Wilson, Fergus; Wimberley, Jack; Wishahi, Julian; Wislicki, Wojciech; Witek, Mariusz; Wormser, Guy; Wotton, Stephen; Wright, Simon; Wyllie, Kenneth; Xie, Yuehong; Xing, Zhou; Xu, Zhirui; Yang, Zhenwei; Yuan, Xuhao; Yushchenko, Oleg; Zangoli, Maria; Zavertyaev, Mikhail; Zhang, Liming; Zhang, Wen Chao; Zhang, Yanxi; Zhelezov, Alexey; Zhokhov, Anatoly; Zhong, Liang; Zvyagin, Alexander

    2015-02-04

    Using the latest LHCb measurements of time-dependent $C\\!P$ violation in the $B^0_s \\to K^+K^-$ decay, a U-spin relation between the decay amplitudes of $B^0_s \\to K^+K^-$ and $B^0\\to \\pi^+\\pi^-$ decay processes allows constraints to be placed on the angle $\\gamma$ of the unitarity triangle and on the $B^0_s$ mixing phase $-2\\beta_s$. Results from an extended approach, which uses additional inputs on $B^0\\to \\pi^0\\pi^0$ and $B^+\\to \\pi^+\\pi^0$ decays from other experiments and exploits isospin symmetry, are also presented. The dependence of the results on the maximum allowed amount of U-spin breaking is studied. At 68% probability, the value $\\gamma = \\left( 63.5^{\\,+\\, 7.2}_{\\,-\\,6.7} \\right)^\\circ~\\mathrm{modulo}~180^\\circ$ is determined. In an alternative analysis, the value $-2\\beta_s = -0.12 ^{\\,+\\,0.14}_{\\,-\\,0.16}\\,\\,\\mathrm{rad}$ is found. In both measurements, the uncertainties due to U-spin breaking effects up to 50% are included.

  8. Expression and functional importance of collagen-binding integrins, alpha 1 beta 1 and alpha 2 beta 1, on virus-activated T cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Susanne Ø; Thomsen, Allan R; Koteliansky, Victor E

    2003-01-01

    decreased responses were seen upon transfer of alpha(1)-deficient activated/memory T cells. Thus, expression of alpha(1)beta(1) and alpha(2)beta(1) integrins on activated T cells is directly functionally important for generation of inflammatory responses within tissues. Finally, the inhibitory effect......Adhesive interactions are crucial to cell migration into inflammatory sites. Using murine lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus as an Ag model system, we have investigated expression and function of collagen-binding integrins, alpha(1)beta(1) and alpha(2)beta(1), on activated and memory T cells. Using...... this system and MHC tetramers to define Ag-specific T cells, we demonstrate that contrary to being VLAs, expression of alpha(1)beta(1) and alpha(2)beta(1) can be rapidly induced on acutely activated T cells, that expression of alpha(1)beta(1) remains elevated on memory T cells, and that expression of alpha(1...

  9. Increasing protein stability by improving beta-turns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Hailong; Grimsley, Gerald R; Razvi, Abbas; Scholtz, J Martin; Pace, C Nick

    2009-11-15

    Our goal was to gain a better understanding of how protein stability can be increased by improving beta-turns. We studied 22 beta-turns in nine proteins with 66-370 residues by replacing other residues with proline and glycine and measuring the stability. These two residues are statistically preferred in some beta-turn positions. We studied: Cold shock protein B (CspB), Histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein, Ubiquitin, Ribonucleases Sa2, Sa3, T1, and HI, Tryptophan synthetase alpha-subunit, and Maltose binding protein. Of the 15 single proline mutations, 11 increased stability (Average = 0.8 +/- 0.3; Range = 0.3-1.5 kcal/mol), and the stabilizing effect of double proline mutants was additive. On the basis of this and our previous work, we conclude that proteins can generally be stabilized by replacing nonproline residues with proline residues at the i + 1 position of Type I and II beta-turns and at the i position in Type II beta-turns. Other turn positions can sometimes be used if the phi angle is near -60 degrees for the residue replaced. It is important that the side chain of the residue replaced is less than 50% buried. Identical substitutions in beta-turns in related proteins give similar results. Proline substitutions increase stability mainly by decreasing the entropy of the denatured state. In contrast, the large, diverse group of proteins considered here had almost no residues in beta-turns that could be replaced by Gly to increase protein stability. Improving beta-turns by substituting Pro residues is a generally useful way of increasing protein stability. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  10. Overview of total beta activity index and beta rest in surface waters of the Spanish rivers; Vision general del indice de actividad beta total y beta resto en las aguas superficiales de los rios espanoles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pujol, L.; Payeras, J.; Pablo, M. A. de

    2013-07-01

    This work aims to give an overview of the index of total beta activity and the activity index beta rest in surface waters of the main Spanish rivers. These indices are a parameter over water quality that CEDEX comes determined by order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, in water policy. (Author)

  11. Sawtooth crashes at high beta on JET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alper, B; Huysmans, G T.A.; Sips, A C.C. [Commission of the European Communities, Abingdon (United Kingdom). JET Joint Undertaking; Nave, M F.F. [Universidade Tecnica, Lisbon (Portugal). Inst. Superior Tecnico

    1994-07-01

    The sawtooth crashes on JET display features which depend on beta. The main observation is a transient bulging of flux surfaces (duration inferior to 30 microsec.), which is predominantly on the low field side and extends to larger radii as beta increases. This phenomenon reaches the plasma boundary when beta{sub N} exceeds 0.5 and in these cases is followed by an ELM within 50 microsec. These sawtooth/ELM events limit plasma performance. Modelling of mode coupling shows qualitative agreement between observations of the structure of the sawtooth precursor and the calculated internal kink mode at high beta. (authors). 6 refs., 5 figs.

  12. The Majorana project: sup 7 sup 6 Ge 0 nu beta beta-decay neutrino mass measurement

    CERN Document Server

    Aalseth, C E

    2002-01-01

    Interest in, and the relevance of, next-generation 0 nu beta beta-decay experiments is increasing. Even with nonzero neutrino mass strongly suggested by SNO, Super Kamiokande, and similar experiments sensitive to delta m sup 2 , 0 nu beta beta-decay experiments are still the only way to establish the Dirac or Majorana nature of neutrinos by measuring effective electron neutrino mass, . Various theorists have recently argued in favor of a neutrino mass between 0.01 and 1 eV. The Majorana Project aims to probe this effective neutrino mass range, reaching a sensitivity of 0.02-0.07 eV. The experiment relies entirely on proven technology and has been devised based upon the materials, technology, and data analysis demonstrated to produce the lowest background per kilogram of fiducial germanium. The project plan includes 500 kg of germanium detector material enriched to 85% in sup 7 sup 6 Ge, specialized pulse-acquisition electronics and detector segmentation for background rejection, and underground electroformed ...

  13. Axin-mediated CKI phosphorylation of beta-catenin at Ser 45

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Amit, Sharon; Hatzubai, Ada; Birman, Yaara

    2002-01-01

    The Wnt pathway controls numerous developmental processes via the beta-catenin-TCF/LEF transcription complex. Deregulation of the pathway results in the aberrant accumulation of beta-catenin in the nucleus, often leading to cancer. Normally, cytoplasmic beta-catenin associates with APC and axin...... and is continuously phosphorylated by GSK-3beta, marking it for proteasomal degradation. Wnt signaling is considered to prevent GSK-3beta from phosphorylating beta-catenin, thus causing its stabilization. However, the Wnt mechanism of action has not been resolved. Here we study the regulation of beta......-catenin phosphorylation and degradation by the Wnt pathway. Using mass spectrometry and phosphopeptide-specific antibodies, we show that a complex of axin and casein kinase I (CKI) induces beta-catenin phosphorylation at a single site: serine 45 (S45). Immunopurified axin and recombinant CKI phosphorylate beta...

  14. The BetaCage: Ultrasensitive Screener for Radioactive Backgrounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Michael; BetaCage Collaboration

    2017-09-01

    Rare event searches, such as dark matter detection and neutrinoless double beta decay, require screening of materials for backgrounds such as beta emission and alpha decaying isotopes. The BetaCage is a proposed ultra-sensitive time-projection chamber to screen for alpha-emitting and low energy beta-emitting (10-200 keV) contaminants. The expected sensitivity is 0.1 beta particles (perkeV -m2 - day) and 0.1 alpha particles (perm2 - day) , where the former will be limited by Compton scattering of external photons in the screening samples and the latter is expected to be signal-limited. The prototype BetaCage under commissioning at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is filled with P10 gas (10% methane, 90% argon) in place of neon and is 40×40×20 cm in size. Details on design, construction and characterization will be presented.

  15. Unified description of the softening behavior of beta-metastable and alpha+beta titanium alloys during hot deformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poletti, Cecilia; Germain, Lionel; Warchomicka, Fernando; Dikovits, Martina; Mitsche, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    In this work, we propose a unified description of the softening behavior of a β metastable alloy and Ti6Al4V alloy. In the first part we provide sound evidence that the hot deformation of Ti6Al4V of the beta phase above and below the beta transus temperature takes place solely by dynamic recovery at moderate strains, similarly to the behavior of the Ti5Al5Mo5V3Cr1Zr near-beta alloy. This study was possible due to the combination of the fast cooling rates achieved after controlled hot deformation and the reconstruction of the parent beta phase from electron backscattered diffraction measurements of the frozen alpha phase by using an innovative developed algorithm. The dynamic recovery as a common dynamic restoration behavior for Ti6Al4V and Ti5Al5Mo5V3Cr1Zr is described mathematically with a Derby type relationship of the subgrain size and the stress of the beta phase. A rule of mixture allows the determination of the load partition between the two allotropic phases.

  16. Stabilization of beta-catenin induces pancreas tumor formation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heiser, Patrick W; Cano, David A; Landsman, Limor; Kim, Grace E; Kench, James G; Klimstra, David S; Taketo, Maketo M; Biankin, Andrew V; Hebrok, Matthias

    2008-10-01

    beta-Catenin signaling within the canonical Wnt pathway is essential for pancreas development. However, the pathway is normally down-regulated in the adult organ. Increased cytoplasmic and nuclear localization of beta-catenin can be detected in nearly all human solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPN), a rare tumor with low malignant potential. Conversely, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) accounts for the majority of pancreatic tumors and is among the leading causes of cancer death. Whereas activating mutations within beta-catenin and other members of the canonical Wnt pathway are rare, recent reports have implicated Wnt signaling in the development and progression of human PDA. Here, we sought to address the role of beta-catenin signaling in pancreas tumorigenesis. Using Cre/lox technology, we conditionally activated beta-catenin in a subset of murine pancreatic cells in vivo. Activation of beta-catenin results in the formation of large pancreatic tumors at a high frequency in adult mice. These tumors resemble human SPN based on morphologic and immunohistochemical comparisons. Interestingly, stabilization of beta-catenin blocks the formation of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) in the presence of an activating mutation in Kras that is known to predispose individuals to PDA. Instead, mice in which beta-catenin and Kras are concurrently activated develop distinct ductal neoplasms that do not resemble PanIN lesions. These results demonstrate that activation of beta-catenin is sufficient to induce pancreas tumorigenesis. Moreover, they indicate that the sequence in which oncogenic mutations are acquired has profound consequences on the phenotype of the resulting tumor.

  17. C[sub 10]-O[sub eq]-N-(4-azido-5-[sup 125]iodo salicyloyl)-[beta]-alanyl-[beta] alanyl ryanodine (Az-[beta]AR), a novel photo-affinity ligand for the ryanodine binding site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bidasee, K.R.; Besch, H.R. Jr.; Kwon, Sangyeol; Emmick, J.T.; Besch, K.T.; Gerzon, Koert; Humerickhouse, R.A. (Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN (United States). School of Medicine)

    1994-01-01

    A high affinity, photoactivatable, radio-iodinated ligand for the ryanodine binding site(s) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium-release channel, C[sub 10]-O[sub e]-N-(4-azido-5-[sup 125]iodo salicyloyl)-[beta]-alanyl-[beta]-alanyl ryanodine (Az-[beta]AR), was synthesized at a specific activity of 1400mCi/mmol. (Author).

  18. Monoclonal antibody-dendrimer conjugates enable radiolabeling of antibody with markedly high specific activity with minimal loss of immunoreactivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kobayashi, H.; Togashi, K. [Kyoto Univ. (Japan). School of Medicine; Sato, N.; Saga, T.; Nakamoto, Y.; Ishimori, T.; Konishi, J. [Dept. of Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging, Kyoto Univ. Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto (Japan); Toyama, S. [Inst. for Virus Research, Kyoto Univ., Kyoto (Japan); Brechbiel, M.W. [Chemistry Section, Radiation Oncology Branch, National Cancer Inst., National Inst. of Health, Bethesda, Md. (United States)

    2000-09-01

    For the purpose of radioimmunotherapy, labelling of monoclonal antibody with high specific activity is often necessary, especially when using a radionuclide with a shorter half-life. Polyamine dendrimers (PAMAM) are novel synthetic polymeric molecules with large numbers of amine residues on their spherical surface. In order to bind large numbers of radiometals to single antibody molecules, the generation-4 PAMAM (G4), which has 64 amines, was conjugated with 43 molecules of 2-(p-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-6-methyl-diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid (1B4M), a derivative of DTPA. This product [G4-(1B4M){sub 43}] was then conjugated with OST7, a murine monoclonal IgG{sub 1}. We evaluated the achievable specific activity for {sup 111}In labeling, immunore-activity, biodistribution, and tumor targeting in mice of the {sup 111}In- or {sup 153}Gd-OST7-G4-(1B4M){sub 43} as compared with radiolabeled OST7-1B4M or 56C-1B4M. The maximum specific activity of {sup 111}In-OST7-G4-(1B4M){sub 43} and {sup 111}In-OST7-1B4M was 470 and 8.7 GBq/mg (12,700 and 263 mCi/mg), respectively. Immunoreactivity of radiolabeled OST7-G4-(1B4M){sub 43} and OST7-1B4M, as determined by the binding to KT005 cells expressing the antigen, was respectively 91% and 84% of that of {sup 125}I-labelled OST7. Biodistribution studies for preparations with maximum specific activity in normal mice 3 h after injection showed that {sup 111}In- or {sup 153}Gd-OST7-G4-(1B4M){sub 43} cleared faster from the blood and accumulated more in the liver than did {sup 111}In- or {sup 153}Gd-OST7-1B4M. The dendrimer 1B4M [G4-(1B4M){sub 64}] itself showed similar saturation effects with metals. The radioactivity in all the other organs reflected the rapid clearance of radioactivity from the blood. {sup 153}Gd-OST7-G4-(1B4M){sub 43} showed specific accumulation in the KT005 tumor. In conclusion, we could successfully bind 49 times as many metal atoms to an antibody molecule as is possible with conventional metal labeling for

  19. Why Downside Beta Is Better: An Educational Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, James T.; Jennings, William P.; Phillips, G. Michael

    2013-01-01

    An educational example is presented that is an effective teaching illustration to help students understand the difference between traditional CAPM beta and downside (or down-market) beta and why downside beta is a superior measure for use in personal financial planning investment policy statements.

  20. Phosphorylation prevents C/EBP{beta} from the calpain-dependent degradation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Yuan-yuan; Li, Shu-fen; Qian, Shu-wen; Zhang, You-you; Liu, Yuan; Tang, Qi-Qun; Li, Xi, E-mail: lixi@shmu.edu.cn

    2012-03-16

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Phosphorylation protected C/EBP{beta} from {mu}-calpain-mediated proteolysis in vitro. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Phosphorylation mimic C/EBP{beta} was insensitive to calpain accelerator and inhibitor. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Phosphorylation on Thr{sub 188} contributed more to the stabilization of C/EBP{beta}. -- Abstract: CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) {beta} plays an important role in proliferation and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. C/EBP{beta} is sequentially phosphorylated during the 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation program, first by MAPK/Cyclin A/cdk2 on Thr{sub 188} and subsequently by GSK3{beta} on Ser{sub 184} or Thr{sub 179}. Dual phosphorylation is critical for the gain of DNA binding activity of C/EBP{beta}. In this manuscript, we found that phosphorylation also contributed to the stability of C/EBP{beta}. Both ex vivo and in vitro experiments showed that phosphorylation by MAPK/Cyclin A/cdk2 and GSK3{beta} protected C/EBP{beta} from {mu}-calpain-mediated proteolysis, while phosphorylation on Thr{sub 188} by MAPK/Cyclin A/cdk2 contributed more to the stabilization of C/EBP{beta}, Further studies indicated that phosphorylation mimic C/EBP{beta} was insensitive to both calpain accelerator and calpain inhibitor. Thus, phosphorylation might contribute to the stability as well as the gain of DNA binding activity of C/EBP{beta}.

  1. Calculation of {beta}-ray spectra. Odd-odd nuclei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tachibana, Takahiro [Waseda Univ., Tokyo (Japan). Advanced Research Center for Science and Engineering

    1996-05-01

    In order to study {beta}-ray of atomic nucleus, it is natural to consider {beta}-ray data fundamental and important. In a recent experiment, Rudstam measured {beta}-ray spectra from short term nuclear fission product species in 1990. It is an important check point in theoretical study on {beta}-ray to investigate if these experimental data can be reproduced by any theoretical calculation. As there are several spectrum studies of {beta}-ray through decay heat for its various properties due to the general theory of the {beta}-decay, little descriptions can be found. In even such studies, spectra under high excitation state of daughter species difficult to measure and apt to short experimental results were treated with combination spectra composed of experimental and calculated values such as substitution of a part of the general theory with calculated value. In this paper, the {beta} spectra supposed by only the general theory was reported without using such data combination in order to confirm effectiveness of the theory. In particular, this report was described mainly on the results using recent modification of odd-odd nucleus species. (G.K.)

  2. Hypertrophic stimulation increases beta-actin dynamics in adult feline cardiomyocytes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sundaravadivel Balasubramanian

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available The myocardium responds to hemodynamic stress through cellular growth and organ hypertrophy. The impact of cytoskeletal elements on this process, however, is not fully understood. While alpha-actin in cardiomyocytes governs muscle contraction in combination with the myosin motor, the exact role of beta-actin has not been established. We hypothesized that in adult cardiomyocytes, as in non-myocytes, beta-actin can facilitate cytoskeletal rearrangement within cytoskeletal structures such as Z-discs. Using a feline right ventricular pressure overload (RVPO model, we measured the level and distribution of beta-actin in normal and pressure overloaded myocardium. Resulting data demonstrated enriched levels of beta-actin and enhanced translocation to the Triton-insoluble cytoskeletal and membrane skeletal complexes. In addition, RVPO in vivo and in vitro hypertrophic stimulation with endothelin (ET or insulin in isolated adult cardiomyocytes enhanced the content of polymerized fraction (F-actin of beta-actin. To determine the localization and dynamics of beta-actin, we adenovirally expressed GFP-tagged beta-actin in isolated adult cardiomyocytes. The ectopically expressed beta-actin-GFP localized to the Z-discs, costameres, and cell termini. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP measurements of beta-actin dynamics revealed that beta-actin at the Z-discs is constantly being exchanged with beta-actin from cytoplasmic pools and that this exchange is faster upon hypertrophic stimulation with ET or insulin. In addition, in electrically stimulated isolated adult cardiomyocytes, while beta-actin overexpression improved cardiomyocyte contractility, immunoneutralization of beta-actin resulted in a reduced contractility suggesting that beta-actin could be important for the contractile function of adult cardiomyocytes. These studies demonstrate the presence and dynamics of beta-actin in the adult cardiomyocyte and reinforce its usefulness in measuring

  3. Gastrointestinal hyperplasia with altered expression of DNA polymerase beta.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katsuhiko Yoshizawa

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Altered expression of DNA polymerase beta (Pol beta has been documented in a large percentage of human tumors. However, tumor prevalence or predisposition resulting from Pol beta over-expression has not yet been evaluated in a mouse model.We have recently developed a novel transgenic mouse model that over-expresses Pol beta. These mice present with an elevated incidence of spontaneous histologic lesions, including cataracts, hyperplasia of Brunner's gland and mucosal hyperplasia in the duodenum. In addition, osteogenic tumors in mice tails, such as osteoma and osteosarcoma were detected. This is the first report of elevated tumor incidence in a mouse model of Pol beta over-expression. These findings prompted an evaluation of human gastrointestinal tumors with regard to Pol beta expression. We observed elevated expression of Pol beta in stomach adenomas and thyroid follicular carcinomas, but reduced Pol beta expression in esophageal adenocarcinomas and squamous carcinomas.These data support the hypothesis that balanced and proficient base excision repair protein expression and base excision repair capacity is required for genome stability and protection from hyperplasia and tumor formation.

  4. Beta cell proliferation and growth factors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jens Høiriis; Svensson, C; Møldrup, Annette

    1999-01-01

    Formation of new beta cells can take place by two pathways: replication of already differentiated beta cells or neogenesis from putative islet stem cells. Under physiological conditions both processes are most pronounced during the fetal and neonatal development of the pancreas. In adulthood little...... increase in the beta cell number seems to occur. In pregnancy, however, a marked hyperplasia of the beta cells is observed both in rodents and man. Increased mitotic activity has been seen both in vivo and in vitro in islets exposed to placental lactogen (PL), prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH...... and activation of the tyrosine kinase JAK2 and the transcription factors STAT1 and 3. The activation of the insulin gene however also requires the distal part of the receptor and activation of calcium uptake and STAT5. In order to identify putative autocrine growth factors or targets for growth factors we have...

  5. Phenotypic Characterization of Multidrug-resistant Escherichia Coli with Special Reference to Extended-spectrum-beta-lactamases and Metallo-beta-lactamases in a Tertiary Care Center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, B; Shrestha, S; Mishra, S K; Kattel, H P; Tada, T; Ohara, H; Kirikae, T; Rijal, B P; Sherchand, J B; Pokhrel, B M

    2015-01-01

    The increasing reports on extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase and metallo-beta-lactamase producing Escherichia coli have addressed a potential threat to global health since it is found to be highly resistance to most of the currently available antibiotics including carbapenems. The present study was aimed to determine the antibiogram of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase and metallo-beta-lactamase producing MDR E. coli isolates from various clinical samples. This was a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of seven months from December 2013 to July 2014 at bacteriology laboratory of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. A total of 250 clinical specimens (urine, pus, sputum, blood, body fluid, bile, tissue and central venous pressure line tip) were processed from inpatients, with multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli infections. Standard microbiological techniques were used for isolation and identification of the isolates. The presence of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase was detected by phenotypic confirmatory test recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and imipenem (IMP) /EDTA combined disc method was performed to detect metallo-beta-lactamase mediated resistance mechanism. We found high level of beta lactamase mediated resistance mechanism as part of multidrug resistance. Among 250 MDR isolates, 60% isolates were extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase producers and 17.2% isolates were metallo-beta-lactamase producers. Co-existence of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase and metallo-beta-lactamase identified in 6.8% isolates. Beta-lactamase mediated resistance mechanisms are accounting very high in the multidrug resistant isolates of E. coli. Therefore, early detection of beta lactamase mediated resistant strains and their current antibiotic susceptibility pattern is necessary to avoid treatment failure and prevent the spread of MDR.

  6. Immunoreactive LH in long-term frozen human urine samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Gurmeet Kaur Surindar; Jimenez, Mark; Newman, Ron; Handelsman, David J

    2014-04-01

    Urine provides a convenient non-invasive alternative to blood sampling for measurement of certain hormones. Urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) measurements have been used for endocrinology research and anti-doping testing. However, the commercially available LH immunoassays are developed and validated for human blood samples but not urine so that LH assays intended for use with urine samples need thorough validation. Therefore, the present study evaluated the measurement of urinary LH immunoreactivity using previously validated immunofluorometric (IF) and immunochemiluminometric (ICL) LH assays after prolonged frozen storage. LH was measured in serial urine samples following administration of a single injection of one of two doses of recombinant human chorionic hormone (rhCG) with assays run at the end of study (2008) and again after four years of frozen (-20 °C) storage where samples were stored without adding preservatives. The ICL assay showed quantitatively reproducible LH measurements after prolonged -20 °C storage. However, the IF immunoassay gave consistently lower LH levels relative to ICL (2008) with a further proportionate reduction after four years of sample storage (2012). Yet, both the assays displayed similar patterns of the time-course of urine LH measurement both before and after four years of frozen storage. In conclusion, we found that both immunoassays are suitable for urinary LH measurements with ICL assay being more robust for quantitative urinary LH measurement such as for anti-doping purposes, whereas the IF could be applicable for research studies where urine LH levels are compared within-study but not in absolute terms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Method for conversion of .beta.-hydroxy carbonyl compounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilga, Michael A.; White, James F.; Holladay, Johnathan E.; Zacher, Alan H.; Muzatko, Danielle S.; Orth, Rick J.

    2010-03-30

    A process is disclosed for conversion of salts of .beta.-hydroxy carbonyl compounds forming useful conversion products including, e.g., .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and/or salts of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Conversion products find use, e.g., as feedstock and/or end-use chemicals.

  8. Involvement of beta 3-adrenoceptor in altered beta-adrenergic response in senescent heart: role of nitric oxide synthase 1-derived nitric oxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birenbaum, Aurélie; Tesse, Angela; Loyer, Xavier; Michelet, Pierre; Andriantsitohaina, Ramaroson; Heymes, Christophe; Riou, Bruno; Amour, Julien

    2008-12-01

    In senescent heart, beta-adrenergic response is altered in parallel with beta1- and beta2-adrenoceptor down-regulation. A negative inotropic effect of beta3-adrenoceptor could be involved. In this study, the authors tested the hypothesis that beta3-adrenoceptor plays a role in beta-adrenergic dysfunction in senescent heart. beta-Adrenergic responses were investigated in vivo (echocardiography-dobutamine, electron paramagnetic resonance) and in vitro (isolated left ventricular papillary muscle, electron paramagnetic resonance) in young adult (3-month-old) and senescent (24-month-old) rats. Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immunolabeling (confocal microscopy), nitric oxide production (electron paramagnetic resonance) and beta-adrenoceptor Western blots were performed in vitro. Data are mean percentages of baseline +/- SD. An impaired positive inotropic effect (isoproterenol) was confirmed in senescent hearts in vivo (117 +/- 23 vs. 162 +/- 16%; P < 0.05) and in vitro (127 +/- 10 vs. 179 +/- 15%; P < 0.05). In the young adult group, the positive inotropic effect was not significantly modified by the nonselective NOS inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME; 183 +/- 19%), the selective NOS1 inhibitor vinyl-L-N-5(1-imino-3-butenyl)-L-ornithine (L-VNIO; 172 +/- 13%), or the selective NOS2 inhibitor 1400W (183 +/- 19%). In the senescent group, in parallel with beta3-adrenoceptor up-regulation and increased nitric oxide production, the positive inotropic effect was partially restored by L-NAME (151 +/- 8%; P < 0.05) and L-VNIO (149 +/- 7%; P < 0.05) but not by 1400W (132 +/- 11%; not significant). The positive inotropic effect induced by dibutyryl-cyclic adenosine monophosphate was decreased in the senescent group with the specific beta3-adrenoceptor agonist BRL 37344 (167 +/- 10 vs. 142 +/- 10%; P < 0.05). NOS1 and NOS2 were significantly up-regulated in the senescent rat. In senescent cardiomyopathy, beta3-adrenoceptor overexpression plays an important role in the

  9. $\\beta$-asymmetry measurements in nuclear $\\beta$-decay as a probe for non-standard model physics

    CERN Multimedia

    Roccia, S

    2002-01-01

    We propose to perform a series of measurements of the $\\beta$-asymmetry parameter in the decay of selected nuclei, in order to investigate the presence of possible time reversal invariant tensor contributions to the weak interaction. The measurements have the potential to improve by a factor of about four on the present limits for such non-standard model contributions in nuclear $\\beta$-decay.

  10. Beta-endorphin in genetically hypoprolactinemic rat: IPL nude rat

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cohen, H.; Sabbagh, I.; Abou-Samra, A.B.; Bertrand, J.

    1986-01-20

    Beta-endorphin has been reported to regulate not only stress- and suckling-induced but also basal prolactin secretion. In the aim to better evaluate the endogenous beta-endorphin-prolactin interrelation, the authors measured beta-endorphin levels in a new rat strain, genetically hypoprolactinemic and characterized by a total lack of lactation: IPL nude rat. Beta-endorphin was measured using a specific anti-h-..beta.. endorphin in plasma and extracts of anterior and neurointermediate lobes of the pituitary, hypothalamus and brain. Pituitary extracts were also chromatographed on Sephadex G50 column. Results obtained showed that in IPL nude females on diestrus and males, the beta-endorphin contents of the neurointermediate lobe was significantly lower than in normal rats, while the values found in the other organs and plasma were similar. However, elution pattern of the anterior pituitary extracts from male rats showed greater immunoactivity eluting as I/sup 125/ h-beta-endorphin than in normal rat; this was not the case for the female rat. These results are consistent with a differential regulation of beta-endorphin levels of anterior and neurointermediate lobe by catecholamines. Moreover they suggest that PRL secretion was more related to neurointermediate beta-endorphin. 40 references, 2 figures, 4 tables.

  11. Curve-of-growth analysis of M-type giants. beta. and. beta. Peg

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanni, L.; Kipper, M.

    1975-01-01

    The curve-of-growth analysis is carried out with high-dispersion spectrograms of the region lambda lambda 5050--6150 for two M-type stars ..beta.. And (MOIII) and ..beta.. Peg (M2II-III) by using the newest oscillator strengths available. It has been found that the form of our empirical curve of growth is consistent with that of the theoretical curve by Wrubel. By making use of the data derived from the curve-of-growth analyses, atmospheric parameters such as THETA/sub ex/, rho/sub e/, ..nu../sub t/ and the abundances of the elements have been determined.

  12. Acute phencyclidine administration induces c-Fos-immunoreactivity in interneurons in cortical and subcortical regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hervig, Mona E; Thomsen, Morten S; Kalló, Imre

    2016-01-01

    and thalamus of rats. A single dose of PCP (10mg/kg, s.c.) significantly increased total number of c-Fos-IR in: (1) the prelimbic, infralimbic, anterior cingulate, ventrolateral orbital, motor, somatosensory and retrosplenial cortices as well as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), field CA1 of the hippocampus (CA1......) field of hippocampus and mediodorsal thalamus (MD); (2) PV-IR cells in the ventrolateral orbitofrontal and retrosplenial cortices and CA1 field of hippocampus; and (3) CB-IR cells in the motor cortex. Overall, our data indicate that PCP activates a wide range of cortical and subcortical brain regions...... and subcortical areas, but whether such induction occurs in specific populations of GABAergic interneuron subtypes still remains to be established. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of the PCP-induced c-Fos-immunoreactivity (IR) in parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin (CB) interneuron subtypes in the cortex...

  13. Effects of beta-lactamases and omp mutation on susceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics in Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hiraoka, M; Okamoto, R; Inoue, M; Mitsuhashi, S

    1989-01-01

    Four types of beta-lactamases consisting of a penicillinase type I (TEM-1), a penicillinase type II (OXA-1), a cephalosporinase of Citrobacter freundii, and a cephalosporinase of Proteus vulgaris were introduced into Escherichia coli MC4100 and its omp mutants, MH1160 (MC4100 ompR1) and MH760 (MC4100 ompR2), by transformation. Effects of the combination of the omp mutations and these beta-lactamases on the susceptibility of E. coli strains were studied with 15 beta-lactam antibiotics including cephalosporins, cephamycins, penicillins, imipenem, and aztreonam. The ompR1 mutant, MH1160, lacks OmpF and OmpC, and it showed reduced susceptibility to 11 of the 15 beta-lactam agents. The reduction in susceptibility to cefoxitin, moxalactam, and flomoxef was much greater than reduction in susceptibility to the other agents. When the ompR1 mutant produced the cephalosporinase of C. freundii, the susceptibility of the mutant to 12 of the 15 beta-lactam antibiotics decreased. The reduction in susceptibility of MH1160 to 10 of the 12 agents affected by the enzyme was two- to fourfold greater than that observed in MC4100. Such a synergistic effect was also observed with the cephalosporinase of P. vulgaris and ompR1 mutation against six cephalosporins, moxalactam, and aztreonam. Images PMID:2658786

  14. Beta adrenergic receptors in human cavernous tissue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dhabuwala, C.B.; Ramakrishna, C.V.; Anderson, G.F.

    1985-04-01

    Beta adrenergic receptor binding was performed with /sup 125/I iodocyanopindolol on human cavernous tissue membrane fractions from normal tissue and transsexual procedures obtained postoperatively, as well as from postmortem sources. Isotherm binding studies on normal fresh tissues indicated that the receptor density was 9.1 fmoles/mg. with a KD of 23 pM. Tissue stored at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours, then at 4C in saline solution for 19 to 20 hours before freezing showed no significant changes in receptor density or affinity, and provided evidence for the stability of postmortem tissue obtained within the same time period. Beta receptor density of 2 cavernous preparations from transsexual procedures was not significantly different from normal control tissues, and showed that high concentrations of estrogen received by these patients had no effect on beta adrenergic receptor density. Displacement of /sup 125/iodocyanopindolol by 5 beta adrenergic agents demonstrated that 1-propranolol had the greatest affinity followed by ICI 118,551, zinterol, metoprolol and practolol. When the results of these displacement studies were subjected to Scatfit, non- linear regression line analysis, a single binding site was described. Based on the relative potency of the selective beta adrenergic agents it appears that these receptors were of the beta 2 subtype.

  15. Sizeable beta-strength in 31Ar (beta 3p) decay

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    T. Koldste, G.; Blank, B.; J. G. Borge, M.

    2014-01-01

    We present for the first time precise spectroscopic information on the recently discovered decay mode beta-delayed 3p-emission. The detection of the 3p events gives an increased sensitivity to the high energy part of the Gamow-Teller strength distribution from the decay of 31Ar revealing that as ...... that as much as 30% of the strength resides in the beta-3p decay mode. A simplified description of how the main decay modes evolve as the excitation energy increases in 31Cl is provided....

  16. The islet beta-cell: fuel responsive and vulnerable.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Christopher J; Prentki, Marc

    2008-10-01

    The pancreatic beta-cell senses blood nutrient levels and is modulated by neurohormonal signals so that it secretes insulin according to the need of the organism. Nutrient sensing involves marked metabolic activation, resulting in the production of coupling signals that promote insulin biosynthesis and secretion. The beta-cell's high capacity for nutrient sensing, however, necessitates reduced protection to nutrient toxicity. This potentially explains why in susceptible individuals, chronic fuel surfeit results in beta-cell failure and type 2 diabetes. Here we discuss recent insights into first, the biochemical basis of beta-cell signaling in response to glucose, amino acids and fatty acids, and second, beta-cell nutrient detoxification. We emphasize the emerging role of glycerolipid/fatty acid cycling in these processes.

  17. The Fermilab Collider D/Phi/ low BETA system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McInturff, A.D.; Carson, J.; Collins, T.; Koepke, K.; Malamud, E.; Mantsch, P.; Niemann, R.; Riddiford, A.

    1988-06-01

    A new low BETA system has been designed to serve the detector facility under construction at the D/Phi/ location of the Fermilab Superconducting Collider. The low BETA system consists of 18 special cold iron quadrupoles powered as 11 independent circuits that can adjust the BETA value at the intersection point down to 25 cm. Low beta is achieved with a set of 1.4 T/cm, two shell, high current quadrupoles. Smaller 0.7 T/cm, single shell trim quadrupoles are used to match the low beta insertion to the rest of the accelerator lattice. Gaps have been left in the lattice for electrostatic separators to separate the proton and antiproton beams everywhere except at the desired collision points. 6 refs., 6 figs., 3 tabs.

  18. Isolation and characterization of BetaM protein encoded by ATP1B4 - a unique member of the Na,K-ATPase {beta}-subunit gene family

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pestov, Nikolay B. [Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Toledo College of Medicine, 3000 Arlington Ave., Toledo, OH 43614 (United States); Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow 117997 (Russian Federation); Zhao, Hao [Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Toledo College of Medicine, 3000 Arlington Ave., Toledo, OH 43614 (United States); Basrur, Venkatesha [Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Modyanov, Nikolai N., E-mail: nikolai.modyanov@utoledo.edu [Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Toledo College of Medicine, 3000 Arlington Ave., Toledo, OH 43614 (United States)

    2011-09-09

    Highlights: {yields} Structural properties of BetaM and Na,K-ATPase {beta}-subunits are sharply different. {yields} BetaM protein is concentrated in nuclear membrane of skeletal myocytes. {yields} BetaM does not associate with a Na,K-ATPase {alpha}-subunit in skeletal muscle. {yields} Polypeptide chain of the native BetaM is highly sensitive to endogenous proteases. {yields} BetaM in neonatal muscle is a product of alternative splice mRNA variant B. -- Abstract: ATP1B4 genes represent a rare instance of the orthologous gene co-option that radically changed functions of encoded BetaM proteins during vertebrate evolution. In lower vertebrates, this protein is a {beta}-subunit of Na,K-ATPase located in the cell membrane. In placental mammals, BetaM completely lost its ancestral role and through acquisition of two extended Glu-rich clusters into the N-terminal domain gained entirely new properties as a muscle-specific protein of the inner nuclear membrane possessing the ability to regulate gene expression. Strict temporal regulation of BetaM expression, which is the highest in late fetal and early postnatal myocytes, indicates that it plays an essential role in perinatal development. Here we report the first structural characterization of the native eutherian BetaM protein. It should be noted that, in contrast to structurally related Na,K-ATPase {beta}-subunits, the polypeptide chain of BetaM is highly sensitive to endogenous proteases that greatly complicated its isolation. Nevertheless, using a complex of protease inhibitors, a sample of authentic BetaM was isolated from pig neonatal skeletal muscle by a combination of ion-exchange and lectin-affinity chromatography followed by SDS-PAGE. Results of the analysis of the BetaM tryptic digest using MALDI-TOF and ESI-MS/MS mass spectrometry have demonstrated that native BetaM in neonatal skeletal muscle is a product of alternative splice mRNA variant B and comprised of 351 amino acid residues. Isolated BetaM protein was

  19. Method and apparatus for induced nuclear beta decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reiss, H.

    1986-01-01

    This invention relates to a method and apparatus for inducing beta decay transition that are normally inhibited by angular momentum or parity considerations. According to one aspect of this invention a method of inducing nuclear beta decay transition comprises providing a medium which includes atomic nuclei that have forbidden beta decay transition in which the initial and final nuclear states do not have the same intrinsic parity or have total angular momenta which differ by more than one quantum unit of angular momentum, and applying to the medium an electromagnetic field which has an intensity sufficient to provide the angular momentum or intrinsic parity necessary to overcome the forbiddenness of the beta decay transition of the atomic nuclei, thereby to induce the beta decay transitions. According to another aspect of this invention an apparatus for inducing beta decay transition comprises a medium which includes atomic nuclei that have forbidden beta decay transitions in which the initial and final nuclear states do not have the same intrinsic parity or have total angular momenta which differ by more than one quantum unit of angular momentum, field producing means for producing an electromagnetic field in the medium and means for energising the field producing means to establish the field at an intensity sufficient to provide the angular momentum or intrinsic parity necessary to overcome the forbiddenness of the beta decay transitions of the atomic nuclei. The energy released in these induced nuclear transition is useful for the controlled production of power. The induced beta dacay transitions are also useful to reduce the halflives of long-lived fission product wastes from conventional nuclear fission power plants

  20. Beta-adrenergic blockade for the treatment of hyperthyroidism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geffner, D L; Hershman, J M

    1992-07-01

    To review the clinical and biochemical effects of beta-adrenergic blocking drugs on hyperthyroidism. Studies published since 1972 were identified through a computerized search of MEDLINE and extensive searching of the bibliographies of the articles identified. Based on an understanding of the differences in beta-blocker metabolism in euthyroid and hyperthyroid patients, we reviewed the differences in pharmacokinetics and metabolic and clinical outcomes during their use in hyperthyroidism, as reported in the articles reviewed. beta Blockers have been used to modify the severity of the hyperadrenergic symptoms of hyperthyroidism for the past 20 years. The clinical efficacy of these agents is affected by hyperthyroid-induced alterations in their gastrointestinal absorption, hepatic metabolism, and renal excretion. The mechanisms whereby these clinical changes are effected is unknown. The agents differ in their beta 1 cardioselectivity, membrane-stabilizing activity, intrinsic sympathomimetic activity, and lipid solubility. They do not appear to alter synthesis or secretion of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland. Their effects on thyroxine metabolism are contradictory. Decreased thyroxine to triiodothyronine conversion is caused by some, but not all, beta blockers, and this appears to correlate with membrane-stabilizing activity. There does not appear to be any alteration in catecholamine sensitivity during beta-adrenergic blockade. The principal mechanism of action of beta blockers in hyperthyroidism is to antagonize beta-receptor-mediated effects of catecholamines. beta Blockers are effective in treating hypermetabolic symptoms in a variety of hyperthyroid states. Used alone, they offer significant symptomatic relief. They are also useful adjuvants to antithyroid medications, surgery, and radioactive iodide treatment in patients with Graves' disease and toxic nodular goiters.