The Acquisition of an Inheritable 50-bp Deletion in the Human mtDNA Control Region Does Not Affect the mtDNA Copy Number in Peripheral Blood Cells

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region is believed to play an important biological role in mtDNA replication. Large deletions in this region are rarely found, but when they do occur they might be expected to interfere with the replication of the molecule, thus leading to a reduction of mtDNA copy number. During a survey for mtDNA sequence variations in 5,559 individuals from the general Chinese population and 2,538 individuals with medical disorders, we identified a 50-bp deletion (m.298_347del50) in the mtDNA control region in a member of a healthy Han Chinese family belonging to haplogroup B4c1b2, as suggested by complete mtDNA genome sequencing. This deletion removes the conserved sequence block II (CSBII; region 299-315) and the replication primer location (region 317-321). However, quantification of the mtDNA copy number in this subject showed a value within a range that was observed in 20 healthy subjects without the deletion. The deletion was detected in the hair samples of the maternal relatives of the subject and exhibited variable heteroplasmy. Our current observation, together with a recent report for a benign 154-bp deletion in the mtDNA control region, suggests that the control of mtDNA replication may be more complex than we had thought. Hum Mutat 31:538-543, 2010. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effect of Rock Mass Structure and Block Size on the Slope Stability-Physical Modeling and Discrete Element Simulation

This paper studies the stability of jointed rock slopes by using our improved three-dimensional discrete element methods (DEM) and physical modeling. Results show that the DEM can simulate all failure modes of rock slopes with different joint configurations. The stress in each rock block is not homogeneous and blocks rotate in failure development. Failure modes depend on the configuration of joints. Toppling failure is observed for the slope with straight joints and sliding failure is observed for the slope with staged joints. The DEM results are also compared with those of limit equilibrium method (LEM). Without considering the joints in rock masses, the LEM predicts much higher factor of safety than physical modeling and DEM. The failure mode and factor of safety predicted by the DEM are in good agreement with laboratory tests for any jointed rock slope.

Influence of 2 secondary effects on shear failure of cantilever with attached mass block under impulsive loading

The influence of two secondary effects, rotatory inertia and presence of a crack, on the dynamic plastic shear failure of a cantilever with an attached mass block at its tip subjected to impulsive loading is investigated. It is illustrated that the consideration of the rotatory inertia of the cantilever and the presence of a crack at the upper root of the beam both increase the initial kinetic energy of the block required to cause shear failure at the interface between the beam tip and the tip mass, where the initial velocity has discontinuity Therefore, the influence of these two secondary effects on the dynamic shear failure is not negligible.

A block SPP algorithm for multidimensional tridiagonal equations with optimal message vector length

A parallel strategy for solving multidimensional tridiagonal equations is investigated in this paper. We present in detail an improved version of single parallel partition (SPP) algorithm in conjunction with message vectorization, which aggregates several communication messages into one to reduce the communication cost. We show the resulting block SPP can achieve good speedup for a wide range of message vector length (MVL), especially when the number of grid points in the divided direction is large. Instead of only using the largest possible MVL, we adopt numerical tests and modeling analysis to determine an optimal MVL so that significant improvement in speedup can be obtained.

On optimal message vector length for block single parallel partition algorithm in a three-dimensional ADI solver

It has long been recognized that many direct parallel tridiagonal solvers are only efficient for solving a single tridiagonal equation of large sizes, and they become inefficient when naively used in a three-dimensional ADI solver. In order to improve the parallel efficiency of an ADI solver using a direct parallel solver, we implement the single parallel partition (SPP) algorithm in conjunction with message vectorization, which aggregates several communication messages into one to reduce the communication costs. The measured performances show that the longest allowable message vector length (MVL) is not necessarily the best choice. To understand this observation and optimize the performance, we propose an improved model that takes the cache effect into consideration. The optimal MVL for achieving the best performance is shown to depend on number of processors and grid sizes. Similar dependence of the optimal MVL is also found for the popular block pipelined method.

Comparison of Pax1/9 locus reveals 500-Myr-old syntenic block and evolutionary conserved noncoding regions

Identification of conserved genomic regions within and between different genomes is crucial when studying genome evolution. Here, we described regions of strong synteny conservation between vertebrate deuterostomes (tetrapods and teleosts) and invertebrat

On diagonal-Schur complements of block diagonally dominant matrices

It is known that the diagonal-Schur complements of strictly diagonally dominant matrices are strictly diagonally dominant matrices [J.Z. Liu, Y.Q. Huang, Some properties on Schur complements of H-matrices and diagonally dominant matrices, Linear Algebra Appl. 389 (2004) 365-380], and the same is true for nonsingular H-matrices [J.Z. Liu, J.C. Li, Z.T. Huang, X. Kong, Some properties of Schur complements and diagonal-Schur complements of diagonally dominant matrices, Linear Algebra Appl. 428 (2008) 1009-1030]. In this paper, we research the properties on diagonal-Schur complements of block diagonally dominant matrices and prove that the diagonal-Schur complements of block strictly diagonally dominant matrices are block strictly diagonally dominant matrices, and the same holds for generalized block strictly diagonally dominant matrices. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A nerve growth factor from the venom of Chinese cobra (Naja naja atra) and its effects on male reproductive system in rats

A nerve growth factor (NGF) was isolated from the venom of Chinese cobra (Naja naja ntr a) by ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration and fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). The N-terminal sequence of 22 amino acid residues was identical with other NGFs previously purified from the venom of the same genus. The NGF monomer molecular weight was estimated to be 13 500 by reducing SDS-PAGE and the isoelectric point was determined to be 7.2 by isoelectric focusing electrophoresis. NGF improved the epididymal sperm motility of male rats and increased the pregnancy rate and fetus number of mated female rats. The serum levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) of male rats administrated NGF + gossypol was lower than that of male rats administrated gossypol. Histological sections of testes and epididymides showed that NGF reduced the destructive effects of gossypol on rat testes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Age and Sex on the Cell Counts of Peripheral Blood Leukocyte Subpopulations in Chinese Rhesus Macaques

Non-human primates such as Chinese rhesus macaques are the favorable models for preclinical study of potential therapeutic drugs, vaccines and mechanisms of human diseases. Little is known about the normal levels of leukocyte subpopulations of Chinese rhe

Explorative study on the expression of neuregulin-1 gene in peripheral blood of schizophrenia

Neuregulin-1 (Nrg-1)(1) gene has been considered as a schizophrenia susceptibility gene. In order to observe the association of Nrg-1 gene with schizophrenia, the study was designed to investigate the effect of anti-psychotic treatment on the Nrg-1 mRNA e

Circulating immunoglobulin A- and immunoglobulin G-secreting hybridoma cells in peripheral blood preferably migrate to female genital tracts. The role of sex hormones

Antigen-specific circulating immunoglobulin-secreting cells (ISC) migrate to various secondary and tertiary lymphoid tissues. To understand the migration of the cells into the genital tract and its regulation by sex hormones, spleen-derived SG2 hybridoma cells secreting immunoglobulin G2b (IgG2b) and Peyer's patch-derived PA4 hybridoma cells secreting polymer IgA were labelled with (3) H-TdR, and intravenously injected into syngeneic mice of both sexes. Using flow cytometry, surface molecular markers of plasma cells, CD38 and CD138, and adhesion molecules, CD49d, CD162, and CD11a were found to be positive in SG2 and PA4 cells, but CD62L, alpha4beta7 and CD44 were not expressed on these cells. The relative distribution indexes (RDIs) of the cells in genital tract and other tissues were measured. The means of RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in female genital tissues were 6.5 and 4.5 times as many as the means in male genital tissues, respectively. The treatment of ovariectomized mice with beta-oestradiol significantly increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in cervix and vagina, but decreased the RDIs of SG2 cells in vagina, horn of uterus, uterus and rectum (P <0.05). Progesterone treatment increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in vagina and rectum (P <0.05). The treatment with testosterone significantly increased the RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in epididymis and accessory sex glands (P <0.05). These results demonstrate that the female genital tract is the preferable site for the migration of circulating hybridoma cells to the male genital tract, and sex hormones play an important role in regulation of the migration of circulating ISC to genital tracts.

Improved suppression of circulating complement does not block acute vascular rejection of pig-to-rhesus monkey cardiac transplants

At present, acute vascular rejection (AVR) remains a primary obstacle inhibiting long-term graft survival in the pig-to-non-human primate transplant model. The present study was undertaken to determine whether repetitive injection of low dose Yunnan-cobra venom factor (Y-CVF), a potent complement inhibitor derived from the venom of Naja kaouthia can completely abrogate hemolytic complement activity and subsequently improve the results in a pig-to-rhesus monkey heterotopic heart transplant model. Nine adult rhesus monkeys received a heterotopic heart transplant from wild-type pigs and the recipients were allocated into two groups: group 1 (n = 4) received repetitive injection of low dose Y-CVF until the end of the study and group 2 (n = 5) did not receive Y-CVF. All recipients were treated with cyclosporine A (CsA), cyclophosphamide (CyP) and steroids. Repetitive Y-CVF treatment led to very dramatic fall in CH50 and serum C3 levels (CH50 < 3 units/C3 remained undetectable throughout the experiment) and successfully prevented hyperacute rejection (HAR), while three of five animals in group 2 underwent HAR. However, the continuous suppression of circulating complement did not prevent AVR and the grafts in group 1 survived from 8 to 13 days. Despite undetectable C3 in circulating blood, C3 deposition was present in these grafts. The venular thrombosis was the predominant histopathologic feature of AVR. We conclude that repetitive injection of low dose Y-CVF can be used to continuously suppress circulating complement in a very potent manner and successfully prevent HAR. However, this therapy did not inhibit complement deposition in the graft and failed to prevent AVR. These data suggest that using alternative pig donors [i.e. human decay accelerating factor (hDAF)-transgenic] in combination with the systemic use of complement inhibitors may be necessary to further control complement activation and improve survival in pig-to-non-human primate xenotransplant model.