Cell surface beta 1, 4-galactosyltransferase 1 promotes apoptosis by inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor pathway.

Our previous studies have shown that overexpression of beta1,4-galactosyltransferase1 (beta1,4GT1) leads to increased apoptosis induced by cycloheximide (CHX) in SMMC-7721 human hepatocarcinoma cells. However, the role of beta1,4GT1 in apoptosis remains unclear. Here we demonstrated that cell surface beta1,4GT1 inhibited the autophosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) especially at Try 1068. The phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase1/2 (ERK1/2), which are downstream molecules of EGFR, were also reduced in cell surface beta1,4GT1-overexpressing cells. Furthermore, the translocations of Bad and Bax that are regulated by PKB/Akt and ERK1/2 were also increased in these cells. As a result, the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol was increased and caspase-3 was activated. In contrast, RNAi-mediated knockdown of beta1,4GT1 increased the autophosphorylation of EGFR. These results demonstrated that cell surface beta1,4GT1 may negatively regulate cell survival possibly through inhibiting and modulating EGFR signaling pathway.

Defensio Prima and the Latin Poets

This chapter, in a prize-winning volume, examines ways in which Milton’s recourse to Latin poetry in Defensio Prima serves a much deeper purpose than that of merely illustrating or lending authority to his argument. Rather, it is argued, the defence engages with a variety of Latin intertexts (Plautus, Terence, Horace, Petronius), which in turn give birth to a range of dramatis personae, with whom Salmasius is ironically and somewhat kaleidoscopically equated. This methodology lends particular force to Milton’s rhetoric of invective whilst hopefully laying to rest the fallacy that his Latin prose writings were writing during a period of ‘poetic inactivity.’ For this is a prose work that is poetically as well as politically aware.

Long-term ecology of native pinewood communities in East Glen Affric, Scotland

Fossil pollen, stomata and charcoal were examined from a lake sedimentary sequence in the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve, one of the largest areas of remnant native pine woodland in Scotland, in order to assess ecosystem dynamics over the last 11 000 years. Results reveal that pinewood communities have been continuously present in East Glen Affric for the last 8300 years. Pinus sylvestris fi rst arrived in the area around 9900 cal. BP, but occurred in only low abundance for the subsequent 1600 years. Pine populations expanded around 8300 cal. BP and remained in relatively constant abundance throughout the remainder of the Holocene. There is no evidence of a hypothesized regional mid-Holocene ‘ pine decline ’ at the site. Charcoal results reveal that pinewood communities in East Glen Affric do not appear to have been dependent on fire for either their establishment or their maintenance as has previously been suggested.

Predatory nature of the littoral amphipod Echinogammarus marinus: gut content analysis and effects of alternative food and substrate heterogeneity

Interspecific interactions are major structuring forces in marine littoral communities; however, it is unclear which of these interactions are exhibited by many key-component species. Gut content analysis showed that the ubiquitous rocky/cobble shore amphipod Echinogammarus marinas, often ascribed as a mesograzer, consumes both algae and macroinvertebrates. Further, laboratory experiments showed that E. marinus is an active predator of such macroinvertebrates, killing and consuming the isopod Jaera nordmanni and the oligochaete Tubificoides benedii. Predatory impacts of E. marinus were not alleviated by the presence of alternative food in the form of alga discs. However, in the presence of prey, consumption of alga by E. marinus was significantly reduced. Further, survival of prey was significantly higher when substrate was provided, but predation remained significant and did not decline with further increases in substrate heterogeneity. We conclude that such amphipods can have pervasive predatory impacts on a range of species, with implications for community structure, diversity and functioning.

Cell-specific processing of chromogranin A in endocrine cells of the rat stomach

The rat stomach is rich in endocrine cells. The acid-producing (oxyntic) mucosa contains ECL cells, A-like cells, and somatostatin (D) cells, and the antrum harbours gastrin (G) cells, enterochromaffin (EC) cells and D cells. Although chromogranin A (CgA) occurs in all these cells, its processing appears to differ from one cell type to another. Eleven antisera generated to different regions of rat CgA, two antisera generated to a human (h) CgA sequences, and one to a bovine Ib) CgA sequence, respectively, were employed together with antisera directed towards cell-specific markers such as gastrin (G cells), serotonin (EC cells), histidine decarboxylsae (ECL cells) and somatostatin (D cells) to characterize the expression of CgA and CgA-derived peptides in the various endocrine cell populations of the rat stomach. In the oxyntic mucosa, antisera raised against CgA(291-319) and CGA(316-321) immunostained D cells exclusively, whereas antisera raised against bCgA(82-91) and CgA(121-128) immunostained A-like cells and D cells. Antisera raised against CgA(318-349) and CgA(437-448) immunostained ECL cells and A-like cells, but not D cells. In the antrum, antisera against CgA(291-319) immunostained D cells, and antisera against CgA(351-356) immunostained G cells. Our observations suggest that each individual endocrine cell type in the rat stomach generates a unique mixture of CgA-derived peptides, probably reflecting cell-specific differences in the post-translational processing of CgA and its peptide products. A panel of antisera that recognize specific domains of CgA may help to identify individual endocrine cell populations.

Strasheela: Design and usage of a music composition environment based on the Oz programming model

Strasheela provides a means for the composer to create a symbolic score by formally describing it in a rule-based way. The environment defines a rich music representation for complex polyphonic scores. Strasheela enables the user to define expressive compositional rules and then to apply them to the score. Compositional rules can restrict many aspects of the music - including the rhythmic structure, the melodic structure and the harmonic structure - by constraining the parameters (e.g. duration or pitch) of musical events according to some numerical or logical relation. Strasheela combines this expressivity with efficient search strategies.

The preparation and properties of coprecipitated Cu-Zr-Y and Cu-Zr-La catalysts used for the steam reforming of methanol

A series of Cu-zirconia catalysts containing various additives (Y2O3, La2O3, Al2O3 and CeO2) have been prepared by coprecipitation and their activities and stabilities under operating conditions have been obtained for the steam reforming of methanol. It has been found that an yttria-promoted catalyst containing 30 mol% Cu and 20 mol% of Y2O3 is not only very active but is also very stable under reaction conditions. The yttria appears to stabilise a high copper surface area and may also have a slight promotional effect on the copper. The results obtained with this material compare very favourably with data for the best catalysts reported in the literature. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Genetic analysis of coronary artery disease single nucleotide polymorphisms in diabetic nephropathy

Background. Diabetic nephropathy is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease. Premature mortality is common in patients with nephropathy, largely due to cardiovascular disease. Genetic variants implicated in macrovascular disease are therefore excellent candidates to assess for association with diabetic nephropathy. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified a total of 15 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are reproducibly associated with cardiovascular disease.

Methods. We initially assessed these SNPs for association in UK type 1 diabetic patients with (cases; n = 597) and without (controls; n = 502) nephropathy using iPLEXTM and TaqMan® assays. Replication studies were performed with DNA genotyped in a total of 2668 individuals from the British Isles.

Results. One SNP (rs4420638) on chromosome 19q13 was found to be significantly associated with diabetic nephropathy before (P = 0.0002) and after correction for multiple testing (Pcorrected = 0.002). We replicated this finding in a phenotypically similar case–control collection comprising 709 individuals with type 1 diabetes (P = 0.002; combined P < 0.00001; OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.29–1.84).

Conclusions. Our case–control data suggest that rs4420638, or a functional SNP in linkage disequilibrium with this SNP, may be associated with diabetic nephropathy.

The design and performance of a 2.5-GHz telecommand link for wireless biomedical monitoring

This paper details the implementation and operational performance of a minimum-power 2.45-GHz pulse receiver and a companion on-off keyed transmitter for use in a semi-active duplex RF biomedical transponder. A 50-Ohm microstrip stub-matched zero-bias diode detector forms the heart of a body-worn receiver that has a CMOS baseband amplifier consuming 20 microamps from +3 V and achieves a tangential sensitivity of -53 dBm. The base transmitter generates 0.5 W of peak RF output power into 50 Ohms. Both linear and right-hand circularly polarized Tx-Rx antenna sets were employed in system reliability trials carried out in a hospital Coronary Care Unit, For transmitting antenna heights between 0.3 and 2.2 m above floor level, transponder interrogations were 95% reliable within the 67-m-sq area of the ward, falling to an average of 46 % in the surrounding rooms and corridors. Overall, the circular antenna set gave the higher reliability and lower propagation power decay index.

Query cost estimation through remote system contention states analysis over the Internet

Query processing over the Internet involving autonomous data sources is a major task in data integration. It requires the estimated costs of possible queries in order to select the best one that has the minimum cost. In this context, the cost of a query is affected by three factors: network congestion, server contention state, and complexity of the query. In this paper, we study the effects of both the network congestion and server contention state on the cost of a query. We refer to these two factors together as system contention states. We present a new approach to determining the system contention states by clustering the costs of a sample query. For each system contention state, we construct two cost formulas for unary and join queries respectively using the multiple regression process. When a new query is submitted, its system contention state is estimated first using either the time slides method or the statistical method. The cost of the query is then calculated using the corresponding cost formulas. The estimated cost of the query is further adjusted to improve its accuracy. Our experiments show that our methods can produce quite accurate cost estimates of the submitted queries to remote data sources over the Internet.