Gene transfer into the airway epithelium of animals by targeting the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor.

Genes of interest can be targeted specifically to respiratory epithelial cells in intact animals with high efficiency by exploiting the receptor-mediated endocytosis of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor. A DNA carrier, consisting of the Fab portion of polyclonal antibodies raised against rat secretory component covalently linked to poly-L-lysine, was used to introduce plasmids containing different reporter genes into airway epithelial cells in vivo. We observed significant levels of luciferase enzyme activity in protein extracts from the liver and lung, achieving maximum values of 13,795 +/- 4,431 and 346,954 +/- 199,120 integrated light units (ILU) per milligram of protein extract, respectively. No luciferase activity was detected in spleen or heart, which do not express the receptor. Transfections using complexes consisting of an irrelevant plasmid (pCMV lacZ) bound to the bona fide carrier or the expression plasmid (pGEMluc) bound to a carrier based on an irrelevant Fab fragment resulted in background levels of luciferase activity in all tissues examined. Thus, only tissues that contain cells bearing the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor are transfected, and transfection cannot be attributed to the nonspecific uptake of an irrelevant carrier-DNA complex. Specific mRNA from the luciferase gene was also detected in the lungs of transfected animals. To determine which cells in the lungs are transfected by this method, DNA complexes were prepared containing expression plasmids with genes encoding the bacterial beta-galactosidase or the human interleukin 2 receptor. Expression of these genes was localized to the surface epithelium of the airways and the submucosal glands, and not the bronchioles and alveoli. Receptor-mediated endocytosis can be used to introduce functional genes into the respiratory epithelium of rats, and may be a useful technique for gene therapy targeting the lung.

On the Definition of Public Goods. Assessing Richard A. Musgrave's contribution

This paper provides an explanation of the emergence of the standard textbook definition of public goods in the middle of the 20th century. It focuses on Richard Musgrave's contribution in defining public goods as non-rival and non-excludable - from 1939 to 1969. Although Samuelson's mathematical definition is generally used in models of public goods, the qualitative understanding of the specificity of pure public goods owes more to Musgrave's emphasis on the impossibility of exclusion. This paper also highlights the importance of the size of the group to which benefits of a public good accrue. This analysis allow for a reassessment of the Summary table of goods which first appeared in Musgrave and Musgrave (1973) textbook.

[Illustrations de Livre de l'estat et mutation des temps...] / [Non identifié] ; Richard Roussat, aut. du texte

Comprend : [Fig. p.75 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] La création du monde. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080] ; [Fig. p.87 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] Figure de titubation du firmament. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080] ; [Fig. p.143 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] Figure des quatre saisons du monde. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080] ; [Fig. en reg. p.180 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] Figure de la création du monde. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080] ; [Fig. p.181 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] Figure de titubation du Firmament. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080] ; [Fig. en reg. p.181 : astronomie. XVIè siècle.] Figure des saisons et âges du monde. [cote : microfilm m 9658/R 34080]