Differential distribution of MAP1a and aldolase c in adult mouse cerebellum.

MAP1a is a microtubule-associated protein with an apparent molecular weight of 360 kDa that is found in the axonal and dendritic processes of neurons. Two monoclonal anti-MAP1a antibodies anti-A and anti-BW6, revealed different epitope distributions in the adult mouse cerebellum. Anti-A stained Purkinje and granule cells uniformly throughout the cerebellum. In contrast, anti-BW6 selectively stained the dendriites of a subset of Purkinje cells, revealing parasagittal bands of immunoreactivity in the molecular layer. The compartmentation of the BW6 epitope was compared to the Purkine cells as revealed by immunostaining with anti-zebrin II, a well known antigen expressed selectively by bands of Purkinje cells. The anti-BW6 staining pattern was complementary to the zebrin II bands, the zebrin II- Purkinjke cells having BW6+ dendrites. These results demonstrate that MAP1a is present in two forms in the mouse cerebellum, one of which is segregated into parasagittal bands. This may indicate a unique MAP1a isoform or may reflect differences in the metabolic states of Purkinje cell classes, and regional differences in their functions.

Establishment of animal models to analyze the kinetics and distribution of human tumor antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells.

Many patients develop tumor antigen-specific T cell responses detectable in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) following cancer vaccine. However, measurable tumor regression is observed in a limited number of patients receiving cancer vaccines. There is a need to re-evaluate systemically the immune responses induced by cancer vaccines. Here, we established animal models targeting two human cancer/testis antigens, NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-A4. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes of these antigens were investigated by immunizing BALB/c mice with plasmids encoding the entire sequences of NY-ESO-1 or MAGE-A4. CD8(+) T cells specific for NY-ESO-1 or MAGE-A4 were able to be detected by ELISPOT assays using antigen presenting cells pulsed with overlapping peptides covering the whole protein, indicating the high immunogenicity of these antigens in mice. Truncation of these peptides revealed that NY-ESO-1-specific CD8(+) T cells recognized D(d)-restricted 8mer peptides, NY-ESO-181-88. MAGE-A4-specific CD8(+) T cells recognized D(d)-restricted 9mer peptides, MAGE-A4265-273. MHC/peptide tetramers allowed us to analyze the kinetics and distribution of the antigen-specific immune responses, and we found that stronger antigen-specific CD8(+) T cell responses were required for more effective anti-tumor activity. Taken together, these animal models are valuable for evaluation of immune responses and optimization of the efficacy of cancer vaccines.

Distribution of hospital admissions in a middle-income country of the African region

Introduction: Few studies have reported the distribution of all hospital admissions at the entire country level in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). We examined this question in Seychelles, a rapidly developing small island state in the Africa region, in which access to health care is provided free of charge to all inhabitants through a national health system and all hospital admissions are routinely registered. Methods: Based on all admissions to all hospitals in Seychelles in 2005-2008, we calculated the distribution of hospital admissions, age at admission, length of stay and bed occupancy (i.e. cumulated number of patients * number of days spent in all hospitals) according to both hospital departments and broad causes of diseases (using codes of the ICD-10 classification of diseases). Results: Bed occupancy was largest in the surgical wards (36.7% of all days spent in all hospitals), followed by the medical wards (24.3%), gynecology/obstetrics wards (18.4%), pediatric wards (11.2%), and psychiatric wards (7.2%). According to broad causes of diseases/conditions, bed occupancy was highest for obstetrics/gynecology conditions (19.9% of all days spent at hospital), mental diseases (8.6%), cardiovascular diseases (8.1%), upper aerodigestive/pulmonary diseases (8%), infectious/parasitic diseases (8%), gastrointestinal diseases (7.2%), and urogenital diseases (6.7%). Adjusted to 100'000 population, 153 hospital beds are needed every day, including 31 for obstetrics/gynecologic conditions, 13 for mental diseases, 12 for cardiovascular diseases, 12 for upper aerodigestive diseases, 12 for infectious/parasitic diseases, and 11 for gastrointestinal diseases. Conclusion: Our findings give a good indication of the overall distribution of admissions according to both hospital departments and broad causes of diseases in a middle-income country. These findings provide important information for health care planning at the national level

Characterization and distribution of Pogonomyrmex harvester ant lineages with genetic caste determination.

Genetic caste determination has been described in two populations of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants, each comprising a pair of interbreeding lineages. Queens mate with males of their own and of the alternate lineage and produce two types of diploid offspring, those fertilized by males of the queens' lineage which develop into queens and those fertilized by males of the other lineage which develop into workers. Each of the lineages has been shown to be itself of hybrid origin between the species Pogonomyrmex barbatus and Pogonomyrmex rugosus, which both have typical, environmentally determined caste differentiation. In a large scale genetic survey across 35 sites in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, we found that genetic caste determination associated with pairs of interbreeding lineages occurred frequently (in 26 out of the 35 sites). Overall, we identified eight lineages with genetic caste determination that always co-occurred in the same complementary lineage pairs. Three of the four lineage pairs appear to have a common origin while their relationship with the fourth remains unclear. The level of genetic differentiation among these eight lineages was significantly higher than the differentiation between P. rugosus and P. barbatus, which questions the appropriate taxonomic status of these genetic lineages. In addition to being genetically isolated from one another, all lineages with genetic caste determination were genetically distinct from P. rugosus and P. barbatus, even when colonies of interbreeding lineages co-occurred with colonies of either putative parent at the same site. Such nearly complete reproductive isolation between the lineages and the species with environmental caste determination might prevent the genetic caste determination system to be swept away by gene flow.

Testing the bivariate distribution of daily equity returns using copulas: an application to the Spanish stock market

In this paper we deal with the identification of dependencies between time series of equity returns. Marginal distribution functions are assumed to be known, and a bivariate chi-square test of fit is applied in a fully parametric copula approach. Several families of copulas are fitted and compared with Spanish stock market data. The results show that the t-copula generally outperforms other dependence structures, and highlight the difficulty in adjusting a significant number of bivariate data series

Distribution of single-particle strength due to short-range and tensor correlations

The distribution of single-particle strength in nuclear matter is calculated for a realistic nucleon-nucleon interaction. The influence of the short-range repulsion and the tensor component of the nuclear force on the spectral functions is to move approximately 13% of the total strength for all single-particle states beyond 100 MeV into the particle domain. This result is related to the abundantly observed quenching phenomena in nuclei which include the reduction of spectroscopic factors observed in (e,ep) reactions and the missing strength in low energy response functions.

Testing the bivariate distribution of daily equity returns using copulas: an application to the Spanish stock market

In this paper we deal with the identification of dependencies between time series of equity returns. Marginal distribution functions are assumed to be known, and a bivariate chi-square test of fit is applied in a fully parametric copula approach. Several families of copulas are fitted and compared with Spanish stock market data. The results show that the t-copula generally outperforms other dependence structures, and highlight the difficulty in adjusting a significant number of bivariate data series

Comparison of the site distribution of melanoma in New Zealand and Canada

A comparison of the site distribution of cutaneous malignant melanoma in New Zealand and Canada was performed. This series deals with 41,331 incident cases registered between 1968 and 1990 and is the largest to date to evaluate the influence of age and gender on the site distribution of melanoma. Site-specific, age-standardized rates per unit surface area and relative tumour density were assessed by gender and country and differences compared with statistical techniques adapted to this context. The age-standardized rates for all sites were higher in New Zealand than in Canada, the ratio being 3.2 for men and 3.8 for women. Occurrence of melanoma was denser for chronically than intermittently exposed sites in both New Zealand and Canada. The highest incidence rate per unit area was for the ears in men which was more than 5 times the rate for the entire body in each country. For each gender, melanomas were relatively commoner on the trunk and the face in Canada, and on the lower limbs in New Zealand. The variations in the site distribution were similar in each country and consistent with the effect of differential patterns of sun exposure between genders. Our results show that the levels of risk of melanoma between phenotypically comparable populations exposed to different amount of UV radiation vary in a site-specific manner, especially for intermittently exposed sites. This suggests that both environmental conditions and lifestyle factors influence the site distribution of melanoma in these two populations.

Anatomical distribution of areas of preserved cartilage in advanced femorotibial osteoarthritis using CT arthrography (Part 1).

OBJECTIVE: To determine subregions of normal and abnormal cartilage in advanced stages of femorotibial osteoarthritis (OA) by mapping the entire femorotibial joint in a cohort of pre-total knee replacement (TKR) OA knees. DESIGN: We defined an areal subdivision of the femorotibial articular cartilage surface on CT arthrography (CTA), allowing the division of the femorotibial articular surface into multiple (up to n = 204 per knee) subregions and the comparison of the same areas between different knees. Two readers independently classified each cartilage area as normal, abnormal or non-assessable in 41 consecutive pre-TKR OA knees. RESULTS: A total of 6447 cartilage areas (from 41 knees) were considered assessable by both readers. The average proportion of preserved cartilage was lower in the medial femorotibial joint than in the lateral femorotibial joint for both readers (32.0/69.8% and 33.9/68.5% (medial/lateral) for reader 1 and 2 respectively, all P < 0.001). High frequencies of normal cartilage were observed at the posterior aspect of the medial condyle (up to 89%), and the anterior aspect of the lateral femorotibial compartment (up to 100%). The posterior aspect of the medial condyle was the area that most frequently exhibited preserved cartilage in the medial femorotibial joint, contrasting with the high frequency of cartilage lesions in the rest of that compartment. CONCLUSIONS: Cartilage at the posterior aspect of the medial condyle, and at the anterior aspect of the lateral femorotibial compartment, may be frequently preserved in advanced grades of OA.

The genomic distribution of intraspecific and interspecific sequence divergence of human segmental duplications relative to human/chimpanzee chromosomal rearrangements

Background: It has been suggested that chromosomal rearrangements harbor the molecular footprint of the biological phenomena which they induce, in the form, for instance, of changes in the sequence divergence rates of linked genes. So far, all the studies of these potential associations have focused on the relationship between structural changes and the rates of evolution of single-copy DNA and have tried to exclude segmental duplications (SDs). This is paradoxical, since SDs are one of the primary forces driving the evolution of structure and function in our genomes and have been linked not only with novel genes acquiring new functions, but also with overall higher DNA sequence divergence and major chromosomal rearrangements.Results: Here we take the opposite view and focus on SDs. We analyze several of the features of SDs, including the rates of intraspecific divergence between paralogous copies of human SDs and of interspecific divergence between human SDs and chimpanzee DNA. We study how divergence measures relate to chromosomal rearrangements, while considering other factors that affect evolutionary rates in single copy DNA. Conclusion: We find that interspecific SD divergence behaves similarly to divergence of single-copy DNA. In contrast, old and recent paralogous copies of SDs do present different patterns of intraspecific divergence. Also, we show that some relatively recent SDs accumulate in regions that carry inversions in sister lineages.

Polarized distribution of inducible nitric oxide synthase regulates activity in intestinal epithelial cells.

Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) functions as a homodimer. In cell extracts, iNOS molecules partition both in cytosolic and particulate fractions, indicating that iNOS exists as soluble and membrane associated forms. In this study, iNOS features were investigated in human intestinal epithelial cells stimulated with cytokines and in duodenum from mice exposed to flagellin. Our experiments indicate that iNOS is mainly associated with the particulate fraction of cell extracts. Confocal microscopy showed a preferential localization of iNOS at the apical pole of intestinal epithelial cells. In particulate fractions, iNOS dimers were more abundant than in the cytosolic fraction. Similar observations were seen in mouse duodenum samples. These results suggest that, in epithelial cells, iNOS activity is regulated by localization-dependent processes.

On the Connectivity of the Julia sets of meromorphic functions

We prove that every transcendental meromorphic map $f$ with disconnected Julia set has a weakly repelling fixed point. This implies that the Julia set of Newton's method for finding zeroes of an entire map is connected. Moreover, extending a result of Cowen for holomorphic self-maps of the disc, we show the existence of absorbing domains for holomorphic self-maps of hyperbolic regions, whose iterates tend to a boundary point. In particular, the results imply that periodic Baker domains of Newton's method for entire maps are simply connected, which solves a well-known open question.

Ecological distribution of stream macroalgae in different spatial scales using taxonomic and morphological groups

We examined the ecological distribution of macroalgal communities in streams using species groups (taxonomic units = algal phyla, and morphological = morphological types) with similar structures and functions instead of the species themselves. The study was conducted from June to July/2007 in two drainage basins located in mid-southern region of Paraná State , Brazil. Evaluations of macroalgal communities took into consideration the following spatial scales: the drainage basin (the Pedras river and Marrecas river basins), shading regime (open and shaded stream segments), mesohabitats (riffles and pools), and microhabitats (sampling units of 0.05m2). A total of 29 taxa (23 subgeneric, one generic, and five vegetative groups) were identified. On these, 12 taxa belong to Chlorophyta, 11 to Cyanobacteria, four to Heterokontophyta, and two to Rhodophyta. The proportions of morphological types were: 24% free filaments, 17.25% mats, tufts, gelatinous colonies, and gelatinous filaments, 7% crusts. In terms of spatial scales, we observed a predominance of Chlorophyta in open stream segments and Cyanobacteria in shaded stream segments, reflecting the loss of competitive advantage of green algae in sites with low energy availability. In the mesohabitats, the morphological types recorded in pools were predominantly poorly adapted to fast currents (free filaments), while those found in riffles (mats, tufts and gelatinous filaments) were highly resistant to fast water flows. As such, the use of species groupings based on algal taxonomy associated with morphological characteristics proved to be useful to understanding the distributions of these organisms in lotic environments.

Ecological distribution of stream macroalgae in different spatial scales using taxonomic and morphological groups

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Brain distribution of myosin Va in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

This study presents data on myosin Va localization in the central nervous system of rainbow trout. We demonstrate, via immunoblots and immunocytochemistry, the expression of myosin Va in several neuronal populations of forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain and spinal cord. The neuronal populations that express myosin Va in trout constitute a very diverse group that do not seem to have many specific similarities such as neurotransmitters used, cellular size or length of their processes. The intensity of the immunoreactivity and the number of immunoreactive cells differ from region to region. Although there is a broad distribution of myosin Va, it is not present in all neuronal populations. This result is in agreement with a previous report, which indicated that myosin Va is approximately as abundant as conventional myosin II and kinesin, and it is broadly involved in neuronal motility events such as axoplasmatic transport. Furthermore, this distribution pattern is in accordance with what was shown in rats and mice; it indicates phylogenetic maintenance of the myosin Va main functions.