Primary and Recurrent Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Closely Link to Serum Soluble Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor Levels

BACKGROUND

Serum soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is implicated in the pathogenesis of native and recurrent focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). It is elevated in two-thirds of subjects with primary FSGS, but not in people with other glomerular diseases that can differentiate FSGS and other glomerular diseases.

METHODS

We measured the serum soluble urokinase receptor levels and determined their association with clinical and pathologic data in 86 patients with primary FSGS, 5 repeat renal biopsy FSGS, and 6 recurrent FSGS post-transplantation. Healthy controls and patients with minimal change disease and membranous nephropathy were used as controls. The suPAR levels were measured by commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits.

RESULTS

Patients with primary FSGS (median: 4232, interquartile range 1299-9714 pg/mL) had significantly higher levels of suPAR than those of patients with minimal change disease (median: 2784 pg/mL), membranous nephropathy (median: 3478 pg/mL), and healthy individuals (median: 1994 pg/mL). There was no significant difference in suPAR levels between the 65 patients with minimal change disease and 85 patients with membranous nephropathy. The suPAR levels increased in the 5 repeated renal biopsy FSGS and 6 recurrent FSGS post-transplantation.

CONCLUSIONS

The suPAR levels were significantly but positively correlated with FSGS, not only primary FSGS but also recurrent FSGS post-transplantation, but negatively correlated with other glomerular diseases. Thus, suPAR levels can differentiate primary FSGS and other glomerular diseases.

Effect of cAMP Receptor Protein Gene on Growth Characteristics and Stress Resistance of Haemophilus parasuis Serovar 5

Haemophilus parasuis (HPS), a member of the family Pasteurellaceae, is a common bacteria in the upper respiratory tract of pigs but under certain circumstances can cause serious systemic disease (Glasser's disease) characterized by severe infection of the upper respiratory tract, fibrinous polyserositis, polyarthritis, and meningitis. cAMP receptor protein (CRP) is among the most important global regulators, playing a vital role in adapting to environmental changes during the process of bacterial infection. In order to investigate the function of the crp gene in the growth characteristics of H. parasuis serovar 5 (HPS5) and its ability to overcome adverse environmental stresses, a crp mutant strain (Δcrp) was constructed and verified. In this study, we found that the crp gene was involved in growth rate, biofilm formation, stress tolerance, serum resistance, and iron utilization. Compared with the wild type, both the growth rate of the crp mutant and its resistance to osmotic pressure decreased significantly. Similar phenomena were also found in biofilm formation and iron utilization. However, the resistance to heat shock and serum complement of the crp mutant were enhanced. This study aimed to reveal the function in growth characteristics and stress resistance of the crp gene in HPS5. Whether it relates to virulence requires additional in-depth research.

Preservation of immunorecognition by transferring cells from 10% neutral buffered formalin to 70% ethanol

Prolonged fixation of cells and tissues in 10% neutral buffered formalin (NBF) may decrease immunorecognition in some antigen-antibody pairs. Short fixation in 10% NBF followed by transfer to 70% ethanol has been used to overcome these effects, but the effects of this transfer on immunorecognition have not been explored adequately. We used two cell lines, DU145 (prostate cancer) and SKOV3 (ovarian cancer), grew them on coverslips and fixed them with 10% NBF at room temperature for 5 min and 12, 15, 18, 36, 108 and 180 h. Aliquots of the same cells were fixed in 10% NBF for 12 h, then transferred to 70% ethanol for 3, 6, 24, 96 and 168 h. Immunostaining with PCNA, Ki67-MIB-1, cytokeratins AE1/AE3 and EGFr was done concomitantly. In both cell lines, immunorecognition decreased between 18 and 36 h of fixation in 10% NBF for PCNA, Ki67-MIB-1 and cytokeratins AE1/AE3. By 108 to 180 h of 10% NBF exposure, there was complete loss of immunorecognition of PCNA and extensive loss of Ki67-MIB-1 and cytokeratins AE1/AE3. The effects on EGFr immunorecognition were less. Transfer to 70% ethanol after fixation for 12 h in 10% NBF preserved immunorecognition of the antibodies.

Method for reduction of inhibition in a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific ligase chain reaction DNA amplification assay

The present study describes the identification of inhibitors of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific gap ligase chain reaction (LCR) DNA amplification assay as well as a method for their removal. A major contributor to inhibition was deduced to be a calcium phosphate precipitate, CaHPO4. The precipitate forms during N-acetyl-L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide (NALC-NaOH) decontamination, digestion, and concentration of respiratory specimens. The solubility product of CaHPO4 precipitate at pH 7.8, the pH at which gap LCR is optimized, indicates that the precipitate releases an amount of phosphate ions sufficient to inhibit amplification. A method for removal of the precipitate was identified. The precipitate is dissociated by exposing it to a mildly acidic (pH 4.1) buffer during the first of two centrifugation steps; the inhibitory phosphate ions are removed by the centrifugation steps. When 100 NALC-NaOH respiratory sediments were tested by gap LCR, none of the sediments were inhibitory when the acidic buffer was used while 24 samples were inhibitory when TE buffer, pH 7.8, was used. In another study, when the acidic buffer wash was applied to 1,440 NALC-NaOH respiratory sediments, only 10 sediments were found to be inhibitory. None of the inhibited sediments were culture positive for M. tuberculosis. This work demonstrates that when inhibition mechanisms are identified, relatively simple protocols can be used to obtain low inhibition rates and to allow the use of larger volume equivalents in amplification reactions.

Immunogenicity of recombinant protective antigen and efficacy against intranasal challenge with Bordetella bronchiseptica

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a Gram-negative respiratory pathogen that causes substantial disease in a variety of animals. Filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and pertactin are important attachment factors and protective immunogens, which serve as protective antigens in several animal models of infection with B. bronchiseptica. Here, we showed the efficacy of subcutaneous immunization of mice with a recombinant protein rF1P2, which consisted of the important immunodominant protective type I domain (F1) of FHA and the highly immunogenic region II domain (P2) of pertactin. Groups of mice tested, when challenged with different strains of B. bronchiseptica were fully protected, with long-lasting immunity to lethal B.bronchiseptica challenge, whereas mice immunized with Freund's adjuvant alone or PBS were not. In rF1P2-immunized mice, specific antibodies lasted for more than 120 days, and the IgG1/IgG2a ratio remained at a constant level till the end of the study. This suggests that rF1P2-induced a long-lasting balanced humoral immune responses and immunological memory in mice. rF1P2-specific antisera inhibited hemagglutination associated with full-length mature FHA. Furthermore, passive antiserum transfer from immunized animals completely protected naive mice from subsequent B. bronchiseptica challenge. These data may have implications for the development of safe and efficacious subunit vaccines for the prevention of bordetellosis, and may contribute to future acellular whooping cough vaccines.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.5 is upregulated in intrauterine growth retardation rats with exaggerated pulmonary hypertension

Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is associated with the development of adult-onset diseases, including pulmonary hypertension. However, the underlying mechanism of the early nutritional insult that results in pulmonary vascular dysfunction later in life is not fully understood. Here, we investigated the role of tyrosine phosphorylation of voltage-gated potassium channel 1.5 (Kv1.5) in this prenatal event that results in exaggerated adult vascular dysfunction. A rat model of chronic hypoxia (2 weeks of hypoxia at 12 weeks old) following IUGR was used to investigate the physiological and structural effect of intrauterine malnutrition on the pulmonary artery by evaluating pulmonary artery systolic pressure and vascular diameter in male rats. Kv1.5 expression and tyrosine phosphorylation in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) were determined. We found that IUGR increased mean pulmonary artery pressure and resulted in thicker pulmonary artery smooth muscle layer in 14-week-old rats after 2 weeks of hypoxia, while no difference was observed in normoxia groups. In the PASMCs of IUGR-hypoxia rats, Kv1.5 mRNA and protein expression decreased while that of tyrosine-phosphorylated Kv1.5 significantly increased. These results demonstrate that IUGR leads to exaggerated chronic hypoxia pulmonary arterial hypertension (CH-PAH) in association with decreased Kv1.5 expression in PASMCs. This phenomenon may be mediated by increased tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.5 in PASMCs and it provides new insight into the prevention and treatment of IUGR-related CH-PAH.

Association between HLA-DQB1 and cervical dysplasia in Vietnamese women

Host genetic background seems to play a key role in cervical carcinogenesis as only a small subset of women infected with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) develop cervical cancer. The rate of cervical cancer in Vietnamese women is notably high. To explore the association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQB1 alleles, HPV infection, and cervical dysplasia in this population, cervical smears were obtained from 101 women attending the obstetrics and gynecology clinic of Da Nang General Hospital in Vietnam. Besides the Papanicolaou test, HPV and HLA-DQB1 genotyping were performed using cervical smear DNA. Additionally, a subset of 30 blood samples was used as the gold standard for HLA genotyping. HLA-DQB1 alleles showed no association with HPV infection status. However, a positive association with cervical dysplasia was found for HLA-DQB1*0302 (P= 0.0229, relative risk (RR) = 4.737) and HLA-DQB1*0601 (P= 0.0370, RR = 4.038), whereas HLA-DQB1*0301 (P= 0.0152, RR = 0.221) was found negatively associated. The low diversity of HLA-DQB1 alleles, wide spectrum of HPV genotypes, and high prevalence of HPV 16 and HPV 18 observed in the study population suggest a permissive/susceptible genetic background that deserves further research. Total concordance of HLA-DQB1 genotyping results between blood and cervical cells confirms the potential value of cervical smears as an effective tool for the development of cervical cancer biomarkers.

Sirolimus-based immunosuppressive therapy in liver transplant recipient with tacrolimus-related chronic renal insufficiency

BACKGROUND

While providing potent immunosuppression for liver transplant recipients, calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) exhibit nephrotoxicity as a major side effect. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of conversion from CNI to sirolimus (SRL) among liver transplant recipients with CNI-induced chronic nephrotoxicity.

METHODS

Between January 2004 and June 2005, we performed conversion in 16 recipients after a median period of 8.5 months after liver transplantation. The indication for conversion was CNI-related nephrotoxicity with a serum creatinine (sCr) value >132.6 umol/L. Renal function was measured before and after conversion to SRL. Clinical and laboratory data related to the clinical course of the patients were recorded to investigate the safety and efficacy of conversion.

RESULTS

Sixteen patients were converted to SRL after developing nephrotoxicity. Their renal function improved gradually after conversion. The levels of sCr decreased significantly within the first 30 days (164.1 +/- 12.48 micromol/L to 130.1 +/- 5.573 micromol/L), and over the next 60 days after conversion (97.86 +/- 11.69 micromol/L to 90.7 +/- 8.95 micromol/L) (P < .01). Similarly, the mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR) increased significantly during the same period. Four recipients experienced hypercholesterolemia, 1 with ankle edema, and 1 with acute rejection. The median follow-up was 2.4 years. No patient discontinued SRL due to side effects. No patient needed dialysis or kidney transplantation during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS

SRL is a safe, effective replacement agent as primary immunosuppressive therapy following withdrawal of CNIs in liver transplant recipients with CNI-induced chronic nephrotoxicity.

Capillary array electrophoretic NMR of proteins in biological buffer solutions

The capillary array electrophoretic NMR (CA-ENMR) was developed to study protein mixtures in biological buffer solutions of high ionic strength. By enhancing the strength of the effective electric field across the sample, the technique permits the detection of the electrophoretic motion of 1 mM lysozyme in 50 mM NaH(2)PO(4) aqueous solution, which was previously not achievable using conventional ENMR. Heat-induced convection was dramatically reduced by blocking convective current loops and by improving the efficiency of heat exchange. Thus, the capability of ENMR study of electrolyte solutions was extended from low to high ionic strength. In addition, capillary walls reduced rf-induced electrical eddy current, thereby maintaining good probe Q factors. Because of its parallel configuration to the static magnetic field, the capillary array chamber produced no susceptibility distortions of the ENMR signal. The technique offers great potential in characterizing multiple protein conformations and protein interactions in solution.

Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphism in relation to periodontal infection

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) plays an important role in innate immunity. MBL deficiency is usually caused by mutations in exon 1 of the MBL structural gene (MBL2). Our aim was to investigate MBL2 polymorphisms and their relation to salivary levels of periodontal inflammatory/tissue destruction markers and two major periodontitis-associated bacteria.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Salivary samples from 222 subjects were available for genotyping by pyrosequencing. The subjects between 40 and 60 years of age and having a minimum of 20 teeth were divided into three periodontal groups: 80 had generalized periodontitis, 65 had localized periodontitis and 77 were periodontitis-free. A comparison between their MBL2 genotypes and salivary detection rates and levels of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis as well as interleukin -1β, matrix metalloproteinase -8, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 was performed.

RESULTS

The frequencies of the MBL2 wild-type (A/A), heterozygote variants (A/O) and homozygote variants (O/O) were 69.4%, 26.6% and 4%, respectively. In A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive subjects having homozygote or heterozygote MBL2 variants, the salivary concentrations of IL-1β (p = 0.010) were elevated and those of TIMP-1 (p = 0.001) were decreased. In addition their matrix metalloproteinase -8/TIMP-1 ratio was higher (p < 0.001) and they had more pocket teeth (p = 0.012) than subjects negative for A. actinomycetemcomitans.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that the carriage of A. actinomycetemcomitans may facilitate extended periodontal inflammation and destruction in subjects with a variant form of human MBL2.

Hepatic fibrosis and gene expression changes induced by praziquantel treatment during immune modulation of Schistosoma japonicum infection

In the present study fibrogenic gene expression was determined in murine Schistosoma japonicum infection during the progression of immune modulation of infection and following chemotherapy during the course of immune modulation. Histomorphometric analysis of granuloma size and collagen deposition revealed peak granuloma size in acute infection (5 weeks) and peak hepatic collagen content at 16 weeks of infection. Peak Type I collagen gene expression was concomitant with TGF-beta 1 gene expression at 8-11 weeks. Chemotherapy during either acute (9 weeks) or chronic (24, 28 weeks) infection resulted in increased collagen deposition and increased gene expression of Type I collagen and TGF-beta 1. However, chemotherapy at 14-16 weeks resulted in decreased levels of TGF-beta 1 gene expression and essentially minimal change in Type I collagen deposition and gene expression. These data indicate that chemotherapy of schistosomiasis japonica does not reverse hepatic fibrogenesis when administered in acute infection-when granuloma size is maximal-or in chronic infection. However, a beneficial effect on hepatic fibrogenesis is seen when chemotherapy is administered at 14-16 weeks post-infection, a time of decreasing granuloma size and maximal hepatic collagen content. Thus the ability to reverse schistosomal-induced hepatic fibrogenesis by chemotherapy may depend on disease stage.

Pulmonary edema in the transurethral resection syndrome induced with mannitol 5%

Two patients developed the transurethral resection (TUR) syndrome after having absorbed mannitol 5% during TUR of the prostate. Both developed pulmonary edema and became severely hypoatremic (lowest serum sodium 99 and 97 mmol/l, respectively). Hypertonic saline was infused to raise the serum sodium level and plasma volume expansion used to combat hypotension. One patient also required positive-pressure ventilation and intravenous administration of norepinephrine. Both patients recovered completely.

Modified staging system for gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma based on American Joint Committee on Cancer and European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society systems

BACKGROUND

The prognostic values of the AJCC staging system for gastric cancer (GC-AJCC), the AJCC staging system for gastric neuroendocrine tumours (NET-AJCC) and the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) system for gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma and mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma (MA)NEC remain controversial.

METHODS

Data on patients with (MA)NEC from 21 centres in China were analysed. Different staging systems were evaluated by performing Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and calculating the concordance index (C-index) and Akaike information criterion (AIC). Based on three existing systems, a modified staging system (mTNM) was developed.

RESULTS

A total of 871 patients were included. In the GC-AJCC system, an overlap was noticed for pT2 and pT3 categories. Patients with stage IIIC disease had a similar prognosis to those with stage IV disease. The pT categories of the NET-AJCC system had a lower C-index and higher AIC than those of the other systems. In the ENETS system, there was a low proportion (0·2 per cent) of patients with stage IIIA and a high proportion (67·6 per cent) of stage IIIB disease. The mTNM system adopted the NET-AJCC pT and GC-AJCC pN and pM definitions, and was developed based on the ENETS stage definitions. The proportion of patients in each stage was better distributed and the mTNM system showed improved prognostic performance in predicting overall and disease-free survival.

CONCLUSION

The mTNM system offers more accurate prognostic value for gastric (MA)NEC than the AJCC or ENETS staging systems.

PK-PD Analysis of Marbofloxacin against Streptococcus suis in Pigs

Marbofloxacin is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic and highly effective treatment for respiratory diseases. Here we aimed to evaluate the ex vivo activity of marbofloxacin against Streptococcus suis in pig serum, as well as the optimal dosages scheme for avoiding the fluoroquinolone resistance development. A single dose of 8 mg/kg body weight (bw) was administrated orally to healthy pigs and serum samples were collected during the next 72 h. Serum marbofloxacin content was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. We estimated the C_max (6.28 μg/ml), AUC_{0-24 h} (60.30 μg.h/ml), AUC_0-∞ (88.94 μg.h/ml), T_1/2ke, (12.48 h), T_max (0.75 h) and Cl_b (0.104 L/h) of marbofloxacin in pigs, as well as the bioavailability of marbofloxacin (94.21%) after a single 8 mg/kg oral administration. We also determined the pharmacodynamic of marbofloxacin against 134 Streptococcus suis strains isolated from Chinese cities in TSB and serum. These isolated strains had a MIC₉₀ of 1 μg/ml. HB2, a virulent, serotype 2 isolate of SS, was selected for having antibacterial activity in TSB and serum to marbofloxacin. We determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC, 1 μg/ml in TSB, 2 μg/ml in serum), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC, 4 μg/ml in TSB, 4 μg/ml in serum), and mutant prevention concentration (2.56 μg/ml in TSB) for marbofloxacin against Streptococcus suis (HB2). In serum, by inhibitory sigmoid E_max modeling, the AUC_0-24h/MIC values for marbofloxacin against HB2 were 25.23 (bacteriostatic), 35.64 (bactericidal), and 39.71 (elimination) h. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, the predicted optimal oral doses of marbofloxacin curing Streptococcus suis were 5.88 (bacteriostatic), 8.34 (bactericidal), and 9.36 (elimination) mg/kg.bw for a 50% target attainment ratio, and 8.16 (bacteriostatic), 11.31 (bactericidal), and 12.35 (elimination) mg/kg.bw for a 90% target attainment ratio. The data presented here provides optimized dosage information for clinical use; however, these predicted dosages should also be validated in clinical practice.

Atomic force microscopic investigation of respiratory syncytial virus infection in HEp-2 cells

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) primarily causes bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants. In spite of intense research, no safe and effective vaccine has been developed yet. For understanding its pathogenesis and development of anti-RSV drugs/therapeutics, it is indispensable to study the RSV-host interaction. Although, there are limited studies using electron microscopy to elucidate the infection process of RSV, to our knowledge, no study has reported the morphological impact of RSV infection using atomic force microscopy. We report the cytoplasmic and nuclear changes in human epidermoid cell line type 2 using atomic force microscopy. Human epidermoid cell line type 2 cells, grown on cover slips, were infected with RSV and fixed after various time periods, processed and observed for morphological changes using atomic force microscopy. RSV infected cells showed loss of membrane integrity, with degeneration in the cellular content and cytoskeleton. Nuclear membrane was disintegrated and nuclear volume was decreased. The chromatin of the RSV infected cells was condensed, progressing towards degeneration via pyknosis and apoptosis. Membrane protrusions of ~150-200 nm diameter were observed on RSV infected cells after 6 h, suggestive of prospective RSV budding sites. To our knowledge, this is the first study of RSV infection process using atomic force microscopy. Such morphological studies could help explore viral infection process aiding the development of anti-RSV therapies.

Porcine coronin 1A contributes to nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) inactivation during Haemophilus parasuis infection

Haemophilus parasuis (H.parasuis) is the etiological agent of porcine polyserositis and arthritis (Glässer's disease) characterized by fibrinous polyserositis, meningitis and polyarthritis, causing severe economic losses to the swine industry. Currently, the molecular basis of this infection is largely unkonwn. Coronin 1A (Coro1A) plays important roles in host against bacterial infection, yet little is known about porcine Coro1A. In this study, we investigated the molecular characterization of porcine Coro1A, revealing that porcine Coro1A was widely expressed in different tissues. Coro1A could be induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), polyinosinic acid-polycytidylic acid [poly (I:C)] and H.parasuis in porcine kidney-15 (PK-15) cells. Functional analyses revealed that porcine Coro1A suppressed the NF-κB activation during H.parasuis infection by inhibiting the degradation of IκBα and nuclear translocation of p65. Overexpression of porcine Coro1A inhibited the transcription of NF-κB-mediated downstream genes [Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-8 (IL-8) and COX-2] through down-regulation of NF-κB. The results indicated that porcine Coro1A is an important immunity related gene that helps to inhibit NF-kB activation during H. parasuis infection.

Chinese farmers' attitude towards the improvement of animal welfare in their facilities

This study sought to investigate Chinese farmers' attitude towards animal welfare by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). According to the TPB, an individual's intention to behave in a certain way is determined by his/her attitude towards the behaviour (specific attitude — importance — and general attitudes), the perceived behavioural control (easiness), and the supposed opinion of the people who are important to him/her (subjective norms). A total of 253 questionnaires are used, which included the three main animal productions in chena (swine, poultry and cattle). Chinese farmers have perceived the improvement of animal welfare as two abstracts: general attitudes (reward-seeking, and empathic farmer); and four specific categories of actions (favourable environment, animal health, humane treatment of animals and farmers' well-being). Our analysis revealted that general and specific attitudes were the strongest predictors of farmers' intentions to improve animal welfare in the questionnaire study. In fact, Chinese farmers considered it fairly important to improve the animal welfare meaures considered in the survey. In contrast, the same animal welfare measures were considered difficult to improve by the farmers as indicated by the lack of association between the easiness of improving animal welfare and the intentions. In addition, veterinarians, agricultural advisers, and scientific experts were considered to be relatively influential subjective norms as regards the activities of the farmers. This is the first study to provide an insight into the underlying meanings and values of Chinese farmers views on improvements to animal welfare.

Possible network interactions indicated by bilaterally coherent fast rhythms in expiratory recurrent laryngeal nerve discharges

1. In a search for correlated fast rhythms in recurrent laryngeal (RL) expiratory (E) activities, we performed spectral and coherence analysis on bilateral RL nerve discharges in 54 midcollicular decerebrate, paralyzed cats. 2. Inspiratory (I) RL activities showed in almost all cases high-frequency oscillations (HFO, range 50-100 Hz) that were bilaterally coherent and also coherent to HFOs in phrenic (PHR) activities. In contrast, bilaterally coherent rhythms (range 24-54 Hz) in RLE discharges were found in only a fraction of the cats (6/54); in the other cats (48/54) such coherences were absent even though the auto-spectra showed the presence of similar fast rhythms on the two sides. The bilateral RLE coherences were associated with increased amplitude and prolonged duration of RLE activity, such as occurred following removal of phasic pulmonary stretch receptor inputs by vagotomy or by no-inflation. 3. Thus, although coherent fast rhythms are uncommon in RLE discharges, their occurrence under some conditions indicates the presence of short-time-scale interactions between neurons involved in this activity. This suggests that such rhythms are a general feature of neural networks.

Allogenic donor splenocytes pretreated with antisense peptide against B7 prolong cardiac allograft survival

The interaction of T cell CD28/CTLA-4 receptors with B7 on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) represents an important co-stimulatory pathway in T cell activation or anergy. Our previous study indicated that recipients immunized with allogenic donor immature dendritic cells (DCs) or resting B cells could induce specific immune tolerance and prolong allograft survival. A possible mechanism for this observation is that the expression of B7 molecules is either at a low level or lacking on these cells. The present study investigates whether blockade of B7 molecules on donor splenocytes with a B7 antisense peptide (B7AP), i.e. a peptide analogue of the CD28-binding region, could induce specific immune tolerance and prolong allograft survival in the recipients. Both the lymphocyte proliferation reaction and the mice pinna cardiac allograft experiment were performed to evaluate the role of B7AP in inducing specific immune tolerance in recipients in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that 56.65% and 20.52% of C57BL/6 splenocytes expressed B7.1 and B7.2 molecules, respectively, on their cell surface. There were no significant changes of the B7 expression on such splenocytes after being treated by the B7AP (53.28% and 19.06%, respectively). B7AP inhibited the mixed lymphocyte reaction by up to 38.4% and a dose-response correlation was observed for inhibition. The recipients (BALB/c) immunized with B7AP-pretreated C57BL/6 splenocytes induced a specific immune hypo-response (43%versus control) and notably prolonged survival of the C57BL/6 cardiac allograft by up to 20.3 days. In contrast to the normal saline group (average: 8.6 days) and FTD(10) control peptide group (<4 days), the cardiac allograft survival of the test group was extended for an additional 11.7 days. These results strongly support the notion that immunization with donor splenocytes, which had been pretreated with B7AP, induced specific immune tolerance and prolonged allograft survival in the recipients.

Search for very light CP-odd Higgs Boson in radiative decays of Upsilon(1S)

We search for a non-SM-like CP-odd Higgs boson (a(1)(0)) decaying to tau(+)tau(-) or mu(+)mu(-) in radiative decays of the Upsilon(1S). No significant signal is found, and upper limits on the product branching ratios are set. Our tau(+)tau(-) results are almost 2 orders of magnitude more stringent than previous upper limits. Our data provide no evidence for a Higgs state with a mass of 214 MeV decaying to mu(+)mu(-), previously proposed as an explanation for 3 Sigma(+)-->pmu(+)mu(-) events observed by the HyperCP experiment. Our results constrain NMSSM models.