Synergistic activation of UCP-3 expression in cultured fetal rat brown adipocytes by PPARalpha and PPARgamma ligands

Rat brown adipocytes express mRNAs for Uncoupling Proteins (UCP) 1, 2 and 3 and the Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptors (PPAR) alpha and gamma. We have examined the effects of selective PPARalpha or -gamma activation on changes in UCP-1 and UCP-3 mRNA levels in cultured fetal rat brown adipocytes (FBA). Rosiglitazone (1.0 microM), a selective PPARgamma agonist, elicited 5- and 3-fold increases in UCP-1 and UCP-3, respectively. The PPARalpha ligand, Wy14643 (10.0 microM) increased UCP-3 tenfold, but decreased UCP-1. A synergistic effect on UCP-3 expression (30-fold increase; P < 0. 05) was observed when FBA were exposed to a combination of Wy14643 (10.0 microM) and rosiglitazone (10.0 microM). Thus, activation of PPARgamma increases UCP-1 and UCP-3 levels which are differentially regulated by PPARalpha. A synergistic interaction occurs between PPARalpha and PPARgamma in the regulation of UCP-3 in FBA, probably via co-activator recruitment, suppression of co-repressor proteins or through a direct interaction at the level of the PPRE.

Genome sequences of Chlamydia trachomatis MoPn and Chlamydia pneumoniae AR39

The genome sequences of Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis (MoPn) strain Nigg (1 069 412 nt) and Chlamydia pneumoniae strain AR39 (1 229 853 nt) were determined using a random shotgun strategy. The MoPn genome exhibited a general conservation of gene order and content with the previously sequenced C.trachomatis serovar D. Differences between C.trachomatis strains were focused on an approximately 50 kb 'plasticity zone' near the termination origins. In this region MoPn contained three copies of a novel gene encoding a >3000 amino acid toxin homologous to a predicted toxin from Escherichia coli O157:H7 but had apparently lost the tryptophan biosyntheis genes found in serovar D in this region. The C. pneumoniae AR39 chromosome was >99.9% identical to the previously sequenced C.pneumoniae CWL029 genome, however, comparative analysis identified an invertible DNA segment upstream of the uridine kinase gene which was in different orientations in the two genomes. AR39 also contained a novel 4524 nt circular single-stranded (ss)DNA bacteriophage, the first time a virus has been reported infecting C. pneumoniae. Although the chlamydial genomes were highly conserved, there were intriguing differences in key nucleotide salvage pathways: C.pneumoniae has a uridine kinase gene for dUTP production, MoPn has a uracil phosphororibosyl transferase, while C.trachomatis serovar D contains neither gene. Chromosomal comparison revealed that there had been multiple large inversion events since the species divergence of C.trachomatis and C.pneumoniae, apparently oriented around the axis of the origin of replication and the termination region. The striking synteny of the Chlamydia genomes and prevalence of tandemly duplicated genes are evidence of minimal chromosome rearrangement and foreign gene uptake, presumably owing to the ecological isolation of the obligate intracellular parasites. In the absence of genetic analysis, comparative genomics will continue to provide insight into the virulence mechanisms of these important human pathogens.

A bacterial genome in flux: the twelve linear and nine circular extrachromosomal DNAs in an infectious isolate of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

We have determined that Borrelia burgdorferi strain B31 MI carries 21 extrachromosomal DNA elements, the largest number known for any bacterium. Among these are 12 linear and nine circular plasmids, whose sequences total 610 694 bp. We report here the nucleotide sequence of three linear and seven circular plasmids (comprising 290 546 bp) in this infectious isolate. This completes the genome sequencing project for this organism; its genome size is 1 521 419 bp (plus about 2000 bp of undetermined telomeric sequences). Analysis of the sequence implies that there has been extensive and sometimes rather recent DNA rearrangement among a number of the linear plasmids. Many of these events appear to have been mediated by recombinational processes that formed duplications. These many regions of similarity are reflected in the fact that most plasmid genes are members of one of the genome's 161 paralogous gene families; 107 of these gene families, which vary in size from two to 41 members, contain at least one plasmid gene. These rearrangements appear to have contributed to a surprisingly large number of apparently non-functional pseudogenes, a very unusual feature for a prokaryotic genome. The presence of these damaged genes suggests that some of the plasmids may be in a period of rapid evolution. The sequence predicts 535 plasmid genes >/=300 bp in length that may be intact and 167 apparently mutationally damaged and/or unexpressed genes (pseudogenes). The large majority, over 90%, of genes on these plasmids have no convincing similarity to genes outside Borrelia, suggesting that they perform specialized functions.

Thinking about a mobile health unit to deliver services? Things to consider before buying

Purchasing a mobile unit to deliver health-care services can be an expensive undertaking for anyone interested in pursuing this option. Yet, little information is found in the literature on planning or designing such vehicles. A set of guidelines could help administrators to make better decisions regarding this approach for delivering healthcare. This article focuses on mobile health units (MHU). It provides a synthesis of the literature in addition to information from written and oral correspondence with the chief executive officers (CEO) of firms that manufacture MHU. On-site visits to agencies using an MHU were made by one of the authors (DM) to glean their perspective. The combined sources led to the development of guidelines and checklists that can assist administrators in planning the function, design and operation of an MHU to deliver health-care services to remote rural sites.

The peroxynitrite reductase activity of cytochrome c oxidase involves a two-electron redox reaction at the heme a(3)-Cu(B) site

Fully and partially reduced forms of isolated bovine cytochrome c oxidase undergo a two-electron oxidation-reduction process with added peroxynitrite, leading to catalytic oxidation of ferrocytochrome c to ferricytochrome c. The other major reaction product is nitrite ion, 86% of the added peroxynitrite being measurably converted to this species. The reaction is inhibited in the presence of cyanide, implicating the heme a(3)-Cu(B) binuclear pair as the active site. Moreover, provided peroxynitrite is not added to excess, the reductase activity of the enzyme toward this oxidant efficiently protects other protein and detergent molecules in vitro from nitration of tyrosine residues and oxidative damage. If the enzyme is exposed to approximately 10(2)-fold excesses of peroxynitrite, then significant irreversible loss of electron transfer activity results, and the heme a(3)-Cu(B) binuclear pair no longer undergo a characteristic carbon monoxide-driven reduction. The accompanying rather small changes in the observed electronic absorption spectrum are suggestive of a modification in the vicinity of one or both hemes but probably not to the cofactors themselves.

Chest pain--a strong predictor of adverse cardiac events following precutaneous intervention (from the Evaluation of Platelet IIb/IIIa Inhibitor for Stenting Trial [EPISENT])]

Postprocedural chest pain remains a common problem, and irrespective of electrocardiographic changes, is associated with a higher incidence of early cardiac events. A return to the catheterization laboratory is unlikely to benefit patients with postprocedural chest pain without electrocardiographic changes with documented irreversible intraprocedural complications, or those with late postprocedural pain.

Pneumococcal arthritis in the wrist and ankle. A case report and short review of the literature

In this paper we report a 48-year-old man with septic arthritis of the wrist and ankle due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. No known predisposing factor was found. Only about 300 cases of pneumococcal arthritis have been reported in the literature since 1888 and less than 10% of these affect the wrist. The management of bacterial arthritis is reviewed.

Alignment of whole genomes

A new system for aligning whole genome sequences is described. Using an efficient data structure called a suffix tree, the system is able to rapidly align sequences containing millions of nucleotides. Its use is demonstrated on two strains of Mycoplasma tuberculosis, on two less similar species of Mycoplasma bacteria and on two syntenic sequences from human chromosome 12 and mouse chromosome 6. In each case it found an alignment of the input sequences, using between 30 s and 2 min of computation time. From the system output, information on single nucleotide changes, translocations and homologous genes can easily be extracted. Use of the algorithm should facilitate analysis of syntenic chromosomal regions, strain-to-strain comparisons, evolutionary comparisons and genomic duplications.

CREST syndrome and periodontal surgery: a case report

CREST syndrome is a slowly progressive form of systemic scleroderma. It is characterized by calcinosis cutis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal involvement, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia. There are limited reports of dental treatment for patients with this syndrome, and no reports of periodontal surgical procedures. This paper presents a case report of periodontal surgical treatment in a 38-year-old female patient with CREST syndrome, and a discussion of the clinical manifestations of the syndrome as they relate to dental treatment.

Treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections: comparison of the tolerability and safety of intravenous/oral trovafloxacin versus intravenous imipenem/cilastatin switching to oral amoxycillin/clavulanic acid

Three- to four-times-daily intravenous (i.v.) imipenem/cilastatin switching to oral amoxycillin/clavulanic acid is often used to manage complicated intra-abdominal infections. Trovafloxacin, a clinically and bacteriologically proven new-generation fluoroquinolone antibiotic, given as single-agent, once-daily i.v./oral therapy, can provide equivalent clinical and bacteriological efficacy. Tolerability and safety of up to 14 days treatment with 300 mg i.v. alatrofloxacin (the prodrug of trovafloxacin) switching to 200 mg oral trovafloxacin were compared with those of 1 g i.v. imipenem/cilastatin switching to 625 mg oral amoxycillin/clavulanic acid. Comparable incidences of adverse events, mainly mild or moderate in intensity, were experienced in each treatment group. For both therapies, gastrointestinal events were most common, but diarrhoea was reported by proportionately more comparator group patients. In conclusion, once-daily i.v.-to-oral trovafloxacin has a comparable safety profile to i.v. imipenem/cilastatin followed by oral amoxycillin/clavulanic acid. Cost saving may be achieved with trovafloxacin due to the lack of any need to monitor creatinine levels and the once-daily dosing regimen that allows a switch to the same orally administered drug.

Internal electron transfer between hemes and Cu(II) bound at cysteine beta93 promotes methemoglobin reduction by carbon monoxide

Previous studies showed that CO/H2O oxidation provides electrons to drive the reduction of oxidized hemoglobin (metHb). We report here that Cu(II) addition accelerates the rate of metHb beta chain reduction by CO by a factor of about 1000. A mechanism whereby electron transfer occurs via an internal pathway coupling CO/H2O oxidation to Fe(III) and Cu(II) reduction is suggested by the observation that the copper-induced rate enhancement is inhibited by blocking Cys-beta93 with N-ethylmaleimide. Furthermore, this internal electron-transfer pathway is more readily established at low Cu(II) concentrations in Hb Deer Lodge (beta2His --> Arg) and other species lacking His-beta2 than in Hb A0. This difference is consistent with preferential binding of Cu(II) in Hb A0 to a high affinity site involving His-beta2, which is ineffective in promoting electron exchange between Cu(II) and the beta heme iron. Effective electron transfer is thus affected by Hb type but is not governed by the R left arrow over right arrow T conformational equilibrium. The beta hemes in Cu(II)-metHb are reduced under CO at rates close to those observed for cytochrome c oxidase, where heme and copper are present together in the oxygen-binding site and where internal electron transfer also occurs.

Factors to consider when buying a mobile health unit

Purchasing a mobile unit to deliver healthcare services can be an expensive undertaking, and there is little information in the literature on planning or designing these vehicles. The authors discuss guidelines to help nurse administrators make better decisions regarding the purchase of mobile health units (MHUs). The guidelines resulted from a synthesis of the literature, correspondence with the chief executive officers of firms that manufacture MHUs, and onsite visits to agencies with an MHU.

Texas public school nurses' assessment of children's oral health status

Researchers investigated the amount and types of dental morbidity that Texas public school nurses observed in an average school week. Two thousand nurses were randomly selected and surveyed by mail with 54% responding. Respondents reported 3.5% of the student population sought the nurses' services for a dental problem. Twelve school nurses reported that, of all health problems they observed, more than 50% were dental-related. Approximately 48% indicated oral health screenings occurred at least once every other year. Data suggest children are suffering dental problems that could possibly be detected and treated by oral health screenings, thus preventing more serious morbidity. As part of the Texas public school admissions protocol, like required immunizations, children suffering dental problems could be referred for preadmission oral examinations to identify early any dental problems, and thus improving the children's oral health and preventing school absenteeism.

The integration of problem-based learning strategies in distance education

The authors explore the redesign of a traditional distance nursing program to integrate problem-based learning (PBL) strategies. Using pre- and postcourse questionnaires, learning satisfaction was compared between students who attended the PBL course face-to-face and those who received the course via audio-teleconferencing. Tutor and student perceptions of PBL via audio-teleconferencing are also described. Study results suggest that audio-teleconferencing is an effective means of delivering PBL by distance education.

The Xenopus Wnt effector XTcf-3 interacts with Groucho-related transcriptional repressors

Tcf/Lef transcription factors mediate signalling from Wingless/Wnt proteins by recruiting Armadillo/beta-catenin as a transcriptional co-activator. However, studies of Drosophila, Xenopus and Caenorhabditis elegans have indicated that Tcf factors may also be transcriptional repressors. Here we show that Tcf factors physically interact with members of the Groucho family of transcriptional repressors. In transient transfection assays, the Xenopus Groucho homologue XGrg-4 inhibited activation of transcription of synthetic Tcf reporter genes. In contrast, the naturally truncated Groucho-family member XGrg-5 enhanced transcriptional activation. Injection of XGrg-4 into Xenopus embryos repressed transcription of Siamois and Xnr-3, endogenous targets of beta-catenin-Tcf. Dorsal injection of XGrg-4 had a ventralizing effect on Xenopus embryos. Secondary-axis formation induced by a dominant-positive Armadillo-Tcf fusion protein was inhibited by XGrg-4 and enhanced by XGrg-5. These data indicate that expression of Tcf target genes is regulated by a balance between Armadillo and Groucho.

Systematisation of anthropometric data of 17-year-old schoolgirls from Tartu, Estonia

An anthropometric study of 358 healthy schoolgirls at the age from 17 to 18 years from all secondary schools of Tartu was carried out. 42 single body measurements and 11 skinfolds were measured, and 45 indices and body composition characteristics were derived from them. The data were systematised into 5 height-weight SD-classes according to the correspondence between height and weight. There were 3 classes with relative correspondence between height and weight: 1. short and light girls, 2. medium-height and medium-weight girls, 3. tall and heavy girls and 2 classes with the largest relative non-correspondence between height and weight: 4. pycnics, 5. leptosomes. In addition to the well-known differences between pycnics and leptosomes it was also shown that in the classes small--medium--big statistically significant gradual changes take place. The increase in the fullness of the body and in the amount of soft tissue was in positive correlation with total body fat and subcutaneous body fat and with bone-muscle rate in the cross-sectional area of the arm and the thigh. The increase in height was connected with proportional changes in the whole skeleton. As the proportions of fat, muscles and bones are in mutual correlation, for establishing of norms for these proportions it is necessary to take the body size into consideration.

Complete genome sequence of Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete

The complete genome sequence of Treponema pallidum was determined and shown to be 1,138,006 base pairs containing 1041 predicted coding sequences (open reading frames). Systems for DNA replication, transcription, translation, and repair are intact, but catabolic and biosynthetic activities are minimized. The number of identifiable transporters is small, and no phosphoenolpyruvate:phosphotransferase carbohydrate transporters were found. Potential virulence factors include a family of 12 potential membrane proteins and several putative hemolysins. Comparison of the T. pallidum genome sequence with that of another pathogenic spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease, identified unique and common genes and substantiates the considerable diversity observed among pathogenic spirochetes.

Differential expression of the HMG box transcription factors XTcf-3 and XLef-1 during early xenopus development

The recent discovery that the HMG box transcription factor XTCF-3 is involved in early axis specification in Xenopus laevis (Molenaar, M., van de Wetering, M., Oosterwegel, M., Peterson-Maduro, J. Godsave, S., Korinek, V., Roose, J., Destree, O., Clevers, H., 1996. XTcf-3 transcription factor mediates beta-catenin-induced axis formation in Xenopus embryos. Cell 86, 391-399) led us to search for other members of the TCF/LEF family in this species. A newly identified HMG box factor was cloned with highest homology to human LEF-1, called XLEF-1. Unlike XTcf-3, XLef-1 is not expressed maternally, but its transcripts become detectable directly after the mid blastula transition (MBT). At later stages, both genes are expressed in the central nervous system (CNS), eyes, otic vesicles, head mesenchyme, neural crest and derivatives, branchial arches, developing heart, tailbud and limb buds. The expression pattern of Lef-1 during later stages of development is evolutionarily conserved.

Taxonomic classification helps identify flavonoid-containing foods on a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire

We describe foods on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire with respect to their botanical taxonomic classification and the likely presence of flavonoids. Foods listed in the NCI questionnaire were classified for potential flavonoid content using information from Linnaean taxonomic classification and processing techniques known to modify flavonoid content. The outcome measure was flavonoid presence in foods as evidenced in the food composition analytical literature. We then verified the presence of 6 classes of flavonoids in these foods by searching the chemical analytical literature (represented by Food Science and Technology Abstracts Service from January 1969 to June 1996). One hundred ninety foods were mentioned on the NCI questionnaire; after duplications were removed, 153 foods remained. Data obtained from literature searches indicated that 54 foods (35%) contained flavonoids. An additional 19 recipe foods (12%) had flavonoid-containing components or ingredients. Thirty-nine foods (25%) had flavonoids that had been reduced or removed during milling and other processing. Seven foods (5%) were stripped and judged to have no flavonoids. Thirty-four foods (22%), for example, dairy, meat, and sugar, were completely devoid of flavonoids. When food composition data are unavailable, botanical taxonomic classifications may be helpful in ascertaining the likely presence of flavonoids in foods. However, quantitative estimates are likely to be imprecise.

Clearance of murine leukaemia virus from monoclonal antibody solution by a hydrophilic PVDF microporous membrane filter

Continuous cell lines (used in the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutic proteins) may harbour retroviral particles; nevertheless, they are deemed acceptable if the production system is validated for clearance of these contaminants. As part of a campaign to evaluate and validate appropriate virus removal methodologies for monoclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG) products, studies were undertaken with a hydrophilic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microporous membrane-the Ultipor(R) VF grade DV50 virus removal membrane. Testing conducted with murine leukaemia virus, a specific model virus used in viral validation studies to document removal of retroviruses, demonstrated a greater that 7 log clearance by the Ultipor(R) VR grade DV50 membrane. Filterability testing established the feasibility of positioning the filter at either of two different stages during manufacture. The results presented in this study demonstrate that membrane filtration through the Ultipor VF grade DV50 virus removal filter can constitute part of the purification regimen to effect removal of endogenous retrovirus-like contaminants from monoclonal IgG products.

The Bridge to Health Project: a collaborative model for assessing the health of a community

The Bridge to Health Project, a collaborative effort of 70 health related organizations, was designed to collect population-based health status data about approximately a half million residents in a primarily rural region in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Funding and staff support were provided by a regional medical center. The importance of sound survey methodology, role clarification, adequate staff support, and a well organized process to foster collaboration have applicability to other regions considering a collaborative process of health status assessment.