The zeta protein kinase C isoform from the testis of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus with a specific reaction protein of M(r) 48,000 on oolemma

The zeta protein kinase C isoform (PKC-zeta) was purified from the testis of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus and has relative masses (M(r)) of 65,000 and 63,000. The subunits of PKC-zeta from spermatozoa degenerated to M(r) 58,000 and 53,000 after continuous freezing and thawing. Proteins of M(r) 48,000 on the oolemma of the grey mullet Mugil cephalus were found to be the reaction proteins of the PKC-zeta from spermatozoa.     

Methanogenium frigidum sp. nov., a psychrophilic, H2-using methanogen from Ace Lake, Antarctica

Methanogenium frigidum sp. nov. was isolated from the perennially cold, anoxic hypolimnion of Ace Lake in the Vesfold Hills of Antarctica. The cells were psychrophilic, exhibiting most rapid growth at 15 degrees C and no growth at temperatures above 18 to 20 degrees C. The cells were irregular, nonmotile coccoids (diameter, 1.2 to 2.5 microns) that occurred singly and grew by CO2 reduction by using H2 as a reductant. Formate could replace H2, but growth was slower. Acetate, methanol, and trimethylamine were not catabolized. Cells grew with acetate as the only organic compounds in the culture medium, but growth was much faster in medium also supplemented with peptones and yeast extract. The cells were slightly halophilic; good growth occurred in medium supplemented with 350 to 600 mM Na+, but no growth occurred with 100 or 850 mM Na+. The pH range for growth was 6.5 to 7.9; no growth occurred at pH 6.0 or 8.5. Growth was slow (maximum specific growth rate, 0.24 day-1; doubling time, 2.9 days). This is the first report of a psychrophilic methanogen growing by CO2 reduction.     

Perceptual identification of contextual attributes and infant memory retrieval.

The contribution of specific contextual attributes to recognition of a well-learned cue was examined in 4 experiments with 6-mo-olds. 24 hrs after learning to move a given mobile in a distinctive visual surround by kicking, recognition of the training cue was tested in either the original context or in one in which only a single contextual attribute was altered. Retrieval was completely disrupted by all form changes involving the deletion of angles and by a chromatic figure/ground reversal, but a discriminable change in form color had no effect. Although infants displayed partial retention in a degraded context after 1 day, they displayed no retention when a reminder was administered in the same degraded context after 20 days. These data reveal that infants do not encode contextual information holistically; moreover, they imply a privileged status for highly specific information about the incidental setting in which an event occurs. Unless this same highly specific information is perceptually identified at the time of testing, the memory of that event will not be retrieved. Data are consistent with the hypothesis that the visual context serves as an initial attention gate for memory retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived family criticism and primary care utilization: psychosocial and biomedical pathways

We explored the relationship of perceived family criticism to subsequent healthcare utilization in patients attending a family medicine center. We examined: a) the relationship of perceived criticism to subsequent utilization for biomedical and psychosocial/somatic problems; b) the mediating effects of self-rated mental health and physical function; and c) the mediating effects of social support. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, education, health insurance, and martial status. Higher perceived criticism predicted more psychosocial/somatic and biomedical visits. The relationship of perceived criticism with psychosocial/somatic visits was entirely mediated through self-rated mental health. The relationship of perceived criticism with biomedical visits was partly mediated through self-rated physical function and, in part, independent. Social support played no role in explaining these relationships. Further research is needed to determine whether lowering perceived family criticism lowers primary care utilization.     

An examination of piloted ignition characteristics of cellulosic materials using the ISO ignitability test

The ISO Ignitability Test apparatus is used to determine the times to ignition for cellulosic materials under an incident radiative flux within the range 1--5 kW/m². A linear relationship is determined between time to ignition and incident flux, and a means of using these results to classify building materials is proposed, based upon an empirical flux-time product.     

UV induced erythema evaluated 24 h post-exposure by skin reflectance and laser Doppler flowmetry is identical in healthy persons and patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma and basal cell cancer

Twenty-one patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma and 19 patients with basal cell skin cancer and 29 healthy volunteers were phototested on non-UV exposed buttock skin to examine their 24 h reaction to a series of increasing doses of simulated sunlight with 25% dose increments. Skin pigmentation at the phototest sites was determined by skin reflectance before testing to assure an equal level of constitutive skin pigmentation in the 3 groups. Erythema reactions were scored visually 24 hours post-exposure and objective measurements of erythema were performed by skin reflectance and laser Doppler flowmetry. In adjacent non-irradiated skin the redness was also quantified to determine the increase in redness in irradiated skin compared to non-irradiated skin. Constitutional skin pigmentation correlated well to UV sensitivity (r = 0.75) and skin redness measured by skin reflectance technique correlated to laser Doppler flowmetry (r = 0.86). No significant differences in UV doses to barely perceptible erythema or to the higher erythema grades were found between the two skin tumour groups and the control group, and no significant differences were found in skin reflectance measured redness or in laser Doppler flowmetry of any erythema reactions between the 3 groups. The 24 h erythema reaction to sunlight can therefore not be used to distinguish patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma or basal cell carcinoma from normal persons.     

46-year-old patient with hemorrhagic diathesis and renal artery aneurysms. Type IV Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

To establish the medium-term results of our transplant population, we retrospectively reviewed the charts of 51 consecutive patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation between July 1988 and April 1995. These patients comprised two groups: group A consists of 26 patients (age 6 days to 16.4 years, median 1.4 years) with no previous heart surgery, and group B consists of 25 patients (ages 0.1 to 14.3 years, median 8.3 years), all of whom had heart surgery before undergoing transplantation. There was no difference between these groups in early or late survival rates, and neither age at transplantation nor sex was an indicator of survival. There have been 14 deaths, six early (before hospital discharge) and eight late. Early deaths have predominantly been attributed to long-term ventilation and hemodynamic instability before transplantation, and late deaths to graft coronary artery disease (n = 4), acute coronary vasculitis (n = 3), and acute cellular rejection (n = 1). Although infection has resulted in significant morbidity (57 hospital admissions), there have been no late deaths resulting from infection. Sepsis accounts for four early deaths in chronically ill patients. Orthotopic heart transplantation in the pediatric patient with and without previous heart surgery is a viable option for those with end-stage heart disease and those in whom other surgical options carry a prohibitively high mortality rate.     

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) genetic polymorphisms, dietary antioxidants, and risk of breast cancer

Oxidative stress, resulting from the imbalance between prooxidant and antioxidant states, damages DNA, proteins, cell membranes, and mitochondria and seems to play a role in human breast carcinogenesis. Dietary sources of antioxidants (chemical) and endogenous antioxidants (enzymatic), including the polymorphic manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), can act to reduce the load of oxidative stress. We hypothesized that the valine-to-alanine substitution that seems to alter transport of the enzyme into the mitochondrion, changing its efficacy in fighting oxidative stress, was associated with breast cancer risk and that a diet rich in sources of antioxidants could ameliorate the effects on risk. Data were collected in a case-control study of diet and breast cancer in western New York from 1986 to 1991. Caucasian women with incident, primary, histologically confirmed breast cancer were frequency-matched on age and county of residence to community controls. Blood specimens were collected and processed from a subset of participants in the study (266 cases and 295 controls). Using a RFLP that distinguishes a valine (V) to alanine (A) change in the -9 position in the signal sequence of the protein for MnSOD, we characterized MnSOD genotypes in relation to breast cancer risk. We also evaluated the effect of the polymorphism on risk among low and high consumers of fruits and vegetables. Premenopausal women who were homozygous for the A allele had a 4-fold increase in breast cancer risk in comparison to those with 1 or 2 V alleles (odds ratio, 4.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-10.8). Risk was most pronounced among women below the median consumption of fruits and vegetables and of dietary ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol, with little increased risk for those with diets rich in these foods. Relationships were weaker among postmenopausal women, although the MnSOD AA genotype was associated with an almost 2-fold increase in risk (odds ratio, 1.8; confidence interval, 0.9-3.6). No appreciable modification of risk by diet was detected for these older women. These data support the hypothesis that MnSOD and oxidative stress play a significant role in breast cancer risk, particularly in premenopausal women. The finding that risk was greatest among women who consumed lower amounts of dietary antioxidants and was minimal among high consumers indicates that a diet rich in sources of antioxidants may minimize the deleterious effects of the MnSOD polymorphism, thereby supporting public health recommendations for the consumption of diets rich in fruits and vegetables as a preventive measure against cancer.