The lipid composition of selected tissues from a Mediterranean monk seal,Monachus monachus

The lipid composition of blubber, brain, muscle and heart from a Mediterranean monk sealMonachus monachus (an endangered species) were examined to allow comparisons with more common species of seals. Only neutral lipids (mainly triacylglycerols) were detectable in the blubber lipids, whereas polar lipids predominated in the heart and in the brain. Neutral and polar lipids comprised almost equal proportions in both liver and muscle. Choline glycerophospholipids (CGP) were the major polar lipids, followed by ethanolamine glycerophospholipids (EGP) in the liver, heart and muscle. Cerebrosides accounted for 28.8% of the brain lipids. All lipid classes of the liver contained high levels (31–47%) of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), with the exception of phosphatidylserine. The total proportion of n−6 PUFA exceeded that of n−3 PUFA in all lipid classes of the liver, due mainly to the high levels of 20∶4n−6. The highest level of 20∶4n−6 occurred in phosphatidylinositol, where it comprised 32.4% of the total fatty acids. The CGP and EGP of the brain contained lower levels of PUFA than those of the liver, muscle and heart. Alkenyl ethers accounted for 35.8% of the total long-chain moieties in brain EGP. The fatty acid composition of blubber triacylglycerols differed from those of the lipid classes from other tissues in that it had a very low ratio of n−6 to n−3 PUFA (0.3) as a result of a lower content of 20∶4n−6.     

When is less treatment better? The role of social anxiety in matching methadone patients to psychosocial treatments.

In response to a need to match drug users to the most appropriate and cost-effective level of care, it was hypothesized that socially anxious methadone-maintained patients would attain greater benefit from coping skills training provided in the context of a low-intensity enhanced standard methadone maintenance intervention (E-STD) than in the context of a high-intensity, socially demanding day treatment program (DTP). Social anxiety was assessed in 307 methadone-maintained patients using the Social Anxiety and Distress Scale prior to randomization to either E-STD or DTP. The hypothesis was supported: Socially anxious patients were drug free longer during treatment, were more likely to be abstinent at treatment completion, and had greater reductions in HIV risk behaviors if assigned to the lower intensity intervention, which was provided at ? the cost of the DTP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Photovoltaic-integrated building facades

Photovoltaic (PV) cells, when integrated within a building facade, offer the possibility of generating electric power and heat for local use or export. This paper reports on a project to investigate the practical operational efficiencies that might be delivered from such facades. The results from laboratory experiments and computer simulations are presented: the former were used to develop an empirical relationship between cell temperature and power output; the latter were undertaken to assess operational efficiencies under a range of climate conditions representative of the UK.     

Immunity to Cryptosporidium muris infection in mice is expressed through gut CD4+ intraepithelial lymphocytes

The role of gut intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) in immunity to cryptosporidial infection was investigated with a murine infection model involving Cryptosporidium muris. Oocyst shedding was monitored in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice infected with C. muris following intravenous injection of mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells or intestinal IEL from BALB/c donor mice which were naive or previously infected with C. muris. SCID mice receiving no lymphoid cells developed chronic infections and excreted large numbers of oocysts until the end of the experiment. SCID mice injected with IEL from immune animals, however, were able to overcome the infection, and furthermore, these animals produced fewer oocysts and recovered sooner than ones which received IEL or MLN cells from naive BALB/c donors. Similar levels of protection were obtained in SCID mice injected with either 2 X 10(6) IEL or MLN cells from immune donor mice. Depletion of CD4+ cells from immune IEL, however, abrogated the ability to transfer immunity to SCID mice, while depletion of CD8+ cells only marginally reduced the protective capacity of immune IEL. Finally, control SCID mice which received no lymphocytes had < or = 1% CD4+ cells in the IEL from the small intestine, whereas the IEL from SCID mice recovered from infection, as a result of injection with immune IEL, contained 15% CD4+ cells. Thus, the ability to control C. muris infection correlated with the presence of the protective CD4+ cells in the gut epithelium.     

CONDITIONING COAL GAS WITH REFRIGERATED METHANOL IN A SYSTEM OF PACKED COLUMNS

Experience with the operation of a pilot-scale unit is used to outline potential difficulties in the operation of acid gas removal systems on gases produced from coal. The pilot plant has been used to condition gases produced from subbituminous coal, devolatilized char, peat and lignite. The solvent used in the acid gas removal system has been refrigerated methyl alcohol. Data from this study document accumulation of hydrocarbons, sulfur and nitrogen compounds, and mercury in the circulating solvent.     

Use of the cell division protein FtsZ as a means of differentiating among Bartonella species

Genes coding for homologs of the highly conserved cell division protein FtsZ were isolated from Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana, the causative agents of cat scratch disease and trench fever, respectively. DNA fragments coding for the ftsZ open reading frames (ORFs) were cloned into Escherichia coli following PCR amplification with primers based on the ftsZ sequence of the closely related species Bartonella bacilliformis. The amino acid sequences predicted from the cloned B. henselae and B. quintana ftsZ ORFs are 81 to 83% identical to the corresponding protein in B. bacilliformis. Like the FtsZ protein of B. bacilliformis, the B. henselae and B. quintana homologs are about twice as large as the FtsZ proteins reported in most other organisms. Localized sequence differences within the C-terminal coding regions of the Bartonella ftsZ genes were used as the basis for species-specific identification of these organisms at both the DNA and protein levels. Oligonucleotide primers which permit the amplification of an ftsZ fragment from each of the Bartonella species without amplifying DNA from the other two species were designed. Anti-FtsZ antisera raised in rabbits against synthetic peptides corresponding to the relatively divergent C-terminal regions were shown via Western blot analysis to react only with the FtsZ protein from the cognate Bartonella species. These observations raise the possibility that the differences in ftsZ sequences can be used as the basis for diagnostic tests to differentiate among these closely related pathogens.     

Congenital chylothorax in siblings

We describe two cases of congenital chylothorax in siblings with important differences from previously described familial cases. Our findings support the likelihood of an autosomal recessive inheritance in some cases of this condition, rather than X-linked recessive inheritance, which has also been suggested. Autopsy findings from one of these cases and others previously described suggest that the pathophysiological mechanisms involved may be variable.     

Neuroendocrine synaptic vesicles are formed in vitro by both clathrin-dependent and clathrin-independent pathways

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a syndrome involving a predisposition to cancers of the colon, endometrium and several other extra-colonic sites, accounting for approximately 1-5% of all colorectal cancer cases. It is not easily recognized because of a lack of distinctive clinical markers, making diagnosis and management of this disease problematic. To provide a basis for uniformity in diagnosis of HNPCC, the Amsterdam criteria were proposed and are currently in use. More recently, the discovery of four human mismatch repair genes (hMSH2, hMLH1, hPMS1 and hPMS2) has provided novel insight into the genetic basis of this disease, and raised the possibility of genetic diagnosis for management of HNPCC patients and their family members. This report summarizes the clinicopathologic aspects of HNPCC, reviews the recent genetic findings and surveillance strategies, and suggests a novel designation of certain patients as suspected HNPCC.     

Medications and the visually impaired elderly

Based on his experience with treatment of 112 children the author considers that severe and various disturbances of the rectum abturative apparatus function arising from surgical interventions in the anorectal area require the differentiated approach to choice of the method of surgical correction of the incontinence. The transplantation of the denervated muscle, transplantation of the vascular-nervous thoraco-dorsal flap, a lavsan band were used to make a pubo-rectal loop, plasty of the outer and inner sphincters being performed mainly with local tissues.