Role of farnesyltransferase in ABA regulation of guard cell anion channels and plant water loss

Desiccation of plants during drought can be detrimental to agricultural production. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) reduces water loss by triggering stomatal pore closure in leaves, a process requiring ion-channel modulation by cytoplasmic proteins. Deletion of the Arabidopsis farnesyltransferase gene ERA1 or application of farnesyltransferase inhibitors resulted in ABA hypersensitivity of guard cell anion-channel activation and of stomatal closing. ERA1 was expressed in guard cells. Double-mutant analyses of era1 with the ABA-insensitive mutants abi1 and abi2 showed that era1 suppresses the ABA-insensitive phenotypes. Moreover, era1 plants exhibited a reduction in transpirational water loss during drought treatment.     

Interferon-induced protein 10 and interleukin 8. C-X-C chemokines present in proliferative diabetic retinopathy

From May through November 1997, 1,011 samples of raw milk from bulk storage tanks were examined for the presence of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli of serogroup O157 (O157 VTEC) by immunomagnetic separation following selective enrichment. The samples originated from 1,011 different dairy herds located throughout the Netherlands. O157 VTEC was not isolated from any of the milk samples examined. Additionally, survival of O157 VTEC in raw and UHT-sterilized cow's milk at 7 and 15 degrees C was studied, both in the absence and presence of an activated lactoperoxidase-thiocyanate-hydrogen peroxide system (LPS). Results indicated that the O157 VTEC strain tested was able to grow in raw milk at 7 degrees C as well as at 15 degrees C. Naturally occurring amounts of thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide in the raw milk tested were not sufficient to activate the LPS. Although the LPS exhibited an antimicrobial activity against O157 VTEC in LPS-activated sterilized milk, O157 VTEC populations were not (or not as obviously) reduced in LPS-activated raw milk. Possibly background microflora were more sensitive to the LPS than the O157 VTEC test strain. It was concluded that raw milk contaminated with O157 VTEC will remain a hazard if kept at 7 or 15 degrees C. Effective pasteurization and avoiding postpasteurization contamination are necessary to ensure the safety of milk.     

Hepatitis C update: implications of the blood transfusion "lookback"

Over the next several years, physicians will be called upon to notify past blood transfusion recipients of blood that may have been contaminated with hepatitis C virus (HCV). This article reviews the screening, care, and follow-up of persons at risk for hepatitis C virus infection from all sources.     

Philanthropists and psychiatry in Moscow

The current economic climate makes it increasingly likely that the role of nurses in the operating theatre will be scrutinised once again. This article reports on how theatre nurses view their work, making some recommendations to try to improve the perception of theatre nursing outside operating departments.     

Antimicrobial and membranolytic activity of sterically hindered phenols

Antimicrobial activity of some complicated space phenols (screened) was studied. The compounds had different activities against grampositive bacteria and were inactive against gramnegative microbes. Di-tertiary butyl derivatives of pyrocatechol and resorcin showed the highest activities. The MICs of such derivatives for the collection strains of Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus were 8 to 30 micrograms/ml and exceeded 6-25 times those of the nonsubstituted analogs. The derivatives of pyrocatechol and resorcin impaired the membrane permeability in susceptible intact cells of B.megaterium and S.aureus 209P and had no effect on the membrane permeability of the Escherichia coli resistant cells. In concentrations up to 200 micrograms/ml the nonsubstituted analogs of pyrocatechol and resorcin did not impair the membrane permeability in the intact cells of the above bacteria. Di-tertiary butyl derivatives of pyrocatechol and resorcin had lytic activity with respect to cytoplasmic membranes (protoplasts) of B.megaterium and had no lytic action on E.coli spheroplasts. The antimicrobial spectrum correlated with the membranotropic properties of the compounds. It was suggested that the target of the antimicrobial action of the screened phenols was the bacterial cell cytoplasmic membrane.     

A case of chronic B cell lymphocytic leukemia with expression of CD8 antigen on leukemic cells

PURPOSE: To determine the toxicity and prognosis of patients with relapsed and refractory diffuse aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) who underwent an autologous bone marrow transplant (ABMT) using augmented preparative regimens, treated in a major cooperative group setting, and to examine prognostic factors for outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-four patients with either chemosensitive (50 patients) or chemoresistant (44 patients) relapse, including 22 who failed induction chemotherapy, were treated with high-dose cyclophosphamide and etoposide with total-body irradiation (TBI) (67 patients) or an augmented carmustine (BCNU), cyclophosphamide, and etoposide (BCV) preparative regimen (27 patients) and an ABMT at 16 Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) transplant centers. All relapsing patients were required to undergo a minimum of two courses of salvage therapy to determine chemosensitivity before transplant. Overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were determined and a Cox regression model was used to assess potential prognostic variables. RESULTS: Of the 94 eligible patients, there were 10 (10.6%) deaths before day 50 posttransplant because of infection (six deaths), hemorrhagic alveolitis (three deaths), or bleeding (one death). The median 3-year PFS and OS for the entire group was 33% and 44%. For those with chemosensitive disease the PFS and OS were 42% and 55%, whereas for those with chemoresistant disease the PFS and OS were 22% and 29%. The PFS and OS for those failing induction chemotherapy were 27% and 32%. The relapse rates within the first 3 years for the chemosensitive relapse, chemoresistant, and induction failure groups were 61%, 40%, and 59%, respectively. For both PFS and OS, only disease status at transplant was a significant factor in the multivariate Cox model. CONCLUSION: These results single institutional pilot trials exploring augmented preparative regimens. Patients undergoing transplantation for resistant disease, particularly those failing induction chemotherapy, appear to have an improved prognosis as compared with reports using standard preparative regimens. Therapies other than manipulation of standard preparative regimens appear to be required to decrease relapses following autotransplantation.