On-line dialysis solid-phase extraction coupled to capillary electrophoresis

A fully automated dialysis solid-phase extraction (SPE) sample preparation procedure is coupled on-line to capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the first time. The system is used to determine sulfonamides in serum and urine. The dialysis unit serves to remove proteins and particulate matter. Reconcentration of the analytes is performed with a small SPE column while (in)organic salts and other interferences are removed simultaneously. Finally, the analytes are desorbed and injected, via a homemade interface, into the CE system. Limits of detection (LOD) of 0.05-0.1 and 0.05-0.3 microg/mL are obtained in urine and serum, respectively. The within-day and between-day precisions are in the range of 2-6% and 3-8%, respectively, for a concentration of five times the LOD. The dialysis SPE-CE system was used over a period of six months for the analysis of over 500 serum and urine samples without problems such as clogging of the CE capillary or SPE column.     

Expression and possible role of muscle-type carnitine palmitoyltransferase I during sperm development in the rat

Because we had found whole testis from adult rats to be much richer in the messenger RNA for the muscle (M) than for the liver (L) form of mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I), we sought to determine which cell type(s) accounts for this expression pattern and how it might relate to reproductive function. Studies with immature (14-day-old) and adult animals included 1) Northern blot analysis of testis mRNA; 2) in situ hybridization with slices of testis; 3) enzyme assays for CPT I, CPT II, and carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT) in testicular germ cells and nongerm cells, together with measurement of the malonyl-coenzyme A (CoA) sensitivity and affinity for carnitine of CPT I; 4) labeling of testicular CPT I with [3H]etomoxir, a covalent inhibitor of the enzyme; and 5) the response of testicular and nontesticular CPT I to dietary etomoxir. The data established the following: 1) L-CPT I was the sole isoform detected in immature testis. 2) Expression of the M-CPT I gene was associated only with meiotic and postmeiotic germ cells. 3) Adult testis contains a mixture of the L- and M-CPT I enzymes, the L and M form dominating in extratubular cells and spermatids, respectively. Mature epididymal spermatozoa appear to be devoid of CPT I activity while possessing abundant levels of CPT II and CAT. 4) Five days of dietary etomoxir treatment at a dose that resulted in essentially complete inhibition of CPT I in liver, heart, skeletal muscle, and kidney was totally without effect on either the L- or M-type enzyme in the testis of mature rats. The data point to an important role for transient expression of M-CPT I, coupled with sustained activity of CAT, in the maturation and/or function of rat sperm. They also suggest that, at least in the case of one CPT I inhibitor (etomoxir), the testis is unusually resistant to the agent when given orally.     

Functional analysis of eve stripe 2 enhancer evolution in Drosophila: rules governing conservation and change

Experimental investigations of eukaryotic enhancers suggest that multiple binding sites and trans-acting regulatory factors are often required for wild-type enhancer function. Genetic analysis of the stripe 2 enhancer of even-skipped (eve), an important developmental gene in Drosophila, provides support for this view. Given the importance of even-skipped expression in early Drosophila development, it might be predicted that many structural features of the stripe 2 enhancer will be evolutionarily conserved, including the DNA sequences of protein binding sites and the spacing between them. To test this hypothesis, we compared sequences of the stripe 2 enhancer between four species of Drosophila: D. melanogaster, D. yakuba, D. erecta and D. pseudoobscura. Our analysis revealed a large number of nucleotide substitutions in regulatory protein binding sites for bicoid, hunchback, Kruppel and giant, as well as a systematic change in the size of the enhancer. Some of the binding sites in D. melanogaster are either absent or modified in other species. One functionally important bicoid-binding site in D. melanogaster appears to be recently evolved. We, therefore, investigated possible functional consequences of sequence differences among these stripe 2 enhancers by P-element-mediated transformation. This analysis revealed that the eve stripe 2 enhancer from each of the four species drove reporter gene expression at the identical time and location in D. melanogaster embryos. Double staining of native eve protein and transgene mRNA in early embryos showed that the reporter gene mimicked native eve expression and, in every case, produced sharply defined stripes at the blastoderm stage that were coincident with eve stripe 2 protein. We argue that stripe 2 eve expression in Drosophila evolution can be viewed as being under constant stabilizing selection with respect to the location of the anterior and posterior borders of the stripe. We further hypothesize that the stripe 2 enhancer is functionally robust, so that its evolution may be governed by the fixation of both slightly deleterious and adaptive mutations in regulatory protein binding sites as well as in the spacing between binding sites. This view allows for a slow but continual turnover of functionally important changes in the stripe 2 enhancer.     

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain of normal neonatal foals

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on the brain of 5 normal, anesthetized, neonatal (age 3-to-6 days) Quarter Horse foals. The objectives of the study were to develop a technique for imaging the brain of neonatal foals, and to ascertain their normal brain anatomy. Intravenous propofol was administered for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia. Using spin echo MR techniques, T1 weighted sagittal and transverse views, and spin density and T2 weighted transverse views were successfully made of each foal. MR images provided excellent visualization of many anatomic structures of the brain and head. MRI of the brain is feasible for selected neonatal equine patients.     

Extralenticular expression of Xenopus laevis alpha-, beta-, and gamma-crystallin genes

PURPOSE: Extralenticular expression of alpha- and beta-crystallin genes has been demonstrated in mammals and expression of gamma-crystallin genes has been shown in Xenopus laevis. To determine a possible correlation between lens determination and crystallin gene expression, the site of expression of (a member of) the alpha-, beta-, and gamma-crystallin gene families was observed before and during lens formation in X. laevis. METHODS: The partial complementary DNAs (cDNAs) of alpha A- and beta A4-crystallin and a gamma-crystallin were cloned from an X. laevis lens cDNA library. The corresponding antisense RNAs were used to analyze the expression of these genes during X. laevis development by wholemount in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Expression of the beta A4- and gamma-crystallin (but not alpha-crystallin) genes could first be detected in the animal cap of the X. laevis gastrula. The beta A4- and gamma-crystallin messengers were also found in the first stage of lens development, when the ectodermal tissue overlying the optic vesicle thickens to form the lens placode. alpha A-crystallin messenger RNAs were only detectable when the lens epithelial cells were formed. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to observations in most vertebrates, expression of the beta A4- and gamma-crystallin genes was observed to precede that of the alpha A-crystallin gene during lens development of X. laevis, reflecting the determination that in amphibians, the (presumptive) fiber cells are formed before the epithelial cells, whereas in vertebrates, the order is reversed. Expression of beta A4- and gamma-crystallin genes in the ectodermal tissue of the X. laevis gastrula shows that these genes are expressed when this tissue gains competence for lens formation.     

Uterine closure with the endo stitch 10-mm laparoscopic suturing device--a review of 50 laparoscopic myomectomies

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the mechanical performance of the Endo Stitch Laparoscopic Suturing Device and the clinical effectiveness of both a running, locked suture technique and a new modified suture technique for closure of uterine defects after laparoscopic removal of myomas. STUDY SUBJECTS: Fifty consecutive patients with symptomatic uterine leiomyomata. OBSERVATIONAL METHOD: Retrospective chart review. MAIN FINDINGS: The endometrial cavity was entered and sutured laparoscopically, in two layers, in 22 patients. In 28 patients, only the myometrium was sutured. A two-layered closure of the endometrium and myometrium was completed in an average time of 10 minutes. Mechanical problems with the Endo Stitch occurred in 11 cases. In all patients with second-look laparoscopies, the fallopian tubes were patent bilaterally without adhesions. No uterine fistulas were present in any patients with second-look laparoscopies. Posterior myomas were removed and sutured without adhesion formation. Grade 3 adhesions, to the uterine surface, were associated with transverse incisions of the uterus and over-treatment with GnRH analogs. CONCLUSIONS: The Endo Stitch Laparoscopic Suturing Device in combination with a running, locked suture technique achieves a rapid, hemostatic, clinically secure closure of the endometrium and myometrium. The Endo Stitch and our modified suture technique were not associated with adhesions or blockage of the fallopian tubes or uterine fistulas following laparoscopic myomectomies. The initial mechanical problems with the Endo Stitch were resolved. In our experience, currently the Endo Stitch is the best instrument for laparoscopic suture closure of uterine defects.     

Specificities of anti-neutrophil autoantibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Phosphatidylcholine-phospholipase D has been proposed to play a key role in the transduction of the proliferative responses of a wide range of mitogens and growth factors. We now report that the antigen receptors on T lymphocytes derived from human tonsillar or murine splenic preparations are coupled to phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho)-phospholipase D (PLD) activation following stimulation of these T cells with anti-CD3 antibodies. However, since we also demonstrate that the antigen receptors on murine thymocytes are coupled to PtdCho-PLD activation, we propose that it is unlikely that this PLD pathway plays a central role in the transduction of T-cell proliferative responses, but rather, may be involved in either driving cells into cycle or maintaining cell cycle progression, processes required both for proliferation and activation-induced cell death. Whilst the molecular mechanisms underlying T-cell receptor (TCR)-coupling to PtdCho-PLD activation in these cells have not been fully defined, kinetics studies and experiments using pharmacological inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) and reconstituting CD3-coupled PtdCho-PLD activity in streptolysin-O permeabilized cells, suggest that the TCR/CD3 complex, under optimal conditions of activation, may be predominantly coupled to PtdCho-PLD activation downstream of tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C-gamma (PLC-gamma), phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns)P2 hydrolysis, calcium mobilization and protein kinase C (PKC) activation.     

Imaging of acute thoracic aortic injury due to blunt trauma: a review

Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 1 (SATB1), a DNA-binding protein expressed predominantly in thymocytes, recognizes an ATC sequence context that consists of a cluster of sequence stretches with well-mixed A's, T's, and C's without G's on one strand. Such regions confer a high propensity for stable base unpairing. Using an in vivo cross-linking strategy, specialized genomic sequences (0.1-1. 1 kbp) that bind to SATB1 in human lymphoblastic cell line Jurkat cells were individually isolated and characterized. All in vivo SATB1-binding sequences examined contained typical ATC sequence contexts, with some exhibiting homology to autonomously replicating sequences from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that function as replication origins in yeast cells. In addition, LINE 1 elements, satellite 2 sequences, and CpG island-containing DNA were identified. To examine the higher-order packaging of these in vivo SATB1-binding sequences, high-resolution in situ fluorescence hybridization was performed with both nuclear "halos" with distended loops and the nuclear matrix after the majority of DNA had been removed by nuclease digestion. In vivo SATB1-binding sequences hybridized to genomic DNA as single spots within the residual nucleus circumscribed by the halo of DNA and remained as single spots in the nuclear matrix, indicating that these sequences are localized at the base of chromatin loops. In human breast cancer SK-BR-3 cells that do not express SATB1, at least one such sequence was found not anchored onto the nuclear matrix. These findings provide the first evidence that a cell type-specific factor such as SATB1 binds to the base of chromatin loops in vivo and suggests that a specific chromatin loop domain structure is involved in T cell-specific gene regulation.