Frequency and significance of antibodies to actin in type 1 autoimmune hepatitis

Antibodies to actin have been proposed as diagnostic markers for type 1 autoimmune hepatitis. Our aims were to determine 1) if testing for antibodies to actin is superior to testing for smooth muscle antibodies (SMA); 2) if these antibodies identify patients with distinctive clinical features; and 3) if the production of antibodies to actin is associated with genetic risk factors for autoimmune hepatitis. Sera from 99 patients with type 1 autoimmune hepatitis were tested. The frequencies of HLA B8, DR3, DR4, and A1-B8-DR3 in patient subsets were compared with those in 80 normal subjects. Seventy-three patients (74%) had antibodies to actin. Antibodies to actin were found more commonly in patients with SMA than in patients without them (86% vs. 7%, P < .0001). Screening only for antibodies to actin and antinuclear antibodies (ANA) failed to establish the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis in 5 patients. Patients with antibodies to actin were younger than seronegative patients. They were also more commonly DR3-positive than normal subjects and more frequently B8-positive than patients with non-actin-associated SMA (49% vs. 0%, P = .004). Only patients with antibodies to actin died of liver failure (6% vs. 0%), and 10 of 11 patients requiring liver transplantation were seropositive for these antibodies. Indeed, death and liver transplantation occurred more frequently in these patients than in actin-negative patients with ANA (19% vs. 0%, P = .03). We conclude that routine screening for antibodies to actin may miss patients with type 1 autoimmune hepatitis. Antibodies to actin are associated with HLA B8 and DR3, and they identify patients with a poor prognosis.     

Factors predicting the use of technology: Findings from the center for research and education on aging and technology enhancement (create).

The successful adoption of technology is becoming increasingly important to functional independence. The present article reports findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) on the use of technology among community-dwelling adults. The sample included 1,204 individuals ranging in age from 18-91 years. All participants completed a battery that included measures of demographic characteristics, self-rated health, experience with technology, attitudes toward computers, and component cognitive abilities. Findings indicate that the older adults were less likely than younger adults to use technology in general, computers, and the World Wide Web. The results also indicate that computer anxiety, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence were important predictors of the use of technology. The relationship between age and adoption of technology was mediated by cognitive abilities, computer self-efficacy, and computer anxiety. These findings are discussed in terms of training strategies to promote technology adoption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of phytohormone response by a peptide encoded by ENOD40 of legumes and a nonlegume

The gene ENOD40 is expressed during early stages of legume nodule development. A homolog was isolated from tobacco, which, as does ENOD40 from legumes, encodes an oligopeptide of about 10 amino acids. In tobacco protoplasts, these peptides change the response to auxin at concentrations as low as 10(-12) to 10(-16)M. The peptides encoded by ENOD40 appear to act as plant growth regulators.     

Spearmints: hardware support for performance measurements indistributed systems

Spearmints, a system of hardware components that can be easily interfaced to the nodes of an instrumented distributed system for monitoring or evaluation using event-triggered measurements, is described. Each machine of the target system must have one sensor that collects relevant events and marks them with global time stamps. The sensors can be attached to a common measurement system that samples the marked events on- or offline, orders them chronologically, and analyzes the resulting sequence. The design of Spearmints is based on providing a simple and universal tool that causes little interference and furnishes highly accurate measurements in distributed systems. As Spearmints only requires standard interfaces with its integration into an object system and its connection to a measurement system, it permits the use of a wide range of measurement systems for the evaluation of a variety of distributed systems     

Copper resistant human hepatoblastoma mutant cell lines without metallothionein induction overexpress ATP7B

Mutant human hepatoblastoma cell lines resistant to copper toxicity were isolated from mutagenized HuH7. Two copper resistant cell lines (CuR), CuR 23 and CuR 27, had reduced basal expression of metallothionein (MT) messenger RNA (mRNA) and exhibited minimal or no increase in resistance to cadmium or zinc toxicity. Copper uptake, efflux of newly transported copper, glutathione content, and efflux rate were comparable with HuH7, whereas holoceruloplasmin synthesis and secretion were slightly decreased. Subcellular distribution of copper at steady-state showed an increase in organelle and membrane fractions with a reduction in cytosol. Expression of ATP7B mRNA was fivefold increased, and ATP7B protein approximately threefold increased in both CuR 23 and 27. Another cell line, CuR 41, showed increased basal expression of MT and ATP7B mRNA but not ATP7B protein, and resistance to cadmium and zinc toxicity. Copper uptake in CuR 41 was comparable with HuH7, but initial rates of efflux of copper and glutathione were reduced. The synthesis of holoceruloplasmin but not ceruloplasmin peptide was markedly diminished in CuR 41. Subcellular distribution of copper showed an increase in cytosolic and decreased organelle and membrane-associated copper. These data suggest that cellular resistance to copper toxicity was achieved in two independent cell lines without MT induction and that the induction of ATP7B may lead to the enhanced intracellular sequestration of copper by organelles.     

Lipochitooligosaccharide-induced tobacco cells release a peptide as mediator of the glycolipid signal

Lipochitooligosaccharides (LCOs) are plant growth regulators that promote at subfemtomolar concentrations cell division in tobacco protoplasts. In response to LCO treatment, tobacco cells release a second growth factor that fully mediates the growth-promoting activities of the initial extracellular LCO stimulus. This diffusible growth factor was isolated from the protoplasts' culture filtrate and shown to be a peptide. We report that the LCO-induced mitogen released by tobacco cells and a synthetic heptadecapeptide derived from region 2 of the tobacco homolog of the early nodulin gene ENOD40 are antigenically related and qualitatively indistinguishable in their ability to stimulate cell division.