Control of vertebrate left-right asymmetry by a snail-related zinc finger gene

A gene encoding a zinc finger protein of the Snail family, cSnR, is expressed in the right-hand lateral mesoderm during normal chick development. Antisense disruption of cSnR function during the hours immediately preceding heart formation randomized the normally reliable direction of heart looping and subsequent embryo torsion. Implanted ectopic sources of intercellular signal proteins that are involved in establishing normal left-right information randomized the handedness of heart development and also altered the asymmetry of cSnR expression. cSnR thus appears to act downstream of these signals, or perhaps in parallel with the latest expressed of them, the Nodal protein, in controlling the anatomical asymmetry.     

APIC position paper: hepatitis C exposure in the health care setting. Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc (APIC), is a multidisciplinary, voluntary, international organization of professionals who practice infection control and the application of epidemiology in all health settings. APIC is an international leader in prevention and control of infection transmission.     

Generalized sparse MRF appearance models

Image segmentation or registration approaches that rely on a local search paradigm (e.g, Active Appearance Models, Active Contours) require an initialization that provides for considerable overlap or a coarse localization of the object to be segmented or localized. In this paper we propose an approach that does not need such an initialization, but localizes anatomical structures in a global manner by formulating the localization task as the solution of a Markov Random Field (MRF).     

The effect of benzodiazepines and flumazenil on motor cortical excitability in the human brain

In the present study, the effects of benzodiazepines (diazepam) were evaluated in terms of cortical excitability changes, as tested with transcranial magnetic simulation (TMS). In particular, analyzed were drug-induced changes regarding two selected parameters of TMS: (1) the cortical excitability threshold and (2) the silent period duration (SP). For this purpose, we evaluated the effects of long-term therapy with diazepam in the patients affected by anxiety disorders and the changes induced by single oral doses of diazepam in both healthy controls and patients. In addition, we tested cortical excitability changes in two 'extreme conditions' where a considerable concentration of serum benzodiazepine-like activity was reached, as represented by diazepam overdose and idiopathic recurrent stupor (IRS). In both groups of patients, a significant increment of motor threshold was found, while in the overdose patients, the SP was also increased. The administration of flumazenil in these two conditions was followed by a prompt reversal effect, consisting of a return to normal cortical excitability parameters. The long-term usage of diazepam in patients with anxiety disorders is associated with significantly increased threshold; the increased value of these parameters was temporarily further enhanced by the administration of a single oral dose of diazepam, which, in normal control subjects, is not associated with changes of cortical excitability. The results of this study reveal that different physio-pathological conditions induced by the influence of benzodiazepine and its antagonist are reflected in excitability changes which attest to the involvement and modification of cortical GABAergic activity.     

Eradication of rat malignant gliomas by retroviral-mediated, in vivo delivery of the interleukin 4 gene

Overexpression of interleukin 4 (IL-4) can impair the tumorigenicity of glioma cells, but direct evidence of its antitumor efficacy after in vivo gene transfer into malignant gliomas has not been provided. To test this, we first injected into the brain of Sprague Dawley rats a 1:1 mixture of C6 rat glioblastoma cells and psi2.L4SN20 or E86.L4SN50 retroviral producer cells (RPCs), secreting 20 and 50 ng of IL-4/5 x 10(5) cells/48 h, respectively. Twenty-seven and 56% of rats receiving injections with these low- or medium-level IL-4 RPCs, respectively, survived tumor injection, whereas control rats died in about 1 month. E86.L4SN50 RPCs coinjected with 9L gliosarcoma cells into syngeneic Fischer 344 rats yielded similar results. A novel IL-4 RPC clone expressing higher levels of IL-4, E86.L4SN200, coinjected with 9L cells increased to 75% the fraction of long-term survivors and induced tumor regression in 50% of rats when injected into established 9L gliosarcomas. Cured rats developed an immunological memory because they rejected a challenge of wild-type 9L cells into the contralateral hemisphere. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to monitor 9L and C6 gliomas and gave direct evidence for tumor rejection in treated rats. Immunohistology showed inflammatory infiltrates in IL-4-treated tumors in which CD8+ T lymphocytes were more abundant, although CD4+ T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, and macrophages were also present. Overall, these findings suggest that IL-4 gene transfer is a new, promising approach for treating malignant gliomas.