Thrombopoietin: a potential T-helper lymphocyte stimulator. Change in T-lymphocyte composition and blood cytokine levels in thrombopoietin cDNA transferred mice

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thrombopoietin (TPO) on T lymphocyte in Balb/c mice delivered hTPO cDNA with plasmid vector. Both mature and immature T lymphocytes in central organs increased, but only the CD4+ subset was preferably proliferated in circulation. High serum IFN-gamma was coinciding with the declination of platelet counts, but TNF-alpha was positively associated with the platelet count, while high IL-2 level was similar to the course of TPO expression. Our data suggested that TPO is a stimulator for T lymphocytes, especially the CD4+ subset.     

Somatomedin-C in infantile nutritional assessment with comparison with prealbumin, insulin and growth hormone

Long-term effects of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs are not at all satisfactory. Therefore combinations of different substances have long been studied. But no convincing recommendations could be derived from those results. Some combinations seem to be more effective than the single substances, but often have more side-effects. First of all, those types of rheumatoid arthritis must be defined which require an aggressive therapy. These may profit from combinations with sulfasalazine, methotrexate or azathioprine. But such questions may only be answered by long-term studies which can be statistically evaluated.     

Surface tension effects on the nonlinear behavior of long waves in a two layer flow

 The propagation of long waves of finite amplitude at the interface of two viscous fluids in the presence of interfacial tension is examined. The effect of capillarity on the shape of the waves at the interface of two superposed fluids is investigated for a wide range of density differences, viscosity ratios and imposed pressure gradients. It is found that in planar geometry surface tension stabilizes the interfacial disturbances. Attention is given to the case in which the upper fluid is more dense and comprises a thin film above the lower fluid. With the heavier fluid on the top the flow pattern is always unstable when surface tension effects are neglected. In this case the interfacial waves do not grow forever and reach a finite amplitude only when the interfacial tension is greater than a critical value.     

"Common factors in the identification of an assortment of brief everyday sounds": Correction.

Reports that the article by J. A. Ballas in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 1993(Apr) [1992 (sic)], Vol 19(2) [Vol 18 (sic)], 250–267, is in the public domain. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1993-28211-001.) Acoustic, ecological, perceptual and cognitive factors that are common in the identification of 41 brief, varied sounds were evaluated. In Exp 1, identification time and accuracy, causal uncertainty values, and spectral and temporal properties of the sounds were obtained. Exp 2 was a survey to obtain ecological frequency counts. Exp 3 solicited perceptual–cognitive ratings. Factor analyses of spectral parameters and perceptual–cognitive ratings were performed. Identification time and causal uncertainty are highly interrelated, and both are related to ecological frequency and the presence of harmonics and similar spectral bursts. Exps 4 and 5 used a priming paradigm to verify correlational relationships between identification time and causal uncertainty and to assess the effect of sound typicality. Results support a hybrid approach for theories of everyday sound identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nuclear localization signal binding protein from Arabidopsis mediates nuclear import of Agrobacterium VirD2 protein

T-DNA nuclear import is a central event in genetic transformation of plant cells by Agrobacterium. Presumably, the T-DNA transport intermediate is a single-stranded DNA molecule associated with two bacterial proteins, VirD2 and VirE2, which most likely mediate the transport process. While VirE2 cooperatively coats the transported single-stranded DNA, VirD2 is covalently attached to its 5' end. To better understand the mechanism of VirD2 action, a cellular receptor for VirD2 was identified and its encoding gene cloned from Arabidopsis. The identified protein, designated AtKAPalpha, specifically bound VirD2 in vivo and in vitro. VirD2-AtKAPalpha interaction was absolutely dependent on the carboxyl-terminal bipartite nuclear localization signal sequence of VirD2. The deduced amino acid sequence of AtKAPalpha was homologous to yeast and animal nuclear localization signal-binding proteins belonging to the karyopherin alpha family. Indeed, AtKAPalpha efficiently rescued a yeast mutant defective for nuclear import. Furthermore, AtKAPalpha specifically mediated transport of VirD2 into the nuclei of permeabilized yeast cells.