bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Phylogenetic and chromosomal analyses of multiple gene families syntenic with vertebrate Hox clusters
Authors: Sundström Görel , Larsson Tomas A , Larhammar Dan
Published: September 2008

Background

Ever since the theory about two rounds of genome duplication (2R) in the vertebrate lineage was proposed, the Hox gene clusters have served as the prime example of quadruplicate paralogy in mammalian genomes. In teleost fishes, the observation of additional Hox clusters absent in other vertebrate lineages suggested a third tetraploidization (3R). Because the Hox clusters occupy a quite limited part of each chromosome, and are special in having position-dependent regulation within the multi-gene cluster, studies of syntenic gene families are needed to determine the extent of the duplicated chromosome segments. We have analyzed in detail 14 gene families that are syntenic with the Hox clusters to see if their phylogenies are compatible with the Hox duplications and the 2R/3R scenario. Our starting point was the gene family for the NPY family of peptides located near the Hox clusters in the pufferfish Takifugu rubripes, the zebrafish Danio rerio, and human.

Results

Seven of the gene families have members on at least three of the human Hox chromosomes and two families are present on all four. Using both neighbor-joining and quartet-puzzling maximum likelihood methods we found that 13 families have a phylogeny that supports duplications coinciding with the Hox cluster duplications. One additional family also has a topology consistent with 2R but due to lack of urochordate or cephalocordate sequences the time window when these duplications could have occurred is wider. All but two gene families also show teleost-specific duplicates.

Conclusion

Based on this analysis we conclude that the Hox cluster duplications involved a large number of adjacent gene families, supporting expansion of these families in the 2R, as well as in the teleost 3R tetraploidization. The gene duplicates presumably provided raw material in early vertebrate evolution for neofunctionalization and subfunctionalization.
Gene expression changes linked to antimicrobial resistance, oxidative stress, iron depletion and retained motility are observed when Burkholderia cenocepaciagrows in cystic fibrosis sputum
Authors: Drevinek Pavel , Holden Matthew TG , Ge Zhaoping , Jones Andrew M , Ketchell Ian , Gill Ryan T , Mahenthiralingam Eshwar
Published: September 2008

Background

Bacteria from the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are the only group of cystic fibrosis (CF) respiratory pathogens that may cause death by an invasive infection known as cepacia syndrome. Their large genome (> 7000 genes) and multiple pathways encoding the same putative functions make virulence factor identification difficult in these bacteria.

Methods

A novel microarray was designed to the genome of Burkholderia cenocepacia J2315 and transcriptomics used to identify genes that were differentially regulated when the pathogen was grown in a CF sputum-based infection model. Sputum samples from CF individuals infected with the same B. cenocepacia strain as genome isolate were used, hence, other than a dilution into a minimal growth medium (used as the control condition), no further treatment of the sputum was carried out.

Results

A total of 723 coding sequences were significantly altered, with 287 upregulated and 436 downregulated; the microarray-observed expression was validated by quantitative PCR on five selected genes. B. cenocepacia genes with putative functions in antimicrobial resistance, iron uptake, protection against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, secretion and motility were among the most altered in sputum. Novel upregulated genes included: a transmembrane ferric reductase (BCAL0270) implicated in iron metabolism, a novel protease (BCAL0849) that may play a role in host tissue destruction, an organic hydroperoxide resistance gene (BCAM2753), an oxidoreductase (BCAL1107) and a nitrite/sulfite reductase (BCAM1676) that may play roles in resistance to the host defenses. The assumptions of growth under iron-depletion and oxidative stress formulated from the microarray data were tested and confirmed by independent growth of B. cenocepacia under each respective environmental condition.

Conclusion

Overall, our first full transcriptomic analysis of B. cenocepacia demonstrated the pathogen alters expression of over 10% of the 7176 genes within its genome when it grows in CF sputum. Novel genetic pathways involved in responses to antimicrobial resistance, oxidative stress, and iron metabolism were revealed by the microarray analysis. Virulence factors such as the cable pilus and Cenocepacia Pathogenicity Island were unaltered in expression. However, B. cenocepacia sustained or increased expression of motility-associated genes in sputum, maintaining a potentially invasive phenotype associated with cepacia syndrome.
Acute maternal stress in pregnancy and schizophrenia in offspring: A cohort prospective study
Authors: Malaspina D , Corcoran C , Kleinhaus KR , Perrin MC , Fennig S , Nahon D , Friedlander Y , Harlap S
Published: September 2008

Schizophrenia has been linked with intrauterine exposure to maternal stress due to bereavement, famine and major disasters. Recent evidence suggests that human vulnerability may be greatest in the first trimester of gestation and rodent experiments suggest sex specificity. We aimed to describe the consequence of an acute maternal stress, through a follow-up of offspring whose mothers were pregnant during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. A priori, we focused on gestational month and offspring's sex.

Method

In a pilot study linking birth records to Israel's Psychiatric Registry, we analyzed data from a cohort of 88,829 born in Jerusalem in 1964–76. Proportional hazards models were used to estimate the relative risk (RR) of schizophrenia, according to month of birth, gender and other variables, while controlling for father's age and other potential confounders. Other causes of hospitalized psychiatric morbidity (grouped together) were analyzed for comparison.

Results

There was a raised incidence of schizophrenia for those who were in the second month of fetal life in June 1967 (RR = 2.3, 1.1–4.7), seen more in females (4.3, 1.7–10.7) than in males (1.2, 0.4–3.8). Results were not explained by secular or seasonal variations, altered birth weight or gestational age. For other conditions, RRs were increased in offspring who had been in the third month of fetal life in June 1967 (2.5, 1.2–5.2), also seen more in females (3.6, 1.3–9.7) than males (1.8, 0.6–5.2).

Conclusion

These findings add to a growing literature, in experimental animals and humans, attributing long term consequences for offspring of maternal gestational stress. They suggest both a sex-specificity and a relatively short gestational time-window for gestational effects on vulnerability to schizophrenia.
Cytoplasmic signaling in the control of mitochondrial uproar?
Authors: Hermann Martin , Kuznetsov Andrey , Maglione Manuel , Smigelskaite Julija , Margreiter Raimund , Troppmair Jakob
Published: September 2008

The concept of a pre-emptive strike as a good means to prevent greater harm may be frequently over-stressed in daily life. However, biological systems in a homeostatic balance are prepared to withstand a certain degree of hostile fire by rather passive means. This also applies to the maintenance of cell survival, where a plethora of protective proteins provide safeguard against erroneous activation of death pathways. Apart from these mechanisms active processes are also essential for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, commonly referred to as survival signaling. Frequently their targets may be mitochondrial, assuring organelle integrity, which is essential for continued energy production and survival. Transient or permanent failures in these cellular defense strategies result in pathophysiological conditions, which manifest themselves e.g. as cancer or ischemia/reperfusion-associated organ damage.
Lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary component presenting with metastatic scrotum tumor and cancer-to-cancer metastasis: A case report
Authors: Mori Kiyoshi , Kitazawa Riko , Kondo Takeshi , Kitazawa Sohei
Published: September 2008

A 54-year-old man was admitted to the hospital presenting with a 3-month history of sclerosing dermal lesion in the external genitalia. A scrotal skin biopsy revealed a poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma, immunohistochemically positive for cytokeratin 7 (CK7) and for thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1), and negative for CK20. One month after admission, he died of respiratory failure. At autopsy, a consolidating lesion with vague margin was noted in the left lung as well as a well-circumscribed nodule in the right lobe of the thyroid. Histopathologically, pulmonary lesion was adenocarcinoma with a micropapillary component. On the other hand, thyroid tumor was diagnosed as a follicular variant of papillary carcinoma with foci of micropapillary adenocarcinoma. Positive immunohistochemistry for surfactant protein on micoropapillary component was useful to confirm that micropapillary component was of lung adenocarcinoma origin.
Type 2 Iodothyronine Deiodinase Is Essential for Thyroid Hormone-Dependent Embryonic Development and Pigmentation in Zebrafish
Authors: Walpita Chaminda N. , Crawford Alexander D. , Janssens Els D. R. , Van der Geyten Serge , Darras Veerle M.
Published: September 2008

Despite the known importance of thyroid hormones (THs) in vertebrate growth and development, the role of tissue-specific TH activation in early embryogenesis remains unclear. We therefore examined the function of type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase (D2), one of the two tissue-specific enzymes catalyzing the conversion of T4 to T3, in developing zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio). Microinjection of early embryos with antisense oligonucleotides targeting either the D2 translation start site or the splice junction between the first exon and intron induced delays in development and pigmentation, as determined through the measurement of otic vesicle length, head-trunk angle, and pigmentation index at 31 h after fertilization. The antisense-induced delays in developmental progression and pigmentation were reversible through treatment with T3, suggesting that these phenotypic effects may be due to the depletion of intracellular T3 levels. Additional evidence for this hypothesis was provided by quantitative RT-PCR analysis of TH receptor-β expression in D2 knockdown embryos, revealing a significant down-regulation of this T3-induced transcript that could be reversed by T3 treatment. Tyrosinase expression was also down-regulated in D2 knockdown embryos to a greater degree than could be predicted by the observed delay in developmental progression, suggesting that reduced D2 activity and resultant low intracellular T3 availability may directly influence pigmentation in zebrafish. These data indicate that TH activation by D2 is essential for embryonic development and pigmentation in zebrafish.

Knockdown of type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase negatively affects development and pigmentation in zebrafish embryos, showing the importance of intracellular thyroid hormone activation in early development.
The Molecular Mechanism of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Apoptosis in PC-12 Neuronal Cells: The Protective Effect of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
Authors: Zou Cheng-Gang , Cao Xiu-Zhen , Zhao Yue-Shui , Gao Shun-Yu , Li Shu-De , Liu Xian-Yong , Zhang Yan , Zhang Ke-Qin
Published: September 2008

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases. Although CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) has been shown to play a critical role in ER stress, the precise apoptosis cascade downstream of CHOP is unknown. In this report, we investigated the mechanism of ER stress-mediated apoptosis as well as the action of IGF-I in PC-12 neuronal cells. Our results demonstrated that tribbles-related protein 3 (TRB3), which is a target gene of CHOP, was responsible for tunicamycin (an ER stress inducer)-induced apoptosis. TRB3 could promote dephosphorylation of Akt in PC-12 cells. IGF-I inhibited ER stress-induced apoptosis by restoring the phosphorylation level of Akt. Both wortmannin (a phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase inhibitor) and SB 212090 (a p38 MAPK inhibitor) suppressed the protective effect of IGF-I on ER stress-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, IGF-I attenuated ER stress-mediated expression of TRB3 but not CHOP. This action of IGF-I was abolished by SB 212090 but not by wortmannin. Immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that IGF-I promoted the phosphorylation of CHOP by activating p38 MAPK, probably leading to a decrease in the transcriptional activity of CHOP. The dephosphorylation of Akt resulted in increased expression of a proapoptotic protein, p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), in a forkhead box O3a-dependent manner. Knockdown of PUMA by short hairpin RNA attenuated ER stress-mediated apoptosis. Thus, our current study indicates that both TRB3 and PUMA are critical molecules in ER stress-induced apoptosis. IGF-I effectively protects PC-12 neuronal cells against ER stress-induced apoptosis through the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/Akt and p38 MAPK pathways.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress causes neuronal apoptosis by inducing the expression of tribbles-related protein 3 and PUMA. IGF-1 prevents neuronal apoptosis against ER stress through phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/Akt and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways.
High-Fat Diet Delays and Fasting Advances the Circadian Expression of Adiponectin Signaling Components in Mouse Liver
Authors: Barnea Maayan , Madar Zecharia , Froy Oren
Published: September 2008

The circadian clock controls energy homeostasis by regulating circadian expression and/or activity of enzymes involved in metabolism. Disruption of circadian rhythms may lead to obesity and metabolic disorders. We tested whether the biological clock controls adiponectin signaling pathway in the liver and whether fasting and/or high-fat (HF) diet affects this control. Mice were fed low-fat or HF diet and fasted on the last day. The circadian expression of clock genes and components of adiponectin metabolic pathway in the liver was tested at the RNA, protein, or enzyme activity level. In addition, serum levels of glucose, adiponectin, and insulin were measured. Under low-fat diet, adiponectin signaling pathway components exhibited circadian rhythmicity. However, fasting and HF diet altered this circadian expression; fasting resulted in a phase advance, and HF diet caused a phase delay. In addition, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase levels were high during fasting and low during HF diet. Changes in the phase and daily rhythm of clock genes and components of adiponectin signaling pathway as a result of HF diet may lead to obesity and may explain the disruption of other clock-controlled output systems, such as blood pressure and sleep/wake cycle, usually associated with metabolic disorders.

Adiponectin signaling pathway components exhibit circadian rhythmicity under low-fat diet. Fasting and high-fat diet alter this circadian expression, leading to phase advance and delay, respectively.
Rhomboid-7 and HtrA2/Omi act in a common pathway with the Parkinson’s disease factors Pink1 and Parkin
Authors: Whitworth Alexander J. , Lee Jeffrey R. , Ho Venus M.-W. , Flick Robert , Chowdhury Ruhena , McQuibban G. Angus
Published: September 2008

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder caused by loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, the pathogenetic mechanisms of which remain unclear. Mitochondrial dysfunction, which has long been implicated in sporadic PD, has recently been highlighted as a key pathological cause, particularly with the identification of mutations in the PTEN-induced putative kinase (pink1), parkin and htrA2 (also known as omi) genes that are linked to PD. Studies in Drosophila melanogaster have shown that pink1 and parkin act in a common genetic pathway that maintains mitochondrial integrity, but other upstream or downstream components of this pathway are currently unknown. Using ectopic expression in the Drosophila eye as an assay, we have investigated the involvement of the mitochondrial protease encoded by omi in the Pink1/Parkin pathway and found that it acts genetically downstream of pink1 but functions independently of Parkin. Using the same approach, we also found that Rhomboid-7, a mitochondrial protease not previously implicated in PD, acts as an upstream component of this pathway, and showed that it is required to cleave the precursor forms of both Pink1 and Omi. These data further elucidate the composition of the Pink1 pathway and suggest that regulated intramembrane proteolysis is involved in its regulation.
Planarian PTEN homologs regulate stem cells and regeneration through TOR signaling
Authors: Oviedo Néstor J. , Pearson Bret J. , Levin Michael , Sánchez Alvarado Alejandro
Published: September 2008

We have identified two genes, Smed-PTEN-1 and Smed-PTEN-2, capable of regulating stem cell function in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Both genes encode proteins homologous to the mammalian tumor suppressor, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Inactivation of Smed-PTEN-1 and -2 by RNA interference (RNAi) in planarians disrupts regeneration, and leads to abnormal outgrowths in both cut and uncut animals followed soon after by death (lysis). The resulting phenotype is characterized by hyperproliferation of neoblasts (planarian stem cells), tissue disorganization and a significant accumulation of postmitotic cells with impaired differentiation capacity. Further analyses revealed that rapamycin selectively prevented such accumulation without affecting the normal neoblast proliferation associated with physiological turnover and regeneration. In animals in which PTEN function is abrogated, we also detected a significant increase in the number of cells expressing the planarian Akt gene homolog (Smed-Akt). However, functional abrogation of Smed-Akt in Smed-PTEN RNAi-treated animals does not prevent cell overproliferation and lethality, indicating that functional abrogation of Smed-PTEN is sufficient to induce abnormal outgrowths. Altogether, our data reveal roles for PTEN in the regulation of planarian stem cells that are strikingly conserved to mammalian models. In addition, our results implicate this protein in the control of stem cell maintenance during the regeneration of complex structures in planarians.
Visualizing stromal cell dynamics in different tumor microenvironments by spinning disk confocal microscopy
Authors: Egeblad Mikala , Ewald Andrew J. , Askautrud Hanne A. , Truitt Morgan L. , Welm Bryan E. , Bainbridge Emma , Peeters George , Krummel Matthew F. , Werb Zena
Published: September 2008

The tumor microenvironment consists of stromal cells and extracellular factors that evolve in parallel with carcinoma cells. To gain insights into the activities of stromal cell populations, we developed and applied multicolor imaging techniques to analyze the behavior of these cells within different tumor microenvironments in the same live mouse. We found that regulatory T-lymphocytes (Tregs) migrated in proximity to blood vessels. Dendritic-like cells, myeloid cells and carcinoma-associated fibroblasts all exhibited higher motility in the microenvironment at the tumor periphery than within the tumor mass. Since oxygen levels differ between tumor microenvironments, we tested if acute hypoxia could account for the differences in cell migration. Direct visualization revealed that Tregs ceased migration under acute systemic hypoxia, whereas myeloid cells continued migrating. In the same mouse and microenvironment, we experimentally subdivided the myeloid cell population and revealed that uptake of fluorescent dextran defined a low-motility subpopulation expressing markers of tumor-promoting, alternatively activated macrophages. In contrast, fluorescent anti-Gr1 antibodies marked myeloid cells patrolling inside tumor vessels and in the stroma. Our techniques allow real-time combinatorial analysis of cell populations based on spatial location, gene expression, behavior and cell surface molecules within intact tumors. The techniques are not limited to investigations in cancer, but could give new insights into cell behavior more broadly in development and disease.
Cellular mechanisms of Cnidarian bleaching: stress causes the collapse of symbiosis
Authors: Weis Virginia M.
Published: September 2008

Cnidarian bleaching is a breakdown in the mutualistic symbiosis between host Cnidarians, such as reef building corals, and their unicellular photosynthetic dinoflagellate symbionts. Bleaching is caused by a variety of environmental stressors, most notably elevated temperatures associated with global climate change in conjunction with high solar radiation, and it is a major contributor to coral death and reef degradation. This review examines the underlying cellular events that lead to symbiosis dysfunction and cause bleaching, emphasizing that, to date, we have only some pieces of a complex cellular jigsaw puzzle. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated by damage to both photosynthetic and mitochondrial membranes, is shown to play a central role in both injury to the partners and to inter-partner communication of a stress response. Evidence is presented that suggests that bleaching is a host innate immune response to a compromised symbiont, much like innate immune responses in other host–microbe interactions. Finally, the elimination or exit of the symbiont from host tissues is described through a variety of mechanisms including exocytosis, host cell detachment and host cell apoptosis.
A glucagon-like endocrine pathway inDrosophilamodulates both lipid and carbohydrate homeostasis
Authors: Bharucha K. N. , Tarr P. , Zipursky S. L.
Published: September 2008

The regulation of energy homeostasis is fundamental to all organisms. The Drosophila fat body serves as a repository for both triglycerides and glycogen, combining the energy storage functions of mammalian adipose and hepatic tissues, respectively. Here we show that mutation of the Drosophila adipokinetic hormone receptor (AKHR), a functional analog of the mammalian glucagon receptor, leads to abnormal accumulation of both lipid and carbohydrate. As a consequence of their obese phenotypes, AKHR mutants are markedly starvation resistant. We show that AKHR is expressed in the fat body, and, intriguingly, in a subset of gustatory neurons that mediate sweet taste. Genetic rescue experiments establish that the metabolic phenotypes arise exclusively from the fat body AKHR expression. Behavioral experiments demonstrate that AKHR mutants are neither sedentary nor hyperphagic, suggesting the metabolic abnormalities derive from a genetic propensity to retain energy stores. Taken together, our results indicate that a single endocrine pathway contributes to both lipid and carbohydrate catabolism in the Drosophila fat body.
Suction generation in white-spotted bamboo sharksChiloscyllium plagiosum
Authors: Wilga Cheryl D. , Sanford Christopher P.
Published: September 2008

After the divergence of chondrichthyans and teleostomes, the structure of the feeding apparatus also diverged leading to alterations in the suction mechanism. In this study we investigated the mechanism for suction generation during feeding in white-spotted bamboo sharks, Chiloscyllium plagiosum and compared it with that in teleosts. The internal movement of cranial elements and pressure in the buccal, hyoid and pharyngeal cavities that are directly responsible for suction generation was quantified using sonomicrometry and pressure transducers. Backward stepwise multiple linear regressions were used to explore the relationship between expansion and pressure, accounting for 60–96% of the variation in pressure among capture events. The progression of anterior to posterior expansion in the buccal, hyoid and pharyngeal cavities is accompanied by the sequential onset of subambient pressure in these cavities as prey is drawn into the mouth. Gape opening triggers the onset of subambient pressure in the oropharyngeal cavities. Peak gape area coincides with peak subambient buccal pressure. Increased velocity of hyoid area expansion is primarily responsible for generating peak subambient pressure in the buccal and hyoid regions. Pharyngeal expansion appears to function as a sink to receive water influx from the mouth, much like that of compensatory suction in bidirectional aquatic feeders. Interestingly, C. plagiosum generates large suction pressures while paradoxically compressing the buccal cavity laterally,delaying the time to peak pressure. This represents a fundamental difference from the mechanism used to generate suction in teleost fishes. Interestingly,pressure in the three cavities peaks in the posterior to anterior direction. The complex shape changes that the buccal cavity undergoes indicate that, as in teleosts, unsteady flow predominates during suction feeding. Several kinematic variables function together, with great variation over long gape cycles to generate the low subambient pressures used by C. plagiosumto capture prey.
Effects of hypothermia on gene expression in zebrafish gills:upregulation in differentiation and function of ionocytes as compensatory responses
Authors: Chou Ming-Yi , Hsiao Chung-Der , Chen Shyh-Chi , Chen I-Wen , Liu Sian-Tai , Hwang Pung-Pung
Published: September 2008

Ectothermic vertebrates are different from mammals that are sensitive to hypothermia and have to maintain core temperature for survival. Why and how ectothermic animals survive, grow and reproduce in low temperature have been for a long time a scientifically challenging and important inquiry to biologists. We used a microarray to profile the gill transcriptome in zebrafish (Danio rerio) after exposure to low temperature. Adult zebrafish were acclimated to a low temperature of 12°C for 1 day and up to 30 days, and the gill transcriptome was compared with that of control fish in 28°C by oligonucleotide microarray hybridization. Results showed 11 and 22 transcripts were found to be upregulated, whereas 56 and 70 transcripts were downregulated by low-temperature treatment for 1 day and 30 days,respectively. The gill transcriptome profiles revealed that ionoregulation-related genes were highly upregulated in cold-acclimated zebrafish. This paved the way to investigate the role of ionoregulatory genes in zebrafish gills during cold acclimation. Cold acclimation caused upregulation of genes that are essential for ionocyte specification,differentiation, ionoregulation, acid–base balance and the number of cells expressing these genes increased. For instance, epithelial Ca2+ channel (EcaC; an ionoregulatory protein) mRNA increased in parallel with the level of Ca2+ influx, revealing a functional compensation after long-term acclimation to cold. Phosphohistone H3 and TUNEL staining showed that the cell turnover rate was retarded in cold-acclimated gills. Altogether, these results suggest that gills may sustain their functions by producing mature ionocytes from pre-existing undifferentiated progenitors in low-temperature environments.
Systematic differences in membrane acyl composition associated with varying body mass in mammals occur in all phospholipid classes: an analysis of kidney and brain
Authors: Nealon Jessica R. , Blanksby Stephen J. , Mitchell Todd W. , Else Paul L.
Published: September 2008

The acyl composition of membrane phospholipids in kidney and brain of mammals of different body mass was examined. It was hypothesized that reduction in unsaturation index (number of double bonds per 100 acyl chains)of membrane phospholipids with increasing body mass in mammals would be made-up of similar changes in acyl composition across all phospholipid classes and that phospholipid class distribution would be regulated and similar in the same tissues of the different-sized mammals. The results of this study supported both hypotheses. Differences in membrane phospholipid acyl composition (i.e. decreased omega-3 fats, increased monounsaturated fats and decreased unsaturation index with increasing body size) were not restricted to any specific phospholipid molecule or to any specific phospholipid class but were observed in all phospholipid classes. With increase in body mass of mammals both monounsaturates and use of less unsaturated polyunsaturates increases at the expense of the long-chain highly unsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturates, producing decreases in membrane unsaturation. The distribution of membrane phospholipid classes was essentially the same in the different-sized mammals with phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) together constituting ∼91% and ∼88% of all phospholipids in kidney and brain, respectively. The lack of sphingomyelin in the mouse tissues and higher levels in larger mammals suggests an increased presence of membrane lipid rafts in larger mammals. The results of this study support the proposal that the physical properties of membranes are likely to be involved in changing metabolic rate.
Investigating onychophoran gas exchange and water balance as a means to inform current controversies in arthropod physiology
Authors: Clusella-Trullas Susana , Chown Steven L.
Published: September 2008

Several controversies currently dominate the fields of arthropod metabolic rate, gas exchange and water balance, including the extent to which modulation of gas exchange reduces water loss, the origins of discontinuous gas exchange,the relationship between metabolic rate and life-history strategies, and the causes of Palaeozoic gigantism. In all of these areas, repeated calls have been made for the investigation of groups that might most inform the debates,especially of taxa in key phylogenetic positions. Here we respond to this call by investigating metabolic rate, respiratory water loss and critical oxygen partial pressure (Pc) in the onychophoran Peripatopsis capensis, a member of a group basal to the arthropods, and by synthesizing the available data on the Onychophora. The rate of carbon dioxide release (V̇CO2) at 20°C in P. capensis is 0.043 ml CO2 h–1, in keeping with other onychophoran species; suggesting that low metabolic rates in some arthropod groups are derived. Continuous gas exchange suggests that more complex gas exchange patterns are also derived. Total water loss in P. capensis is 57 mg H2O h–1 at 20°C,similar to modern estimates for another onychophoran species. High relative respiratory water loss rates (∼34%; estimated using a regression technique) suggest that the basal condition in arthropods may be a high respiratory water loss rate. Relatively high Pc values(5–10% O2) suggest that substantial safety margins in insects are also a derived condition. Curling behaviour in P. capensisappears to be a strategy to lower energetic costs when resting, and the concomitant depression of water loss is a proximate consequence of this behaviour.
The use of autologous femoral vein for the repair of the common iliac vein after resection of a pheochromocytoma
Authors: Simms M , Mehat M S , Buckels J A C
Published: September 2008

Aim

To illustrate the use of autologous femoral vein for grafting ilio-caval vein defects following abdomino-pelvic tumour resections.

Methods

Case report and literature review.

Results

Durable restoration of ilio-caval patency was achieved, with minimal morbidity from graft harvesting.

Conclusions

Autologous femoral vein presents a viable graft option for the immediate reconstruction of large intra-abdominal vein deficits.
Study of Visual Vibration Perception — Measurement and Statistical Analysis of the Lengths of Seeing Time
Authors: Kawana Seizou , Tamura Yukio , Matsui Masahiro
Published: September 2008

Movement of objects that would normally be expected to be visual triggers of building vibrations perception, are not necessarily seen in actual building environments. It is therefore necessary to examine the influence of visual cues on vibration perception, taking into account the length of the times to see visual cues. For this purpose, those data necessary to estimate the probability of vibration perception from seeing of visual cues (for instance, length of time to see visual cues and distance between people and the seen visual cues) have been measured in actual buildings. In addition, statistical analysis of the data has been carried out. It has been found that the time to see visual cues is about 7.0 seconds on average, regardless of a person's age and sex, and the type of building. The distance between people and seen visual cues is about 2.4 meters on average.
Do humans prefer altruistic mates? Testing a link between sexual selection and altruism towards non‐relatives
Authors: Phillips Tim , Barnard Chris , Ferguson Eamonn , Reader Tom
Published: September 2008

Humans are often seen as unusual in displaying altruistic behaviour towards non‐relatives. Here we outline and test a hypothesis that human altruistic traits evolved as a result of sexual selection. We develop a psychometric scale to measure mate preference towards altruistic traits (the MPAT scale). We then seek evidence of whether mate choice on the basis of altruistic traits is present and find it in one study (N=170 couples). We also predict that a stronger female MPAT, as measured by responses to the MPAT scale, will be expressed – a result found in all three studies (Ns=380, 340, and 398). Both sets of results are consistent with the hypothesized link between human altruism towards non‐relatives and sexual selection.
Using a Speech-Generating Device to Enhance Communicative Abilities for an Adult With Moderate Intellectual Disability
Authors: Cheslock Melissa A. , Barton-Hulsey Andrea , Romski MaryAnn , Sevcik Rose A.
Published: September 2008

For adults with disabilities who are unable to speak, the literature recommends that intervention include augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to improve communication and interactions with others. Some adults with moderate intellectual disabilities who exhibit limited functional speech are often overlooked as candidates for AAC interventions because they have some speech abilities. The perception is that they are too old to improve their language and communication skills. This article presents a case report of a 30-year-old woman with a moderate intellectual disability and a severe expressive language disorder who uses a speech-generating device as a compensatory strategy to facilitate her communicative abilities, independence, and self-determination.
From Foetid Air to Filth: The Cultural Transformation of British Epidemiological Thought, ca. 1780–1848
Authors: Brown Michael
Published: September 2008

Eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century ideas about the occurrence and spread of epidemic disease were complex and contested. Although many thought that diseases such as plague, typhus, and cholera were contagious and were communicated from person to person or via the medium of goods, others believed that they were the product of atmospheric change. Moreover, as historians have emphasized, the early nineteenth century saw a move from a multifactoral, climatic etiology toward one that prioritized specific local corruption of the atmosphere caused by putrefying animal and vegetable matter. In this paper, I extend this analysis by linking to recent literature on dirt and disgust and exploring the importance of theologies. I examine the work of two key figures in the history of British epidemiology, Charles Maclean and Thomas Southwood Smith, and demonstrate how the latter’s increasing emphasis upon the causal agency of filth was structured by his Unitarian faith and his belief in a universally benevolent God.
“Not From the College, but Through the Public and the Legislature”: Charles Maclean and the Relocation of Medical Debate in the Early Nineteenth Century
Authors: Kelly Catherine
Published: September 2008

Charles Maclean is generally thought to have played an important role in the contagion debates of the early nineteenth century and to have prompted two parliamentary inquiries into the issue. The author examines the effects of Maclean’s efforts to relocate the contagion debates from the medical to the public sphere. The author shows that Maclean’s tactics challenged the exclusivity of medical knowledge by ceding power to decide the debate to a non–medically expert Parliament. The author also demonstrates how this conflict laid bare the side-by-side existence of two probative systems in medical debates during the early nineteenth century by examining the medical profession’s struggle to establish what type of evidence would be considered probative and what type of witness would be considered competent to give it.
Cultures of Death and Politics of Corpse Supply: Anatomy in Vienna, 1848–1914
Authors: Buklijas Tatjana
Published: September 2008

Nineteenth-century Vienna is well known to medical historians as a leading center of medical research and education, offering easy access to patients and corpses to students from all over the world. The author seeks to explain how this enviable supply of cadavers was achieved, why it provoked so little opposition at a time when Britain and the United States saw widespread protests against dissection, and how it was threatened from mid-century onward. To understand permissive Viennese attitudes, we need to place them in a longue durée history of death and dissection and to pay close attention to the city’s political geography as it was transformed into a major imperial capital. The tolerant stance of the Roman Catholic Church, strong links to Southern Europe, and the weak position of individuals in the absolutist state all contributed to an idiosyncratic anatomical culture. But as the fame of the Vienna medical school peaked in the later 1800s, the increased demand created by rising numbers of students combined with intensified interdisciplinary competition to produce a shortfall that professors found increasingly difficult to meet. Around 1900, new religious groups and mass political parties challenged long-standing anatomical practice by refusing to supply cadavers and making dissection into an instrument of political struggle. This study of the material preconditions for anatomy at one of Europe’s most influential medical schools provides a contrast to the dominant Anglo-American histories of death and dissection.
“The Red Man and the White Plague”: Rethinking Race, Tuberculosis, and American Indians, ca. 1890–1950
Authors: McMillen Christian W.
Published: September 2008

From the time it emerged as an epidemic in the last decades of the nineteenth century until it had become their number-one health problem in the 1950s, multiple explanations for the etiology of tuberculosis (TB) among American Indians competed for prominence. None was more debated than racial susceptibility—and none held on with such tenacity. Various race-based explanations —Indians’ inherent racial susceptibility, virgin soil theory, and degree of Indian blood—had great explanatory power. These explanations faded from view by the 1950s as a result of epidemiological research begun in the 1930s—research that for the first time filled in many of the pieces of the Indian TB puzzle and allowed TB specialists to know the unknown: who and where the disease struck and why. Combining case finding, X rays, sputum tests—all the modern methods of tracking a TB epidemic—the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was finally able to understand the Indian TB epidemic. But they also wanted to control it. To this end, the BIA and the Phipps Institute, under the direction of Esmond Long and Joseph Aronson, joined together to begin the first controlled trial of the BCG vaccine.
Atlantic Conjunctures in Anglo-American Neurology: Lewis H. Weed and Johns Hopkins Neurology, 1917–1942
Authors: Casper Stephen T.
Published: September 2008

The emergence of neurology at Johns Hopkins presents a case study for reconsidering the international and institutional contexts of neurology generally. Using a variety of sources, Hopkins’s interwar plans for neurology are presented and contextualized in the international environment of neurology, medical research, and philanthropy. During this period, neurology across the world, especially in Britain, was undergoing vast institutional changes. In order for Hopkins to remain at the forefront of excellence in both medicine and medical education, a program in neurology was deemed essential, and this would seem now to have been an unproblematic advance. Spearheading the project for the establishment of neurology at Hopkins was the dean of the medical school, Lewis H. Weed. Weed attempted from 1919 until 1942 to establish a department of neurology but had only limited success. The fact that finding support proved challenging for Weed and Johns Hopkins casts a provocative light on the broader historiography of neurology and illustrates the important role of the international context in defining neurology professionally.
Tiberius’ Philhellenism
Authors: Rutledge Steven H.
Published: September 2008

Over time, the philhellenism of Tiberius has only been examined piecemeal in a number of studies. His love of things Greek has been cast in the shadows as a result of the more flamboyant philhellenism of emperors such as Nero and Hadrian. In fact, Tiberius’ philhellenism was deeper than any other of the early principes ; the nature of his philhellenism and how it was expressed in his personality, as this paper will discuss, is reflective of his character (since it was more private than public in nature) and is also a factor in Tiberius’ reputation as a malus princeps .
Catullus 69 and 71: Goat, Gout, and Venereal Disease
Authors: Kutzko David
Published: September 2008

In Catull. 69 Rufus has a goat living in his armpits. In Catull. 71 a nameless man is part of a love triangle that has afflicted the two male participants with “the goat” and gout. Critics have been hesitant to suggest that Catullus could really be making a joke about sexually transmitting body odor and swollen feet. By examining the literary and medical evidence, I conclude that his audience would have appreciated such a joke. The identification of “the goat” and gout in 69 and 71 as venereal afflictions leads to a direct and funny reading, which fits the dominant pattern of Catullus’ slanderous epigrams.
A League within a League: The Preservation of the Elean Symmachy
Authors: Capreedy Jim
Published: September 2008

During the fifth and fourth centuries b.c.e. , Sparta infringed upon the local and regional autonomy of the Peloponnesians, and consequently, smaller coalitions such as the Elean League became fragmented and incorporated into the Peloponnesian League. The present paper focuses on Elis and how regional concerns and the preservation of its own alliance influenced the history of the Peloponnesos. In particular, Elean resistance to Sparta centered on the control over its dependent cities such as Lepreon, as Elis attempted to preserve the unity of its own regional alliance amidst the larger and more powerful polis of Sparta and its Peloponnesian League.
Sappho’s Sparrows
Authors: Zellner Harold
Published: September 2008

In Sappho 1.10 Aphrodite’s chariot is drawn by sparrows. Perhaps the best explanation of this choice of draft animal is Sappho’s distinctive compositional style, which characteristically employs unexpected word play and conceptually odd combinations. Moreover, Sappho elsewhere uses humorous hyperbole concerning incongruous size. The sequence has the structure of a joke: two unremarkable items set up the hearer for a punch line. Thus there is evidence that the poem is lighthearted humor, whatever else it may be.
Pasillos sin luz : Reading the Asylum in Nadie Me Verá Llorar by Cristina Rivera Garza
Authors: Kanost Laura
Published: September 2008

Mexican historian and literary writer Cristina Rivera Garza approaches the space of the asylum not as a monolithic mechanism of rigid control and silence, but as a continual negotiation of bodies and words. The characters in her 1999 novel Nadie me verá llorar improvise their own unique paths through the physical structure of La Castañeda asylum and the sociocultural space of mental illness. Through its narrative techniques, the novel positions its readers, too, in an indeterminate interpretive space. Readers’ paths through the fixed structure of the novel are as idiosyncratic as the characters’ trajectories through La Castañeda and Porfirian society. By representing and fostering such maneuvers—which Michel de Certeau has termed “tactics”— Nadie me verá llorar challenges the subject/object dynamic inherent in conventional concepts of madness. Rivera Garza’s novel manifests a relationship not of reading and writing subjects and voiceless objects, but of interdependent, mutable subjects. Viewed in the context of 1990s mental health care reform initiatives throughout Latin America, the “tactics” at work in Nadie me verá llorar reflect the reality of individuals currently living in psychiatric hospitals, as well as the potential for reform movements to resituate both concepts of mental illness and individuals who are identified as mentally ill.
Boedo Circense: Leónidas Barletta, Raúl González Tuñón, and the Limits of Tradition
Authors: Borge Jason
Published: September 2008

The circus and circensian practices lend themselves particularly well to the Latin American avant-gardes as privileged proletarian spaces encompassing both the “crafty” extreme of carnival—in Bakhtin’s sense of subversive and artisan—as well as the commercial, technological aspects of the emerging mass media. This article focuses on the circus as a key link between traditional and modern culture in early twentieth-century Argentina. In particular, it examines the writing of Leónidas Barletta and Raúl González Tuñón, both figures loosely associated with the avant-garde Boedo movement. In the work of these writers, I argue, the circus operates primarily metonymically rather than metaphorically: through a series of interventions, principally Tuñón’s early poems and Barletta’s novel Royal Circo , the working-class suburb of Buenos Aires is laid out as a living theater of marginality in which the circus performs a central role. In his novel, Barletta sees the circensian as a site of greed and hunger in need of either liquidation or refinement—the latter option put to practice in Barletta’s later work as founder and director of the influential Teatro del Pueblo. Tuñón, on the other hand, reconstitutes the circensian as a vital “osmotic” space between memory and modernity, in the process showing how apparently marginal cultural practices could be reconstituted through literary expression.
The Case for Nostalgia and Sentimentality in Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s “Serie Carvalho”
Authors: Wells Caragh
Published: September 2008

This article engages with Joan Ramon Resina’s negative critique of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s representation of Barcelona in the ‘Serie Carvalho.’ Based on a detailed analysis of competing philosophical interpretations of nostalgia and sentimentality, the article suggests that Vázquez Montalbán’s use of nostalgia and sentimentality in his urban descriptions of Barcelona’s Raval and barri xino have a positive critical function and should not be dismissed as evidence of the author’s own personal nostalgia for the experience of life in these areas of the city during the post-war period. A selection of urban representations from Asesinato en el comité central, El laberinto griego , and El delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecer are employed to illustrate how Vázquez Montalbán deploys nostalgia in order to engage the reader’s emotions and stimulate the process of remembrance. This narrative effect is based upon Vázquez Montalbán’s persistent fears about the political culture of the Spanish transition and the perceived absence of historical memory following the end of Franco’s dictatorship. It is argued that his sentimental descriptions of Barcelona’s Raval and barri xino can be read as attempts to educate the reader’s emotions in order to resist the ‘cultura del olvido.’