bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Time and pressure dependence of transvascular Clara cell protein, albumin, and IgG transport during ventilator-induced lung injury in mice
Authors: Yoshikawa Sawako , King Judy A. , Reynolds Susan D. , Stripp Barry R. , Parker James C.
Published: February 2004

We compared the transport of three proteins with different hydrodynamic radii with ultrastructural changes in lungs of intact mice ventilated at peak inflation pressures (PIP) of 15, 35, 45, and 55 cmH2O for 2 h and PIP of 55 cmH2O for 0.5 and 1 h. After 2 h of ventilation, significant increases were observed in plasma Clara cell secretory protein (1.9 nm radius) at 35 cmH2O PIP and in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid albumin (3.6 nm radius) at 45 cmH2O PIP and IgG (5.6 nm radius) at 55 cmH2O PIP. Increased concentrations of all three proteins and lung wet-to-dry weight ratios were significantly correlated with PIP and ventilation time. Clara cell secretory protein and albumin increased significantly after 0.5 h of 55 cmH2O PIP, but IgG increased only after 2 h. Separation of endothelium or epithelium to form blebs was apparent only in small vessels (15-30 μm diameter) at 45 cmH2O PIP and after 0.5 h at 55 cmH2O PIP but became extensive after 2 h of ventilation at 55 cmH2O PIP. Junctional gaps between cells were rarely observed. Ultrastructural lung injury and protein clearances across the air-blood barrier were related to ventilation time and PIP levels. Protein clearances increased in relation to molecular size, consistent with increasing dimensions and frequency of transmembrane aqueous pathways.
Mucociliary transport determined by in vivo microdialysis in the airways of normal and CF mice
Authors: Grubb B. R. , Jones J. H. , Boucher R. C.
Published: February 2004

We report a novel method to measure mucociliary transport (MCT) in both the upper and lower airways of normal and CF mice. The in vivo microdialysis technique involves placing a small quantity of dye on the airway surface and a microdialysis probe a defined distance from the site of dye deposition. The dye is transported toward the probe by ciliary transport and, upon reaching the microdialysis probe, diffuses across the dialysis membrane and is collected in the dialysate leaving the probe. The rate of MCT is calculated from the length of time from dye deposition to recovery. The rate of tracheal MCT in normal mice was 2.2 ± 0.45 (SE) mm/min ( n = 6), a value similar to that in reports using other techniques. MCT in CF mice was not different (2.3 ± 0.29, n = 6), consistent with previous observations suggesting that tracheal ion transport properties are not different between CF and normal mice. The rate of MCT in the nasal cavity of normal mice was slower than in the trachea (1.3 ± 0.26, n = 4). MCT in the CF mouse nasal cavity (1.4 ± 0.31, n = 8), a region in which the CF mouse exhibits bioelectric properties similar to the human CF patient, was, again, not different from the normal mouse, perhaps reflecting copious gland secretion offsetting Na+ and liquid hyperabsorption. In conclusion, we have developed a versatile, simple in vivo method to measure MCT in both upper and lower airways of mice and larger animals.
Thymulin evokes IL-6-C/EBPβ regenerative repair and TNF-α silencing during endotoxin exposure in fetal lung explants
Authors: Land Stephen C. , Darakhshan Froogh
Published: February 2004

Chorioamnionitis is associated with increased risks of perinatal respiratory failure; however, components of the inflammatory acute-phase response are known to actively promote lung maturation. To manipulate this relationship, we examined the effect of the thymic immunomodulator thymulin on fetal lung mesenchyme-epithelial differentiation during exposure to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Gestation day 14 fetal rat lung explants were cultured for 96 h at fetal (23 mmHg) or ambient (142 mmHg) Po2. Airway surface complexity (ASC, perimeter/√area2) was greater at fetal vs. ambient Po2; however, exposure to 0.1–50 μg/ml LPS significantly raised ASC at 2 μg/ml in ambient Po2explants. LPS (50 μg/ml) depressed ASC in both conditions to untreated ambient Po2control values without changes in necrosis or apoptosis. To manipulate LPS-evoked TNF-α and IL-6 release, we exposed explants and A549 cells to combinations of 50 μg/ml LPS, 10 μM ZnCl2, and 0.1–1,000 ng/ml thymulin at either Po2. Thymulin+Zn2+suppressed and potentiated LPS-evoked TNF-α and IL-6 release, yielding an IC50(TNF-α)of 0.5 ± 0.01 ng/ml and EC50(IL-6)of 1.4 ± 0.3 ng/ml in A549 cells. This was accompanied by activation of the p38 MAPKMAPKAP-K2 pathway with sustained expression of TNF-α and IL-6 transcripts at ambient Po2. LPS+thymulin+Zn2+-treated explants showed proliferation of CCAAT-enhancer binding protein-β (C/EBPβ) and fibroblast growth factor-9 immunoreactive mesenchyme, which was abolished by IL-6 antisense oligonucleotides. The posttranscriptional suppression of immunogenic TNF-α synthesis coupled with raised IL-6 and C/EBPβ-dependent mesenchyme proliferation suggests a role for bioactive thymulin in regulating regenerative repair in the fetal lung.
Beneficial effects of moderate exercise on mice aging: survival, behavior, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial electron transfer
Authors: Navarro Ana , Gomez Carmen , López-Cepero José M. , Boveris Alberto
Published: February 2004

Moderate exercise in a treadmill (10, 15, and 20 cm/s, for 5 min each, weekly) from 28 to 78 wk of age extended male and female mice life span by 19 and 9% accompanied by 36 and 13% and 13 and 9% increased performance in behavioral assays (tightrope and T-maze tests) at 52 wk of age. Moderate exercise significantly decreased the aging-associated development of oxidative stress by preventing 1) the increase in protein carbonyls and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances contents of submitochondrial membranes; 2) the decrease in antioxidant enzyme activities (Mn- and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase and catalase); and 3) the decrease in mitochondrial NADH-cytochrome- c reductase and cytochrome oxidase activities observed at 52 wk of mice age in brain, heart, liver, and kidney. These effects were no longer significant at 78 wk of age in mice. Moderate exercise, started at young age in mice, increased life span, decreased oxidative stress, and prevented the decline of cytochrome oxidase activity and behavioral performance at middle age but not at old age.
Baroreflexes of the rat. III. Open-loop gain and electroencephalographic arousal
Authors: Dworkin Barry R. , Dworkin Susan
Published: February 2004

In early studies of humans, baroreflex sensitivity was found to be higher during sleep; however, subsequent observations in several species, including humans, have been at variance with the original reports. Sleep and arousal are behavioral states, and it is difficult to accurately and repeatedly measure baroreflex sensitivity in behaving animals. However, pharmacologically immobilized (neuromuscularly blocked) rats have apparently normal sleep-wakefulness cycles, and baroreflex gain can be measured directly in this preparation. Using the delta band of the EEG (EEGδ) as an index of sleep and arousal and open-loop aortic depressor nerve (ADN) stimulation as a baroreflex input, we found that blood pressure (BP) level depended on arousal ( r = -0.416; P < 0.0001), and BP baroreflex gain depended on BP level ( r = 0.496; P < 0.0001), but that BP baroreflex gain was independent of arousal ( r = 0.001; NS). Heart period (HP) was different; although HP level depended on arousal ( r = 0.352; P < 0.0001), HP baroreflex gain did not depend on HP level ( r = 0.029; NS), and HP baroreflex gain increased with arousal ( r = 0.315; P < 0.0001). A partial-correlations analysis showed that the presence of the relationship between BP level and BP baroreflex gain probably attenuated the relationship between arousal and BP gain. The results are consistent 1) with physiological findings showing that arousal attenuates afferent transmission through the nucleus of the solitary tract and enhances sympathoinhibition at the rostral ventrolateral medulla; and 2) with observations in humans and animals showing increased cardiac baroreflex sensitivity during sleep, but little if any effect of sleep on BP baroreflex sensitivity. The findings are relevant to all methods of baroreflex gain estimation that use HP as the index of baroreflex activation.
Seasonal, tissue-specific regulation of Akt/protein kinase B and glycogen synthase in hibernators
Authors: Hoehn Kyle L. , Hudachek Susan F. , Summers Scott A. , Florant Gregory L.
Published: February 2004

Yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris) exhibit a circannual cycle of hyperphagia and nutrient storage in the summer followed by hibernation in the winter. This annual cycle of body mass gain and loss is primarily due to large-scale accumulation of lipid in the summer, which is then mobilized and oxidized for energy during winter. The rapid and predictable change in body mass makes these animals ideal for studies investigating the molecular basis for body weight regulation. In the study described herein, we monitored seasonal changes in the protein levels and activity of a central regulator of anabolic metabolism, the serine-threonine kinase Akt-protein kinase B (Akt/PKB), during the months accompanying maximal weight gain and entry into hibernation (June-November). Interestingly, under fasting conditions, Akt/PKB demonstrated a tissue-specific seasonal activation. Specifically, although Akt/PKB levels did not change, the activity of Akt/PKB (isoforms 1/α and 2/β) in white adipose tissue (WAT) increased significantly in July. Moreover, glycogen synthase, which lies downstream of Akt/PKB on a linear pathway linking the enzyme to the stimulation of glycogen synthesis, demonstrated a similar pattern of seasonal activation. By contrast, Akt/PKB activity in skeletal muscle peaked much later (i.e., September). These data suggest the existence of a novel, tissue-specific mechanism regulating Akt/PKB activation during periods of marked anabolism.
Activation of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors on Peripheral Axons of Primary Motoneurons Mediates Transmitter Release at the Zebrafish NMJ
Authors: Todd Keith J. , Slatter Carrie A. B. , Ali Declan W.
Published: February 2004

The development and function of the vertebrate neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is continually being redefined. Previous studies have indicated that glutamate may play a role in the development or function of the NMJ by associating with presynaptic receptors. We have used larval zebrafish ( Danio rerio) to investigate the presence of presynaptic ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) at the NMJ in vivo. In whole-mount zebrafish larvae, antibody staining directed to NR2A subunits colocalized with specific staining of motoneuron axon tracts. Whole cell voltage-clamp recordings of miniature endplate currents (mEPCs) from axial white muscle were performed during application of iGluR agonists and antagonists. Local perfusion of the NMJ with iGluR agonists resulted in significant increases in the frequency of spontaneous acetylcholine (ACh) release. These increases were blocked by the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist d-(-)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (50 μM) and by the non-NMDA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxalene-2,3-dione (50 μM). Further pharmacological investigation revealed no effect of the kainate receptor-specific antagonist (2S,4R)-4-methylglutamate (10 μM) on kainate-induced rises in the frequency of spontaneous ACh release. However, these were blocked with the AMPA receptor-specific antagonist 1-(4-aminophenyl)-4-methyl-7,8-methylenedioxy-5H-2,3-benzodiazepine (50 μM). Application of glutamate (1 mM) in the presence of the glutamate uptake inhibitor d-threo-β-benzyloxyaspartate(200 μM) resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of mEPCs. These results suggest the presence of AMPA and NMDA receptors in association with motoneuron axons of larval zebrafish.
Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Mouse and Rat Optic Nerves
Authors: Zhang Chuan-Li , Verbny Yakov , Malek Sameh A. , Stys Peter K. , Chiu Shing Yan
Published: February 2004

Receptor-mediated calcium signaling in axons of mouse and rat optic nerves was examined by selectively staining the axonal population with a calcium indicator. Nicotine (1-50 μM) induced an axonal calcium elevation that was eliminated when calcium was removed from the bath, suggesting that nicotine induces calcium influx into axons. The nicotine response was blocked by d-tubocurarine and mecamylamine but not α-bungarotoxin, indicating the presence of calcium permeable, non-α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtype. Agonist efficacy order for eliciting the axonal nAChR calcium response was cytisine ∼ nicotine >> acetylcholine. The nicotine-mediated calcium response was attenuated during the process of normal myelination, decreasing by approximately 10-fold from P1 (premyelinated) to P30 (myelinated). Nicotine also caused a rapid reduction in the compound action potential in neonatal optic nerves, consistent with a shunting of the membrane after opening of the nonspecific cationic nicotinic channels. Voltagegated calcium channels contributed little to the axonal calcium elevation during nAChR activation. During repetitive stimulations, the compound action potential in neonatal mouse optic nerves underwent a gradual reduction in amplitude that could be partially prevented by d-tubocurarine, suggesting an activity-dependent release of acetylcholine that activates axonal AChRs. We conclude that mammalian optic nerve axons express nAChRs and suggest that these receptors are activated in an activity-dependent fashion during optic nerve development to modulate axon excitability and biology.
Spike-Frequency Adaptation in the Inferior Colliculus
Authors: Ingham Neil J. , McAlpine David
Published: February 2004

We investigated spike-frequency adaptation of neurons sensitive to interaural phase disparities (IPDs) in the inferior colliculus (IC) of urethane-anesthetized guinea pigs using a stimulus paradigm designed to exclude the influence of adaptation below the level of binaural integration. The IPD-step stimulus consists of a binaural 3,000-ms tone, in which the first 1,000 ms is held at a neuron's least favorable (“worst”) IPD, adapting out monaural components, before being stepped rapidly to a neuron's most favorable (“best”) IPD for 300 ms. After some variable interval (1–1,000 ms), IPD is again stepped to the best IPD for 300 ms, before being returned to a neuron's worst IPD for the remainder of the stimulus. Exponential decay functions fitted to the response to best-IPD steps revealed an average adaptation time constant of 52.9 ± 26.4 ms. Recovery from adaptation to best IPD steps showed an average time constant of 225.5 ± 210.2 ms. Recovery time constants were not correlated with adaptation time constants. During the recovery period, adaptation to a 2nd best-IPD step followed similar kinetics to adaptation during the 1st best-IPD step. The mean adaptation time constant at stimulus onset (at worst IPD) was 34.8 ± 19.7 ms, similar to the 38.4 ± 22.1 ms recorded to contralateral stimulation alone. Individual time constants after stimulus onset were correlated with each other but not with time constants during the best-IPD step. We conclude that such binaurally derived measures of adaptation reflect processes that occur above the level of exclusively monaural pathways, and subsequent to the site of primary binaural interaction.
Role of Persistent Sodium and Calcium Currents in Motoneuron Firing and Spasticity in Chronic Spinal Rats
Authors: Li Yunru , Gorassini Monica A. , Bennett David J.
Published: February 2004

After chronic spinal injury, motoneurons spontaneously develop two persistent inward currents (PICs): a TTX-sensitive persistent sodium current (sodium PIC) and a nimodipine-sensitive persistent calcium current (calcium PIC). In the present paper, we examined how these PICs contributed to motoneuron firing. Adult rats were spinalized at the S2sacral level, and after 2 months intracellular recordings were made from sacrocaudal motoneurons in vitro. The PICs and repetitive firing were measured with slow triangular voltage and current ramps, respectively. The sodium PIC was examined after blocking the calcium PIC with nimodipine (20 μM; n = 12). It was always activated subthreshold, and during current ramps in nimodipine, it produced a sodium plateau that assisted in initiating and maintaining firing (self-sustained firing). The sodium PIC oscillated off and on during firing and helped initiate each spike, and near threshold this caused abnormally slow firing (2.82 ± 1.21 Hz). A low dose of TTX (0.5 μM) blocked the sodium PIC, sodium plateau, and very slow firing prior to affecting the spike itself. The calcium PIC was estimated as the current blocked by nimodipine or current remaining in TTX (2 μM; n = 13). In 59% of motoneurons, the calcium PIC was activated subthreshold to firing and produced a plateau that assisted in initiating and sustaining firing because nimodipine significantly increased the firing threshold current and decreased the self-sustained firing. In the remaining motoneurons (41%), the calcium PIC was activated suprathreshold to firing and during current ramps did not initially affect firing but eventually was activated and caused an acceleration in firing followed by self-sustained firing, which were blocked by nimodipine. The frequency-current ( F-I) slope was 3.0 ± 1.0 Hz/nA before the calcium PIC activation (primary range), 6.3 ± 3.6 Hz/nA during the calcium PIC onset (secondary range; acceleration), and 2.1 ± 1.3 Hz/nA with the calcium PIC steadily activated (tertiary range). Nimodipine eliminated the secondary and tertiary ranges, leaving a linear F-I slope of 3.7 ± 1.0 Hz/nA. A single low-threshold shock to the dorsal root evoked a many-second-long discharge, the counterpart of a muscle spasm in the awake chronic spinal rat. This long-lasting reflex was caused by the motoneuron PICs because when the activation of the voltage-dependent PICs was prevented by hyperpolarization, the same dorsal root stimulation only produced a brief excitatory postsynaptic potential (<1 s). Both the calcium and sodium PIC were involved because nimodipine only partly reduced the reflex and there remained very slow firing mediated by the sodium PIC.
GABA Neurotransmission in the Cerebellar Interposed Nuclei: Involvement in Classically Conditioned Eyeblinks and Neuronal Activity
Authors: Aksenov D. , Serdyukova N. , Irwin K. , Bracha V.
Published: February 2004

The cerebellar interposed nuclei (IN) are an essential part of circuits that control classically conditioned eyeblinks in the rabbit. The function of the IN is under the control of GABAergic projections from Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex. The exact involvement of cerebellar cortical input into the IN during eyeblink expression is not clear. While it is known that the application of γ-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) agonists and antagonists affects the performance of classically conditioned eyeblinks, the effects of these drugs on IN neurons in vivo are not known. The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of muscimol and picrotoxin on the expression of conditioned eyeblinks and the activity of IN cells simultaneously. Injections of muscimol abolished conditioned responses and either silenced or diminished the activity of IN cells. Two injections were administered in each picrotoxin experiment. The first injection of picrotoxin slightly modified the timing and amplitude of the eyeblink, produced mild tonic eyelid closure, increased tonic activity of IN cells, and reduced the amplitude of the neural responses. The second injection of picrotoxin abolished conditioned responses, further increased tonic eyelid closure, dramatically elevated the tonic activity of IN cells, and in most cases, abolished neuronal responses. These results demonstrate that both GABAA-mediated inactivation and tonic up-regulation of IN cells can interrupt the expression of conditioned eyeblinks and that this behavioral effect is accompanied by the suppression of the neuronal activity correlates of the conditioned stimulus and response.
Ionic Basis of Tonic Firing in Spinal Substantia Gelatinosa Neurons of Rat
Authors: Melnick Igor V. , Santos Sónia F. A. , Szokol Karolina , Szûcs Péter , Safronov Boris V.
Published: February 2004

Ionic conductances underlying excitability in tonically firing neurons (TFNs) from substantia gelatinosa (SG) were studied by the patch-clamp method in rat spinal cord slices. Ca2+-dependent K+ (KCA) conductance sensitive to apamin was found to prolong the interspike intervals and stabilize firing evoked by a sustained membrane depolarization. Suppression of Ca2+ and KCA currents, however, did not abolish the basic pattern of tonic firing, indicating that it was generated by voltage-gated Na+ and K+ currents. Na+ and K+ channels were further analyzed in somatic nucleated patches. Na+ channels exhibited fast activation and inactivation kinetics and followed two-exponential time course of recovery from inactivation. The major K+ current was carried through tetraethylammonium (TEA)-sensitive rapidly activating delayed-rectifier (KDR) channels with a slow inactivation. The TEA-insensitive transient A-type K+ (KA) current was very small in patches and was strongly inactivated at resting potential. Block of KDR rather than KA conductance by 1 mM TEA lowered the frequency and stability of firing. Intracellular staining with biocytin revealed at least three morphological groups of TFNs. Finally, on the basis of present data, we created a model of TFN and showed that Na+ and KDR currents are sufficient to generate a basic pattern of tonic firing. It is concluded that the balanced contribution of all ionic conductances described here is important for generation and modulation of tonic firing in SG neurons.
Neuronal Activity in the Primate Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata During the Performance of Simple and Memory-Guided Elbow Movements
Authors: Wichmann Thomas , Kliem Michele Ann
Published: February 2004

The basal ganglia participate in motor functions and are implicated in the pathophysiology of movement disorders. It has been shown in primates that the activity of many neurons in one of the basal ganglia output nuclei, the internal segment of the globus pallidus, changes with active or passive movements. The involvement of the second major output nucleus, the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), in movement is less well established. In this study, the electrophysiologic activity of SNr neurons was studied in two awake Rhesus monkeys while the animals were examined and while they performed elbow movements in two different motor tasks ( n = 261 cells). Responses to examination were uncommon and subtle. Twenty-one percent of neurons responded to the target step in a step tracking task, mostly with anticipatory responses, although some cells showed directional, movement-related activity. In a delayed-response task, 17% of cells showed anticipatory activity to an instruction cue preceding the target jump, 11% responded directly to the cue, and 11% showed long-lasting postcue activity. Movement-related responses were seen in 21% in this task. Reward responses occurred in 10% of neurons. Responses to more than one event were common. The results demonstrate that few neurons in the SNr respond directly to passive or active movements, but a large proportion shows responses that may be related to memory, attention, or movement preparation. While internal pallidal segment neurons may be preferentially concerned with controlling elemental movement parameters, neurons in the SNr may be more involved in higher motor functions or nonmotor aspects of behavior.
Growth and life histories in Nematoda with particular reference to environmental factors
Authors: Boag Brian , Yeates Gregor
Published: February 2004

To seek unifying principles underlying growth patterns in the phylum Nematoda, the volume of successive developmental stages was determined from published measurements. Within some groups occupying fairly uniform, non-living habitats ( e.g. , Longidoridae, Mononchida, non-parasitic Rhabditida) growth patterns are similar, as are the sizes of both sexes. In aquatic Chromadorida and Monhysterida, females are commonly larger than males. Plant-parasitic groups vary in the relative size of the sexes; within Criconematoidea there is some reduction of males in Hemicyliophora but extreme reduction in Tylenchulus. Despite freeliving and parasitic cycles of Strongyloides showing differing growth in stages 2 to 4, females are similar in both cycles. The strongylid parasites of vertebrates studied have a bacterial-feeding external stage and have lower growth rates and achieve smaller female size than Ascardia with direct life cycles. In taxa for which data are available, the increase in volume between stages 1 and 2 was 0.4-53-fold; that between stages 2 and 3, typically, 1.8-2.9-fold but up to 8191-fold; between stages 3 to 4, 1.7-3.8-fold but up to 100-fold; and between stage 4 to female, typically, 1.1-42-fold but up to 918-fold. Complete data are available for few nematode species and there is no apparent consistent pattern in which taxa contain 'outliers' at particular stages. Many more data are required to assess the impacts of habitat texture, physical support, food supply and experienced temperature on nematode growth and size.
Ventral Pallidal Representation of Pavlovian Cues and Reward: Population and Rate Codes
Authors: Tindell Amy J. , Berridge Kent C. , Aldridge J. Wayne
Published: February 2004

We recorded neural activity in the ventral pallidum (VP) while rats learned a pavlovian reward association. Rats learned to distinguish a tone that predicted sucrose pellets (CS+) from a different tone that predicted nothing (CS–). Many VP units became responsive to CS+, but few units responded to CS–. When two CS+ were encountered sequentially, the earliest predictor of reward became most potent. Many VP units were also activated when the sucrose reward was received [unconditioned stimulus (UCS)]. These VP units for UCS remained responsive to sucrose reward after learning, even when sucrose was already predicted by CS+. Neural representation of reward learning and reward itself was characterized by population codes. The population of units that responded to CS+ increased with learning, whereas the population that responded to UCS did not change. A relative firing rate code also represented the identities of conditioned stimuli and UCS. Firing rate differences among stimuli were acquired early and remained stable during subsequent training, whereas population codes and behavioral conditioned responses continued to develop during subsequent training. Thus, the VP makes use of dynamic CS population and rate codes to encode pavlovian reward cues in reward learning and uses stable UCS population and firing codes to encode sucrose reward itself.
Activity-Dependent Expression of Acyl-Coenzyme A-Binding Protein in Retinal Muller Glial Cells Evoked by Optokinetic Stimulation
Authors: Barmack Neal H. , Bilderback Timothy R. , Liu Henry , Qian Zuyuan , Yakhnitsa Vadim
Published: February 2004

Long-term horizontal optokinetic stimulation (HOKS) decreases the gain of the horizontal optokinetic reflex and evokes the second phase of optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN-II). We investigated the possible molecular constituents of this adaptation. We used a differential display reverse transcriptase-PCR screen for mRNAs isolated from retinas of rabbits that received HOKS. In each rabbit, we compared mRNAs from the retina stimulated in the posterior→anterior (preferred) direction with mRNAs from the retina stimulated in the anterior→posterior (null) direction. Acyl-CoA-binding protein (ACBP) mRNA was one of four mRNAs selected by this screen, the proteins of which interact with GABA receptors. HOKS in the preferred direction increased ACBP mRNA transcription and ACBP protein expression. ACBP was localized to Muller glial cells by hybridization histochemistry and by immunohistochemistry. ACBP interacts with the α1-subunit of the GABAAreceptor, as determined by a yeast two-hybrid technique. This interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation of ACBP and the α1-subunit of the GABAAreceptor using an antibody to GABAAα1. The interaction was also confirmed by a “pull-down” assay in which histidine-tagged ACBP was used to pull down the GABAAα1. ACBP does not cross the blood–brain barrier. However, smaller truncated proteolytic fragments of ACBP do, increasing the excitability of central cortical neurons.

Muller cells may secrete ACBP in the inner plexiform layer, thereby decreasing the sensitivity of GABAAreceptors expressed on the surface of ganglion cell dendrites. Because retinal directional sensitivity is linked to GABAergic transmission, HOKS-induced expression of ACBP could provide a molecular basis for adaptation to HOKS and for the genesis of OKAN-II.
Intracellular Association of Glycine Receptor with Gephyrin Increases Its Plasma Membrane Accumulation Rate
Authors: Hanus Cyril , Vannier Christian , Triller Antoine
Published: February 2004

Gephyrin, a tubulin-binding protein, is the core of inhibitory postsynaptic scaffolds stabilizing glycine receptors (GlyRs) and/or GABAAreceptors. Previous ultrastructural studiesin vivoandin vitrohave reported a localization of gephyrin to intracellular cisternas during development or after glycinergic denervation (Seitanidou et al., 1992; Colin et al., 1996, 1998). These data were compatible with a traffic of this cytoplasmic, but membrane-associated, protein together with membrane proteins such as GlyR after exocytosis and/or endocytosis pathways. We have now investigated the consequences of a GlyR–gephyrin interaction on the localization and the dynamics of these two molecules in African green monkey kidney cells (COS-7) cells and in neurons transfected with green fluorescent protein-tagged-gephyrin and myc-tagged GlyR α1subunits. In these experiments, myc-tagged GlyR α1contained, or did not contain, the gephyrin-binding sequence (βgb) of the GlyR β subunit. We report here that GlyR–gephyrin interaction localizes gephyrin to GlyR-containing organelles. Videomicroscopy and nocodazole treatment indicate that the movements of these vesicles are microtubule dependent. Expressing GlyR α1with a thrombin cleavage site between the myc-tag and the N terminal of the GlyR α1subunit (Rosenberg et al., 2001) allowed monitoring of newly inserted receptors in the cell surface. Using temperature changes to block GlyR in, and then release it from, the trans-Golgi network, we show that gephyrin accelerates the accumulation of GlyR at the cell surface. Therefore, our data strongly suggest that some GlyR clusters are associated with gephyrin on their way to the cell surface and that this association increases the accumulation of GlyR at the plasma membrane.
A Novel cAMP-Dependent Pathway Activates Neuronal Integrin Function in Retinal Neurons
Authors: Ivins Jonathan K. , Parry Melissa K. , Long Dorothy A.
Published: February 2004

Retinal neurons lose the ability to attach to and extend neurites on substrata of laminin-1 (LN-1) during late embryogenesis, in a time frame that corresponds to target innervation. Although this developmental loss correlates with a modest downregulation of integrin expression, we have shown previously that these neurons use the same laminin-binding integrins for outgrowth on other laminin isoforms to which responsivity has not been lost (Ivins et al., 1998), suggesting that integrin functional states may be a critical point of regulation. Consistent with this view, expression of an activated mutant of R-ras, an activator of integrin function, restores integrin-dependent outgrowth of late embryonic retinal neurons on LN-1 (Ivins et al., 2000). Because cyclic nucleotides have been implicated in the regulation of integrin function in non-neuronal cells, as well as in the regulation of growth cone responses to various axon growth inhibitors, we asked whether raising cAMP levels in late embryonic retinal neurons could activate neuronal integrin function and restore neurite outgrowth on LN-1. We find that, similar to R-ras expression, raising cAMP levels in these neurons promotes α6β1 integrin-dependent neurite outgrowth. Surprisingly, these effects of cAMP are independent of protein kinase A and the EPAC (exchange protein directly activated by cAMP)/Rap pathway and suggest the existence of a novel cAMP-dependent mechanism.
Laos in 2002: Regime Maintenance through Political Stability
Authors: Thayer Carlyle A.
Published: February 2004

In 2002, Laos emerged from a period of economic turbulence and political insecurity. The economy showed signs of recovery from the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis. But economists noted some worrying long-term trends. Foreign donors demonstrated their confidence by continuing to provide development assistance. Domestic insurgency appeared on the decline. In February, Laos conducted trouble-free national elections. The Lao government also made some positive adjustments in its treatment of Christian minority groups. Externally, Laos gave priority to reinforcing relations with its immediate neighbors, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. The Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) is one of the world's least-developed countries and one of the last remaining socialist states in Asia. During 2002 the one-party regime continued to consolidate its hold on power. Domestic insurgency fell and there was no renewal of the urban bombing attacks that struck Laos in 2000–01. The Lao economy continued to recover from the aftershocks of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, although serious structural problems remained. No serious problems emerged in Laos's external relations. Bilateral relations with Vietnam were further strengthened.
Japan in 2002: An Up-and-Down Year, but Mostly Down
Authors: Uriu Robert
Published: February 2004

Japan in 2002 continued to grapple with many of the same economic problems it has faced over the past 10 years, with a familiar lack of success. Although the economy has not imploded, as some feared last year, it is showing few signs of staging a sustained recovery. Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro remained in office, but almost all of his efforts to reform the moribund economic system were watered down by resistance from affected groups. The foreign policy agenda was dominated by the growing crisis over North Korea's intensification of its nuclear weapons development program. This crisis cancelled out Koizumi's earlier progress at normalizing relations with Pyongyang.
Will Economic Integration Between Mainland China and Taiwan Lead to a Congenial Political Culture?
Authors: Chao Chien-Min
Published: February 2004

Although economically highly interdependent, Taiwan and mainland China are nevertheless antagonistic in the political arena. This is because two very different sub-political cultures have germinated in the respective lands. For Taiwan, a new cultural identity has emerged, featuring an emphasis on individualism, an embrace of local values, and a growing identification of Taiwan as a political community. This mind-set differs from the collective-minded Chinese way of thinking prevalent on the mainland in which neo-collectivism and nationalism have taken a center seat. The identity crisis that the two have suffered has made their policies less amenable toward each other.
Transforming China's Urban Health-care System
Authors: Guo Baogang
Published: February 2004

China launched its ambitious urban health-care reform in 1998. This paper takes a closer look at three key areas of the reform: the new health-care insurance scheme, the reorganization of health-care institutions, and the new pharmaceutical distribution system. A critical assessment of the past five years indicates that although the reform has had some success in reducing healthcare costs while improving access, the new system also has some structural problems. The success or failure of the new system will be determined by the ability of the program to collect and mange health-care trust funds, and to provide adequate funding for the large number of elderly beneficiaries covered by the program.
Preconditions and Prospects for Democratic Transition in Burma/Myanmar
Authors: Thawnghmung Ardeth Maung
Published: February 2004

This article evaluates the prospects for democratic transition in Myanmar by looking at the environment under which dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 1995 and 2002. It argues that while her release in 1995 was mainly based on the regime's overconfidence in its future political stability and Myanmar's economic prosperity, the absence of these expected outcomes in the early 2000s has forced the military government to develop a more conciliatory position toward the opposition leader. This analysis draws broader implications from current political and economic affairs and assesses their impact on Myanmar's transition to democracy.
Change and Continuity in the Thai Political Party System
Authors: Ockey James
Published: February 2004

In 2001, elections for the Thai parliament were held under a new constitution. Scholarly attention has focused on changes to the political system. This article argues that it is also important to examine continuities. Focusing on the relationship between parties and their factions, we find that change has come in policy platforms, coalition-building, and patronage; important continuities exist in electoral networks and vote-buying.
EAST TIMOR'S FOUNDING ELECTIONS AND EMERGING PARTY SYSTEM
Authors: King Dwight Y.
Published: February 2004

East Timor's statehood was launched with two U.N.-supervised elections, one in August 2001 to elect the Constituent Assembly (which became the parliament) and the second in April 2002 to elect the head of state. Analysis of district-level returns from the Assembly election reveals two types of strategic voting, three lines of political cleavage in the electorate, and two legacies of Indonesian rule. This article analyzes East Timor's first two elections, with particular focus on the bases of voting choice and on the nascent party system. There are three main findings: (1) a higher level of political savvy among the citizenry than expected, given their poverty and lack of formal education; (2) three political cleavages, one generational and two regional-one that divides the eastern from the western region and one that distinguishes the central mountain region from the rest of the country; and (3) areas that under Indonesian rule had voted heavily for the “opposition” party have now switched to FRETILIN, the new predominant party.
Spartan Literacy Revisited
Authors: Millender Ellen G.
Published: February 2004

According to several fourth-century Athenian sources, the Spartans were a boorish and uneducated people, who were either hostile toward the written word or simply illiterate. Building upon such Athenian claims of Spartan illiteracy, modern scholars have repeatedly portrayed Sparta as a backward state whose supposedly secretive and reactionary oligarchic political system led to an extremely low level of literacy on the part of the common Spartiate. This article reassesses both ancient and modern constructions of Spartan illiteracy and examines the ideological underpinnings of Athenian attacks on the ostensibly unlettered Lacedaemonians. Beginning with a close analysis of the available archaeological and literary evidence on Spartan public applications of literacy, it argues that the written word played a central role in the operation of the Spartan state, which utilized a variety of documents and required routine acts of literacy on the part of Spartiate commanders and ocials. Both the broad eligibility for the ephorate and the Lacedaemonians' chronic oliganthropia demonstrate that not all of the important public functionaries whose duties customarily involved reading and writing were members of the Spartan elite. The fact that Spartan office-holders acquired their literacy skills from a compulsory and comprehensive system of public education, which promoted the creation of a collective identity, further argues in favor of a literacy that was more broadly based than previous scholars have concluded. The article then accounts for these representations of Spartan illiteracy by locating them in the context of the changing relationship between orality and literacy in fifth- and fourth-century Athens. It argues that as the written word played an increasingly important role in Athenian democratic practice and ideology, it began to performtwo interconnected functions: as a signicant component in Athenian self-denition and as a key indicator of cultural and political dierence between Athens and its Peloponnesian enemies.
A Doo-Dah-Doo-Dah-Dey at the Races: OvidAmores3.2 and the Personal Politics of theCircus Maximus
Authors: Henderson John
Published: February 2004

Ovid's two versions of his encounter with a woman at the races in the Circus Maximus (Amores 3.2; Ars Amatoria 1.135-70) are re-read together as celebrations of the spectacle of the spectators in the arena. The analytical approaches of "Everyday Life" collage and "Foucauldian panopticism" structure are shown to "over-achieve." Ovid dramatizes personal politics at the Circus in a sustained display of the self-reflexive poetics of erotic metaphor. When elegiac amor is acted out as a race, victory and favor are eroticized, steering between crude explicitness and bland circumlocution, into an expert triumph of sexual asymmetry. Ovid finds a version of femineus amor which brings his poem to a climax, and a climax to his poem, in spite of public decency and myriad spectators. Every quirk, routine, or landmark of the ludi circenses, including the parade of the gods, is included as a challenge for Ovid's poetic chariot, another lap in the race-or another race, re-run according to a fresh strategy. Re-playing the meta-literary terms of poetic genre, Amores 3.2 gives an "epinician" turn to Amores 3, playing games on Callimachean strategies for re-starting a work on a new lap.
Did Welfare Reform Work? Implications for 2002 and Beyond
Authors: Hofferth Sandra
Published: February 2004

Welfare reform has been widely accepted as a success, with the media highlighting stories of employed ex-recipients. But the reality is more complex. Many women lose their jobs; many others stay poor even while working; a booming economy might really deserve the credit. What works and what does not?
Is Congress Really for Sale?
Authors: Burstein Paul
Published: February 2004

Many Americans lament the way special interests sway politicians with campaign contributions and lobbying, procuring privileged treatment even when the public is opposed. Research shows, however, that contributions and lobbying determine public policy much less than most people think. When major issues arise, party, ideology and public opinion matter much more.
Beyond Black and white: Remaking Race in America
Authors: Lee Jennifer , Bean Frank D. , Sloane Kathy
Published: February 2004

A new way of classifying Americans by race certifies a new reality: the growing number of multiracial people and their political mobilization. The question is whether this step foretells the erasure of racial lines in America or just a redrawing of them.
I, Jean Seberg
Authors: Rappaport Mark
Published: February 2004

In "I, Jean Seberg," author/filmmaker Mark Rappaport (director of Rock Hudson's Home Movies [see FQ vol. 49, no. 4]), discusses how he came to make his film, From the Journals of Jean Seberg. The essay includes anecdotes that he unearthed about Seberg after he had completed the film, as well as the original mini­essays he wrote while preparing for it—about Jane Fonda, Clint Eastwood, Joan of Arc, Lilith, Godard and Gorin's Letter to Jane, and the Kuleshov effect. Parts of these essays were used, in a different form, in the final film. If you didn't see From the Journals of Jean Seberg, this essay might make you want to. If you saw the film and liked it, you'll love this piece.
Dirty Pictures, Mud Lust, and Abject Desire: Myths of Origin and the Cinematic Object
Authors: Felleman Susan
Published: February 2004

In three films about artist couples—Artemisia (1997), Camille Claudel (1988), and Life Lessons (1989)—cinema is shown allegorically through art as the progeny of sexual coupling. In each, the nature of the relationship—its romantic, psychosocial, and sexual aspects—suggests larger issues relating to the experience of film, as though each was a myth of the origins of film, or a primal scene. The couples personify the ultimately erotic act of filmmaking even as they reveal the peculiar sensibilities of each film's maker, be those involved with the quasi­pornographic experience of looking, the fetishistic interest in technique and handling, or heroic passions and valorization of gesture.
Feeling and the Filmed Body: Judy Garland and the Kinesics of Suffering
Authors: McLean Adrienne L.
Published: February 2004

This article employs effort-shape analysis, a system for studying movement used in dance therapy and notation,to explore Judy Garland's star image in light of its frequent association with suffering and neurosis. It presents adetailed analysis of Garland's physiognomy and the energy and shape of her movements and gestures through space and time. In doing so, it suggests that Garland's neurotic star image can be traced in no small part to the paradoxical relationship of her body to the demands made upon it by the conventions of both Hollywood stardom and the generic film musical and, concomitantly, to the insecurities and anxieties generated kinetically and somatically by "failure" to meet those demands.
Moulin Rouge
Authors: Kinder Marsha
Published: February 2004

Moulin Rouge is a brilliant musical pastiche that highlights the defining characteristics of the genre (the structural tension between sentimental romance pushing toward melodrama and an edgy reflexive irony built into the backstage business) while accentuating its international dimensions. Despite the dazzling visual spectacle and conscious cultivation of artifice and clichés, it's the soundtrack that drives the film and enables it to be emotionally moving. Structured by a dizzying spiral of doubling and exerting its power through dramatic shifts in pace, Moulin Rouge uses poached lyrics and fracturing close-ups to negotiate the relationship between this singular story and its generic predecessors.
The Misfits: What Happened Around the Camera
Authors: Kouvaros George
Published: February 2004

"What Happened Around the Camera" takes as its starting point the images collected in The Misfits: Story of aShoot (Phaidon, 2000). Coming at a crucial time in the history of new Hollywood, these images are an important record of changes in the popular depiction of stardom. In the photographs, the glamour and ease once associated with playing to the camera have been transformed into something more tentative and uncertain. What weighs down the actors is not just the harshness of the location, but also time. It is this consciousness of time and the way it engages with the complex forms of belief and disbelief circulating between actor, image, and spectator that make these images vital to considerations of cinematic performance.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Kreider Tim
Published: February 2004

What makes A.I. Steven Spielberg's most interesting work is that it's the first of his movies to be both a children's film and a film for adults. The story for children is the one the narrator tells—Pinocchio all over again. But the story for adults is about hopeless attachments and self-delusion; every character is obsessed with the image of a lost loved one, and tries to replace that person with a technological simulacrum. It's also a film about human brutality, callousness, and greed. This is a story not about a boy who becomes human, but about the death of humanity.