Interferon-like sequence of ovine trophoblast protein secreted by embryonic trophectoderm

In most species the length of a pregnancy exceeds that of the luteal phase of the ovarian cycle. The conceptus within the uterus, therefore, is believed to produce a substance or substances which directly or indirectly prolong the lifespan of the corpus luteum and prevent a return to ovarian cyclicity. This phenomenon is known as maternal recognition of pregnancy. The active substance implicated in signalling maternal recognition of pregnancy in the sheep is an embryonic secretory protein, known as ovine trophoblast protein-1 (oTP-1) (refs 2-4), which is targeted in a paracrine manner to the uterine epithelium of the mother. We report here the primary amino-acid sequence of oTP-1 as inferred from a cloned complementary DNA and demonstrate that the protein is most probably an interferon-alpha.     

Location of neuronal tangles in somatostatin neurones in Alzheimer's disease

Senile dementia of the Alzheimer type is a chronic, progressive neuropsychiatric condition characterized clinically by global intellectual impairment and neuropathologically by the presence of numerous argyrophilic plaques and tangles. Neurochemical investigations have established loss of the cholinergic and aminergic projections to the cerebral cortex and a loss of the content of somatostatin, with preservation of cholecystokinin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, neuropeptides also located in cells intrinsic to the cortex. We describe here the relationship between cortical somatostatin immunoreactivity and the plaques and tangles of diseased tissue by immunocytochemical and silver impregnation techniques on paraffin-embedded tissue. In sections of Alzheimer's tissue, cortical somatostatin-immunoreactive perikarya exhibited morphological changes consistent with neuronal degeneration. Silver-stained material immunostained subsequently showed that many neurones containing tangles were also somatostatin positive. No such colocalization was observed using antisera to other neuropeptides. Our findings indicate that a subclass of somatostatin-positive neurones are affected selectively in Alzheimer's disease and that these neurones also contain neuronal tangles. Thus, destruction of somatostatin-containing neurones is an early and perhaps critical event in the disease process.     

Inflammatory factors produced by sensitized guinea-pig peripheral blood lymphocytes

Summary The supernatants obtained from stimulated tuberculin-sensitive guinea-pig peripheral blood lymphocytes contain factors that induce a cutaneous inflammatory response in normal guinea-pigs similar to the tuberculin reaction and inhibit the migration of normal guinea-pigs peritoneal exudate cells. There appears to be a correlation between the presence of in vitro migration inhibitory activity and inflammatory activity in vivo.     

Erythrocyte 2,3-diphosphoglycerate in anaemic sheep

Summary Experimental anaemia resulted in an increase of red cell 2,3-DPG from 0.11 M/gHb to 0.99 M in haemoglobin A sheep and from 0.21 M to 1.5 M in haemoglobin B sheep. Production of haemoglobin C as a result of anaemia was confined to haemoglobin A only. The results, therefore, appear to suggest that the rise in 2,3-DPG in the red blood cells of different haemoglobin types is independent of haemoglobin C.This work was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, The Clive and Vera Ramaciotti New South Wales Foundations and Helena Rubinstein Foundation, Inc. We wish to thank Mr J. Sheedy for his expert technical assistance, and Professor G. J. Brewer for his constructive criticism.     

Essential roles of PI(3)K-p110beta in cell growth, metabolism and tumorigenesis

On activation by receptors, the ubiquitously expressed class IA isoforms (p110alpha and p110beta) of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI(3)K) generate lipid second messengers, which initiate multiple signal transduction cascades. Recent studies have demonstrated specific functions for p110alpha in growth factor and insulin signalling. To probe for distinct functions of p110beta, we constructed conditional knockout mice. Here we show that ablation of p110beta in the livers of the resulting mice leads to impaired insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis, while having little effect on phosphorylation of Akt, suggesting the involvement of a kinase-independent role of p110beta in insulin metabolic action. Using established mouse embryonic fibroblasts, we found that removal of p110beta also had little effect on Akt phosphorylation in response to stimulation by insulin and epidermal growth factor, but resulted in retarded cell proliferation. Reconstitution of p110beta-null cells with a wild-type or kinase-dead allele of p110beta demonstrated that p110beta possesses kinase-independent functions in regulating cell proliferation and trafficking. However, the kinase activity of p110beta was required for G-protein-coupled receptor signalling triggered by lysophosphatidic acid and had a function in oncogenic transformation. Most strikingly, in an animal model of prostate tumour formation induced by Pten loss, ablation of p110beta (also known as Pik3cb), but not that of p110alpha (also known as Pik3ca), impeded tumorigenesis with a concomitant diminution of Akt phosphorylation. Taken together, our findings demonstrate both kinase-dependent and kinase-independent functions for p110beta, and strongly indicate the kinase-dependent functions of p110beta as a promising target in cancer therapy.     

基于云计算CCRP算法在电信余额管理平台优化

受到云计算的数据库查询调度算法思想——CCRP的启发,提出在现有的电信余额管理平台应用CCRP的基础上,对系统进场调度进行优化,使之充分发挥电信余额管理平台的性能减少资源浪费.     

Sensory experience modifies the short-term dynamics of neocortical synapses.

Many representations of sensory stimuli in the neocortex are arranged as topographic maps. These cortical maps are not fixed, but show experience-dependent plasticity. For instance, sensory deprivation causes the cortical area representing the deprived sensory input to shrink, and neighbouring spared representations to enlarge, in somatosensory, auditory or visual cortex. In adolescent and adult animals, changes in cortical maps are most noticeable in the supragranular layers at the junction of deprived and spared cortex. However, the cellular mechanisms of this experience-dependent plasticity are unclear. Long-term potentiation and depression have been implicated, but have not been proven to be necessary or sufficient for cortical map reorganization. Short-term synaptic dynamics have not been considered. We developed a brain slice preparation involving rat whisker barrel cortex in vitro. Here we report that sensory deprivation alters short-term synaptic dynamics in both vertical and horizontal excitatory pathways within the supragranular cortex. Moreover, modifications of horizontal pathways amplify changes in the vertical inputs. Our findings help to explain the functional cortical reorganization that follows persistent changes of sensory experience.