Platelet-derived chemokines: pathophysiology and therapeutic aspects

The identification of chemokines in blood platelets has strengthened our view of these cells as participants in immune host defense. Platelet chemokines representing prestored and rapidly releasable proteins may play a major role as first-line inflammatory mediators. This is evident from their capability to recruit early inflammatory cells such as neutrophil granulocytes and monocytes and even to exhibit direct antimicrobial activity. However, insight is growing that platelet chemokines may be also long-term regulators, e.g., by activating T lymphocytes, by modulating the formation of endothelium and even thrombocytopoiesis itself. This review deals with the individual and cooperative functionality of platelet chemokines, as well as their potential as a basis for therapeutic intervention in the pathology of inflammation, infection, allergy and tumors. Within this context, therapeutic strategies based on the use of antibodies, modified chemokines, chemokine-binding proteins and chemokine receptor antagonists as well as first clinical studies will be addressed.     

Developmental and pathological angiogenesis in the central nervous system

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, in the central nervous system (CNS) is seen both as a normal physiological response as well as a pathological step in disease progression. Formation of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is an essential step in physiological CNS angiogenesis. The BBB is regulated by a neurovascular unit (NVU) consisting of endothelial and perivascular cells as well as vascular astrocytes. The NVU plays a critical role in preventing entry of neurotoxic substances and regulation of blood flow in the CNS. In recent years, research on numerous acquired and hereditary disorders of the CNS has increasingly emphasized the role of angiogenesis in disease pathophysiology. Here, we discuss molecular mechanisms of CNS angiogenesis during embryogenesis as well as various pathological states including brain tumor formation, ischemic stroke, arteriovenous malformations, and neurodegenerative diseases.     

Introduction: the selenium conundrum

Selenium was first suspected of being an essential dietary trace element in the 1950s. We now know that indeed it is an essential biological element that serves as an integral component of several enzymes, including those in the families of deiodinases and glutathione peroxidases as well as selenoproteins P and W. The multi-author review that follows this introduction concentrates on the important biological role of selenium in enzymes as well as some of the physiological aspects of selenium as either a potential anticarcinogenic agent or insulin mimetic. What should become clear from these contributed articles is the complex and dynamic role that selenium plays in many biological processes and that the investigations in these areas are at the edge of exciting new frontiers.     

Modeling and forecasting commodity market volatility with long-term economic and financial variables

This paper investigates the time-varying volatility patterns of some major commodities as well as the potential factors that drive their long-term volatility component. For this purpose, we make use of a recently proposed generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity–mixed data sampling approach, which typically allows us to examine the role of economic and financial variables of different frequencies. Using commodity futures for Crude Oil (WTI and Brent), Gold, Silver and Platinum, as well as a commodity index, our results show the necessity for disentangling the short-term and long-term components in modeling and forecasting commodity volatility. They also indicate that the long-term volatility of most commodity futures is significantly driven by the level of global real economic activity as well as changes in consumer sentiment, industrial production, and economic policy uncertainty. However, the forecasting results are not alike across commodity futures as no single model fits all commodities.     

Cardiomyokines from the heart

The heart is regarded as an endocrine organ as well as a pump for circulation, since atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were discovered in cardiomyocytes to be secreted as hormones. Both ANP and BNP bind to their receptors expressed on remote organs, such as kidneys and blood vessels; therefore, the heart controls the circulation by pumping blood and by secreting endocrine peptides. Cardiomyocytes secrete other peptides besides natriuretic peptides. Although most of such cardiomyocyte-derived peptides act on the heart in autocrine/paracrine fashions, several peptides target remote organs. In this review, to overview current knowledge of endocrine properties of the heart, we focus on cardiomyocyte-derived peptides (cardiomyokines) that act on the remote organs as well as the heart. Cardiomyokines act on remote organs to regulate cardiovascular homeostasis, systemic metabolism, and inflammation. Therefore, through its endocrine function, the heart can maintain physiological conditions and prevent organ damage under pathological conditions.     

Das allgemeine Bauprinzip des Lamellarsystems der Chloroplasten

Summary The lamellar system of chloroplasts consists of close double lamellae. In electronphotomicrographs, the walls of two adjacent double lamellae can be seen as one thick lamella. Because of this, the lamellae in the inner portion of a lamellar packet appear about twice as thick as those at the boundary of the packet and, in chloroplasts that contain grana, the granalamellae appear twice as thick as the stromalamellae.

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Mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Cortisone sensitive T-cells in Peyers' patches.

Pretreatment of donor lymphoid cells with cortisone has been shown to depress the T-cell subpopulation responsible for cellular proliferation in the GVH reaction. A quantitative assay as well as the histological criteria of the GVH reaction have been used in this study to demonstrate the presence of cortisone-sensitive T-cells within the Peyer's patches as well as in the spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes in the rat.     

环境相容性农药发展的必然性和可能途径

农药是农业生产的重要物资,发展环境相容性农药是农药发展的必然趋势,这是环境保护和农业可持续发展以及农药自身发展的要求所决定的。对已经存在的农药品种进行制剂和改进施药器械以及围绕施药器械改进施药技术,使农药减少对环境、对施药者的危害,这是发展环境相容性农药的一条有效和简便的途径。更根本的途径在于作为农药的化合物本身。大力发展生物源农药,直接利用生物材料作为农药以及筛选生物中存在的活性物质作为先导化合物开发新型农药,是目前研究开发环境容性农药的有益途径。另辟蹊径,在研制的思路上创新,在研制方法上采用高新技术,是必须要走的道路。在生物源材料中筛选先导化合物,可采用“由源到果”之路,采用“由果到源”之路则更有效。新药筛选中的生物测定技术,随着农药的角色特征的转变而改变,也随着农药作用靶标的改变而改变。基因组学、生物信息学、组合化学、基因芯片、高通量筛选等现代技术的发展有利于促进新农药的发展。     

2-Phenylethanol, a presumed sexual stimulant produced by the male cabbage looper moth, Trichoplusia ni.

A sex pheromone produced by male cabbage looper moths, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), has been isolated from the genital scent brushes and identified as 2-phenylethanol. It is shown conclusively to elicit specific behavioural responses in the female (such as wing vibration and abdominal elevation), as determined by a novel behavioural laboratory bioassay. This is taken as further evidence that the male pheromone of T. ni acts as a sexual stimulant (aphrodisiac) prior to mating. 2-Phenylethanol represents the first identification of a genital scent brush pheromone in the family Noctuidae, and of a male pheromone in the subfamily Plusiinae.     

Evaluation of the predictive performance of biased regression estimators

Regression models are widely used in forecasting, either directly as prediction equations, or indirectly as the basis of other procedures. The predictive performance of a regression model can be adversely affected by both multicollinearity and high-leverage data points. Although biased estimation procedures have been proposed as an alternative to least squares, there has been little analysis of the predictive performance of the resulting equations. This paper discusses the predictive performance of various biased estimators, emphasizing the concept that the predictive region, as well as the strength of the multicollinearity, dictates the choice of appropriate coefficient estimators.     

The Dostoevsky Machine in Georgetown: scientific translation in the Cold War

SUMMARY

Machine Translation (MT) is now ubiquitous in discussions of translation. The roots of this phenomenon — first publicly unveiled in the so-called ‘Georgetown-IBM Experiment’ on 9 January 1954 — displayed not only the technological utopianism still associated with dreams of a universal computer translator, but was deeply enmeshed in the political pressures of the Cold War and a dominating conception of scientific writing as both the goal of machine translation as well as its method. Machine translation was created, in part, as a solution to a perceived crisis sparked by the massive expansion of Soviet science. Scientific prose was also perceived as linguistically simpler, and so served as the model for how to turn a language into a series of algorithms. This paper follows the rise of the Georgetown program — the largest single program in the world — from 1954 to the (as it turns out, temporary) collapse of MT in 1964.     

Meteorotropy and medical-meteorological forecasts

The meteorotropic reaction of the human organism is a function of different factors, such as the type and intensity of the effects of the physical environment as well as individual conditions like adaptive capacity and state of health. Many medical-meteorological studies show causal correlations between conditions in the lower atmosphere and reactions of the human organism, but also combined or synergistic effects of different weather situations, which can only be proved stochastically. These effects are described and the methodology of the investigations, as well as the results, critically discussed. Furthermore, application of the results in the areas of medical-meteorological consultation, with the goal of improving living conditions, is considered.     

A discoidin domain receptor 1 knock-out mouse as a novel model for osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint

Discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR-1)-deficient mice exhibited a high incidence of osteoarthritis (OA) in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) as early as 9 weeks of age. They showed typical histological signs of OA, including surface fissures, loss of proteoglycans, chondrocyte cluster formation, collagen type I upregulation, and atypical collagen fibril arrangements. Chondrocytes isolated from the TMJs of DDR-1-deficient mice maintained their osteoarthritic characteristics when placed in culture. They expressed high levels of runx-2 and collagen type I, as well as low levels of sox-9 and aggrecan. The expression of DDR-2, a key factor in OA, was increased. DDR-1-deficient chondrocytes from the TMJ were positively influenced towards chondrogenesis by a three-dimensional matrix combined with a runx-2 knockdown or stimulation with extracellular matrix components, such as nidogen-2. Therefore, the DDR-1 knock-out mouse can serve as a novel model for temporomandibular disorders, such as OA of the TMJ, and will help to develop new treatment options, particularly those involving tissue regeneration.     

Molecular mechanisms of lymphatic vascular development

Lymphatic vasculature has recently emerged as a prominent area in biomedical research because of its essential role in the maintenance of normal fluid homeostasis and the involvement in pathogenesis of several human diseases, such as solid tumor metastasis, inflammation and lymphedema. Identification of lymphatic endothelial specific markers and regulators, such as VEGFR-3, VEGF-C/D, PROX1, podoplanin, LYVE-1, ephrinB2 and FOXC2, and the development of mouse models have laid a foundation for our understanding of the major steps controlling growth and remodeling of lymphatic vessels. In this review we summarize recent advances in the field and discuss how this knowledge as well as use of model organisms, such as zebrafish and Xenopus, should allow further in depth analysis of the lymphatic vascular system. Received 26 January 2007; received after revision 5 March 2007; accepted 29 March 2007     

A structural view of microtubule dynamics

The essential microtubule property of dynamic instability is based on the binding, hydrolysis and exchange of GTP in each tubulin dimer. The recent high-resolution structures of tubulin and the microtubule have given us the first view at atomic level of properties such as nucleotide exchangeability, the linkage between polymerization and nucleotide hydrolysis. and the origin of microtubule destabilization, as well as the mode of action of antimitotic agents such as taxol.     

Evidence for inhibition of corpora allata activity in workers ofBombus terrestris by a pheromone from the queen's mandibular glands

Summary Queens ofBombus terrestris inhibit the activity of worker corpora allata by means of a pheromone which is produced in their mandibular glands. Exstirpated and homogenized glands as well as an extract of the queen's body surface show the same inhibitory effect as a living unmutilated queen. The pheromone remains on the body only for 1 day after the queen has been killed. The activity of the corpora allata of workers was determined volumetrically as well as by means of a juvenile hormone synthesis in vitro assay.Acknowledgment. The work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for the advancement of pure research, ZWO.     

Regulation of B and T cell development by anterior pituitary hormones

Hormones produced by the anterior pituitary gland have been implicated in the regulation of primary lymphocyte development. In order to identify endocrine factors involved in that process, several strains of mice with genetic defects resulting in a selective impairment in the production of one or more anterior pituitary-derived hormones have been analysed. This study has resulted in the classification of endocrine hormones into the following four categories (i) hormones such as prolactin with no apparent effects on primary lymphopoiesis; (ii) anabolic hormones such as growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I whose stimulatory effects on primary lymphopoiesis are non-lineage-specific and related to their actions as systemic mediators of growth and/or differentiation; (iii) hormones such as thyroid hormones that have an obligate role in primary B lymphopoiesis; and (iv) hormones such as oestrogens that act as negative regulators of lymphopoiesis.     

Die Immunoelektrophorese in Agar-Gel

Summary An account is given of Immuno-electrophoresis, as it originated from a combination of electrophoresis in agar-jelly and the various experiences with antigen/antibody reactions in gels. The theoretical background is detailed as well as different techniques. The increased sensitivity has gained us new insight into the composition of body fluids. Finally the limitations are discussed as they are proper to all reactions which have an immuno-chemical basis.     

Renewal of noradrenaline in different zones of the central nervous system of inbred mice strains and their recombinants]

A good correlation exists between the learning capacity and norepinephrine metabolism in the neocortex of C57 and Balb inbred Mice strains, as well as their F1 hybrids and seven recombinant inbred strains derived from their cross. The animals with a better learning performance are characterised by low levels of norepinephrine, as well as a slow metabolic rate of this neurotransmitter in the cortex. Such a correlation has not been found to exist in the other cerebral regions studied.