Acridines and streptomycine

Résumé La streptomycine et les acridines ont une propriété commune, en ce qu'ils forment avec les nucléoprotéides des levures de complexes électro-adsorptifs.     

The Role of Formalisation, Participation and Context in the Success of Public Involvement Mechanisms in Resource Management

In the face of complex and uncertain issues, one important goal of public participation in resource management and research is to foster communication and the inclusion of non-expert knowledge—thus the effective flow of information between project organisers and stakeholders. We compare different methods (instruments, tools) that were employed in the German–Austrian ‘PartizipA’ project to structure information flows in participatory processes. Depending on their goals and context, more or less ‘formalised’ and ‘participatory’ methods were applied, the most important being guided interviews, focus groups, agent-based modelling, nutrient modelling, cognitive mapping and group model building as well as the development of a common document. Two regional case studies, both concerned with European-induced institutional change, are portrayed in which the specific participatory methods were embedded. The Austrian case study involved the analysis and modelling of agricultural land use in the region of St. Pölten against the background of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, while the implementation of recent European water policy was the issue in the German agricultural region north of Osnabrück. Presenting both cases in their regional context, the applied methods are first described according to the logic of the entire respective process. Subsequently, the specific methods are systematically analysed and compared according to their objective, context and degrees of participation and formalisation. Finally, we evaluate all methods regarding their effectiveness in terms of goal attainment and their potential generalisation, seeking to respond to the question of when a particular method might best be used.     

The mechanism of the biochemical activity of acridines

Résumé Les acridines forment avec les nucléoprotéides des levures, des complexes électro-adsorptifs. Le pouvoir bactéricide des acridines s'exerce par une compétition entre les ion H⁺ de ce complexe et l'ion acridine. Différents enzymes activés par des ions métalliques doivent leur activité catalytique au même type de complexes. Les acridines inhibent ces enzymes parce qu'ils déplacent le cathion métallique.     

Intracellular pattern recognition receptors in the host response

The innate immune system relies on its capacity to rapidly detect invading pathogenic microbes as foreign and eliminate them. Indeed, Toll-like receptors are a class of membrane receptors that sense extracellular microbes and trigger anti-pathogen signalling cascades. Recently, intracellular microbial sensors have also been identified, including NOD-like receptors and the helicase-domain-containing antiviral proteins RIG-I and MDA5. Some of these cytoplasmic molecules sense microbial, as well as non-microbial, danger signals, but the mechanisms of recognition used by these sensors remain poorly understood. Nonetheless, it is apparent that these proteins are likely to have critical roles in health and disease.     

Calcite growth under controlled diffusion

Summary The growth of calcite was studied in a gelatin-gel medium under variable environmental conditions by 2 different methods. The results suggest that the organic matrix, the temperature, the diffusion fluctuation depending on ionic concentrations, and the presence of additives exert a fine control on the evolution of single crystals, polycrystalline aggregates, and highly structured concretions of calcite.Presented at the 22nd Canadian Conference on Pharmaceutical Research, Montreal (Quebec), Canada, 16 May 1975.Acknowledgments. This work was supported, by the Medical Research Council of Canada. — The authors are indebted to Dr J. M. Dorlot, Department of Metallurgy, Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, for the use of the scanning electron microscope and thanks are due to Mr J. Claudinon for his technical assitance.     

Purification and partial characterization of lysozyme from mouse small intestine

Summary Lysozyme was isolated from the small intestine of mice by combined ion-exchange and molecular sieve chromatography. This lysozyme differs from that isolated from the urine of mice with monocytoma in amino acid composition, and migration rate in cellulose acetate electrophoresis. As intestinal lysozyme originates at least in part from the Paneth cell, our results point towards the existence of isozymes of lysozymes in mice.Acknowledgments. Supported by grant No. 20159 from the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Geneeskundig Onderzoek, Brussel, Belgium. We should like to thank Mrs.Parein for skillful technical assistance.     

Prevention of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by antibodies against alpha 4 beta 1 integrin.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory condition of the central nervous system with similarities to multiple sclerosis. In both diseases, circulating leukocytes penetrate the blood-brain barrier and damage myelin, resulting in impaired nerve conduction and paralysis. We sought to identify the adhesion receptors that mediate the attachment of circulating leukocytes to inflamed brain endothelium in EAE, because this interaction is the first step in leukocyte entry into the central nervous system. Using an in vitro adhesion assay on tissue sections, we found that lymphocytes and monocytes bound selectively to inflamed EAE brain vessels. Binding was inhibited by antibodies against the integrin molecule alpha 4 beta 1, but not by antibodies against numerous other adhesion receptors. When tested in vivo, anti-alpha 4 integrin effectively prevented the accumulation of leukocytes in the central nervous system and the development of EAE. Thus, therapies designed to interfere with alpha 4 beta 1 integrin may be useful in treating inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis.