Experimental tests were conducted to determine whether females and males of the tree-dwelling lizard Liolaemus tenuis (Tropiduridae) show intraspecific chemical recognition during breeding and ...postreproductive seasons. Animals were individually maintained in plastic enclosures for one week. Thereafter, the number of tongue-flicks that a lizard performed in the enclosure of a male, a female, its own home enclosure, and a control (unused) enclosure were recorded. In both seasons, males and females made fewer tongue-flicks in their home enclosures than in any other one, indicating a recognition of a familiar place, probably a chemical self-recognition. Conspecific chemical recognition was season dependent. During the post-reproductive season, lizards tongue-flicked at similar rates in conspecific and control enclosures, while during the breeding season enclosures of females elicited more tongue-flicks by both sexes, and the overall tongue-flick rates were higher than in the postreproductive season. Results are discussed within the context of the social system of the species.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Catching proteins: Proteins from a protein–DNA microarray can be directly detected by using MALDI mass spectrometry. Capture proteins are attached to silicon chips in a highly selective and ...reversible way by DNA‐directed immobilization (see picture). The analyte proteins bound specifically to their partners on the microarray can be detected from cell lysates.
We report on the microarray-based in vitro evaluation of two libraries of DNA oligonucleotide sequences, designed in silico for applications in supramolecular self-assembly, such as DNA computing and ...DNA-based nanosciences. In this first study which is devoted to the comparison of sequence motif properties theoretically predicted with their performance in real-life, the DNA-directed immobilization (DDI) of proteins was used as an example of DNA-based self-assembly. Since DDI technologies, DNA computing, and DNA nanoconstruction essentially depend on similar prereguisites, in particular, large and uniform hybridization efficiencies combined with low nonspecific cross-reactivity between individual sequences, we anticipate that the microarray approach demonstrated here will enable rapid evaluation of other DNA sequence libraries.
Baroreflex sensitivity declines with age, creating a fall in systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure when standing. If, in addition, blood pressure is reduced as a result of antihypertensive ...medication, compensatory mechanisms may be inadequate and orthostatic problems may occur. This may be less true in patients on beta-blockers. beta-blockers cause pressor effects in standing patients with autonomic neuropathy, but their effects on standing pulse pressures in elderly subjects with mild hypertension have not been systematically studied.
We studied 3741 patients with mild hypertension for 6 months who were being treated with the beta-blocker nebivolol 5 mg daily. Blood pressures were measured after 10 minutes in the supine position and after 1 minute in the standing position. Overall, systolic and diastolic blood pressures rose slightly while standing, whereas pulse pressures remained unchanged. When previously untreated patients (n=2085) >60 and <60 years of age were assessed separately, supine pulse pressures were consistently higher in the elderly group compared with those of the younger subjects by 6 to 11 mm Hg (P<0.001 to 0.0001). However, while standing, pulse pressures rose in the younger subjects, whereas they tended to fall in the elderly group. After 6 months of beta-blockade, this pattern was unchanged in the younger subjects but reversed into significant rise of pulse pressures in the elderly group by 4 (SD 1) mm Hg (P<0.001). In the patients previously treated with other classes of antihypertensive drugs (n=712), the effects were essentially the same.
In elderly patients with mild hypertension, a depressor trend of pulse pressure while standing can be turned into a significant pressor response by treatment with a beta-blocker.
In October 2001, the greater New York City Metropolitan Area was the scene of a bioterrorism attack. The scale of the public response to this attack was not foreseen and threatened to overwhelm the ...Bioterrorism Response Laboratory's (BTRL) ability to process and test environmental samples. In a joint effort with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the cooperation of the Department of Defense, a massive effort was launched to maintain and sustain the laboratory response and return test results in a timely fashion. This effort was largely successful. The development and expansion of the facility are described, as are the special needs of a BTRL. The establishment of a Laboratory Bioterrorism Command Center and protocols for sample intake, processing, reporting, security, testing, staffing, and and quality control are also described.
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) belong to the most frequent bone marrow diseases with a crude incidence of about 4 in 100,000 per year. The diagnosis of MDS still is mainly based on morphologic ...findings in blood and marrow. The new WHO classification system takes into account the medullary and peripheral blast count as well as the degree of dysplasia in the different cell lines. To correctly identify MDS types, cytogenetic evaluation is of importance, as the WHO classification introduced the entity MDS with del(5q), which is characterized by special morphologic and hematologic features. The separation of MDS from acute leukemias has been redefined using a cutoff value of 20% peripheral and/or medullary blasts. The International Prognostic Scoring System still is the gold standard in prognostication, but new items like transfusion need will be used more and more and have been incorporated into the WHO adapted Prognostic Scoring System. In childhood, MDS is uncommon, accounting for less than 5% of all hematopoietic neoplasms in patients less than 14 years of age. To accommodate for the characteristics of pediatric MDS, a simple classification scheme based on morphological features and conforming with the WHO suggestions was proposed. The dysplastic prodrome of acute myeloid leukemia in Down syndrome is classified within myeloid leukemia in Down syndrome and excluded from the population-based studies of MDS.
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