Nonrandom X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), also known as skewing, has been documented in the blood cells of a significant proportion of normal aging women by the use of methylation-based assays at ...the polymorphic human androgen receptor locus (HUMARA). Recent data obtained with a new transcription-based XCI determination method, termed suppressive polymerase chain reaction (PCR), has shed controversy over the validity of XCI ratio results obtained with HUMARA. To resolve this disparity, we analyzed XCI in polymorphonuclear leukocytes of a large cohort of women aged 43 to 100 years with the use of HUMARA (n = 100), a TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay (n = 90), and the suppressive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (n = 67). The 3 methods yielded similar skewing incidences (42%, 38%, and 40%, respectively), and highly concordant XCI ratios. This confirms that the skewing of XCI ratio seen in blood cells of aging women is a bona fide and robust biologic phenomenon.
Objective: To determine if the gene coding for human oviductin (the estrogen-dependent, oviduct-specific glycoprotein with an affinity for the zona pellucida) shows length polymorphism in the region ...of tandem repeats. To determine the frequencies of the length alleles in health and disease.
Design: Descriptive fundamental and clinical studies.
Setting: Fertility clinic and research center, university teaching hospital.
Patient(s): Fertile women, women with a history of ectopic pregnancy or tubal disease, and women with stage I or II endometriosis.
Intervention(s): Blood samples were drawn for DNA analysis.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Length and sequence of the region of tandem repeats.
Result(s): Four different length alleles of the human oviductin gene were identified. Their relative frequencies in pathologic cases were not statistically significant compared with those found in normal fertile women. The human genome contains a single copy of the oviductin gene located on chromosome 1p13.
Conclusion(s): The human oviductin gene codes for a glycoprotein that shares the characteristics of epithelial mucins. Because eight epithelial mucin genes have been identified so far, we therefore propose to name this gene MUC9. The biologic function of the protein is likely to include protection of the early embryo and of the fallopian tube itself.
Recent studies indicate that nitric oxide (NO) or related compounds mayregulate the production of interleukin (IL)‐8, a potent proinflammatorychemokine. Here we report that peroxynitrite ...(ONOO−)formed by a reaction of NO with superoxide mediates IL‐8 geneexpression and IL‐8 production in IL‐1β‐ and TNF‐α‐stimulated humanleukocytes in whole blood. The NO synthase inhibitors aminoguanidineand NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine methylester blocked nuclear accumulation of activator protein‐1 (AP‐1) andnuclear factor (NF)‐κB in both polymorphonuclear (PMN) andmononuclear leukocytes and inhibited IL‐8 mRNA expression and IL‐8release by ∼90% in response to IL‐1β and TNF‐α. EnhancedONOO− formation was detected in granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes after challenge with IL‐1β or TNF‐α. The additionof ONOO− (0.2–80 μM) to whole blood increased nuclearaccumulation of AP‐1 and NF‐κB in PMN and mononuclear leukocytes andaugmented IL‐8 mRNA expression and IL‐8 production in aconcentration‐dependent fashion. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, aninhibitor of NF‐κB activation, attenuated ∼70% of IL‐8 releaseevoked by IL‐1β, TNF‐α, or ONOO−. These resultsindicate that ONOO− formation may underlie the action ofcytokines towards IL‐8 gene expression in human leukocytes.
Lorsqu’un liquide est soumis à de fortes dépressions, des bulles de gaz etde vapeur peuvent apparaître en son sein. Ce phénomène est appelé cavitation Ces bulles sont susceptibles d’imploser dans les ...zones de surpression etd’endommager les parois solides environnantes à travers la création d’écoulements violents. Dans les applications industrielles, ce phénomène d’érosionpar cavitation peut réduire la durée de vie des machines hydrauliques. Dans ledomaine biomédical, le phénomène d’érosion par onde de choc est utilisé pourl’ablation de tissus mous ou la destruction de calculs rénaux.Dans ce travail, à caractère numérique, nous nous intéressons à une bulled’air isolée implosant au voisinage d’une paroi déformable sous l’effet d’unesurpression générée par une onde de choc incidente. Le travail de thèse aconsisté à mettre en place un couplage fluide structure pour simuler le phénomène d’implosion de la bulle dans la partie fluide et la déformation plastiqueengendrée dans la partie solide. Pour cela, une stratégie en deux étapes a étémise en oeuvre. La première étape a consisté à construire un code fluide avecmaillage mobile pour gérer le déplacement de l’interface fluide/solide. Le codedéveloppé est dérivé du modèle numérique développé par Eric Johnsen et al.à University of Michigan dans lequel nous avons implémenté une méthodeALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian) permettant de passer d’une descriptioneulérienne sur maillage fixe à une description eulérienne sur maillage mobile.La seconde étape a consisté à modéliser la déformation élasto-plastique de lapartie solide au cours de l’implosion de la bulle grâce à un couplage fort ducode fluide avec le logiciel CAST3M. La communication entre les deux codesutilise la bibliothèque MPI.A l’issue du couplage, nous avons été en mesure de simuler l’implosiond’une bulle d’air à proximité d’une paroi déformable. Nous avons pu calculerle niveau de déformation de la paroi solide ainsi que l’amortissement de la sur-pression en paroi pour plusieurs matériaux. L’outil numérique ainsi développépermettra à terme d’étudier le comportement de revêtements amortissants capables de protéger des structures industrielles de l’érosion de cavitation oud’optimiser les effets bénéfiques des traitements par onde de choc dans lesapplications biomédicales.
His numerical work focuses on the collapse of a single air bubble close to adeformable wall generated by the impact of an incident high-pressure wave. A CFD code was fully coupled to a FEM solid code in order to compute the bubble collapse and the subsequent plastic deformation in the material. The CFD code was developed from the numerical model of Johnsen et al. (University of Michigan). A mobile mesh capability was added in order to account for the displacement of the fluid-structure interface. An ALE (Arbitrary LagrangianEulerian) method was implemented to switch from an Eulerian description in a fixed mesh to an Eulerian description in a moving mesh. The solid response to bubble collapse was computed with the FEM software CAST3M (developed by CEA) assuming an elastic-plastic constitutive law for the material. The communication between the two codes is achieved through the MPI library.For the CFD code, bubble collapse dynamics was validated by comparison with two others codes: research software CaviFlow and commercial software Ansys Fluent. The coupling between the CFD and the FEM code was validated on the case of the impact of a wave on an elastic medium.The paper will present a detailed analysis in 2D of both the dynamics of bubble collapse and solid behaviour for various conditions. They were obtained by changing the amplitude of the incident shock wave, the standoff distance and the material properties. Special attention will be given to the shock wave that forms when the microjet hits the bubble interface and to the impact of this shock wave on the material surface. In particular, the damping of the impactpressure with respect to a perfectly rigid wall was computed as well as the plastic deformation of the material surface. These final data gave us crucial information about the requirement of taking account of fluid-structure interaction in numerical modeling of cavitation erosion.
BSP-A1, BSP-A2, BSP-A3, and BSP-30-kDa are four major proteins of bovine seminal plasma (BSP protein family). These heparin-
and phosphatidylcholine-binding proteins potentiate the capacitation of ...spermatozoa. Here we determined the complete sequences
of the two cDNAs coding for the BSP-A3 and BSP-30-kDa proteins. Degenerate oligonucleotides designed on the basis of the primary
sequences of the proteins were used as primers in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, with cDNA preparations
of bovine seminal vesicles as templates, to amplify an internal fragment of each BSP cDNA. Specific oligonucleotides designed
on the basis of these partial cDNA sequences were used to clone the two complete cDNAs by using the 3â² rapid amplification
of cDNA ends (RACE) and 5â² RACE methods. We also verified the expression of all members of the bovine BSP protein family in
several adult bovine tissues by RNase protection assays. The results indicated that each BSP protein mRNA is expressed only
in seminal vesicles and in the ampullae. Homologous genes were detected in human, rat, hamster, and rabbit genomic DNA, using
high-stringency Southern hybridization with a specific BSP-30-kDa cDNA probe.
This paper is devoted to cavitation erosion modeling. It presents some recent numerical developments made in the code initially developed in collaboration with E.Johnsen and collaborators at ...University of Michigan 1 in order to account for fluid-structure interaction. The considered test case is that of a single air bubble collapsing near a wall due to an incident shock wave in the surrounding water. In our investigation, we focus on the code implementation and optimization and the bubble implosion mechanism. The paper is focused on the various events occurring during bubble collapse and the computation of the time evolution of the pressure distribution. The influence of the amplitude of the incident wave and the distance of the bubble to the wall are investigated.
Serotonin (5-HT) up-regulates B and T lymphocyte proliferation by activating mitogen-induced cell surface 5-HT1A receptors. The mechanism of 5-HT1Areceptor induction by B and T cell mitogens at the ...mRNA and protein levels in mouse splenocytes was addressed. Quantitation by RNase protection assay showed maximal increases of 3.4-, 3.0-, 3.8-, and 4.9-fold in relative 5-HT1A mRNA levels after 48 h of stimulation of splenocytes with lipopolysaccharide, phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate plus ionomycin, respectively, as compared with unstimulated cells. Mitogens did not alter 5-HT1A mRNA stability (t12 = 26 h), but induction of 5-HT1A mRNA was blocked by the transcriptional inhibitor actinomycin D (10 μg/ml) and by inhibition of nuclear factor-κB signaling. Additionally, mitogenic stimulation of transcription was paralleled by increased cell surface 5-HT1A receptor immunoreactivity in splenocytes. Thus, mitogen-induced 5-HT1A receptor expression appears to involve transcriptional regulation by the nuclear factor-κB signaling cascade. Increased expression of the 5-HT1A receptor in activated B and T lymphocytes may enhance the immune response and provide therapeutic target for tissue inflammation and immune stimulation.
The flooding of two mine pit lakes (Lake St. Louis and Lake Fouthiaux) situated in the Blanzy–Montceau-les-Mines coal basin (Massif Central, France) has been under close scrutiny for 5
a. The aim was ...to understand: (i) what sources can influence the lake water geochemistry; (ii) what is the role of lake stratification on water chemistry; (iii) how the lake water chemistry evolves during flooding.
To answer these questions,
T°, conductivity, pH and Eh depth profiles were measured with a specific probe (Seabird
®) in the lakes (seven surveys between July 1998 and February 2002).
At the same time, water samples were collected every 5
m along the profiles and were analysed for Na
+, Ca
2+, K
+, Mg
2+,
SO
4
2
-
,
NO
3
-
, F
−, Cl
−,
HCO
3
-
, Fe, Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, Cd and Mn. The geological and hydrogeological contexts play a major role on the water chemistry of the lakes and three sources of influence have been distinguished : (i) the contribution of underlying mine groundwater, enriched in
SO
4
2
-
, due to the leaching of sulfide oxidation products from old flooded underground works; (ii) the seepage through coal mine spoils also containing sulfides; (iii) to a lesser extent Triassic formations, containing gypsum, present in the Fouthiaux area, which lead to a
SO
4
2
-
enrichment of lake waters. All these influences result in an enrichment in
SO
4
2
-
, showing essentially a neutralised acid mine drainage process, that is characterised by neutral to slightly alkaline waters, and an absence of high metal contents (except for Fe and Mn) which are non soluble at the pH and Eh conditions present in the lakes. The two studied lakes were initially meromictic and ions such as
SO
4
2
-
or Mn can show high concentrations at depth, in the lake layers which are not subject to winter mixing. During the studied period, Lake St. Louis remained meromictic and non removed elements continue to have high concentrations in deep zones. In contrast, Lake Fouthiaux, initially meromictic, became holomictic with time and the bottom layer did not maintain the enrichment in
SO
4
2
-
, Mn, and other elements shown at the beginning.
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