A trail of research revisted

Two-year carcinogenicity studies with the oral direct thrombin inhibitor ximelagatran in the rat and the mouse

The results of 18 months mouse and 24 months rat carcinogenicity studies with the oral direct thrombin inhibitor ximelagatran are presented. In the mouse, gavage doses of ximelagatran up to 180 μmol/kg per d produced no neoplastic changes in any of the tissues examined. In the rat, gavage doses up to 240 μmol/kg per d produced multiple macroscopically detectable nodules in the pancreas, which are seen to be focal/multifocal acinar cell hyperplasia and focal/multifocal acinar cell adenoma upon histological evaluation. There were no other treatment-related effects on tumor incidence or distribution in the rat. The studies show a clear species difference in pancreatic effects between the rat and the mouse to long-term treatment with ximelagatran.

Analysis of transcriptional and upstream regulatory sequence activity of two environmental stress-inducible genes, NBS-Str1 and BLEC-Str8, of rice

Two abiotic stress-inducible upstream regulatory sequences (URSs) from rice have been identified and functionally characterized in rice. NBS-Str1 and BLEC-Str8 genes have been identified, by analysing the transcriptome data of cold, salt and desiccation stress-treated 7-day-old rice (Oryza sativa L. var. IR64) seedling, to be preferentially responsive to desiccation and salt stress, respectively. NBS-Str1 and BLEC-Str8 genes code for putative NBS (nucleotide binding site)-LRR (leucine rich repeat) and β-lectin domain protein, respectively. NBS-Str1 URS is induced in root tissue, preferentially in vascular bundle, during 3 and 24 h of desiccation stress condition in transgenic 7-day-old rice seedling. In mature transgenic plants, this URS shows induction in root and shoot tissue under desiccation stress as well as under prolonged (1 and 2 day) salt stress. BLEC-Str8 URS shows basal activity under un-stressed condition, however, it is inducible under salt stress condition in both root and leaf tissues in young seedling and mature plants. Activity of BLEC-Str8 URS has been found to be vascular tissue preferential, however, under salt stress condition its activity is also found in the mesophyll tissue. NBS-Str1 and BLEC-Str8 URSs are inducible by heavy metal, copper and manganese. Interestingly, both the URSs have been found to be non responsive to ABA treatment, implying them to be part of ABA-independent abiotic stress response pathway. These URSs could prove useful for expressing a transgene in a stress responsive manner for development of stress tolerant transgenic systems.