A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the personality constructs in CPAI-2 in Taiwanese Hakka populations

Here in this study we adopted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to investigate the genetic components of the personality constructs in the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory 2 (CPAI-2) in Taiwanese Hakka populations, who are likely the descendants of a recent admixture between a group of Chinese immigrants with high emigration intention and a group of the Taiwanese aboriginal population generally without it. A total of 279 qualified participants were examined and genotyped by an Illumina array with 547,644 SNPs to perform the GWAS. Although our sample size is small and that unavoidably limits our statistical power (Type 2 error but not Type 1 error), we still found three genomic regions showing strong association with Enterprise, Diversity, and Logical vs. Affective Orientation, respectively. Multiple genes around the identified regions were reported to be nervous system related, which suggests that genetic variants underlying the certain personalities should indeed exist in the nearby areas. It is likely that the recent immigration and admixture history of the Taiwanese Hakka people created strong linkage disequilibrium between the emigration intention-related genetic variants and their neighboring genetic markers, so that we could identify them despite with only limited statistical power.

Development of novel approach to diagnostic imaging of lung cancer with 18F-Nifene PET/CT using A/J mice treated with NNK

Development of novel methods of early diagnosis of lung cancer is one of the major tasks of contemporary clinical and experimental oncology. In this study, we utilized the tobacco nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced lung cancer in A/J mice as an animal model for development of a new imaging technique for early diagnosis of lung cancer. Lung cancer cells in A/J mice overexpress nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Longitudinal CT scans were carried out over a period of 8 months after NNK treatment, followed by PET/CT scans with ¹⁸F-Nifene that binds to α4-made nicotinic receptors with high affinity. PET/CT scans of lungs were also obtained ex vivo. CT revealed the presence of lung nodules in 8-month NNK-treated mice, while control mice had no tumors. Imaging of live animals prior to necropsy allowed correlation of results of tumor load via PET/CT and histopathological findings. Significant amount of ¹⁸F-Nifene was seen in the lungs of NNK-treated mice, whereas lungs of control mice showed only minor uptake of ¹⁸F-Nifene. Quantitative analysis of the extent and amount of ¹⁸F-Nifene binding in lung in vivo and ex vivo demonstrated a higher tumor/nontumor ratio due to selective labeling of tumor nodules expressing abundant α4 nicotinic receptor subunits. For comparison, we performed PET/CT studies with ¹⁸F-FDG, which is used for the imaging diagnosis of lung cancer. The tumor/nontumor ratios for ¹⁸F-FDG were lower than for ¹⁸F-Nifene. Thus, we have developed a novel diagnostic imaging approach to early diagnosis of lung cancer using ¹⁸F-Nifene PET/CT. This technique allows quantitative assessment of lung tumors in live mice, which is critical for establishing tumor size and location, and also has salient clinical implications.

Vitellogenic blood protein synthesis by insect fat body

The female fat body of a moth and a roach incorporated labeled amino acids in vitro into substances precipitable by antibodies formed in response to the sex-limited vitellogenic blood proteins of these species. The fat body of males failed to do so, as did that of females before the appearance of these proteins in the blood.

Equivalence of riboflavin-binding hexamerin and arylphorin as reserves for adult development in two saturniid moths

The riboflavin-binding hexamerin (RbH) and arylphorin (ArH) were compared as storage reservoirs for adult development in Hyalophora cecropia. The two hexamerins were metabolically labeled with [3H]leucine and [35S]methionine, isolated by column chromatography, and separately injected into pupae whose diapause had been terminated by chilling. By the time of eclosion at least 98% of both hexamerins had been cleared from the hemolymph. Every reproductive and somatic tissue tested contained trichloroacetic acid-precipitable label; consistent differences between the two hexamerins were not detected in the distribution of their label to these tissues. While incorporation of intact hexamerins was not ruled out, hydrolysis and reincorporation of the liberated amino acids were indicated by label in vitellogenin and lipophorin, and by differences in 35S/3H ratios, which ranged from over 1.0 in chorions to 0.4 in wings, as compared with 0.75 in the injected hexamerins. Injection of [35S,3H]RbH from H. cecropia into A. luna, a species in the same subfamily whose pupae lack this hexamerin, resulted in a pattern of isotope incorporation similar to that yielded by RbH in the donor species. In neither species was there indication of a developing adult tissue that distinguished between RbH and ArH as precursor reservoirs for morphogenesis. This equivalence helps explain how many species of Lepidoptera are able to complete metamorphosis and reproduce without expressing an RbH gene. Evidence is also presented that ArH stored in the fat body protein granules during pupation may be utilized differently from that remaining in pupal hemolymph.

Methionine-rich hexamerin and arylphorin as precursor reservoirs for reproduction and metamorphosis in female luna moths

The storage proteins of Lepidoptera include a pair of methionine-rich hexamerins (MtH) that are more abundant in female pupae than in males. Their inferred support of female reproduction could be achieved either by enhancing general pools of amino acids, or by hydrolyzing MtH at times and/or sites that direct its constituents to the synthesis of egg proteins. The two models were tested in Actias luna, a saturniid moth that makes its eggs during adult development. MtH and arylphorin (ArH), the third major storage protein of this species, were labeled metabolically with [35S]-methionine and [3H]-leucine, and injected individually into wandering stage caterpillars. Isotope distributions at eclosion indicated that both hexamerins supported egg formation as well as adult tissue protein synthesis. In the absence of evidence for targeting, MtH appears to support egg formation in A. luna by enhancing the amino acid pools derived from ArH. Analysis of 35S labeling and of 35S/3H ratios indicated, however, that ArH is consumed over a period that extends somewhat later in adult development than MtH. Differences in timing should prove to be much greater in Lepidoptera that delay egg formation until after eclosion.

Synthesis, purification and stability of no carrier added radioiodinated 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-iodo-2-phenylethylene (IBHPE), a prototype triphenylethylene estrogen-receptor binding radiopharmaceutical

A triphenylethylene compound [1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-iodo-2-phenylethylene; IBHPE] has been labeled by halodestannylation with 123I at a specific radioactivity of 13,200 Ci/mmol (by in vitro receptor assay) after HPLC purification. The corresponding 80mBr-labeled compound (BrBHPE), which has a 3-fold higher affinity for the estrogen receptor, was previously prepared and examined as a potential therapeutic radiopharmaceutical exploiting Auger electron toxicity. Stability of IBHPE was a concern because free iodide was generated when HPLC solvents were removed with a stream of nitrogen in a glass vial; however, decomposition was minimal when polypropylene vials were used, and ethanol solutions of [123I]IBHPE were stable for several days at 0-4 degrees C. Tissue distribution studies of IBHPE after intraperitoneal injection to mature female rats showed highest estradiol-inhibitable uptake in the peritoneal estrogen-receptor rich tissues (uterus, ovaries and vagina) at 30 min. Specific uptake (percent dose per gram) in the pituitary, and peritoneal target tissue-to-blood ratios were greater at 2 h than 30 min. In immature female rats, uterus-to-blood ratios of greater than 50, progressively lowered by increasing diethylstilbestrol levels, were obtained. These data demonstrate good binding of IBHPE to the estrogen receptor in vivo, in spite of extensive non specific binding in in vitro estrogen receptor assays. Most of the label in the uterus at 1 h after injection was still unchanged IBHPE. Our results suggest that IBHPE or related 123I-labeled iodovinyl triphenylethylenes could have diagnostic or therapeutic radiopharmaceutical utility.

Juvenile hormone induced vitellogenin synthesis in the monarch butterfly

The vitellogenin (yolk protein) of the monarch butterfly has been identified by electrophoretic and immunochemical techniques. In freshly emerged female adults ligature of the neck prevents appearance of this protein in the hemolymph; it prevents yolk deposition and egg maturation as well. These processes are restored by injection of juvenile hormone; the restoration involves induction of vitellogenin synthesis, as shown by incorporation of [(3)H]leucine.