Evaluation of humoral immune status in porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infected sows under field conditions

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is an economically devastating enteric disease in the swine industry. The virus infects pigs of all ages, but it cause severe clinical disease in neonatal suckling pigs with up to 100% mortality. Currently, available vaccines are not completely effective and feedback methods utilizing PEDV infected material has variable success in preventing reinfection. Comprehensive information on the levels and duration of effector/memory IgA and IgG antibody secreting B cell response in the intestines and lymphoid organs of PEDV-infected sows, and their association with specific antibody levels in clinical samples such as plasma, oral fluid, and feces is important. Therefore, our goal in this study was to quantify PEDV specific IgA and IgG B cell responses in sows at approximately 1 and 6 months post-infection in commercial swine herds, including parity one and higher sows. Our data indicated that evaluation of both PEDV specific IgA and IgG antibody levels in the plasma and oral fluid (but not feces) samples is beneficial in disease diagnosis. PEDV specific B cell response in the intestine and spleen of infected sows decline by 6 months, and this associates with specific antibody levels in the plasma and oral fluid samples; but the virus neutralization titers in plasma remains high beyond 6 months post-infection. In conclusion, in sows infected with PEDV the presence of effector/memory B cell response and strong virus neutralization titers in plasma up to 6 months post-infection, suggests their potential to protect sows from reinfection and provide maternal immunity to neonates, but challenge studies are required to confirm such responses.

Influence of anxiety on the course of heart disease after acute myocardial infarction - risk factor or protective function?

BACKGROUND

There is a lack of clarity concerning the effect of anxiety on the course of cardiac events following myocardial infarction. Some studies have identified anxiety as a risk factor for further cardiac events. However, it is also considered to be a protective factor, as a higher level of anxiety may improve patient compliance and regular medical checkups.

METHODS

A group of 76 patients with myocardial infarction underwent physical examination and had their anxiety levels assessed within the first week, and 31 months after myocardial infarction. Cardiac events were documented during the follow-up period. We investigated the predictive value for the occurrence of cardiac events of sociodemographic, psychological and physical parameters when evaluated within the first week after myocardial infarction. Compliancy and regularity of medical checkups were registered.

RESULTS

Cardiac events occurred in 24 patients during a mean follow-up period of 31 months. The group of anxious patients not only suffered more often from cardiac events, these events also occurred earlier than in nonanxious patients. Age, gender, partner status, level of anxiety and comorbid diabetes at the time of first assessment proved to be discriminatory variables between patients suffering further cardiac incidents and those free of further events. Anxious patients were more likely to continue smoking, whereas less anxious patients were more likely to give up smoking.

[Psychosocial screening in coronary heart disease: 5 decisive questions]

There is overwhelming convincing evidence linking psychosocial factors to outcome of patients with coronary heart disease. Thus, assessment of psychosocial variables should be an integrated part of risk stratification. To facilitate psychosocial assessment in clinical practice and to identify a subset of patients possibly benefitting from extended psychological measures, a new semistandardized interview instrument is presented, called LIPS ("Lübecker halbstandardisiertes Interview zum Psychosozialen Screening"). Beside the well-known and relevant domains social support, emotional stress/vital exhaustion, anxiety and depression, a score for the global psychosocial impairment can be documented. LIPS requires no specialized psychological training, its time requirement is five to ten minutes and it is easily integrated into routine physical and psychosocial assessment. The presentation includes the original instrument in addition to its validation on standardized self-administered questionnaires.

Characterization of recombinant human nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyl transferase (NMNAT), a nuclear enzyme essential for NAD synthesis

Nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyl transferase (NMNAT) is an essential enzyme in all organisms, because it catalyzes a key step of NAD synthesis. However, little is known about the structure and regulation of this enzyme. In this study we established the primary structure of human NMNAT. The human sequence represents the first report of the primary structure of this enzyme for an organism higher than yeast. The enzyme was purified from human placenta and internal peptide sequences determined. Analysis of human DNA sequence data then permitted the cloning of a cDNA encoding this enzyme. Recombinant NMNAT exhibited catalytic properties similar to the originally purified enzyme. Human NMNAT (molecular weight 31932) consists of 279 amino acids and exhibits substantial structural differences to the enzymes from lower organisms. A putative nuclear localization signal was confirmed by immunofluorescence studies. NMNAT strongly inhibited recombinant human poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1, however, NMNAT was not modified by poly(ADP-ribose). NMNAT appears to be a substrate of nuclear kinases and contains at least three potential phosphorylation sites. Endogenous and recombinant NMNAT were phosphorylated in nuclear extracts in the presence of [gamma-(32)P]ATP. We propose that NMNAT's activity or interaction with nuclear proteins are likely to be modulated by phosphorylation.

Exhaustive mining of EST libraries for genes differentially expressed in normal and tumour tissues

A four-step procedure for the efficient and systematic mining of whole EST libraries for differentially expressed genes is presented. After eliminating redundant entries from the EST library under investigation (step 1), contigs of maximal length are built upon each remaining EST using about 4 000 000 public and proprietary ESTs (step 2). These putative genes are compared against a database comprising ESTs from 16 different tissues (both normal and tumour affected) to determine whether or not they are differentially expressed (step 3; electronic northern). Fisher's exact test is used to assess the significance of differential expression. In step 4, an attempt is made to characterise the contigs obtained in the assembly through database comparison. A case study of the CGAP library NCI_CGAP_Br1.1, a library made from three (well, moderately, and poorly differentiated) invasive ductal breast tumours (2126 ESTs in total) was carried out. Of the maximal contigs, 139 were found to be significantly (alpha = 0.05) over-expressed in breast tumour tissue, while 13 appeared to be down-regulated.

The decisive role of the water structure in changes of conformation of nucleic acids

This review summarizes data on the structure and properties of water under normal conditions, at high salt concentration and under high pressure. We correlate the observed conformational transitions in nucleic acids with changes in water structure and activity, and suggest a mechanism of conformational transitions of nucleic acid involving these changes. We conclude that the Z-DNA form is induced only at low water activity caused by high salt concentrations and/or high pressure.

The decisive role of the water structure in changes of conformation of nucleic acids

This review summarizes data on the structure and properties of water under normal conditions, at high salt concentration and under high pressure. We correlate the observed conformational transitions in nucleic acids with changes in water structure and activity, and suggest a mechanism of conformational transitions of nucleic acid involving these changes. We conclude that the Z-DNA form is induced only at low water activity caused by high salt concentrations and/or high pressure.

The role of water structure in conformational changes of nucleic acids in ambient and high-pressure conditions

This review describes and summarizes data on the structure and properties of water under normal conditions, at high salt concentration and under high pressure. We correlate the observed conformational changes in nucleic acids with changes in water structure and activity, and suggest a mechanism of conformational transitions of nucleic acids which accounts for changes in the water structure. From the biophysical, biochemical and crystallographic data we conclude that the Z-DNA form can be induced only at low water activity produced by high salt concentrations or high pressure, and accompanied by the stabilizing conjugative effect of the cytidine O4' electrons of the CG base pairs.

5S rRNA Data Bank

In this paper we present the updated version of the compilation of 5S rRNA and 5S rDNA nucleotide sequences. It contains 1622 primary structures of 5S rRNAs and 5S rRNA genes from 888 species. These include 58 archaeal, 427 eubacterial, 34 plastid, nine mitochondrial and 1094 eukaryotic DNA or RNA nucleotide sequences. The sequence entries are divided according to the taxonomic position of the organisms. All individual sequences deposited in the 5S rRNA Database can be retrieved using the WWW-based, taxonomic browser at http://rose.man.poznan.pl/5SData/5SRNA.html++ + or http://www.chemie. fu-berlin.de/fb_chemie/agerdmann/5S_rRNA.html . The files with complete sets of data as well as sequence alignments are available via anonymous ftp.

Impaired sympathetic influence on the immune response in patients with rheumatoid arthritis due to lymphocyte subset-specific modulation of beta 2-adrenergic receptors

Previous studies have demonstrated that an alteration of the interaction between the immune system and the autonomic nervous system may contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritides. To address this issue further in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), this study aimed at determining the modulation of beta-adrenergic receptors (beta 2R) on lymphocyte subsets and its impact on cell reactivity. beta 2R were determined on CD4+ and CD8+ peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and synovial fluid lymphocytes (SFL) from RA patients and normal donors. In parallel, the influence of catecholamines on OKT3-induced T-cell activation was studied. In patients with RA, beta 2R on SFL were significantly decreased compared to beta 2R on PBL. Furthermore, a disease activity-correlated significant decrease of beta 2R on CD8+ PBL was observed. This decrease of beta 2R was paralleled by a reduced suppressive effect of catecholamines on OKT3-induced lymphocyte proliferation. Our data give further evidence for an impaired sympathetic influence on the immune response in RA.

Compilation of ribosomal 5S ribonucleic acid nucleotide sequences: eukaryotic 5S rRNAs

5S Ribosomal RNA is the smallest RNA component of the ribosomes. Due to relatively simple isolation and sequencing procedures as well as a potential use of the sequence data in evolutionary analyses, the amount of known nucleotide sequences on both RNA and DNA levels was rapidly growing. In this paper we present the updated (March 1996) compilation of eukaryotic 5D rRNA and 5S rDNA sequences.

Compilation of 5S rRNA and 5S rRNA gene sequences

The compilation of 5S rRNA and 5S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences as of 30 September 1996, contains a total of 1661 primary structures of 5S rRNAs or their genes, which is an increase of 928 new sequence entries over the last compilation. It covers sequences from 54 archaea, 449 eubacteria, 34 plastids, nine mitochondria and 430 eukaryotes. The databank uses the format of the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Data Library complemented by a Sequence Alignment (SA) field including secondary structure information. The taxonomic classification of organisms was totally updated. Now the database is also available via anonymous FTP or WWW.

Compilation of 5S rRNA and 5S rRNA gene sequences

This is an update for the 5S rRNA sequences of the BERLIN RNA DATABANK last published in 1990 (1). The new entry consists of 25 eubacterial and 2 eukaryotic 5S rRNA sequences and 10 plant 5S rRNA pseudogenes (Table 1). Thus the BERLIN RNA DATABANK contains as of February 1, 1991 the 5S rRNA sequences of 44 archaebacteria, 292 eubacteria, 20 plastids, 6 mitochondria, 321 eukaryotes and 21 eukaryotic pseudogenes. The BERLIN RNA DATABANK uses the format of the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Data Library complemented by a Sequence Alignment (SA) field including secondary structure information.

Compilation of 5S rRNA and 5S rRNA gene sequences

The BERLIN RNA DATABANK as of December 31, 1989, contains a total of 667 sequences of 5S rRNAs or their genes, which is an increase of 114 new sequence entries over the last compilation (1). It covers sequences from 44 archaebacteria, 267 eubacteria, 20 plastids, 6 mitochondria, 319 eukaryotes and 11 eukaryotic pseudogenes. The hardcopy shows only the list of those organisms whose sequences have been determined. The BERLIN RNA DATABANK uses the format of the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Data Library complemented by a Sequence Alignment (SA) field including secondary structure information.

Evolution of organisms and organelles as studied by comparative computer and biochemical analyses of ribosomal 5S RNA structure

The results documented in this publication demonstrate that for evolutionary studies the ribosomal 5S rRNA is a suitable object for such an investigation and that as many methods as possible should be consulted. In this study the results of biochemical and chemical experiments were combined with those of computer sequence analyses, and they revealed that these methods complement each other nicely. We are currently at a state at which we are able to well define the secondary structures of the 5S rRNAs for eubacteria, organelles, archaebacteria, and eukaryotes and we are even able to propose a secondary structure for a Ur-5S rRNA. It is also clear that in the future the present studies should be continued and extended in such a way that the tertiary structures of these molecules will become known.

Sudden infant death syndrome temperament before death

A retrospective study was made of the behavioral patterns of 46 infants whose deaths were attributed to the sudden infant death syndrome. Controls were the victims' siblings. Data concerning the infants' behavioral pattern were collected retrospectively from the parents, utilizing a modification of the Carey temperament questionnaire. The parents' recollection of the victims indicated that they: (1) had less intense reactions to environmental stimuli, (2) were less active physically, (3) were more breathless and exhausted during feeding, and (4) had more abnormal cries. The behavioral characteristics had a positive correlation with various postmortem evidences of antecedent chronic hypoventilation and hypoxemia. It would be a serious error for any parent to be told that their infant was at risk based on the behavioral pattern reported retrospectively by parents of victims of SIDS, because the pattern is also a common one in other infants.