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Biomedical subjects

B Song

Publications and source records attributed to B Song.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Sequence of the mouse adenovirus serotype-1 DNA encoding the precursor to capsid protein VI.

The nucleotide sequence predicted to encode the precursor to virion structural protein VI (preVI) of mouse adenovirus (Ad) serotype-1 (MAV-1) was determined. The 237-amino-acid sequence has 45% identity and 66% similarity to the human Ad serotype-2 preVI sequence. There is a marked conservation at the C terminus, the last eleven residues of which may be necessary for activating the Ad endoproteinase, and at the N terminus, including the consensus endoproteinase cleavage site.

Amino Acid Sequence

[Surgical treatment of colonic and rectal cancer with hepatic metastasis].

In 568 patients with colonic and rectal cancer treated in our hospital from January 1970 to January 1991, 266 had colonic cancer and 302 rectal cancer. 469 patients (263 rectal and 233 colonic) were operated on. A total of 382 patients (186 and 196 colonic) were resectable. The average resection rate was 76.6%. 68 patients (30 rectal and 38 colonic) had hepatic metastasis with a rate of 11.97%. 13 patients (19.1%) had hepatic metastasis focus resected.

Adult

Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase regulates basal and cyclic AMP-stimulated but not phorbol ester-stimulated transcription of the tyrosine hydroxylase gene.

To define the precise role of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKA) in transcriptional regulation of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene, we performed transient cotransfection analyses of a reporter construct containing the upstream 2,400 bp sequence of the rat TH gene with expression plasmids encoding a heat-stable specific inhibitor of PKA (PKI), a mutant regulatory subunit of PKA, or the catalytic subunit of PKA. Inhibition of PKA activity by expression of either PKI or mutant regulatory subunit blocked cAMP-stimulated induction and reduced basal transcription of the TH-reporter construct. Expression of the catalytic subunit of PKA induced the expression of the TH-reporter construct up to 50-fold in a dose-dependent manner. Primer extension analysis confirmed that PKA-mediated induction of TH-reporter expression occurred at the correct transcription initiation site. Expression of PKI did not affect induction following phorbol ester treatment, suggesting that PKA and protein kinase C (PKC) induce TH transcription by independent mechanisms. Finally, a double mutation within the cAMP response element (CRE) of TH2400-CAT diminished its basal and forskolin-stimulated transcription to the level of the promoterless plasmid, pBLCAT3, but did not alter the induction following treatment with phorbol ester, indicating that the CRE is not required for PKC-mediated transcriptional induction. Our results indicate that PKA, via the CRE, plays a crucial role for basal and cAMP-inducible transcription of the TH gene.

Base Sequence

Gene expression of epithelial glucose transporters: the role of diabetes mellitus.

The functions of absorption of dietary glucose by the small intestine and reabsorption of filtered glucose by the renal proximal tubule are strikingly similar in their organization and in the way they adapt to uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. In both cases, transepithelial glucose and Na+ fluxes are augmented. The epithelial adaptations to hyperglycemia of uncontrolled diabetes are accomplished by increasing the glucose transport surface area and the number of the efflux glucose transporter GLUT2 located in the basolateral membrane. The signals that modify the size of the epithelium and the overexpression of basolateral GLUT2 are not known. It was speculated that high glucose levels and enhanced Na+ flux may be important factors in the signaling event that culminates in a renal and intestinal epithelium that is modified to transport higher rates of glucose against a higher extracellular level of glucose.

Animals

A dual role for the cAMP-dependent protein kinase in tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression.

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) catalyzes the conversion of L-tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine, the first and rate-limiting step in catecholamine biosynthesis. The cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) phosphorylates and activates the TH enzyme and is thought to mediate transcriptional induction of the TH gene. To better understand the functional role of PKA in TH gene regulation, we studied TH gene expression at the transcriptional, translational, and post-translational levels in several PKA-deficient cell lines derived from rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells. Strikingly, all PKA-deficient cell lines analyzed in this study showed substantial deficits in basal TH expression as measured by TH enzymatic activity, level of TH immunoreactivity, TH protein level, and steady-state mRNA level. Interestingly, the steady-state level of mRNA correlated well with levels of TH activity, immunoreactivity, and protein. In addition, PKA-deficient cell lines lacked transcriptional induction of the TH gene following treatment with dibutyryl cAMP. Cotransfection of PKA-deficient cells with an expression plasmid for the catalytic subunit of PKA fully reversed transcriptional defect, as indicated by robust transcriptional induction of a reporter construct containing 2400 bp of TH upstream sequence in all PC12 cells tested. These data indicate that the PKA system regulates both the basal and the cAMP-inducible expression of the TH gene primarily at the transcriptional level in PC12 cells.

Animals

Intravitreal pharmacokinetics of liposome-encapsulated amikacin in a rabbit model.

BACKGROUND: Intravitreal injection of antibiotics has become a standard therapy for bacterial endophthalmitis. The duration of effective antimicrobial levels in the vitreous after single injection, however, may not be long enough to get optimal response. The authors prepared liposome-encapsulated amikacin for prolonging the duration of intravitreal therapeutic concentrations and investigated the intravitreal pharmacokinetics of the liposomes and amikacin in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) as control. METHODS: The liposome-encapsulated amikacin was prepared by reverse-phase evaporation method. The intravitreal pharmacokinetics of the liposomes was compared with amikacin in PBS by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Albino rabbits were randomly distributed into 12 groups. Rabbits in groups 1 to 6 and in groups I to VI (control groups) received an intravitreal injection of the liposome-encapsulated amikacin and amikacin in PBS, respectively. RESULTS: The encapsulation rate of amikacin was 91%. The time of 50% spontaneous degradation (half-life) of the liposomes in PBS (38 degrees C, pH 7.4) was 47.6 days, and the time of 50% release (half-life) of the drug from the liposomes in PBS was 84.8 hours. The vitreous amikacin concentrations in groups 1 to 6 were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than those in control groups I to VI in every time interval, except in groups 1 to 3 at 1 hour after injection. The difference was particularly obvious in the endophthalmitis groups. The clearance of encapsulated amikacin in vitreous appeared to be related to the state of blood-ocular barrier and to the structural integrity of vitreous. The distribution, the absorption, and the elimination of encapsulated amikacin in vitreous showed the first-order kinetics. CONCLUSION: The liposome-encapsulated amikacin prolonged half-life of the drug in vitreous. The results of the pharmacokinetic analysis suggested that in endophthalmitis, especially in severe cases, the liposomes may be preferable to conventional preparation.

Absorption

Lambdoid phages as elements of bacterial genomes (integrase/phage21/Escherichia coli K-12/icd gene).

The lambdoid phages are a group of related temperate bacteriophages that lysogenize by site-specific recombination with the bacterial chromosome. Various members of the group have different specific chromosomal insertion sites, despite the fact that the enzymes catalyzing the insertion (integrases) appear to be all descended from a common ancestor. Insertion sites are not located randomly on the E. coli chromosome but are restricted to one segment of the map; also, most prophages are oriented in the same direction along the chromosome. Lambdoid phage 21 inserts within the isocitrate dehydrogenase gene and introduces an alternative 165 bp 3' end for that gene. A defective element (e14) inserts at the same position. We suggest that this mode of insertion arose from insertion of an ancestral phage to the right of icd which then picked up part of the icd gene by abnormal excision and speculate that, at an earlier time, phages may have arrived at their present locations by a process of chromosomal walking.

Bacterial Proteins

[A new virus of rabbit. III. Study on morphological superstructure and antigenicity of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV)].

In the spring 1986, an acute infectious disease occurred in Wuhan Second Producing Medical Manufactory, and the rabbit almost died. We tested the mortal symptom and confirmed rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD) as same as Huang Yinyao report. Hubei Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute appear this RHD also. After we purified virus of above two source by low speed, high speed and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, they can react with antiserum of RHDV from Nanjing Agricultural University in agar gel immunodiffusion tests. These results proved that they belong to the same serotype. Data indicate RHDV have difference morphological superstructure, viral polypeptides and especially RHDV can't react with antiserum of standard Parvovirus of rabbit and so on, so we suggest RHDV is a new virus.

Animals

Mechanistic studies of the phototoxic potential of PD 117596, a quinolone antibacterial compound.

PD 117596 is a novel quinolone compound that is being investigated for use as an antibacterial agent. Early investigations demonstrated a significant phototoxic liability associated with this compound. These studies were undertaken to investigate the mechanism of phototoxicity using an in vitro model. In the UVA region, PD 117596 was found to be a more efficient producer of singlet oxygen than rose bengal, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, or PD 118879, another quinolone under investigation. The quantum yield of photoreaction for PD 117596 was relatively low (phi = 0.021); however, it was approximately 10-fold higher than other tested quinolones. In vitro studies using a mouse erythrocyte model were used to further investigate the mechanism of phototoxicity. PD 117596-induced photohemolysis was found to be oxygen dependent with a relatively rapid onset that progressed even after removal of light. Preirradiation of the compound prevented subsequent hemolytic or photohemolytic action. BHA, BHT, alpha-tocopherol, and the iron chelator DTPA were all found to be effective at ameliorating the photohemolytic response. The photohemolytic response was markedly enhanced when D2O was substituted for H2O in the incubation medium, indicating a singlet oxygen-mediated mechanism of action. A rise in thiobarbituric acid products was noted within 1 hr of irradiation and was maximal at the time of onset of overt photohemolysis. These data suggest that singlet oxygen production by irradiated PD 117596 is responsible for secondary changes in mouse red blood cells including lipid peroxidation and ultimately results in cellular lysis.

4-Quinolones

Immunohistochemical demonstration of epidermal growth factor receptor and ceruloplasmin in thyroid diseases.

The expression of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) and ceruloplasmin (CP) in thyroid diseases was investigated by immunohistochemical methods, and the results were compared with the expression of thyroglobulin (TG). Eighty-eight surgical specimens of thyroid diseases, including follicular carcinoma (7 cases), papillary carcinoma (20 cases), follicular adenoma (29 cases), adenomatous goiter (10 cases), diffuse hyperplasia (20 cases) and chronic thyroiditis (2 cases), were studied. All cases of follicular carcinoma and 18 cases (90%) of papillary carcinoma expressed the EGFR immunoreaction in the cytoplasm with a moderate to strong staining intensity. A weak immunoreaction for EGFR was noted in some benign thyroid diseases. CP showed various degrees of positivity in all cases of follicular carcinoma and 19 cases (95%) of papillary carcinoma. The benign thyroid lesions were consistently negative for this antigen, not counting one case of Hürthle cell adenoma. There was a positive correlation between EGFR and CP immunostaining intensity in thyroid carcinomas, representing higher expression of EGFR accompanied by a stronger staining intensity of CP. Except for two cases of papillary carcinoma, all cases showed immunoreaction for TG. The results indicate the enhanced expression of EGFR and CP in thyroid carcinomas. EGFR and CP thus appear to be valuable tools for differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid neoplasms.

Adenocarcinoma

Codon preference and primary sequence structure in protein-coding regions.

The stochastic complexity of a data base of 365 protein-coding regions is analysed. When the primary sequence is modeled as a spatially homogeneous Markov source, the fit to observed codon preference is very poor. The situation improves substantially when a non-homogeneous model is used. Some implications for the estimation of species phylogeny and substitution rates are discussed.

Amino Acids

Spatial organization of axonal microtubules.

Several workers have found that axonal microtubules have a uniform polarity orientation. It is the "+" end of the polymer that is distal to the cell body. The experiments reported here investigate whether this high degree of organization can be accounted for on the basis of structures or mechanisms within the axon. Substantial depolymerization of axonal microtubules was observed in isolated, postganglionic sympathetic nerve fibers of the cat subjected to cold treatment; generally less than 10% of the original number of microtubules/micron 2 remained in cross section. The number of cold stable MTs that remained was not correlated with axonal area and they were also found within Schwann cells. Microtubules were allowed to repolymerize and the polarity orientation of the reassembled microtubules was determined. In fibers from four cats, a majority of reassembled microtubules returned with the original polarity orientation. However, in no case was the polarity orientation as uniform as the original organization. The degree to which the original orientation returned in a fiber was correlated with the number of cold-stable microtubules in the fiber. We suggest that stable microtubule fragments serve as nucleating elements for microtubule assembly and play a role in the spatial organization of neuronal microtubules. The extremely rapid reassembly of microtubules that we observed, returning to near control levels within the first 5 min, supports microtubule elongation from a nucleus. However, in three of four fibers examined this initial assembly was followed by an equally rapid, but transient decline in microtubule number to a value that was significantly different than the initial peak. This observation is difficult to interpret; however, a similar transient peak has been reported upon repolymerization of spindle microtubules after pressure induced depolymerization.

Animals